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Article: Lynn Harris, Co-Creator of BreakUp Girl

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Lynn Harris, Co-Creator of BreakUp Girl

Lynn Harris is the co-creator of Breakup Girl (http://www.breakupgirl.com), a taut, clever (and sometimes stinging) comic strip/advice feature on the rigors of ending a romantic relationship.  After surviving on nothing but the devotion of a small cult audience for several years, Breakup Girl has finally hit the big time.  It is now a successful subsidiary of Oxygen.com and boasts an international readership. 

Lynn is also the coauthor of two books: He Loved Me, He Loves Me Not; A Guide to Fudge, Fury, Free Time, and Life Beyond the Breakup and Breakup Girl to the Rescue! : A Superhero's Guide to Love, and Lack Thereof.  She performs regularly as a stand-up comedian at the Gotham Comedy Club in New York City.

In this exclusive interview Lynn talks about Breakup Girl's origins, what it takes to mend a broken heart, and how it feels to be on Oxygen's payroll.

Q: I understand that the Breakup Girl site is a collaboration between you and another person.

A: Breakup Girl is a co-creation between myself and Chris Kalb.  He does all the art and graphics.  It's a true collaboration and partnership.  Recently, we hired an assistant, Betsy, who also graduated from Yale, our alma mater. 

Q: Where did you get the idea for Breakup Girl?

A: Breakup Girl came from a book that Chris and I did in 1996-a humorous guide to surviving a breakup.  We wanted to literally give character to the book, so we created Breakup Girl.  Once the book came out, folks who read it fell in love with the character.  Chris likes to say, "Sure, we have superheroes who bend steel, but what about one who mends broken hearts?" We wanted someone who would continually give advice: hence, Breakup Girl. 

Q: Since Oxygen, your present employer, is a women's site, do you foresee Breakup Girl becoming more gender-specific in its appeal?

A: Chris and I did a lot of soul searching when Oxygen came to us with their proposal.  In the end, we were still emphatic about Breakup Girl remaining an equal opportunity superhero-she always has been and always will be.  ~

Why are we having these conversations [about breaking up] in two different rooms?  In our opinion, moving to Oxygen was not a compromise in that regard.  Oxygen never asked us to say, 'okay, but can you make Breakup Girl hate men?'

Oxygen just wanted a strong female character - and Breakup Girl interacts with all people, not just other women.  [I feel compelled to] underscore and even develop the idea that Oxygen is not exclusive.  They just wanted to Chris and I to keep doing the voodoo that we do.

Q: Where was Breakup Girl before Oxygen came along?

A: We were a member of ChickClick (http://www.chickclick.com), which is group that serves like-minded sites, offers lots and lots of space, and reaches much bigger advertisers.  Breakup Girl didn't have to pay ChickClick to be on their site, but we didn't collect all of the money from advertising either.

Q: Are you Breakup Girl?

A: There are elements of me in Breakup Girl, like we both play hockey.  And Breakup Girl's mom and dad are based on my parents - in a whimsical kind of way.  But Breakup Girl is certainly not a vehicle to deliver Lynn's story. 

Q: Did Breakup girl start out as fun or as an entrepreneurial venture?

A: Somewhere in the middle.  We thought it would go somewhere and took it seriously as a business venture.  Our motto was, 'Build it and they will come.' As we were developing Breakup Girl, Chris was still doing art and Web design and I was still working as a freelance writer.  But we were free to do what we believed in. 

Q: When was the leap into serious entrepreneurship?

A: In January 1999, Chris and I took a calculated risk.  We decided to move to daily content, meaning we would have more page views and more ad revenues.

Q: Now that you are owned by Oxygen, what about Breakup Girl has changed?

A: Well, Chris is working on animated episodes on Oxygen's primetime animation zone- it's online and on TV.  We're also planning to roll out some new Breakup Girl features, now that we have more time and money.  ~

Q: You've carved out a nice career niche for yourself - how did you achieve this goal?

A: I didn't ever think, 'Gee, wouldn't it be nice if I could have a cartoon alter ego who gives shows and writes an advice column?' However, I did ask myself, 'how can I be a writer, an entertainer, and help people, all in one, without juggling myself to death?' I've always thought this - and especially since Breakup Girl - that if you put sincere quality and expression into a project, people will flock to it.  And Breakup Girl has been just that: an amazing, super-duper opportunity for me to provide a service to many people.