Tracy White Illustrates and Writes a "Mostly True" Graphic Novel!

In her graphic novel, How I Made It To Eighteen, Tracy White's writing and artwork tell the story of a young woman struggling with depression, exhaustion and drug addiction.

Tracy White's "mostly true" graphic novel, How I Made It to Eighteen (Roaring Brook, 2010), begins when the 17-year-old narrator checks herself into Golden Meadows Hospital after smashing a glass window with her fist. Struggling with depression, exhaustion, and drug addiction, Stacy Black just wants to feel like herself again. Described with unflinching honesty, Stacy wrestles with issues of self-esteem and body image, hangs on to an unhealthy relationship with her boyfriend, and refuses to admit to anyone–even herself–that she has an eating disorder. White's artwork is as honest as her writing, and the graphic-novel format packs and emotional punch.  In How I Made it to Eighteen, Tracy White uses both words and pictures to paint a harsh, yet poignant picture of a young woman as she struggles through great difficulties. 

CommitmentNow.com:  How I Made It To Eighteen is the story of a difficult part of your life; at age seventeen, you had a nervous breakdown and sent yourself to a mental hospital.  Was it difficult to tell such a personal story?

Tracy White:  It was difficult to write and draw the story, but not to tell it. Yes the story is very personal but those experiences made me who I am today – and that’s a person I like a lot- so I want to see that. When I was at my lowest I truly thought I was the only one going through what I felt and that there was no way I’d ever have my life back together. I’m glad that I can share what I went through and hope those reading will see that life can still turn out more than fine even if you deviate from what we are told is the “right way” to do things.

CommitmentNow.com:  How I Made it To Eighteen is a graphic novel.  Why did you use this format to tell your story?

Tracy:  I'm a storyteller. Reaching people, reaching out to people is what I do. I choose to tell stories in the medium of comics because I find the combination of words and images endlessly intriguing and powerful. Combining words and images within a panel can create a unique third idea. For example, if the text of the narrator said something like, "I felt horrible the whole time," but the image was of a girl smiling and laughing with her friends, well you'd understand the third idea is that the she's pretending to be happy. If you just read the sentence, or just saw the image alone, you'd have a totally different take on what the character was feeling.

CommitmentNow.com:  At seventeen you were doing drugs, you had body image issues and were involved in a hurtful relationship.  What advice do you have for young women who are struggling with these issues?

Tracy:  Tell someone. Just the act of describing your emotions instead of purely feeling them can help us  (me at least) begin to understand a little bit of what’s going on. By letting a friend, or therapist in you are by default less alone which is, I think, and important step.

CommitmentNow.com:  What is you life like now?

Tracy:  Happy and creative. Two adjectives I never in a bazillion years thought I’d use to describe myself. I also never thought, back then, that it was possible to be either of those things without partying. Thankfully it totally is.

CommitmentNow.com:  Where can we learn more about you and your witting?

Tracy:  I have a web site called TRACED.COM where I’ve been posting autobiographical comics about the universal experiences we all go through– like getting drunk for the first time, or pressure from tests, or the first kiss. There’s also information about where I’ll be speaking and upcoming projects – like the new book I’m now starting to write and draw.

Tracy White (www.traced.com) is a webcomics pioneer who began publishing her work online in 1996. A native of New York City, Tracy has made comics for gURL.com,  AOL, and Oxygen TV, as well as a docu-comic for the Lower East Side Tenement Museum about the experiences of immigrant teens living in New York. Her webcomic has been nominated twice for an Ignatz Award. Tracy is currently an adjunct professor at the Interactive Telecommunication Program, which is part of NYU's TISCH School of the Arts. How I Made It to Eighteen is her first book.