From Deb Aoki,
Your Guide to Manga.
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Q: How did Hollow Fields get picked up by Seven Seas Manga?

Madeleine: In November 2005, I launched Hollow Fields on Wirepop, which is an online webmanga community. One of the other artists at Seven Seas saw Hollow Fields and told their boss about it.

He contacted me with an email, which had the header, "How would you like to be published in the U.S?" I thought it was a hoax because it sounded too good to be true, and I asked him for proof of who he was!

The boss was Jason DeAngelis, who's in charge of Seven Seas. He told me that no one had ever doubted his identity before! So that was a slightly foolish moment. At least he didn't get offended and turn me down!

Hollow Fields was hosted just three days on Wirepop before getting the offer from Seven Seas.True story.

Q: Last year, you received honorable mention in the first International Manga Award competition sponsored by the Japanese Government – a major accomplishment! How did you hear about this contest?

Madeleine: Seven Seas knew about the contest, and entered several of its books, including mine. And yes - mine wasn't yet printed. However, because the book was technically finished, it was fine by the rules.

This caused problems at the awards ceremony, though. The other winners got to stand there with their lovely, shiny printed mangas, and I was off to one side with a bunch of low-quality printouts held together with a bulldog clip. Somehow, it still won something though, even like that!

Q: What was your reaction when you heard that you won honorable mention?

Madeleine: I was a bit stunned. Especially because at that point, the trip was exactly seven days away. So it was a little bit like, "You won, now pack!" It was very last moment. I hadn't been expecting it either, since I knew some of the other finalists - two from my own company - and they were very strong.

Q: Part of the prize was winning a trip to Japan for the awards ceremony – what was that experience like? Was it your first trip to Japan?

Madeleine: It was my first trip there, so I was very unprepared! Along with the occasional social faux pas, which my group continually forgave me for, I just couldn't get used to the heat, and was sick on several occasions.

The worst was when we visited Kodansha, the publisher who put out so many of my favourite mangas, including Akira. The summer weather was beating down, and I felt so ill. I lasted five minutes and had to go. I was so embarrassed! I still have nightmares about that day!

There are a couple of really good memories from that trip though; visiting the special temples around Kyoto, particularly Kiyomizu Temple. Studio Pierrot was great, too -- they were working on a Naruto animation, and we got to see their storyboards and character sheets.

The Ghibli Museum was wonderful. Though it was the only place on the entire trip I'd been to where I saw small Japanese children misbehaving en masse. There's something there in the water that makes them go crazy!

And they didn't let me on the catbus because I'm too old. Darn it.

Q: I noticed on your online diary entry about this trip that you got to meet a lot of major manga artists, including a visit to Takehiko Inoue's studio.

Madeleine: Meeting Takehiko Inoue was particularly memorable, because his office space looks like nothing from the outside. I'd never find it again, it's just some random building in suburban Tokyo. But inside it's amazing.

It's just this lovely big space where he does all his work with his assistants. There's music going all the time, and everything they need right there. They really know how to set up a studio.

And the artist himself was a great guy, very mild, easy to talk to. He didn't look down on us at all. He was great. His studio was working on Vagabond, and even though they had a big deadline they still made time for us.

Q: I'm assuming that you also got to meet several representatives from the Japanese manga publishing industry. Did you receive any offers to have Hollow Fields published in Japan?

Madeleine: No, that wasn't part of the prize! But it would be great if it had been!

Q: Another notable thing about you is that you live, work and create from your studio in Tasmania. Is there a sizeable manga / anime creator community Down Under?

Madeleine: There is and there isn't... there are a lot of amateur outlets for people interested in manga, but few professional workers live here.

Because of the Internet, nowadays publishers no longer need you to work in the same country that the publishing house is in, which is great. But I think people here still struggle to find support for their hobby. Many Australians would still not know what a manga artist is.

Q: I know you live quite far away, but are there any plans for you to visit the U.S. to meet your fans at upcoming stateside conventions?

Madeleine: It's a lot of money to get from here to there, even just in airline fares! We'll see.

Q: Judging from Volume 2, there's at least one more volume of Hollow Fields to come – or will there be more than that?

Madeleine: The current story arc wraps up with Volume 3, but that's not to say I won't revisit Hollow Fields in the future.

Q: Do you have any other stories, or projects in the works that you'd like to share with us?

Madeleine: There are a few things going on, but whether any of them see the light of day is unknown. Stay tuned!

Q: And finally – do you have any advice for aspiring manga artists?

Madeleine: Don't just do pinups - work on sequential art. Editors are more interested in seeing the flow of your story. Organising a webmanga is a good idea because it allows an editor to see your skill at holding a story together.

Other than that, work on the kind of stories you enjoy, because if you're successful in getting work, that's the kind of story you're more likely to end up doing.

And keep trying! Rejection is hard (a lot of my previous attempts at getting published were turned down), but if you really want to do this, you'll get there eventually!

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• Read a review of Hollow Fields Volume 1
• Visit Madeleine Rosca's Live Journal
• View Madeleine Rosca's artwork on Deviant Art