TIP: HE TELLS YOU YOUR ARMS ARE FAT. JEANNE TAI CATCHES UP WITH SPANISH ILLUSTRATOR RAQUEL CORCOLES, WHO TOOK THE ULTIMATE REVENGE – PENNING A HILARIOUS GRAPHIC NOVEL INSPIRED BY THE DUDS SHE’S DATED.
TIP: HE TELLS YOU YOUR ARMS ARE FAT. JEANNE TAI CATCHES UP WITH SPANISH ILLUSTRATOR RAQUEL CORCOLES, WHO TOOK THE ULTIMATE REVENGE – PENNING A HILARIOUS GRAPHIC NOVEL INSPIRED BY THE DUDS SHE’S DATED.
Small-town girl Raquel Corcoles had hoped to find love in Madrid. Instead, she found losers. While working in advertising, the 29-year-old – whose moniker is Moderna de Pueblo – navigated a dating scene littered with douchey Don Juans. “I felt I needed a whole book to illustrate the jerks you find in the city,” she tells Her World in an e-mail interview. So she wrote one: Jerks Won’t Give You Flowers (published in Spanish in 2013), a graphic novel inspired by her experiences; an English edition was released by Singapore publisher Epigram Books this January. We love Raquel’s deadpan observations about modern love, such as this description of a fling: “We would only see each other at night... I couldn’t tell if I was going out with a man or a vampire.” We chat with her about the book and – what else? – men.
How did you become a writer and illustrator? “I’m from a little Spanish town named Reus, and I moved to Madrid to finish my degree in journalism and advertising. One day, I chanced upon a contest that called for the submission of a few sketches; the winner gets to publish a comic book. [Long story short], I won! I started writing about my experience as a small-town girl in the city, and gained a following.”
How much of Jerks Won’t Give You Flowers is autobiographical? “Everything is based on stuff that happened to me and my friends, but I had to leave out some stories that sounded too unreal to be true!”
We all have tales of disastrous dates. Care to share some of yours? “[There was a guy who texted that] he was crazy about me, and that he loved my braces. I’ve never had braces, so I assumed the message wasn’t for me. I changed his name in my cellphone from ‘Alex’ to ‘Alex the jerk: Never pick up’. [Then there was this other] guy who asked me out, but when I told him I already had a boyfriend, he said he expected me to have thinner arms.”
Didn’t such men make you cynical about love? “I used to have that attitude. Then when I wasn’t looking for someone, I found a wonderful man (she’s been with him for five years). I don’t think it’s hard to meet a good guy, but we have to search a little. There are many guys out there who are worth it, but it’s easier to run into [jerks] because they are the ones who go after girls more.”
What would you do if you bumped into a dud you used to date? “I wouldn’t care. I’m happy rig ht now. These things only affect you when you are insecure.”
Complete this sentence: “Your man is a keeper if...” “...he doesn’t run away when you are [having] your period (because then, you won’t be able to have sex). Instead, he comes with chocolate and flowers to make your day!”
Jerks Won’t Give You Flowers ($24.90) is available at all major bookstores and www.shop.epigrambooks.sg. For an excerpt, download the digital edition of Her World from the Apple App Store or Google Play.
7 MEN TO AVOID “I had many conversations with my friends to ensure I featured the ‘best’ kinds of jerks in my book,” Raquel reveals. These are some bad lads she identified.
❶ The Classic Jerk When you’re not around, he fools around. This is the guy you try to forget by “[eating] 10 cupcakes,” she writes.
❷ The One-nightonly Jerk He’s interested only in one thing (no, not your wit) and disappears the morning after.
❸ The Jerk Jerk He doesn’t hide the fact that he wants to see other women and may propose an open relationship.
❹ The Cooltured Jerk The pretentious one who loves obscure, arty films. Raquel writes that he’s into the “impressionist pick-up technique: Impress women with [his] knowledge”.
❺ The Patronising Jerk An older, accomplished man who is excessively confident, he believes you’d be lucky to spend a night with him.
❻ The Ideal Jerk He’s a “trophy boyfriend” (handsome, dresses well, plays in a band) who has crowds of women after him, and therefore, treats them like disposable objects.
❼ The Short-term Jerk He leads a deadbeat life, drinking, smoking, and falling in and out of jobs. In Raquel’s words, “he always says he’s going to leave it all, but in the end, he only leaves you.”
