Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay blend their artistic and storytelling skills in the erotic horror comic Somna (Dstlry, July), which has been nominated for an Eisner Award.

How did you decide to work together?

Cloonan: Tula and I have been planning Somna for about 10 years. I had sleep paralysis some 15 years ago, and it gave me the idea. Tula and I talked it over at a convention one night. After that, every time we saw each other, we would fill out the story.

How did the division of labor work?

Cloonan: It was very organic. The story is about a woman named Ingrid going through life in 1600s England, dealing with Puritanism and oppression and stressed out all the time, and it comes out in her dreams. Tula drew the dream sequences and I drew the “awake” times. I’ve never done a comic like this before. It felt experimental in a way that made me more excited about making comics than I’ve been since I was in college.

Were there elements you disagreed about or debated?

Lotay: One hundred percent, all of the way, we agreed on everything. It was mainly Becky’s ideas, and me agreeing with her, because she’s brilliant.

Cloonan: You orchestrated all the dream sequences, though. It was like we each had a department. I never have been so in sync with another creator.

Lotay: It’s kind of an amazing exquisite corpse.

Did you have a favorite element of the story to work on?

Lotay: All the sexiness—I enjoyed drawing that, as I think you can feel looking at it.

Cloonan: I drew the mundane day-to-day world. I love being able to add something normal to an abnormal story and ground it. But toward the end of the book, Ingrid’s grip on reality starts to shift. Tula drew some of the reality sequences, and I got to draw one dream sequence. That was fun to play around in.

Why was this story important to you?

Lotay: I would have done anything Becky had asked me to do. It just so happens she suggested the perfect story for me. As soon as it finished, I wrote to Becky, “I’m really glad we finished the book, but I’m so sad.”

Cloonan: We both have the same touchstones—like Hammer horror films. Now that it’s over, I don’t know what to do with myself. We worked on it for 10 years, and then it was over in nine months. I don’t want to do anything else.