#sparkchamber 060120 — Shane Walsh-Smith

Today is Western Australia day, and in celebration, #sparkchamber is thrilled to welcome award-winning Australian graphic novelist and screenwriter Shane Walsh-Smith. A self-described scripturient — “I’ve wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. Ever since I could hold a pencil, I’ve been writing stories. I got my first rejection letter when I was seven and accumulated something like a dozen more for my first novel.” — Shane works across a broad spectrum of genre fiction. “I learned everything I ever needed to know from fiction — it’s the prism through which I understand the world. To me, it seems natural that writing stories would help me to understand myself and grow as a person.”

His comic graphic-novel miniseries Undad  — revealing the challenges of an undead family man trying to maintain normalcy while being [literally] dead inside — was shortlisted in the 2015 Australian Shadows Awards for best graphic novel. Volume 3, published in March, is available in paperback or download.

But the breaking news concerns his graphic novel, Triumviratus. First published in exclusive hardcover format on Kickstarter, the 530-page magnum opus paints a deeply personal love triangle against an epic fantasy backdrop, a story of jealousy, betrayal, and a world brought to its knees by the misadventures of three young people in love. In 2019, it earned the Best Fiction award in the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards — the first graphic novel ever to win that award — and multi-award-winning author Kaaron Warren called it “bloody brilliant.”

Triumviratus is now being prepared for broad public release via Kickstarter live through June 13. There are some great rewards so it’s worth the click!

Shane has a Bachelor degree in Creative Writing. He lives in Australia with his wife and four young children. And you can follow him on Facebook. Happy Western Australia day to all!

1.] Where do ideas come from?

I don’t think any two of my projects have started the same way. Those beginnings are usually quite mundane and nondescript.

Although it might sound interesting to say that I’ve had a 500-page graphic novel spring from a one-word prompt and a Scandinavian power ballad [and I have], all the ideas and thoughts that went into developing this project and actually bringing it to life came straight out of all my unresolved neuroses and challenges I was facing at that time of my life.

I’m not entirely sure whether writers find ideas or vice versa, but they all come to feed at the same place: the murky depths of my subconscious mind.

The only thing really within my control is how open I am on a moment-to-moment, how closely I’m observing the world around me, and how willing I am to allow inspiration to occur. If I’m looking for an idea, and I’m giving myself entirely to the process of finding one, I usually can.

2.] What is the itch you are scratching?

I don’t remember a time before I wanted to be a writer. It’s an urge I can’t quantify because I’ve got no other state of being to compare it to. I guess I’m just hardwired this way.

This crazy obsession has been all-consuming for my whole life, and it’s the only life goal I’ve ever set for myself. My leisure time was spent writing stories and drawing pictures, often at the expense of a social life. I’ve always taken it pretty seriously and been devoted to it as a vocation. But ever since I got married and had kids and landed a full-time job and basically became extremely busy, I’ve descended into a kind of desperate mania about my writing, determined to stay the course regardless.

I’m not sure what itch I’m scratching, but it’s been thirty years, and I’m still scratching.

3.] Early bird or night owl? Tortoise or hare?

I have four children and a full-time job. It dawned on me pretty quickly after having our first kid that I would need to actively schedule time for my writing, and build an ironclad routine around that time to ensure that it happened.

My creative business has my undivided attention between 10 pm and 1 am every day. That’s pretty much all the time I get to write, produce art, manage social media and my email list, schedule and devise promotions, and plan for events.

Snatching time to write during the public-transport commute and lunch breaks, as well as downtime at work [shh, don't tell my boss] has been invaluable too.

I don’t know if I have any particular ability to command flow beyond just turning up every day. Over time, my brain has adapted to the routine, and when I sit down now, I’m ready to write.

4.] How do you know when you are done?

I’ve previously gone on record as saying that creative work is never finished, only published. I still hold to that opinion.

For me, being “done” is simply a temporary state of mind that allows me to accept that I’ve put everything I’ve got right now into a project, and it’s time to move on to the next one.

While publication is a way of committing to that feeling and forestalling that instinct to return for “one more draft.” I don’t rely on my own instinct for that. I get other people to read the work and weigh in — mainly my long-suffering and wonderfully helpful wife.