An interview with Leah Moore
A writer published by DC Comics, Dynamite Entertainment, Heavy Metal Magazine, 2000 AD, Black Crown, and Z2 Comics.
First published 2 December 2019.
This week I’ve interviewed comics writer and author Leah Moore, who has written for Black Crown, Heavy Metal, 2000 AD and about a million other places.Not only does Leah write fierce fiction that invariably veers towards the dark side, she also frequently collaborates with her husband John Reppion, most recently on the critically-acclaimed Dark Horse graphic novel with Sally Jane Thompson, Conspiracy of Ravens.
Leah is also the daughter of acclaimed author, Alan Moore.
1/ Your life writing around kids often reminds me of my own – do you have any shortcuts that you use to get the most out of limited time?
Oh god, no I really wish I did! Our mums try and have them for a bit after school sometimes or at the weekend, but for the most part, we just type like crazy until 3pm and then everything is noisy and complicated until 8.45 the following morning! Rinse and repeat... I have found that since the kids came along, most of the time I just say "Sorry, but I can't get on with this until Monday" and just leave my desk as it is all weekend. I will push on a specific project if we can get the childcare and stuff, but most of the time, weekends are for messing about with the kids.
We are hopeless with doing homework or projects or whatever, we just try and keep everyone fed and watered and happy, break up the fights, make sure they get a run. Normally that feels enough, until I see someone on Facebook who has clearly spent the whole weekend gluing and sticking, done a 5k for charity pushing the buggy the whole way, and managed to bake a few trays of buns for the school fair as well. Then I feel like my kids have been basically left to starve in a garret somewhere, and I’m about to be reported to child services.
2/ Who are your role models when it comes to creativity and have they changed over the course of your career?
That’s actually a tough one to answer. Before I wrote comics I wanted to be an artist. I did A-level, and art foundation and then stopped. Partly it was the shock of going from an A-level class where I felt like I was a really great artist, to a foundation course where there were some astonishing artists, and I suddenly had to figure out what I wanted to push towards, and get really good at. I think with comic writing, my main driving force isn’t to make stories like X or be as good as Y, it’s more just not to make a holy show of myself…
Like if I can keep up, and tell fun stories, and keep getting paid, then I'm happy. It’s weird. I know for a fact if that if I was drawing I’d be "OMG I need to get as good as X at watercolours, or Y at linocuts," or whatever. I’d feel huge pressure to compete and skill up, and really push myself. With writing, I'm kind of happy to just take challenges as they come along, try my hardest and see what happens. I don’t know what that says about me. Obviously I would like to make big money and write books that make the bookcharts, but I’ve been writing for 15 years, and these days, just getting it written and getting paid is enough!
“If you’re hoping to write comics professionally, there’s no proof you can write at all, until you have a few pages in your hand to show people… Get some pages done, however you can.” – Leah Moore
My projects are usually founded on "What have we got an idea for already that we could sell to someone?", which has been what fills the gaps between the "Aargh, what is this? Can I write it? Lets hope so!" projects that arrive in the Inbox. The idea is to try and get some Creator Owned stuff sold, so then there might be royalties, and they might pay for more series to be written, and the whole thing might suddenly be a bit more choice-driven. Right now, we have a little bit of control but mostly it’s just what people need writing.
At the moment I'm writing an incredibly exciting book on one of my all-time favourite bands, and which I cannot say more than that about (or I'll end up with concrete boots), I'm writing samples for a phone game of exactly the type I am addicted to, and waste my life playing when I should be working, which is kind of Karmic retribution on a grand scale, and I'm writing a wonderful book for Liminal11 called The Tarot Circle, with Ivy Berces and Jem Milton on the art, which is set in a group that meet to read each other’s tarot cards, and talks about the origins of Tarot itself, the development of Cartomancy, modern multitudes of Tarot decks, 1960's occultism... the whole lot. I’m probably not even supposed to announce it yet, but what the heck. I can’t say anything at all about the other two so it’ll have to do!
3/ What advice would you give to someone hoping to write comics professionally in the future?
I would say do as many small strips as you can for whoever wants or needs them. Do tiny anthology stories for free, do charity zines, or whatever people are asking for. Basically, the one thing a writer hasn’t got is a portfolio of headshots, sequential art, colours, whatever. There’s no proof you can write at all, until you have a few pages in your hand to show people. Even if your artist isn’t 100%, your writing will still speak for itself, and an editor will be able to see where your strengths are.
Get some pages done, however you can, in as wide a range of subjects as you can, and then you have samples to send editors, and some credits to stick in your Twitter bio or whatever. Comics is a group effort, so find a group to work with, and then put in the effort. That’s about all any of us can do!
4/ If you woke tomorrow and were no longer constrained by time, budgets or even skills that you haven’t learned yet, what would you make?
Oh man. There’s a whole line of Feminist masterworks that I reckon I could do as amazing graphic novels. All in a neat row on the shelf, get a load of boss women to draw and colour them, make it really varied... that’s a big one. Otherwise I'd 100% go back to art school and just dive into the stuff I yawned through when I was 18. Life drawing, print-making, textiles, learn to paint properly.
I’ve got a half-written novel that needs finishing too, so probably I’d finish that, learn to make my own clothes properly... learn how to throw pots... I've got a long list of things I’d love to be able to do, and a pile of unused craft materials that sit staring at me when I’m typing.
Are you getting the feeling that after 15 years of professional writing, I’m still not 100% sure I’m actually even a writer? For saying that these were only four innocent little questions, they’ve opened a whole can of existential worms... Thanks for that!