And partly, the worst thing you could do in my family was need something from someone. So physical strength represented an avenue of self-sufficiency to me. Alison Bechdel More Quotes by Alison Bechdel More Quotes From Alison Bechdel Bechdel Test, was named for the comic strip it came from, penned by Alison Bechdel - but Bechdel credits a friend named Liz Wallace, so maybe it really should be called the Liz Wallace Test...? Anyway, the test is much simpler than the name. To pass it your movie must have the following: a) there are at least two named female characters, who b) talk to each other about c) something other than a man. Alison Bechdel names character men It's a hard thing to age a character because you can't really suddenly give someone gray hair. Alison Bechdel hair giving character Grief takes many forms, including the absence of grief Alison Bechdel form grief absence It was a vicious cycle, though. The more gratification we found in our own geniuses, the more isolated we grew. Alison Bechdel vicious genius found The web is my unconscious but it's also a wish -- a fantasy of what my own creativity might look like if I weren't constantly impeding its flow. Alison Bechdel creativity wish looks I’m glad mainstream culture is starting to catch up to where lesbian-feminism was 30 years ago. Alison Bechdel mainstream-culture feminism years I tend to write first thing, and then do my drawing later. I like to draw at night. But often I go for long stretches without drawing, because I'm trying to figure out what I'm writing. Alison Bechdel drawing writing night I do sometimes miss doing that lighter, more humorous work, and I find there's a heavier responsibility that goes along with a literary reputation. You have to start knowing what you're talking about and you have to go have public conversations with writers. That's been pretty intense; I have to really stay on top of things in a way I didn't before. Alison Bechdel humorous responsibility talking I get to do for a living what I did as a child for fun, and that's pretty cool. Alison Bechdel fun children Basically, my work is play. It never actually feels that way - I'm always aiming to attain that state. But I get to do for a living what I did as a child for fun, and that's pretty cool. Alison Bechdel play fun children I could not do what I do if I were not obsessive compulsive to a certain extent. I don't act clinically OCD. I'm not going to check things so many times I have to take drugs for it. But the kind of complicated and painstaking work I have to do to make my drawings, it just kind of harnesses that compulsive energy in a constructive way. Alison Bechdel drug kind energy I try not to have anything too much going on between waking up and getting to work. I like to just be really fresh when I sit down. I always have my best ideas, like, within five minutes of starting. And then the rest of the day is just kind of putting in time. Alison Bechdel waking trying ideas I don't know how anyone gets anything done in New York City. I vastly prefer living in the country. I just need a lot of quiet and solitude, and I'm so easily distracted. I mean, the Internet is enough to deal with. Alison Bechdel new-york mean country Drawing is more fun to me than writing. I think it's interesting to talk to different cartoonists about how those activities work for them. I'm a very writerly cartoonist. I certainly spend more time on the writing than I do on the drawing, even though the drawing, of course, is very time-consuming. Alison Bechdel writing fun thinking Self-published media are really critical. It's so heartwarming that people are still doing it in this digital age. It's just really moving and exciting. You can't really replace a beautiful little mini-comic. It doesn't translate to the computer, you know? Handmade stuff has really given me hope for humanity. Alison Bechdel beautiful people moving Sometimes I wish the writing and drawing were more integrated. Alison Bechdel drawing wish writing When I was growing up in the 1960s, there was starting to be more books geared towards young adults. Alison Bechdel growing-up adults book I just met someone who read Gone With the Wind 62 times for exactly that same reason. She couldn't bear that it wasn't real. She wanted to live in it. Alison Bechdel real gone wind Yeah, I read Judy Blume. My mother didn't like that, but I read it anyhow. Alison Bechdel yeah mother I started to get bored with that stuff about only drawing men and I've taken it out of the slideshow. Alison Bechdel drawing taken men
