I interviewed Sarah Ellerton about her haunting graphic novel, The Phoenix Requiem.
LT: Tell our readership about The Phoenix Requiem.
SE: Part romance, part supernatural fantasy, The Phoenix Requiem is about a world without magic or spirits, much like our own Victorian era. A deadly plague, with the ability to kill people within days, suddenly begins to infect both young and old alike in the small rural town of Esk.
Long-forgotten spirits, ghosts, and creepy shades begin to appear as well - all seemingly tied to a young gentleman who would much prefer to get on with life than deal with any of the oddities occurring around him.
LT: How did you come up with this story?
SE: It began with a seed of an idea about the ending, and then grew around it, morphing and changing into something unrecognisable. The religious backstory was there from the beginning, as was the plague. I think they’re the only two things that remained from my first collection of rough ideas. Ghosts, shades, and specific characters found their way into the story gradually.
LT: Give us a little background on your three main characters.
SE: The main protagonist is Anya; much of the story is from her point of
view. A particular event from her childhood prompted her to put all of
her energy into studying to become a doctor, and at the beginning of
the story she is acting as nurse and assistant to a grumpy old doctor
in Esk. She’s dedicated to her profession and the care of others, but
tends to be a little reclusive and doesn’t socialise much.
The secondary protagonist is Jonas, the gentleman who winds up in Esk after suffering a gunshot wound to the chest. He’s had a rather miserable past but always looks to the future, and is an unfailing optimist. He tends to keep a lot of secrets, often out of a desire to seem as normal as anyone else and to pretend that the darker things never happened.
One of the supporting characters is Robyn. He served as a lieutenant
in the cavalry and fought in a recent war. He since left the army
after losing the nerve to fight, and farms caribou instead. He’s one
of the few people who can visibly see ordinary ghosts, though he
generally dismisses it as being a figment of his imagination. He’s
quite moral and doesn’t like to take sides in an argument, but bad at
expressing his feelings and can be a little controlling.
LT: What do you find attractive about ghosts? Have you written about them before?
SE: This is the first time I’ve written anything remotely resembling a
ghost story, though I’ve always enjoyed reading and watching them.
As a child they were a concept that frightened me, yet at the same time I recall taking nighttime walks with my cousins to a nearby cemetery hoping to see one (or at least, hoping to give somebody a good fright). There’s a lot you can do with the idea of a disembodied soul stuck on earth, and I wanted to play with the idea and what it could mean.
LT: Why did you chose this particular time period? Did you have to do research?
SE: It was something that evolved. The story was originally going to be another typical medieval fantasy, but at some point I decided to try
something else. I kept taking it further towards the present until I
settled on something that felt like it would really fit with the rough
ideas I had.
The era of course had a lot of influence on where I took the story from that point onward, especially the levels of technological and medical advancement. There’s been a lot of research involved, though since my story is only set on a world -like- our own, I’ve been able to take a lot of liberties. But I did want it to feel like our own Victorian Europe and England, though there were specific reasons why I couldn’t have actually set it there.
I’ve learned more about that era than I ever thought I would, and it’s
been wonderful to immerse myself in it.
LT: Tell us about the art side of the graphic novel; do you draw pictures first, or write the dialogue?
SE: The story was planned from start to finish - I like to write singular
self-contained stories more like novels, so it’s necessary to know
exactly what the progression will be right through to the final
chapter - though I typically write out the actual dialogue for the
chapters just before I begin their cover page.
I tend to make a lot of changes to the story as I go, so I’ve found that writing out scenes too early usually results in them being completely rewritten anyway.
LT: What do you find rewarding about this format?
SE: Reader feedback, more than anything. It’s wonderful to be able to
directly interact with the readers via the forum, to hear their
thoughts on the story, address their questions, and make changes to
the story to better cater to what they want.
By that, I don’t mean fanservice or bowing to reader demands; but showing scenes I may have otherwise skipped, or having characters better explain something that’s been confusing people. I think my story wouldn’t be half as good without their input helping to shape it.
LT: Whose art/ comics/ or graphic novels do you admire?
SE: I’m more of a creator than a consumer - I don’t actually read a lot of comics these days. My favourite graphic novel of all time would be a
Japanese manga set in Victorian England called ‘Emma’ by Kaoru Mori.
There are a lot of artists I admire, including Jason Chan, Niko Geyer,
Julie Dillon, and Linda Bergkvist.
LT: What do you consider an odd source of inspiration?
SE: I’m not sure any of my inspirations for this story are particularly
odd. Doctor Who might be an odd one, otherwise there are things like
the Silent Hill and Final Fantasy videogame series’. Perhaps it is odd that there have been no actual victorian sources of inspiration.
LT: What was the strangest response you’ve ever gotten to Requiem?
SE: I had some odd responses when I first announced that the story was going to be PG-13 due to sexual situations. Sometimes people also seem to forget that the story is fantasy, so they pick out things that aren’t historically accurate. I guess I haven’t had anything particularly strange commented to me as of yet, unless it was so strange that I mentally blocked it.
LT: Do you have other projects planned?
SE: I do have another graphic novel planned, though it’ll will be quite a
bit shorter (a single volume) and will probably be written under a
pseudonym. I would like to try something different from what I usually
do, and creating it under a different name will mean there are no
expectations or preconceptions!
LT: What would be your dream project?
SE: I’ve always seen myself as more of an artist than a writer, and typically prefer to write my own characters and worlds. If given the chance though I would love to be the artist on a Doctor Who comic.
LT: What’s the biggest challenge in creating a graphic novel?
SE: Not sacrificing character development simply to move the plot along faster. Less of an issue with printed books, but with webcomics in the graphic novel style that update slowly, the beginnings can be a challenge because that is when the scene is set and the characters are introduced.
Readers can lose patience and interest quickly if things don’t seem to be happening. I personally believe it’s important for people to gradually get to know the characters on a personal level; just as important as dishing out plot events and action. We identify with people, so if we have come to care about them, then it makes the events and plot more poignant and affecting.
©Interview, 2009 by Lori Titus
©Art, 2008 by Sarah Ellerton
To view Sarah Ellerton’s The Phoenix Requiem, click here:
November 15th, 2009 at 7:55 am
What a fantastic illustration!
Interesting interview - I’m off to visit the site
December 20th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
But how are we supposed to find the project under a pseudonym?! That just doesn’t quite seem fair, Ms. Ellerton. :*(
July 2nd, 2010 at 3:05 am
[...] Remember The Phoenix Requiem, a comic I lauded a while back? Well, Lori Titus of Flashes in the Dark interviewed PR’s author and artist, Sarah Ellerton. Read it here! [...]