An interview with illustrator Bob Staake about his ‘Chatham Orb’

Chatham, Cape Cod:

Christopher Seufert: I read that you finished both the drawings and the text of the

Chatham orb in a week. How could that be true?

Bob Staake: You have to understand, and people who know me know that I’m a

insufferable workaholic and I work extremely fast, that the book was the kind of

thing where a lot of things happened at the same time. Once I decided to do it,

I didn’t outline the book or anything. I went straight to my final illustrations and

they were working out, and I thought, “Well, there’s no real reason to go ahead and

rough this thing I can take it straight to finish, and do it.”

It was the first of my forty or so books that I’ve done that way, where I just

completely revised and finished it with no sketches or anything. I think

some books are like that. It was such a simple story, that at the end of

the day you look at it, it’s 290 words or so, and 13 illustrations.

I tend to work very fast and when I get into a project or a book I am not the

kind of person who wants that long term. When they give me those 9 months

for an editor to finish everything, I’m always waiting until the last month

because I don’t want to extend those illustrations in time. For me to keep a

cohesion and consistency between illustrations works best for me to sit

down and (hand motion) do it up. I don’t jump from page to page. I do not

say “I want to do this shot,” you know, like a video director would or the way a

the film director alternated between these scenes. I tend to have the

it all flowed so no it literally took a week. It was one of those projects that

I did it over Thanksgiving of 2004. I figured I had a little time to do it, so I just

hammered through

CS: So you did it like that without an editor approving your idea or anyone else.

giving you a thumbs up?

BS: Yeah, I’ve just been doing this for so long that what comes with it is a certain level

I mean, I’ll tell you that one of my concerns was that this is the first

book that I have made completely without an advance or a contract from a publisher.

But my second book, a book called “Red Lemon,” will come out with Random

House and it was done the same way too. All the way through. and you sit there

with these books and you think, “Am I kidding myself that this story

really has wings and can fly?” Because you’re not showing anyone. You’re showing

your friends, and all your friends are going to say “This is wonderful!” you know, no

one is honest with you. It’s only when you take it to that editor and “Boom!”

within an hour, you’ve been offered a contract and you’re like, “Okay, great, I’m

not delusional. My head isn’t somewhere it shouldn’t be.” So there’s a complete

vindication, but politically, when you work with editors and art directors and

publishers, he was certainly hyper-aware of the political ramifications of essentially

telling an editor, “Hey, I don’t need you here in this book.” But luckily that’s not

turn them off and happily the book goes very well.

CS: Is it? It stands out to me and is refreshing in that it calls for an asset

participation on the part of the reader, while most books are much more

passive experience. But I wouldn’t necessarily think that would translate to

Success in business. Of course, authors like Edward Gorey really worked in that market.

right.

Do most of the people you talk to “get” the concept of the mystery you have exposed,

with the codependency of the book and the website?

BS: Those people who get the book, those who read the book and unlock the code

and go to the deeper website and see all the things that are there, they are

responding incredibly well to her. There has been some interest in an Inside The Orb

Chatham, and what happens next in a follow-up book, and I don’t know. You

You know, one of my feelings about the book is that the reader is the person who

create that backstory. The reader is the person who takes the basic story and

develop it in your mind. I mean, it’s truly an experience. what he wanted to do

was to democratize the literary experience between reader and writer and book and

to really elevate the reader’s importance, and to make the argument that it doesn’t

The book would exist without a reader, okay? At the end of the day, that’s really true,

but what I really wanted to do was just build on that in spades. me

I really wanted to do an experience where the reality of a person with that book is

different from the next person. They are that causal and integral part of the whole

process that completes the picture. So the idea of ​​making a follow-up book, the idea

to do anything other than that, goes against what I have done

here with the book

CS: Personally, I was able to unlock the code and enter the website, but I was

quite impressed by the depth of the website within. peeled onion layers

away and I don’t know if I have yet gotten a full understanding of the mystery that is

there presented. So I went back to the book, reread it and my full perspective

in history changed again. Then of course back to the website, and this is the

the way it’s been going. I’m still trying to understand the actual questions that are

that is asked of me as a reader of the book.

BS: A lot of people have seen the book and are a bit in awe.

someone figured out a way to incorporate a literary experience with a website

component, and turn it into this whole multimedia thing and I’m flattered by

that, but I have to believe someone else has done it. I think it’s very

ambitious website and there is a lot going on there, but it seems like a

complete naturals. Certainly, for a mystery like this, it was a case where

I want to tell this great and elaborate story in the book. I could have done it very easily, but

I really wanted the website to work like… This is what I tell people: “The end of

the book, the end of the Chatham Orb, is truly the beginning of the story. That is

where it starts.”

