We chat with author and illustrator Phoebe Wahl about Phoebe’s Diary, which is drawn from real life and a bracingly honest illustrated diary of a teenage girl that captures the explosive turmoil and joy of adolescence.
Hi, Phoebe! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Sure! I am an author, illustrator, surface designer who lives & works in Bellingham, Washington, which is also where I grew up. I love to garden and sew my own clothes, and watch mellow british historical farming documentaries, but I have a 1.5 year old daughter so lately most of my life revolves around reading her books and taking her on adventures outside! So far I’ve only published picture books, so I’m excited and nervous to be diving into the wild world of YA.
When did you first discover your love for writing and illustrating?
I’ve been telling stories and drawing pictures to go with them for as long as I can remember. Before I could write, I would transcribe the stories that went along with my drawings and my parents would scribble them down. I was homeschooled, and so I had a unique amount of time to spend really digging into what I was interested in, which was mostly drawing and writing. I would spend hours and hours of my day drawing or painting and listening to audiobooks on loop, waking up before the rest of my family just to have quiet time to myself to work. I sometimes feel like my whole childhood was training for my life now, as a self-employed author/illustrator—my days don’t look that different than they did when I was 9. Just a lot more responsibilities in the mix!
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
I can’t remember when that desire began since it feel’s like it’s always been a part of me. But one of the most beloved books I remember reading where I started feeling more self-aware about wanting to be an author, was Little Women. I’ve read it so many times. And I always felt this ache of relatability when they would describe Jo’s writing routine, and her dreams of wanting to be a writer. I really related to the relationship she had with her work, how vulnerable and personal it felt yet how badly she wanted to share it with the world.
Your latest release, Phoebe’s Diary, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Vulnerable, cringey, romantic.
What can readers expect?
They can expect an often goofy, and frequently TMI coming of age novel about a 15 year old girl in Bellingham, Washington in 2006 navigating the often turbulent emotional landscape of being a teenager—there are lots and lots of crushes, awkward moments, new friendships, indie music playlist, school plays, and budding sexual relationships and love.
Where did the inspiration for creating Phoebe’s Diary come from?
Well, it is a fictionalized adaptation of my own diaries from high school. A few years ago, my mom brought over a box of my old things that she no longer wanted to store, including my old journals, and during lockdown I started reading them to myself, and bits aloud with a few friends. I was amazed at the way I wrote at the time—an interesting combination of very self aware at times, and simultaneously completely wrapped up in my own world.
Tonally it was often written like an actual book, but then with very quintessentially ridiculous or cringey details thrown in that only an emotional teenager venting into a journal would include. There even was a very rough plot arc that was hinted at in the beginning, and wrapped up at the end. It felt so condusive to being a story, and the people who I was sharing it with encouraged me to see what I could do with it. So I transcribed the whole thing, and then set about editing and fictionalizing it to make it more cohesive and interesting and complex. It was a really wild process, and kind of confusing sometimes since it is a total mix of being very personal and real, but then also fictionalized and imaginary.
Can you tell us a bit about the illustrating process?
It was a bit of an experimental process putting the text together with the illustrations, since illustrated YA novels aren’t a very established genre, there was no roadmap. I wanted it to feel like a mix of a regular novel and a graphic novel, with some panels and speech bubbles, but also spot illustrations thrown in throughout and big, full spread pieces in key moments in the text. I did it all digitally in black & white, because I knew there was going to be such a massive volume of pieces that I wanted a method that would go quick.
I’d say overall the process was really fun but also… tiring. It was just so many illustrations, 480 something, I think. I was illustrating the bulk of it when my daughter was between 6-12 months, and so I would be up some nights until 1am working, go back to sleep for an hour, then wake up again to breastfeed, and go back to sleep only to wake up again with her around 4 or 5. Making the illustrations feels like a bit of a blur, but I’m so happy with the way they turned out in spite of being in kind of intense survival mode while I got them done!
What’s next for you?
I have two sequels to my last picture book, Little Witch Hazel, on the way, plus two other picture book projects that haven’t been announced yet. I’m about to move into a new studio space, and I can’t wait to see what new projects I can cook up in it. I’ve definitely got my hands full for the next few years!
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
A couple I recently read and and loved are Fat Talk by Virginia Sole-Smith, which is adult non-fiction, and ¡Ay, Mija! By Christine Suggs. I am also very excited for Roaming by Jillian & Mariko Tamaki, which comes out 9/12!
