Gae Stenson
I am very pleased to introduce our third showcased writer of 2025, Gae Stenson. I met Gae on the Open University MA in Creative Writing course, and have continued to follow her fabulous art work on Facebook. She is currently collaborating with a fellow writer, Dr Trefor Stockwell, to produce a book of short stories [Dr Stockwell is showcased alongside Gae this month].
Biography
Gae Stenson was born the year of the big freeze and has
loathed snow ever since. The youngest - by a long way - of four daughters, she
battled through her childhood with effectively five - or, if you count her aunt who
also lived with the family - six mothers. Her parents must have longed for peace
and quiet, especially her father who was well and truly outnumbered. Gae spent
many months of her early life in hospital due to a congenital hip deformity and
then she attended boarding school until she was eleven, when the family moved
from a quiet Buckinghamshire town to Northampton.
Years passed in a haze of family, new home and making new
friends. Meanwhile, Gae started to develop her interest in art and had hoped to
go to art college. Many years later, she became the first person in her family
to go to university, gaining a degree in English and then many years after that
a Master’s in Creative Writing. Still, art was her first love, and she dabbled
from time to time and taught her beautiful daughters to paint… neither is one
bit artistic sadly. They take after their father and are very science-orientated.
In the gap between school and higher education, Gae worked in
a few jobs until she met her first husband. Sadly, she was widowed very young
and - still grieving - she decided to move to Wales and start a totally different
life. Since her childhood, Gae has been a great believer in fate and looking
back can only marvel at the set of circumstances and choices that have brought
her to this place in her life where old and new loves have converged and she
can write, paint or read to her hearts content.
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Gae has sent us three of her illustrations as a sample of her work:
And finally we come to The Big
Interview, in which Gae kindly
answers writing-related
questions and lets us into
some of her writing secrets...
How old were you when you first knew you wanted to be a
writer/artist, and what set you off on that journey?
I spent a lot of time in hospital as a small child, totally immobile in a cast from my waist to my toes. During my stays, sometimes up to six-months at a time, the teaching staff would encourage me to be as creative as I could be under the circumstances, so I always had access to paper and crayons. I did my first drawings and learnt to read in a hospital bed.
From a creative point of view, I tend to be inward looking and usually content to create just for my own pleasure. I can’t remember exactly when I knew I wanted to be an artist as the idea, when I look back, seems to have been always there. Writing is more difficult because I enjoy the whole process. Creating art, for me, isn’t always an enjoyable process. I resent any interruption and I’m difficult to live with, unlike with writing. What I’m wanting to create always seems out of reach. I can honestly say I’ve never produced a piece of art and been totally happy with it.
Tell us about the books and painting and writers and
artists that have shaped your life and your writing career.
I often hear writers say that they’ve been voracious readers from a young age. That isn’t my personal experience. I didn’t discover the joy of reading until I was in my late teens. The first novel I ever finished was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and, from then on, I was lost to the real world. I have no preferred genre for reading, but at present I’m reading cosy murder mysteries by the bucketful.
I would say the writer who has influenced me the most as a writer is Anne Rice. I read Interview with the Vampire for my degree dissertation, ‘The Polymorph Metaphor in Vampire Literature’. Rice made me think about the importance of point of view in her second novel in the series, The Vampire Lestat. It suited the model I was using for my dissertation and highlighted for me how ‘reading a novel’ is something bigger than just enjoying the story which had been my previous pre-degree experience.
As to poets who shaped my efforts at poetry: I’m a massive
fan of Dr Seuss, Spike Milligan and Blake. The Georgian poets, with their
sacrifice, loss and at times brutal view of the hellish landscape of war, have
been a constant on my bookshelf since school. Painting might have been my first
love, but I’ve always dallied with poetry.
Paintings that have inspired me are too numerous to mention here, but Guernica by Picasso had an immediate impact on me. I
remember our art teacher, Mrs Thomson, telling us that Picasso had passed away and she
put a print of Guernica up on the wall. I must have been around ten at the
time.
I discovered the impressionist painters in my late teens and
their work showed me how important brushwork and texture are. I do love
pointillism as a style but have only ever completed one painting in this style
as I haven’t got the patience it takes. The Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood’s work appeals to my love of both literature and art. I’m always
drawn to paintings that tell a story of some kind.
Have your children, other family members, friends or
teachers inspired any of your writing/drawing? In what way?
I think I would say my husband has inspired me the most. Although not creative himself, he has given me the confidence I lacked to try new things. He is the first person I shared my poetry with, even though I have written poetry since I was a child, and he’s the person who pushed me to try studying at a brick university. He is my life model which gets a bit difficult unless I need someone with a beard.
Since we first met nearly twenty-years-ago, my friend Karen
Hauler-Davis has been part of my creative journey. We have similar tastes and
ideas, and it is lovely to have a non-judgemental person to bump ideas off. In
fact, it was Karen who helped me decide on the creative writing MA instead of
studying fine art which was the right move for me at the time.
