For local author-illustrator and librarian Dora Mitchell, a life oriented around books was never in question. Mitchell is the author of the children’s novel, The Haunted Serpent, and the popular webcomic, The Curse of Crooked Mile, as well as an independently published graphic novel, Ninecrow. Her latest work is The Puzzling Fate of Millicent Graves, a full-color graphic novel for kids ages 8 and up. It is scheduled for release May 20.
“As a kid, I just never really considered doing anything when I grew up except being an author-illustrator,” Mitchell said. “I come from a family of readers. My parents took me to the library every week and read to me every night.”
Mitchell’s roots run deep in Plumas County. The author was born and raised in Quincy, where she was homeschooled prior to graduating in 1998 and enrolling in Feather River College. She later moved to the coast to attend California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, where she earned an art degree, followed by a master’s degree in library science from San Jose State University. “I loved the north coast, but I always missed the creeks and mountains in Plumas County, “ said Mitchell, who moved back to Quincy after finishing graduate school.
Upon her return, she began working at the Plumas County Library as the children’s librarian. “That was a nice full-circle moment, because my grandma worked at this same library, my parents have been coming here since they were kids, and it’s where my love of reading started,” Mitchell said. “I have so many happy memories of checking out piles of books from this library every week! It feels really special to be working here again and hopefully helping a new generation of kids build a love of reading.”
Mitchell was appointed county librarian in April of 2024, overseeing branches in Quincy, Chester, Greenville and Portola.
Sources of inspiration
It is no surprise that Mitchell considers books to be her greatest source of inspiration. “Lots of reading is vital,” she said. “So much inspiration comes from filling your brain with ideas from others, then giving your unconscious mind time and quiet space to cook things up when you’re not even aware of it.”
“Plumas County is all over my stories!”
Dora Mitchell, author-illustrator
That quiet space isn’t just metaphorical, but physical as well. Mitchell draws endless inspiration from the natural world, especially here in the rural mountain environment. “Plumas County is all over my stories!” said the author. “The Haunted Serpent was full of references to mining based on local history, and the Plumas Unified School District Office building is in one of the illustrations. “
“Most of my stories are set in small, woodsy towns,” Mitchell explained. “My love of everything spooky has a lot to do with hours and hours spent roaming the woods by myself. It’s amazing how that can feel peaceful and calming one moment, and creepy as all get-out the next when you stumble on the ruins of a burned-down house or a tattered party dress way out in the middle of nowhere!”
Mitchell’s fascination with the spooky and macabre saturates her work: “I tend to have a dark element in almost all of my stories and artwork. I gravitate toward gothic horror and mystery, and I have since I was little. There’s just something about creepy stories that fascinates me.” Whether it’s revenants and other paranormal creatures harrowing the protagonist in The Haunted Serpent, the rising horror of missing girls and a small town’s dark secrets in Ninecrow, or haunted, hollow-eyed children staring out from the paper in Mitchell’s watercolor paintings, there is an element of the strange and unusual in most of her creations.
That thread of darkness doesn’t mean that all of Mitchell’s work has a serious tone. “I can’t take my own work that seriously, so even the spookier stuff has a lot of humor,” she said. “My protagonists always seem to make sarcastic comments at moments that should be scary.”
Introducing Millicent Graves
Mitchell’s penchant for the weird, whimsical — and a little bit scary — is on full display in her upcoming graphic novel, which hits shelves later this month. The Puzzling Fate of Millicent Graves tells the story of 12-year-old Millicent, a frustrated young girl who longs for a simple, easy life.
When Millicent discovers a collection of magical jigsaw puzzles that are capable of changing reality, she wastes no time creating a perfect life – with disastrous results. “She finds out that there are a lot of unexpected consequences when you start changing people’s personalities,” explained the author. Soon, as cracks begin to form in the fabric of reality, Millicent must race against time to put things right.
While The Puzzling Fate of Millicent Graves contains a few spooky elements, it’s a departure from some of Mitchell’s darker works, such as Crooked Mile and Ninecrow. Millicent’s adventure, according to the author, leans more toward the humorous, magical-fantasy side of things. “Of course there are still some monsters and sinister lurking crows and such, because there just have to be,” Mitchell explained. “But even though there are magical elements, it’s really a story about a regular kid with real-world frustrations with her family life, like money worries and dealing with a pesky sibling.”
