For graphic novelist Rachel Elliott, drawing comes more easily than writing. "I think prompts really help me make that move from drawing a goofy kid, drawing a talking animal," she says, "into...what is this story about?"

Rachel shares a writing prompt that helped her understand her main character in The Real Riley Mayes. She also discusses her love of drawing Martin Short, the importance of the freedom to read, and her upcoming workshop at JCPL, Inventing Comic Characters for Teens.

About Rachel Elliott

Rachel Elliott is an author, illustrator, and cartoonist. Her debut middle-grade graphic novel, The Real Riley Mayes, was released in May of 2022 and became both a Stonewall Honor Book and a Sid Fleischman Humor Honor Book.

If you love secret codes, parallel cat universes, and dude-ish girls who act out humorous death scenes, you’ll want to read this book. She is now working on two different graphic novel book series for two different publishers.

Rachel grew up queer during the 1980s in rural Oklahoma. She has worked as a volunteer “zooteen,” a plaster-caster, a crumpet baker, and a children’s museum grant writer. She now lives in Kentucky with her wife and teaches comics writing at the University of Kentucky.

She’s a big fan of dance music, tacos, cats, comedians, and her niece’s ice hockey team. In her spare time, she plays badminton with her wife and draws Martin Short way too much.