Does the place you live have any impact on your writing/drawing?
Yes, but not in a good way.
We moved in 2023, and our new home has the most amazing garden with a beautiful
unspoiled river running through it. I can honestly say I spend most daylight
hours gazing out of the window watching nature do its thing. I spent this
morning watching two kingfishers start to build a nest. We moved to North Wales
over thirty-years-ago and it was the best thing we could have done.
How would you describe your own writing/drawing?
Now this is a difficult question. My writing is problematic as I have a tendency to write in the style of whatever I’m reading. When I was at university studying English, as an exercise we had to write a scene from a detective novel, and I was given 'hard-boiled' for my genre. The lecturer read it out to the tutor group and was astounded because I was this middle-aged, apparently middle-class housewife who was a bit mumsy, and she said I’d completely captured the voice.
As for my art, I hope I have a modicum of individuality. I’ve
only recently started to dabble with illustration and so I’m very much looking
for my style and how to use it within the brief. My style isn’t hyperrealist
and, outside the project I’m working on at the moment, I’m enjoying dabbling with
surrealism.
Are there certain themes that draw you to them when you
are writing/drawing?
From the point of view of my writing, I’m drawn to darker themes. Dystopian landscapes fascinate me. One of the first novels I read in my late teens was Animal Farm by George Orwell and it has coloured my view of power and power-structures ever since. When it comes to my poetry, the main theme is identity both personal and as a society.
From the perspective of my art, I’m interested in the
interplay between light and dark and how they create depth, not just visually
but also emotionally. In my work, I’ve noticed that the image always comes more
fully to life when we add the shadows. The interplay between light and dark
interests me both in my writing and illustration.
Tell us about how you
approach your writing/drawing. Are you a planner or a pantser?
I’m a pantser all the way for
both writing and drawing.
Do you have any advice for
someone who might be thinking about starting to write creatively or draw?
Do it for yourself. Don’t be
temped to judge yourself against the work of others. There is no right or
wrong, just your creation. This is good advice and some day I may be able to
follow it myself.
Are you, or have you been in
the past, a member of any writing/drawing groups, online or face-to-face?
I’ve been a member of Cybi Poets for a few years and although we haven’t had face-to-face meetings since Covid, we do keep in touch online. Trefor and I met online but through Cybi Poets. We became friends online and it was there he saw some of my drawings for Inktober and he contacted me to ask if I’d be interested in illustrating his collection of short stories, The Bureau of Lost Things. Online I’m also a member of Suffolk Writers even though I’m living in Wales. They are a very active group, and I enjoy participating in their regular activities. I'm also a member of the online OU Write Club.
Have you ever studied
creative writing or art at university or any other courses?
I gained my degree in English from Bangor University and my MA in Creative Writing from the Open University. I’ve completed various art courses including an Access to Art and Design. I would have gone on to study Fine Art but there was nowhere locally that I could do so at the time. My preference would have been to go on and study Fine Art rather than English as I’m mildly dyslexic.
What do you think about getting feedback on your work from others?
I do value feedback but
prefer it from readers rather than other writers. As a writer I truly struggle
to give other writers feedback. So far, I’ve been lucky and when friends have
sent me books to read, I’ve been able to be honest because they’ve been exceptional
reads. I dread the day that a friend asks me what do you think and it’s awful.
It like the question, ‘Does my bum look big in this?’. Obviously, you need to be
tactful. I think if you’re self-publishing you must have a group of people
willing to read for you and be honest as they’ll pick-up on details a writer
can miss.
If you have experience of
self-publishing, what have been its challenges and rewards?
I started a boutique publishing business as eBooks were in their infancy and had a hell of a sell to get writers to believe that this was the future of the publishing world. It became clear to me that the future is self-publishing and I’m a big fan. The challenge for self-publishing writers is making sure their work is edited and proofread. Nothing puts off a reader more quickly than typos, bad grammar and poor fact-checking. The drawback for most writers is that you have to put yourself out there to promote your own work.
Where do you get your ideas
from?
Usually from something I’ve read or seen. Oddly enough, dreams or daydreams do play a part. My day-to-day life is centred around my home, but even a word or a discussion over a meal may trigger something. I’m fascinated by the influence of the internet and have a collection of poems on this theme, as yet, not surprisingly, unfinished. It started life as my MA dissertation and has languished in a file ever since.
They say that successful
writers/artists need to be selfish. How far do you agree with this?
Yes, I do agree. My everyday life intrudes into my creative life continually to the point where I take days, weeks, months, years and even decades away from my practice. Before I did the Inktober challenge I hadn’t picked up a pencil to draw in over a decade. In defence of my family, I am very easily distracted.
Beyond your family and your
creative work, what other things do you do?
