Interview: Sara Goetter And Natalie Riess Talk ‘Cryptid Kids’

At the end of The Bawk-ness Monster, Penny and her mom had just moved out of town, leaving Luc and K to keep an eye out for cryptids on their own. Now Penny and her new friend Jo have come to pay Luc and K a visit, but will K be able to squeeze in some cryptid time like she wants or will her dad manage to squash her efforts? It’s all there in Moby Duck, the latest book in Sara Goetter and Natalie Riess‘ Cryptid Kids series and here’s what Goetter and Reiss had to share about their half whale, half duck sequel:

Rachel Bellwoar: For those unfamiliar with the term, how would you describe a “cryptid” and was there a specific cryptid that started your interest in cryptozoology?

Sara Goetter: I would describe a cryptid as any kind of creature whose proof of their existence is a point of contention. I remember growing up hearing about The Jersey Devil and being fascinated with the idea that monsters and mythical creatures are real, you just have to be lucky (or unlucky) enough to see one.

Bellwoar: Big Foot and Bessie might be more famous, but what I love about this series is that you didn’t go for the “mainstream cryptids,” if that’s even a term, but created your own. How much fun has it been designing cryptids and do you have a favorite so far?

Goetter: I’ve spent many years of my life designing little monsters, and I love to take any opportunity I can get to design more. In Bawk-Ness Monster in particular I had a lot of fun thinking about “designer cryptids” since these are meant to be sold as pets to people. That’s why there’s mini versions of famous cryptids like the Rhode Island Devil and the Puddle Monster. I think my favorite that I’ve come up with is The Stuff, since it really stretches what you can call a cryptid, haha.

Natalie Riess: I remember when Sara was working on the pitch for this, she showed me some concept art for Moby Duck (half giant and slightly unsettling cute duck, half unknowable fleshy horror-whale) and that’s what really got me on board for the sequel!

Bellwoar: At the end of Bawk-ness Monster, Penny’s mom suggested that their next reunion should be at a beach and, sure enough, that’s where Moby Duck is set. Did that setting inspire your choice for the title cryptid (and did you design the title logos as well because, as someone who took one graphic design class in high school, they’re awesome)?

Goetter: We wrote that gag at the end of Bawk-Ness Monster with the intention that if we were to write another entry in the series we would set it at the beach. We already had the names “Arrvida” and “Moby Duck” picked out but not much else beyond that. When it was time to actually write the story for Moby Duck it was fun to finally fill out more details.

As for the title design, that was all Molly Johanson from First Second. They work with us on the covers and overall book design and are just a total delight to work with! They came up with the idea and I hand-lettered the titles.

Bellwoar: It’s not Penny’s mom, Ronnie, who chaperones this trip, though, but K’s father, Terry. How does Terry’s parental energy differ from Ronnie’s and what made you want to have parents be involved in these books, rather than be figures that the children sneak around behind, unaware of what their kids are up to?

Goetter: One of the big inspirations for the Cryptid Kids series is Digimon Adventure (the first series of Digimon), where there’s a whole arc that takes place in real life Tokyo rather than the Digital World and the main characters have to deal with their family relationship problems as well as their Digimon problems. I always really loved that arc and thought that parents are actually a huge part of a kid’s life, and I think it makes things more interesting to have them involved in the big goofy fantasy story.

As for the differences between Ronnie and Terry, I actually struggled a little bit to make sure they react and act differently from each other, despite the fact that they’re both single parents thrown into a stressful fantastical situation. I definitely tried to play more into Terry’s “nerdy Dad” status as opposed to Ronnie’s “hypercompetent helicopter parent” in the scenes leading up to the change into the fantasy. I think generally Terry has a bit more complicated relationship with cryptids in general in Moby Duck and I hope we were able to get that across in the story.

Riess: Agreed! It’s a bigger cast to work with, but I think involving families gives the story a lot more dimension.

Bellwoar: We also get to meet a new member of the Scales family in this book. One early sign that Arrvida might be different from her cousin, Alvida, is that she seems to have fostered some loyalty from her crew but can a Scales be trusted?

Goetter: I don’t know….can she? But actually though, the relationship that Arrvida has with her crew versus how Alvida treated her employees was one of the things I hoped people would pick up on to show how different they are despite being related.

Riess: There’s a lot of “what if” bouncing around that we do in the process of writing these. Arrvida started as a goofy pun, but we thought it would be really interesting to make this book’s villain more competent and to give her more complicated and genuine motivations, and putting her somewhat at odds with (while still being a part of) the Scales group works nicely with the other themes of this book. However, it’s still Cryptid Kids, so…she’s also really into pirates.

Bellwoar: It’s not just cryptids that are hybrids in this series. What made you choose to create hybrid states as well, like Texsylvania in Bawk-ness and now New Marseyland?

Goetter: I grew up in Pennsylvania and lived in Texas for nearly ten years, and both states mean a lot to me and I wanted to represent them both in Bawk-Ness Monster. Though honestly, the main decision to make up new states was mostly to signify that this setting is close enough to our contemporary world, but it’s not exactly our world, which gives us the freedom to be flexible on various things like technology, brand names and current events.

Bellwoar: Disguises have become a bit of a running gag in this series, or rather their success rate continues to boggle. At time of writing Halloween’s just around the corner. Disguises and costumes aren’t exactly the same thing but do you enjoy a good costume?

Goetter: My older sister in particular is way into Halloween and costumes and all that, haha. She’s a high school teacher and always goes all-out decorating her classroom and putting a costume together. I’m a cartoonist that works from home so it’s harder for me to find a good reason to put on a costume, but I do enjoy getting the chance to. I think Natalie is much better at putting a costume together than I am, haha.

Riess: I LOVE COSTUMES! Even as an adult I love an excuse to put together an outfit or do a little craft. I definitely would have tried making the pantomime Bessie suit as a kid…

Bellwoar: In the backmatter for Bawk-ness, we get to see Luc have a conversation with his friends about calling him a different name and in the latest issue of Creature Monthly it’s confirmed that Luc uses he/him pronouns now. How important was it to you to show kids that these realizations can come about gradually and that they can be met with acceptance and love?

Goetter: Luc is a character that’s near and dear to us, and Natalie and I really wanted to make sure that his character arc came across. We had both a sensitivity reader and personal trans friends read over the book to make sure it comes across as genuine, even if Luc and his transition isn’t the main focal point of the story. Being a kid growing up in the world is hard enough on its own, and when you throw in figuring out your gender identity it can be overwhelming, so it was important to me to show Luc’s friends as well as Terry (and Ronnie but she’s not really in the second book long enough) as being supporting and caring.

Bellwoar: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Sara and Natalie!

Cryptid Kids: The Bawk-ness Monster and Cryptid Kids: Moby Duck are on sale now from First Second.