dark rain by mat johnson

above is a preview image from the graphic novel dark rain by another one of my wonderful teachers mat johnson. the novel takes place during hurricane katrina, so it will be of special interest to those of us in the gulf coast region. mat writes in a variety of genres including fiction, non-fiction, comics and graphic fiction. he was also named the first usa james baldwin fellow by the united states artists foundation. mat is the book whisperer. he forced me to diagram my novel on the board during a workshop at callaloo. i complained all the way through the process. mat pointed at a huge gap on the board and said, “there’s your story”. damn he was right.

victor lavalle on process

victor means every word about not being afraid to expose himself for his work. i studied with him at vona and one of the exercises he gave us was to tell an embarrassing story about ourselves where we were the bad guy. while the rest of the class told embarassing stories of the ha-ha funny type, i ended up (without even meaning to) sharing a story that left me sobbing in front of a group of people that i barely knew. i often find myself mining the tender spaces in my own life for my fiction. i’m sure i would have been more likely to resist if victor hadn’t led the way.