J: Emily, thank you so much for joining me in this interview!
Emily: No, thank you! My favorite topic in the world is me!
J: (Oh my god, I need your confidence in my life. Give that to me.)
J: Let’s start off with a basic question. Where did the inspiration for Mountain come from?
Cover of “It’s Your Funeral!” written by Emily Riesbeck
Emily: Inspirations for my stories come from all over. It usually begins when I get stuck on one little detail. Sometimes it’ll be a title, sometimes just a concept or a thought that I obsess over until I realize that I need to make a whole story exploring it.
As for the specific idea to do Mountain, the start of it was me wanting to write about something simple. I had just finished writing a few books that had complex, character-driven plots and when I was approaching this project, I thought to myself that it would be interesting to tell a story that was, comparatively speaking, really simple or easy to understand. I thought, well, “what’s a challenging and intimate activity that would be exciting to read about?” and the idea of climbing a mountain came to me. But I still wanted to challenge myself a bit, which is where the idea of “what if only one character ever spoke?” came from. Everything else was me and Bitmap spinning off each other until we got to where we wanted to be.
At all points of writing, I wanted to keep the story very simple. Neither character is named: in the script, they’re called PILGRIM and CLIMBER. They give a few place names, but they’re vague descriptions. I really wanted the whole book to feel immersive: you’re transported into their world and you will live by their rules during your time there. With any luck, I’ve succeeded!
J: Speaking of Bitmap, how did you two come to work together?
Emily: Bitmap and I had been friends for a few years; we came to know each other through our webcomics and on Twitter before we were able to meet in real life because we both were going to the same cons (unsurprising, considering we both lived in Chicago). I’ve really admired Bitmap’s work from afar for a long time, but I was pretty shy about approaching her - just because I worried she would say no. But one time we were both tabling at CAKE and I just said “let's do a comic together” and, to my surprise, Bitmap responded enthusiastically.
J: It sounds like you were hoping to collaborate with Bitmap for quite some time.
Emily: A bit, which is funny because I didn’t have a clear idea what to do with her. Normally, when I approach artists for collaborations, I have a specific story in mind I can pitch. But with Bitmap, we didn’t have anything other than a vague idea that we wanted to work on SOMETHING together. So I asked Bitmap what kinds of things she likes to draw? Once I got my answer, we started brainstorming from there.
Once I had an initial sketch of what the plot would be and a general idea for the worldbuilding, I came back to Bitmap with it and asked for her input.
J: Aha, there’s the back-and-forth.
Emily: Yup! I generally have a standing rule to any artist I work with that if they have an idea for something they want to draw or some way they want the world to work, they should pitch it. Artists have a visual acuity in a way that I, as a writer, just don’t. I trust the artists I collaborate with to be able to bring their own unique voice to the visual design and layout of the world. This combined with the fact that Mountain was a project that we set out to do because we were excited to work together, we adopted a sort of “everything and the kitchen sink” approach to worldbuilding. If something seemed exciting or interesting, we put it in!
Cover of “Last Gasp” written by Emily Riesbeck
J: Oh man, the worldbuilding! That’s the first thing that struck me when I saw the pitch for Mountain. The setting and the character designs are so intriguing. Which leads me to ask: For worldbuilding, did you do any research for it? If so, how much do you do?
Emily: I do, but how much depends on the story! I am not the best researcher, so typically when I set out to research before writing a story, I focus on what’s absolutely necessary. Mountain, being a pretty short and largely fantastical story, didn’t require as much research. I would occasionally look up a bit on mountain climbing techniques and tools to get inspiration for what the characters might use. But Mountain being not quite a “mountain” complicates that a bit. When writing historical fiction, I research a lot but I’ll admit that I’m impatient about it. I want to get to the fun parts of the world and character building and scripting! So I could definitely afford to learn how to be a more diligent researcher!
J: You do have a point. There’s not much of a need for research if the world the story takes place in is far removed from ours.
Emily: Exactly. In fact, I think doing so little research for Mountain might have helped it a bit. My favorite thing about the story of Mountain is precisely that it takes place in a world that isn’t ours, although some of their rituals and customs look very similar. So it was fun and freeing to try and think beyond the ordinary when it came to answering some of the questions that came to me while we were trying to develop the world.
J: Questions…?
Emily: Yeah, like how do you show a civilization that’s ancient enough to be foreign, but familiar enough that the readers would recognize the spaces they operate? That way it further connects them to this civilization and further drives in the theme of the story.
J: So what were the reasons for making the characters and the world they navigate like this?
Emily: I can’t take too much credit for it. All the wonderful designs of the characters and Mountain itself -- that’s all Bitmap’s brain. I had a little input here and there such as, “what if Mountain was actually a skyscraper?” and “Maybe Pilgrim should be a rodent or bunny.”
...Actually, I’ll stop myself there and admit that I asked for Pilgrim to be a bunny at first. I played a bunny inventor in a tabletop RPG once and I’m still stuck on that character. It was Bitmap’s idea for Pilgrim to be a mouse instead.
But as for the setting, plot, the sorts of things I had control over - I think we both were really excited by the idea of a “post-post-apocalypse.” The idea that life goes on even after the world ends. So Pilgrim and Climber live among the ruins of a world that came before them, barely aware of what that world was like. And that might seem sad at first, the idea that eventually, everything we do will be lost to time. But I actually find it a bit comforting. Pilgrim and Climber struggle, of course, but otherwise they live their own lives, with their own goals and dreams and customs. To me, the idea that life can keep carrying on, and maybe even carry on in a way that doesn’t replicate the mistakes of the past, is a comfort all its own.
See more of Emily’s work at EmilyRiesbeck.com
Read The Blue Valkyrie webcomic
Twitter @emilyriesbeck