I am very excited to bring you guys a 2nd interview from the great folks at Bluewater productions This one is done with Chris Arrant the Author of Diana’s Female Force book .
Dani:Can you share a little bit about your self and how you became involved in the Female Force series?
Chris: I’m primarily known as a journalist specializing in comics, haven written
for Publishers Weekly, Newsarama.com, TOKYOPOP.com and Marvel’s ‘Marvel
Spotlight’ magazine. But I also write comics, up until this point focusing
on anthologies such as Tori Amos’ Comic Book Tattoo, 24Seven Vol. 2 and
Negative Burn.
I’ve been aware of Darren and Bluewater’s titles for quite some time, and
the recent Female Force series has been particularly interesting. I’m a
big fan of biographies — just ask my local librarian — so the idea of
writing a comic biography was particularly appealing. Focusing on a public
figure’s life as a comic book biography allows the reader to not only
read, but to see depictions, of particular poignant moments in their life.
Dani: When preparing for the Diana Comic book what resources did you refer to help write her book?
Chris: Books — lots and lots of books. I’ve read the Andrew Morton books as well as the Paul Burrell ones. What helped bring everything into focus was Jude Davies’ ‘Diana, A Cultural History’. That helped provide the full scope to
allow me to cover the landscape of Diana’s life the best I could in 22 pages.
Lastly, I watched all the interviews and read all the transcripts of
Princess Diana that I could. I felt that was the most important thing to
making this not just another biography but something more definitive and
perennial to accurately represent Princess Diana.
Dani: Will any of Diana’s celebrity friends be making appearances in the book.
Chris:Diana was well-known for running in several different celebrity circles —
I particularly enjoy her dance at the White House with John Travolta early
on in her life. After she left the monarchy and began to fully immerse
herself in a modern life, she famously had connections with many
celebrities.
Short answer, yes! It was hard not to play favorites, so I had to cut some
pieces out… maybe Darren will let me do a sequel!
Dani: How much of challenge was it to fit Diana’s 36 years of life in to a comic book?
Chris:Very difficult. As I said, the constraints of fitting it into 22 pages of
sequential art was the paramount challlenge in this. I could have wrote a
full-length graphic novel (or several!), but for this project we’re
limiting it to a 22 page comic book.
But that has its positives — the low page count equals a lower price
point, allowing it to be available to more people. Plus you can roll it up
and stick it in your back pocket or purse.
Dani: What was your favorite part of Diana’s life to write about?
Chris:Good question! Looking back, I got the most invigorated in my research andwriting at the time period immediately following her divorce with Prince Charles. At that point in time, she could have lived her life in a variety of different avenues; and what she chose to do, by eschewing the negative constraints of the monarchy and embracing a new role quite unlike anything we’ve seen before. The closest things I could compare it to is the
post-presidency life of U.S. Presidents — finding their own challenges
and making their own agenda, using the political capital they’ve accrued.
But getting into the personal side of it, that era showed her amazing
resiliency and ability to take what was given to her and turn it into
something positive. That took alot of courage for Diana.
Dani If Diana was with us when this book was put together do you think she would have liked how she was portrayed in the series?
Chris:I think she would. This biography isn’t a sterilized pro-Diana skewed
biography; My goal was to show both the positives and negative aspects of
her life, with the key factor is it being truthful.
Biographies of Diana began appearing early on in her public life, and she
was remarkably gracious to the biographers — even those who covered the
more controversial aspects of her life. She herself was not adverse to
talking openly about some particular injurous monents of her life — as
long as it was presented in an honest way.
And that’s what I’ve done with this book.
copyrighted 2008-2009 USA DD
I make it no secret that I am a major Young and Restless fan I have been since I was able to sit up and watch tv. I remember when this gorgeous young man stepped on my screen to portray Phillip Chancellor III In 1986. Thom Bierdz took the show by storm when he came to Genoa City and then left us in mourning in 1989 when his character passed away after drinking and driving and having an accident. Leaving behind his son Phillip The IV and a legacy that would change the show forever. Little did we know that Thom had a passion for artwork and is a artist in his own right. Shortly after the Murder of his mother Thom found solace in his artwork and he has created a very telling portrait of Diana, Like the Princess , Thom donates time painting live to bring both awareness and much needed funds to charities that are close to his heart. To date his art donations has raised over $100,000 for these important causes.
dianacollecting.wordpress.com 
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