Hit Webtoon creator Snailords has been enjoying an incredible creative streak for the better part of the past decade. He created the popular romance series Freaking Romance and the ongoing thriller Death: Rescheduled. Freaking Romance is a romance starring two young people who live in different dimensions that share the same apartment. Meanwhile, Death: Rescheduled is a thriller set in a world where murder is legal. Freaking Romance has an ongoing graphic novel series adaptation published by Webtoon Unscrolled, and a film adaptation by Skybound Entertainment was also recently announced.
CBR sat down with Snailords at this year's San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) to discuss his hit webtoon series and what is in store for both of them in the future. In this exclusive interview, Snailords details his long Webtoon journey, his creative process, and how he evolved as an artist over the years. He also shared his reaction to Freaking Romance recently announcing its upcoming film adaptation and reveals more details about upcoming projects.
CBR: You’ve been a Webtoon creator for many years now, with hit series including Freaking Romance and Death: Rescheduled. When did you first discover your passion for digital comics, and what led you to becoming a Webtoon creator?
Related
Webtoon Unscrolled’s Freaking Romance Volume 2 Review: Multidiminesional Love is Complicated
Snailords' Freaking Romance: Volume 2 proves that love is complicated and can take many forms in this hit multidimensional romance.
Snailords: When I was little, I loved stories because they're less complicated than making friends. I started reading a lot of stories, and I just liked coming up with stories. Whenever I was in class, I was doodling something. The teachers thought I was paying attention, but I was miles away dreaming of something else. It wasn't a viable career, but Webtoon came into the picture and made that career viable. I thought that was perfect. That is something I want to do for life. So I began my journey there, and I began working professionally pretty much in 2015.
Death: Rescheduled is your currently ongoing series on the Webtoon platform that debuted a year after Freaking Romance concluded. What inspired the series, and what was the transition from romance to thriller like?
It was rough. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be because, with romance, the end goal is if they end up together. With thrillers, there are a lot of elements going on to keep the readers engaged and interested in the story. It's harder for me personally because of all the action panels that I don't know how to draw. So that was hard, but it's a fun learning experience for me, so it's a little bit different.
With Freaking Romance, it was a lot more about conversations between people and relationships between people. How do I put two people in a room holding a conversation and make it interesting? That was the fun part and the challenge for Freaking Romance. With Death: Rescheduled, it is about how to keep the readers emotionally invested in these characters and hoping that they don't die. I feel like in romance, it's "will they end up together or won't they?" In thrillers, it's "will they or won't they die?"
Does your previous work and the success of Freaking Romance influence how you approach Death: Rescheduled, and how have you evolved as an artist and creator over the years?
These are great questions, I love them. For Freaking Romance, I was not familiar with storytelling and stuff like that. I knew how to draw a little bit. I did write some stories before, but never something like that official. So to prepare for Freaking Romance, I had to learn a lot. I literally signed up for a master class to listen to other writers talk about their process, and I also watched a lot of YouTube videos for tips. On top of that, I was reading different stories to see what it was about the story that the audience really liked so I could learn from it.
I did that for Freaking Romance, and all that really helped me trial and error with Freaking Romance and see what worked on my audience and what didn't. I took that learning experience over to Death: Rescheduled. Do they like the characters or not? Are they invested in these people? Why do they care about these people? The skills that I learned from Freaking Romance of two people in a room, making people be invested in that, helped me a lot with dialogues in Death: Rescheduled.
Can you walk me through your creative process when working on a series and its episodes?
Related
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Violet Karim talks about her Webtoon series, Death of a Pop Star, and its upcoming live-action adaptation.
For my future series, I figured out this way to be more efficient. I like to write a one-liner pitch to my audience. For example, my upcoming story I want to work on is called unAlived on First Date, and it's a story about a very normal, 21-year-old with resurrection powers who is going to resurrect a serial killer so he can ask the whereabouts of his dead soulmate. He's just trying to find her body to resurrect her. That is a one-liner, but shorter.
I would pitch to my audience on Instagram and if people were interested, they would ask me to do a storyboard version. I would write out a short story sample for them to read through and if that had a lot of engagement, then I'd start story boarding just very sketchy stuff on Webtoon Canvas. If the audience seems interested in that, then I would pitch it to Webtoon.
Freaking Romance has been undergoing a print adaptation by Webtoon Unscrolled with Volume 1 and 2 already available to the public. Can you tell me more about the adaptation process and how it felt to physically hold your work?
It's insane. I grew up reading manga, so I would be at the bookstore just reading the same story again and again. So it's kind of crazy to see my books on the shelves. It's like, "Am I dreaming? It's actually there?" So I love that. I love being able to hold it. And on top of that, I like the idea that the audience who have read that story now have a little piece of the story to hold on to as a souvenir. I really like that. I was not involved in a lot of the adaptation of the book because I am working with a really great team. They did all the work for me because they knew I was busy, and they did all the layout and everything. They just got it covered, and I love that. If it is beautiful, that's on them.
Speaking of adaptations, a live-action Freaking Romance movie was recently announced by Wattpad Webtoon Studio and Skybound Entertainment. Can you tell me more about the upcoming film and how you felt when it was confirmed?
Related
Bling Empire Star Kevin Kreider Discusses His New Webtoon Series, Taejin: Legend of the Yang Metal
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Kevin Kreider discusses his brand new series, Taejin: Legend of the Yang Metal, now on Webtoon.
It is being adapted by Skybound Entertainment, which makes The Walking Dead and Invincible. A couple of years ago for Thanksgiving, my family and I actually bonded over watching The Walking Dead for the first few seasons. I was excited that they are the ones that are picking up Freaking Romance, because Freaking Romance is a romance, and this is a studio that is more well known for their horror thriller work, so I'm excited to see what they come up with. The combination is interesting.
When they officially told me that the announcement was made, my sister and I were literally in our room just screaming our heads off, just bothering the neighbors. I even called my mom. She doesn't speak English, so she doesn't really watch American shows, but she does know what The Walking Dead is. So I'm like, "Do you remember that zombie show we watched? It's going to be them that makes the movie." And she's like, "Oh my God!"
What are you looking forward to the most in the future and do you have any other projects in the works?
I want to expand out. Eventually, I would love to be able to connect and work with other artists to create more stories and faster, as opposed to if I were to do it only by myself in a smaller team. Each story takes me about three to five years. If I have like five stories that I want to bring to life, that's such a long queue. In the future, I would like to branch out and connect with more artists and work with them on developing a couple of stories at the same time.
As fans continue to follow your work throughout the years, is there anything you would like to say to them now?
Stephen King's wife took out the script of Carrie from the trashcan. He was working on that, and he was frustrated, and he just didn't like it. He thought it was not good enough. He tossed it into the trashcan. His wife actually took that out and told him to continue working on it, and he did. Now we know what Carrie is. That's what my audience is for me. There would be times when I wanted to toss something in the trashcan, mostly myself, but my audience would be like Stephen King's wife, where they just rescue me from the trashcan like, "No, you have to continue this. We're reading. We love this." That motivates me so much.
Death: Rescheduled is an ongoing series that can be read now on WEBTOON. Freaking Romance is now available in print by WEBTOON Unscrolled wherever books are sold, and the completed webcomic can be read on WEBTOON.