Not a lot really, since mobility became an issue for me. I used to love baking but when we moved to our new house we found the kitchen isn’t practical and is one of the things I’m longing to change about the house. I look out at the river so much and love nature. Obviously, I love to read, and the advent of eBooks means I’m not forced to look for large print versions. Listening to Audible while I’m sketching is good. I do harbour a lifelong passion for movies and would have taken film studies as more than a unit at university if it had been offered at the time. As with novels, I have no favourite genre, although I do love a good horror movie. I may also be a secret Trekkie and much to my husband's disgust I love comic book based movies, but keep that to yourself, Louise. [The Netflix series Resident Alien is my current favourite TV-from-comic-book - and I recently rewatched the entire Star Trek: Voyager series for the umpteenth time and found it better than I remembered]
Would you describe yourself
as a ‘cultured’ person?
Not particularly. I love music and have quite an eclectic taste but have never enjoyed concerts because they are too loud. I used to very much enjoy going to the theatre and my favourite plays are by Shakespeare. Growing up, my family were not really interested in the theatre but at school they took us to see Macbeth and I was hooked from that moment. I took my youngest daughter to Stratford to see The Merchant of Venice and she loved it. There is something about Shakespeare that can speak to each new generation when they discover it and watching it in the theatre is magical. I’m also very keen on history thanks to the OU A102 Introduction to the Arts which I studied too many years ago to mention.
This a difficult question;
yes, I love a literary novel, Shakespeare and I’m listening to Chopin as I write
this, but I also love Star Wars, horror movies, chick flicks and I introduced
my eldest daughter to the music genre Screamo. What defines a cultured person?
I’m not sure I know so I wouldn’t be able to judge if I am or not.
Are you interested in history
and if so does it impact on your writing/drawing?
I am very interested in history and if it does influence me at all it would be my writing rather than drawing although art history has always been of interest to me. I think most writers and artists would admit to being fascinated by the human condition. We may not learn from it, but our history has an important role to play in who we are today as a society and who we will be in the future.
How did the Covid pandemic
affect you as a writer?
Before Covid, I had been starting out and had a couple of bookings as a spoken-word poet. I’m pretty sure it would have been a disaster as I hate public speaking. My husband and I spent a lot of time together and got into vegetable gardening and preserving. Basically, we looked retirement in the eye, and it wasn’t so bad. Andy, since Covid, has worked from home and we are chatters so I’m a lot less productive now and the house is a little messy.
Where would you place your
own writing/drawing, on a continuum with PURE FANTASY at one end and COMPLETE
REALISM at the other?
For both writing and creating art, I’d say pure fantasy. The one thing I would say is that most of my poetry is complete realism often based on my own experience of the world. Although, there are always exceptions - I have a graphic poem I’ve been working on for over twenty years based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Anne Rice’s vampire Lestat.
Do you have any particular
health or other issue that affects your writing/drawing and if so how have you
overcome this?
I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and was born with hip dysplasia. I’ve now developed arthritis in most of my joints. My eyesight has never been particularly good, and I have significant scarring on my right cornea which means I now need three different prescriptions to see the world. All of this isn’t a problem. I’ve adjusted how I work and what I do as things have progressed. Writing is covered by an adjustable arm fixed to a coffee table which holds my laptop and enables me to write from the comfort of a sofa.
My art is a little different
and I have had to make major changes. I did enjoy lino cutting for prints, but
I don’t have enough strength in my hands for this now and painting is a little
difficult because I can’t stand unaided. My drawing is fine if I work in short
spurts of say ten minutes and give my hands a rest. Since starting to do more
illustrations I work first by sketching then scan and upload the image and use
a digital table to complete the work. I wouldn’t have considered digital art in
the past but for the illustration degree I started it was a must. It helps
because I’m not constantly changing pencils or pens and going to look for an
eraser.
My family are wonderful and
help constantly with the practicalities of my life. My husband and daughters
will always step into the breach if I’m struggling.
Thank you, Louise, I’ve enjoy
this friendly interrogation much more than I anticipated.
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Thank you very much, Gae, for such an interesting and informative showcase.
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In April, I will be showcasing
a fabulous writer whose latest book
has just been launched:
Karen Downs-Barton
Not to be missed!
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So far in this series, I’ve showcased the following writers:
Ruth Loten – March 2023
Jane Langan – March 2023
Beck Collett – April 2023
Ron Hardwick – June 2023
L.N.Hunter – July 2023
Katherine Blessan – August 2023
Jill Saudek – September 2023
Colin Johnson – October 2023
Sue Davnall – November 2023
Alain Li Wan Po – December 2023
Lily Lawson – January 2024
Philip Badger – February 2024
Glen Lee – March 2024
DHL Hewa - April 2024
Tonia Trainer - May 2024
Mike Poyzer – June 2024
Judith Worham - July 2024
Chrissie Poulter - August 2024
Adele Sullivan - September 2024
Lin De Laszlo - October 2024
Wendy Heydorn - November 2024
Elisabeth Basford - December 2024
Karen Honnor - January 2025
Sharon Henderson - February 2025
Gae Stenson - March 2026 [collaboration]
Dr Trefor Stockwell - March 2025 [collaboration]
You can find all these showcases by scrolling back through the material on this blog.
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