Millicent’s story began several years back, when Mitchell found herself thinking about the struggles that young people face as they grapple with feelings of discontent. “When I started to write Puzzling Fate, all I knew to begin with was that I wanted to write about a girl who tried to make her family into different, better versions of themselves,” said Mitchell. “Later, I was thinking about perfectionism and accomplishment clashing with happiness, and I realized that would be the perfect theme to explore with the girl reinventing her family.”
As the plot came together, Mitchell began the process of pairing her words with visual art. The Puzzling Fate of Millicent Graves features vibrant, full color illustrations to help tell its tale of magic, myth and mayhem. “It’s been about three years in the making. The artwork was incredibly labor-intensive,” Mitchell said.
“I hope it inspires kids to embrace the imperfections in life, but also to feel like they can be brave and bold and jump into new things with both feet like Millie does.”
Dora Mitchell, author-illustrator
The finished result is something the author is proud of and excited to share with readers. “I think it’s a really fun story, with lots of twists and turns,” said Mitchell. “I hope it inspires kids to embrace the imperfections in life, but also to feel like they can be brave and bold and jump into new things with both feet like Millie does.” For Mitchell, the imperfections in life are where the magic happens, and where creativity is born.
Making a practice of creativity
Even while working full time — and often more than full time — in her professional capacity for the library, Mitchell doesn’t put her creative work on the proverbial backburner. “I think inspiration is probably the biggest struggle for every creative person, so I try not to wait for inspiration. I make it a practice to write and/or draw every day, whether or not I feel inspired,” Mitchell said. “I find that ideas come more often when you’re staying in tune with your creative side every day.”
One of Mitchell’s biggest creative endeavors has been finding her voice as not just an author or artist, but as an author-illustrator who weaves together both words and visual art to create meaningful, cohesive stories. In describing her path to comics and graphic novels, Mitchell said, “I’ve always loved comics and the way they blend art and writing to tell a story. They’re a perfect fit for me because I’ve never been able to decide if I should focus on being a writer or being an artist!”
In addition to writing and illustrating comics and graphic novels, Mitchell explores various art forms under the umbrella of her business, Inky Beast Studio. “With my grasshopper brain, I can never stop trying different media and materials,” she said. “So Inky Beast Studio includes comics and books, but also needle felting and sculptures and paintings and so on.”
Mitchell is coordinating an upcoming artist event with the folks at the Made in Plumas County store, located in the Quincy Hub. It will showcase her Inky Beast creations and celebrate the release of The Puzzling Fate of Millicent Graves. She is excited by the opportunity to show some of her more eclectic pieces.
As for the name, Inky Beast, it comes from the artist’s lifelong love for animal art: “Drawing animals in pen and ink has always been my favorite, and I always go back to that. So Inky Beast seemed appropriate.”
The path to publication
Despite Mitchell’s love of art and writing, her path to publication has not been easy. “The publication journey — it’s been a long road,” said the author, who claims she’s not particularly talented, just extremely dogged and determined.
Mitchell strives to be transparent about the struggles involved in success, especially when talking to young aspiring artists and writers. “It’s a lot of rejection if you really want to be published. First I spent years getting rejected by agents, then my agent and I spent years getting rejected by editors. It doesn’t happen fast except for a lucky few.”
For Mitchell, the process involved thinking outside the box and utilizing creative methods to get her work out there. Her graphic novel Ninecrow, for example, was originally released in installments through her social media. Its publication was crowdfunded through Kickstarter, an online crowdfunding platform for artistic projects and endeavors.
Mitchell has found that mainstream publication has become easier since she shifted her focus to graphic novels, a genre that is growing quickly in popularity. Following the success of Ninecrow and her webcomic, The Curse of Crooked Mile, her agent suggested pitching her next idea as a graphic novel instead of a traditional book.
That opened doors quickly, according to Mitchell. “Graphic novels are so popular with kids (and adults) that they’re an easier sell with publishers,” explained Mitchell. “As a librarian, I love that, because I’ve seen graphic novels turn kids who hate books into enthusiastic readers.” And for Mitchell, inspiring a love of books and reading is a dream come true.
