Every month, I will be profiling an extraordinary human being who lives in our community. If you know someone who is doing something interesting with their life, I want to hear about it. Send me an email at [email protected].
Swivel-headed flesh eaters, eye-plucking battle birds and monster serpents.
Steven Jacklin’s imagination for all things far-out and mystical went rampant when he penned his latest novel Dwarfgiants. The Huntsville author, who just so happens to love acting as well, believes that creativity is really what makes the world go round.
“I’m not really a fantasy book reader,” he says. “I’ve read some Harry Potter and a little J.R.R Tolkien. Fantasy verges on being science fiction and that can get quite involved and a little technical at times. It stretches the imagination far greater than I have. What I like most about the fantasy idea is that it’s make-believe. You invent things and you create things and that’s a lot of fun. And it’s the style of writer that you are that makes your book different from everyone else.”
He exudes a certain quirkiness and intelligence and seems to be the kind of guy who can talk about anything for hours. He’s highly creative and has always had a love for theatre. He’s performed in quite a few plays and his recent roles include his portrayal of Gus in Harold Pinter’s The Dumbwaiter and Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. His wife, Jan, founded the Huntsville Theatre Company and the two work closely together.
Steven likes to think of himself as quirky, which is evident in much of what he writes. He’s at his best in the morning when his mind is fresh and raring to go.
He won’t tell you his age but he’s originally from England and played the bass in a rock band in the 1960s when The Beatles just got their big break. His homeland was a bit like living in a goldfish bowl: things seemed formal and predictable. He moved to Canada when he was 23 in pursuit of happiness and fortune.
At one point in his young life, he did contemplate becoming a reporter but ended up going to college for engineering and eventually chose a career as an engineering draftsman. It was around the same time he left England that he developed an interest in writing. His English upbringing probably had something to do with it, he says, and in retrospect the gift of being able to express himself through written words “was there all along”.
Steven also has a love for the stage. Here he plays Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. (Photo courtesy of Steven Jacklin)
Back in 2010, he self-published A Slight Kink, a collection of short stories that are as quirky as he is. He’s also written a draft of a novel called The Tropics, named after the band he played in many years ago. But in the case of the Dwarfgiants, it was a long time in the making. The idea for it was sparked when story time was a regular nighttime ritual at the Jacklin household. He would begin a bedtime story and his children would each add a sentence or two and it usually always ended in “some dingy castle.”
Dwarfgiants are smallish, peace-loving, human-like creatures whose Inner Circle members have the ability, when threatened, to change up to over twice their size. And while the story has some fantasy elements, it is not a cartoon.
He describes it as a a fast-paced, page-turning adventure novel, typically aimed toward kids between the ages of nine and 12. However, that particular genre is fairly universal, Steven says. One 11-year-old who read his book described it as “funny, sad and addictive to read.”
He published A Slight Kink seven years ago and has recently publish Dwarfgiants, which has received a lot of praise from the local community.
For Steven, it’s the whole creative process of writing a book that brings him satisfaction. He managed to create 30 character names in Dwarfgiants and that’s quite a creative feat considering the book is 283 pages. He enjoys thinking up new adventures where the characters find themselves in “sticky situations” and coming up with clever ways to get them out is always fun too.
Getting out of a jam, finding an original turn of phrase. It comes from somewhere and it can take time.
He’s been taken aback by the praise he received at a book launch that took place at the Huntsville Curling Club (he’s a member!) at the end of April. Steven’s been complimented plenty on the extent of his imagination and a former school librarian is sitting on the edge of her seat waiting for the sequel. He finds the challenge of writing is either getting started or figuring out the overall story. He has completed the first three chapters of book two and it’s a work in progress.
“I’m juggling this with writing my first stage musical so it’s busy times,” he says.
Stay tuned because any chance he can get, Steven will tuck himself away in the quiet of his quaint, little home office and unleash the writer within.
(Books are available online at www.dwarfgiants.com.)
Want to read about other extraordinary people in your community? Click here!
Don’t miss out on Doppler! Sign up for our free, twice-weekly newsletter here.
0 Comments