Joanne Kwan: Creative expression in multiple forms
Author and artist joins the Creative Hero on Writing to share what inspires her
Hello, welcome to the CHOW, Creative Hero On Writing. This month, I am talking to Joanne Kwan (they/them), Artist, Author, and Comic Creator, with a background in art and design but ultimately, telling stories is their greatest passion. Putting a new spin on convention, Jo's stories are often peppered with history, romance, and paranormal elements. A storyteller of multiple genres and canvases, Jo's character-driven narrative holds fast at the core. As their stories span across worlds and time periods, the one constant to be found in all of them is the human element. You can purchase her books Secunda and Copula on Bookshop.org
Welcome Jo! I met you at an author event at A Seat At The Table bookstore near Sacramento, California. Do you participate in bookstore author events and what do you like about them?
Hi Vince, thanks so much for having me! I love participating in author events whenever I can mostly because they give a great opportunity to meet people face-to face whether they are readers or fellow authors. A personal connection is made that can’t quite be emulated online. I may not even come across the people that pass through these events online so there is the potential for broadening one’s audience. And with authors, it’s neat to see our diverse swath of books all gathered in one place. I also have a fun time talking shop and hobbies with fellow authors in my vicinity while tabling.
You were there to share your very creative take on genres, mainly monster and romance in your Strange Taxonomy Series . Tell us a little about that mash up and what drew you to that story?
Since my youth I’ve had an interest in paranormal stories, ghosts, cryptids, and aliens and such. There’s something that fascinates me about the possibility of something existing but is still unknown to current science. When I was drafting Secunda, the first in the series, I was thinking about how interesting a world would be if their cryptids did exist and could be captured with great difficulty and studied. Pair that with a time period when fascination with natural sciences was at a high and I had a good basis for the world. That love and admiration for nature permeates through the book and I figured a deeper love could bloom from it. After all, when one feels out of place in the world, it’s a great feeling to find another person that one resonates with. I imagine it’s a common feeling shared by people who grew up as misfits and so to meet eye-to-eye with a literal monster, there’s a basis for which deeper emotions can develop. Outcasts unite.
Ultimately, that’s what draws me most to writing Romance. I can create these weird people who find other weird people and they are happy for it. They’re not alone. In fact, the second book of that series, Copula was going to be released the day after our event in July.
What has been readers’ reaction to that book?
I haven’t had any proper reviews online just yet. However I had been posting Copula as a serial webnovel previously and the comments are all fairly positive! Readers are happy to see the continued growth of the characters and relationships established in the first book and enjoy seeing more of the world I crafted
.
Your book covers are beautiful. I’d like to ask you who your cover designer is... but it’s you! Was creating these covers also rewarding for you? Or is that another element that you add to the list of tasks to get done?
Haha, it’s satisfying using my Graphic Design degree for something since I’m not formally working in that industry! I have definitely enjoyed creating these covers from brainstorming the central illustrations to sifting through period picture books in the public domain for collage elements. It’s a task, surely, but I look forward to it since I’m essentially bringing out the essence from the pages into something instantly visible. Finally assembling each piece and formatting the covers is the cherry on top of finishing a whole novel! It’s especially satisfying when you have the physical book in your hand and put on a bookshelf.
It’s no surprise. You are a graphic designer and a comic creator, with several ‘Zines and comics to your credit. How is creating a graphic work different than an entire novel? Are there elements of either process that you use for the other?
I generally switch to a different mindset when it comes to illustrating and layouts. Creating things visually takes less concentration during the whole process once the groundwork is in place, like a sketch. Put on some music and I can zone out. I can coast with it.
Writing requires a little more concentration as I have to pay attention to the words I put down and often I have to switch to instrumental music so that I’m not distracted by lyrics while I scrutinize text.
Overall, writing is more focused and involved for me. But I can produce a novel faster than a whole comic so it’s definitely rewarding in that regard. For example, three of my graphic novels took 5 years each to complete and the current novel I have going through its final stages of editing took 1 year to write.
A part of me wishes I started with novels to begin with and I dream of the backlog I would have had by now, but I think starting in the webcomic world first honed my sense of pacing for stories. I’m a better writer for it. Certainly it has also thickened my skin to criticism and review.
In your comics, what comes first? The story, the illustrations? That process seems fascinating to me.
Story always comes first for me! There has to be a narrative that I can string the pictures to. Even with my current comic strip, Warily Ever After, the characters have wants and needs. And while there isn’t a tightly knit plot, I have to deliver a joke or a new piece of information about the characters or setting with each update.
I’ve always approached comics as one would a TV show or movie. While the medium is all visuals, a narrative still exists as the backbone. Thus I always have a script to work from before I even open a canvas to start drawing.
Where do you draw inspiration for your stories? There’s a lot of fantasy and romantic elements. Is there an author you particularly emulate?
I would say The Snow Child and To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey are the two biggest inspirations for Secunda and Copula. While on the surface level my stories differ wildly from them, it’s the sense of place and overall “vibe” that Ivey executes that I really admire and try to build up to. Her novels have a limited cast, as do mine, so this feeling of intimacy in a wide world is something that is echoed in my own work.
Ivey also usually has a touch of fantasy in her books, more folkloric than high fantasy which I am really drawn to. I’ve always liked fantasy and elements that are beyond our reality. It makes things a bit more fun, you know?
As for Romance, I’ve always had a hard time consuming mainstream romantic media in that they never really spoke to me. For my own work I wanted to depict romance in a way that I wanted to read, less fluff and outward declarations of love and more quiet moments shared between people (or monsters!) where they’re vulnerable, and simply being in each other’s presence is enough.
What’s next for you? Are you creating a third book for your series or are you going in a different direction?
I have a third book for the Strange Taxonomy series in the works as well as a spin-off novel starring one of the characters from Secunda. They are far from being finished, but I do have a shorter novel going through its final editing stages right now called Shifting Lanes. It will be my first werewolf story and has romantic elements as well! I’m looking to publish it the end of this year.
As much as I love the world and characters I created for the Strange Taxonomy series, it’s nice to exercise my brain and do different projects in between.
Thanks Jo for joining me today. You can find their books at A Seat At The Table Books and more of their work at www.joannekwan.com
It was great talking with you Vince! Thank you for hosting and I hope to see you again soon!
Thanks for reading
If the CHOW interview brought you here, check out my full Substack:
Salted Wetzel with a Side of Mustard
Original Fiction: All of my novels and short stories take place in the same universe. The novels are the tent poles that come out every couple of years and these stories will fill out the tapestry. I’ll be updating you on characters you know, while introducing characters from future work.
Fridge Philosophies: What started as a passive-aggressive way to provide some helpful advice to my teens by placing inspirational quotes on the refrigerator has become a weekly mantra for me to work better, live intentionally and be present. I’ll be sharing these Fridge Philosophies along with what they mean in my life.
The CHOW: Either it will be my own Clueless Hack on Writing, where I will provide updates on projects and my struggles and triumphs… Or it will be Creative Heroes on Writing with writing friends sharing their perspectives on the creative process.
Extra Mustard: A roundup of podcasts, shows, books, and movies I’ve enjoyed the past month, plus additional thoughts and ideas to share.