So, you set the stage, and once they unlock the code and go to the website,

continue, so for me, both as a writer and an illustrator, it was a great way to

experience… continue to let the story breathe, just take angles and insert

amazing detail in a backstory that just wouldn’t have worked in print

book reaching 290 words. She wanted him naked like that. I wanted him this naked and I

I wanted the illustrations to be really sparse, and then I wanted to continue

From there.

CS: Was the website sort of a second idea, or was it always part of the initial idea?

concept from day one?

BS: Honestly, I can’t remember. I can tell you this. It was essential to do the

Orb of Chatham and complete the whole book, and take it to a publisher, a

small regional house like Commonwealth Editions in Boston, which made a beautiful

worked. They really endorsed the book in a way that Viking or Simon and Schuster or

Random House would not have. But when I was considering Random House,

he thought, “There’s no way I can do it the traditional way,” which is to show the cover,

Show the story and show a couple of examples. I mean, everyone would look

and I say “what?!” I am at a stage in my career where, due to the use of the web

The way I do it, I can submit a book over the Internet to a publisher. when i call a

publisher and say, “This is what I got,” you can see it online. there is no more reason

have those hard copies fly to New York. So, I think as I built the

pages, showing how the book would flow, and it was very important to show black

background on the left with gray font and illustration on the right, it was just a

natural to then develop beyond there.

CS: What kind of reaction do you get from those who don’t “get” the book? There are

those who don’t “get” what are you asking the reader to do here? it’s not

Is this supposed to be a traditional book?

BS: No, I don’t think it’s a case of people not getting it. I think there are people who

He’ll look at it and say, “Oh no, this is going to take work,” you know. Only me

turns out to be a puzzle person, I like things like that; any kind of puzzle, any kind of

thing you have to decode or decipher, you know. I am fascinated by things like

that. There are some people who like that and others who don’t, those people

who like tomatoes and some people who don’t. This is a big juicy tomato. never

stop surprising me Some people will say, “I’ve been working on this for three days to

try to solve the code”, and I’m like, “Hey, at least you’re working”, and I sit there and

say, “You’ll get it, you’ll figure it out.” One review said what was interesting about the

code is that there are a couple of very simple questions, and in a way they strengthen

you think, “piece of cake, I’ll fly right through this,” but then it gets hard and

people are going back to a couple of tracks that they can’t quite grasp.

CS: So what is the correct way to approach the general mystery and the individual?

book and website components? Is the mystery resolution better done?

With logic or with imagination?

BS: People look at me and say, “This is code based on numbers,” and it’s not really. It’s

it requires numbers, but it really requires all the senses… a visual sense, a tactile sense

in holding the book, certainly an oral sense in terms of listening to the music, because

it’s really creepy and sets the stage. It’s almost a total immersion thing.

One of the things that I found interesting, and it’s one of the things that I wanted

do in the book, was when you read the book, you come to a conclusion about the story.

If you are forced to go ahead and solve the code and get in there, then what

website is to take your original hypothesis and turn it around. all in one

suddenly you have a completely different view of what really happened, you know?

That’s what I wanted to create. She wanted to create a kind of “Aha!” time for the

reader where you think, “You know what? I really thought this was the real story,

but now I have a completely different opinion.”

And now for an exclusive hint: Author Bob Staake has kindly provided this

interviews readers with an exclusive bonus clue into the mystery of the Chatham Orb.

However, for you to understand this clue, you must have already cracked the

initial code on their website and gained access to the inner mystery of the orb. If you

you haven’t achieved this first basic step yet, go back and do it before you try

this additional phase of investigation.

The Christopher Seufert interview clue is not necessary for you to solve the mystery.

(you just need the book and its official website for that http://

http://www.OrbofChatham.com), but in fact points to an additional piece of the

puzzle that is only available through this exclusive link. But we’re not going alone

give you the clue, you’re going to have to work for it. Investigate seriously and

your track will be revealed.

Now, visit the track online at [http://www.MyChatham.com-] one of the real

The “orbated” links to the right lead to Bob Staak’s additional research lead. Read the

ten links, but don’t guess, then select the bottom button where you want

most feel that it leads closer to the heart of the mystery. Choose wisely, however. You

just get one guess every two hours from your current computer. you get unlimited

guess, but if your guess is wrong, you won’t be allowed to guess again for that

time frame.