G. WILLOW WILSON

'Butterfly Mosque' came out of the emails I wrote to family and friends back home after moving to Egypt.

Anytime you're writing stories about a group of people with whom you have limited experience, there's a lot of guesswork.

Being a Muslim in America, I've noticed that there's a ton of crossover between the Muslim community and geekdom.

Comic book readers tend to be pretty secular and anti-authoritarian; nothing is above satire in their eyes.

For me, insomnia was something ordinary, and it came and went for ordinary reasons.

I didn't believe in spiritual homelands, and found God as readily in a strip mall as in a mosque.

I do hope the success of 'Ms. Marvel' will open doors for other characters and other creators.

I don't think there's something inherently irreligious about comics.

I keep setting the bar higher for myself in terms of what I'm trying to accomplish.

I think comics are really part of The Zeitgeist. They reflect back to us the issues that we're concerned about in the time they are written.

I think every Muslim woman has to feel the world out for herself.

I think lot of Muslims have gotten fatigued by the way Muslim characters, even 'positive' ones, are portrayed in the media.

I think people, especially in the Muslim community, are rightly cautious any time you hear, 'Oh, there's going to be a Muslim character.'

I was born in New Jersey and lived there until I was about 10, so Jersey is in my roots.

I'm writing in English; I'm writing for a Western audience, but the people I'm surrounded by in my daily life are mostly non-white.

I've wanted to write comics ever since I figured out it was a job.

In 2003, as a 21-year-old convert to Islam, I moved from Colorado to Cairo to see what life was like in a Muslim country.

In Arab Islamic society, it is traditionally taboo to criticize the lifestyle or personal philosophy of any practicing Muslim.

Islam is antiauthoritarian, sex-positive monotheism.

It's patently impossible for a Muslim character to represent 'all Muslims.'

'Lost' makes a lot of sense to me, philosophically.

Most people know Muslims in their community but don't realize it.

Muslims are ordinary members of the working public, just like you.

My faith did not require beauty or belonging - the deeper I went into my practice, the less it required at all.

Ninety percent of the comic books I've written in the past had little or nothing to do with Islam.