Chatting with Miriam Bonastre Tur, author of the Hooky series

By Miriam Bonastre Tur / September 3, 2021 at 12:01 am

Paperback $15.99

Hooky Volume 3 (Signed Book)

By Míriam Bonastre Tur
Illustrator Míriam Bonastre Tur

Paperback $15.99

Vibrant, full-color illustrations bring Dani and Dorian’s final adventure to life in Hooky Volume 3, the epic conclusion to the magical WEBTOON series. Will good prevail over evil once and for all?

Updated 12/21/23

B&N: Miriam! What has it been like to see the trilogy find a new audience in print?

It has been one of the coolest things about publishing Hooky in print!

It has been one of the coolest things about publishing Hooky in print!My original audience in WEBTOON were mostly teenagers, and they were absolutely amazing and passionate about the story and the characters. I love them so much.

But the book version has reached a new and super young audience! Kids as young as 7, 8, 9 and 10 years old are reading Hooky and I’m so excited every time they come to my signings and tell me they love my books, or that these are the first books that they’ve ever read, or how many times they’ve read them! I feel grateful when the parents tell me my books have helped their kids to find joy in reading! It’s a wonderful experience.

Paperback $15.99

Hooky Volume 1: A Graphic Novel

By Míriam Bonastre Tur
Illustrator Míriam Bonastre Tur

In Stock Online

Paperback $15.99

Based on the much-loved WEBTOON comic, Hooky is a heartfelt and hilarious graphic novel about twin witches Dani and Dorian who miss the bus to their magical school and need to find a mentor, and fast. Bright manga-style art beautifully illustrates the narrative as readers delve deeper into this magical universe complete with danger, deception and, of course, dragons.

B&N: What was your experience like developing for WEBTOON and then bringing this to book form? Were they two different experiences?

Miriam Bonastre Tur: When I started publishing Hooky on WEBTOON it was difficult for me to adapt to the format, since webcomics are intended to be read on mobile devices. It was a challenge to go from a traditional comic narrative, organized in pages, to a totally innovative narrative, organized in vertical strips. However, as I began to practice, I discovered that the new format offers very interesting possibilities. The readers are scrolling from one panel to the next rather than having an overview of two pages, so it is much easier to surprise them with sudden shocking panels. It is also easy to move from one scene to the other and show the passage of time, since in digital format you can use empty spaces or long transitions without the limitations of paper. One of my favorite resources was the infinite bird’s-eye view panels, where you can see the entire scene and move in space and time with the characters as you scroll down. It is somewhat similar to a splashpage but again without limitations.

However, all these tricks that I used when creating HOOKY were a problem when I had to adapt it back to book form. Other WEBTOON authors were more forward-thinking than me and drew their webcomics in page format, then placed the panels one below the other, already thinking that in the future they would want to publish on paper. But not me! So I had to reformat the whole story.

It has been a challenge but also a very interesting exercise. Having the physical limitations of paper again, I have had to shorten scenes and reduce dialogue. I have also had to constantly draw panel fragments for them to fit into this traditional narrative, as I refused to just tuck in all the panels. I’ve tried to make it have a certain narrative quality and I think it works quite well.

At first, I was very reluctant to remove things, I did not want to tarnish my work, I did not want to disappoint my readers. But as I worked on the book, I realized that the new version actually worked much better. It was like polishing a base material that already shone, but inevitably came from very tight deadlines and therefore was not as well defined as possible. I originally published an episode of Hooky every week. I alone wrote the script, designed the storyboard, drew and colored 40 to 60 panels in 5 or 6 days. It was a very passionate and very visceral work. I expressed all my love for comics, for my characters and for their adventures, which I think you can feel when you read it. But no, it wasn’t polished. So, I am very happy with the work we have done with the book! I hope new readers like it, and I also hope old readers find something new to love in this version. I did it with a lot of love!

B&N: How did the webcomic come to be?

MBT: Hooky emerged by chance. It wasn’t a story I’d kept in my drawer for years or anything like that. WEBTOON organized an international contest whose prize was to become a featured creator. I had done an Inktober drawing of two little witch twins that I fell in love with and organically I started to think of names and stories for them.

In a few weeks I had the general structure of the story, the most important plot twists, the main characters and their relationships, and I ventured to enter the WEBTOON contest. At first the art style was much simpler, as I decided to use my “sketch” style instead of the more anatomically correct style that I thought was my “good” style. I remember that at that time my teachers told me that although my drawing skills and my backgrounds were very good, I had problems when it came to bringing my characters to life. They all looked very “stiff”. That’s why I drew Hooky in a more informal way. I wanted the art to have that feeling of lightness and movement, which I think was a good move. My drawing style naturally improved with time.
In the book version, these small and imperfect first steps of Hooky are missing because I lost the original files of the first 10 episodes and I had to redraw them entirely. However I am happy with the result. I’ve tried to stay close to the original and Dani and Dorian look quite adorable.

B&N: What is your inspiration for HOOKY?

MBT: I would say that my inspiration comes mostly from comics, cartoons, movies and books that I read and loved when I was little. I have always been very passionate about fiction, with a tendency to obsess over specific works during periods of my life (literally a fangirl). There are certain stories that stuck with me and have undoubtedly influenced Hooky. Harry Potter, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Ojamajo Doremi are some obvious ones. Also Avatar: The Last Airbender and even Fruits Basket.

Basically, my intention has always been to create a story that both my current self and my past self could obsess over and love. I hope I have made it!