A new interview to share with you today, with Shawn Hitchins, the author of the upcoming The Light Streamed Beneath It, a memoir of grief, memory and recovery. It’s out in just a few days’ time as well, so there’s no need to wait too long for it!
So make sure you’re following Shawn on twitter and don’t forget to preorder!
Let’s start at the beginning. How did you first get into writing?
It just sort of happened. I’ve had an easeful journey with people asking me to write for them. In 2004-ish, I was scouted after a comedy show by the editor of a local gay-scene magazine. I started writing 400-word snarky bits, then that turned into writing features and cover stories. As my performance career developed, it fed my writing career which led to writing essays and books. It happened organically, I’m that jerk who still needs to learn how to write a query letter.
What are your favourite genres to read and write, and are there any genres or tropes you wouldn’t write?
I read a lot of non-fiction. I love the experience of connecting parallel ideas between writers and thinkers over time and across subjects. I didn’t attend a university (I have a partial certificate in tap dancing), so I’ve developed a Good Will Hunting-like practice of studying daily. I could/would never write an academic paper –– way too rational. When I want to get lost, I’ll crack open a Scandinavian crime series and lose weeks of my life to a pro-environment and anti-capitalist murder mystery with chunky wool knit sweaters.
How do you get inspiration for your books and what’s your writing process? At what point do you let other people read your drafts and who are they?
I didn’t have a writing process until I started working with a therapist. Part of my work in therapy was to develop creative hygiene, and it’s transformed my life. We don’t teach artists how to manage their talents, just to access and produce, but that swell of energy can overtake your life and stifle any joy.
For this book, I created an embodied methodology to write safely about traumatic experiences, while encouraging artistic vulnerability. Writing The Light Streamed Beneath It was difficult in terms of subject, but it didn’t destroy my body in the process. There was no recovery time needed as a result of writing this book.
For me, writing is a practice of finishing. Each period, paragraph, and chapter becomes something to celebrate. You get to finish a book several times, over and over, until you abandon it. So, it doesn’t matter when you include others in your process, but that you open your process to others and break the isolation of writing.
Which three authors would you say influenced your writing the most?
Oof, that’s a hard one. Instead, I will offer you my three favourite books:
Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton because her writing is delicious and I love how she shapes the queerness of her relationships.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens because he captures an overnight process of psychoanalysis decades before Freud or Jung were subconscious.
The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk because it is essential reading for all to understand the mental health and addiction crisis we are navigating.
And for something that is also very important to us & what we put a lot of emphasis on when blogging. What does ownvoices LGBT representation mean to you?
Honestly, I had to google “ownvoices” and now I feel incredibly silly. I write personal non-fiction. I represent my direct experience, but I’m not a hermit in solitude. I fully recognize my life intersects many. My writing is about understanding the peak experiences felt in my body, my queerness is part of my bodied experience. For me, the call as a cis-gay-male writer (of a certain age) is to break the concretized gay single story, and little by little start reconstituting our inner emotional lives for audiences. I take many risks in my writing, but I am mindful of how I weave the experience of others into my own narrative.
Did I answer this, or completely avoid your question?
What’s one piece of advice you would like to give your younger self?
I wouldn’t. Instead, I would sit with the adults that surrounded my younger self, and I’d teach them the skills and resources to protect a queer child and their body.
Summarise your most recent/next book in up to 5 words and a meme.
Joan Didion Plus Gay Sex
Any Donald Duck gif accurately encapsulates me or my work.
If (when!) your books were to be made into movies, who would you like to direct them?
Andrew Haigh (Looking and Weekend) or Francis Lee (God’s Own Country and Ammonite) are the only creatives I’d let option The Light Streamed Beneath It. Even then, I’m doubtful that the world is ready for a visual representation of gay transformation on-screen. We’re pretty stuck on coming out stories and RuPaul’s Drag Race.
If you could have dinner with one member of the LGBT community, dead or alive, who would it be?
Dale, of Chip and Dale. (I hope I just didn’t out him. #RIPDale, you gorgeous squirrel.)
Which of your characters would you most want to fight a zombie apocalypse with?
Stevie, my cat, would be an excellent sidekick in the Z-apocalypse. She has zero stress response and would be chill-af. I would probably carry her on my shoulders and weave a harness from a 5-metre long rope of my red hair –– so we’re always connected.
Is there a famous franchise or simply a movie/TV show you’d like to be able to write for?
Week by week this gets updated, (as of September 14th, 1:04 PM ET) here are the writers’ rooms I want to be in right now (instead of in my Toronto apartment questioning –– holy shit what do I do next?). The White Lotus helmed by Mike White, Only Murderers In The Building helmed by John Hoffman, and Q-Force helmed by Todd Milliner
Do you have any secret non canon ships in your books you wish people would write fics for?
Oh gosh, this book is line by line full of odd matches, desire, and longing. It’s about the messiness of relationships and is a fanfiction incubation ground.
Rec us some great LGBT books you’ve read recently!
Since the book is done, I’m just getting back to reading for pleasure (I only read supporting materials when creating). Here is the Queue line for my next reads: Fiebre Tropical by Juliana Delgado Lopera, Missed Connections by Brian Francis, Dead Mom Walking by Rachel Matlow, The Family Way by Christopher DiRaddo.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shawn Hitchins is the author of “The Light Streamed Beneath It” (ECW’ 21) and “A Brief History of Oversharing” (ECW’ 17). His one-man show “Ginger Nation” toured extensively before being filmed in concert (Amazon Prime/OUTtv). Hitchins is an award-winning entertainer, writer, personality, and creator of live performance.
Hitchins was featured on CBC’s “The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers,” “q,” and “Here & Now,” and his work garnered notices from the Guardian, GayTimes UK, BuzzFeed, CNN, BBC, BBC World Service, TimeOut NY, eTalk, The Social, and The Toronto Star.
Shawn is a frequent contributor to CBCArts. He is an advocate for affordable mental healthcare and embodiment. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Shawn is in the process of relocating to the Los Angeles area.
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