If there’s one thing we want to encourage here at Rrampt, it’s for young creatives to get involved in their community. And to create whatever it is that inspires them. So, when we were approached by St Mary’s High School to take on a co-op student this spring, one who had a passion for writing and illustrating, we said ‘absolutely.’
I met with Wesley Daniels at The Palette Cafe recently to find out what interested him, what he wanted to learn from us geniuses (note sarcasm) here at Rrampt, and what his perspective on the arts and culture is in this area. As it turns, out Wesley is into a lot of different artistic outputs, including writing short stories, but what he’s most passionate about these days is creating comics. So, we decided it was high time to dive into the world of comics and what better way to do it than through the eyes of a local teenager. We’ll be publishing some of Wesley’s original work over the next month including a walk through his process and some interviews with locals.
For Wesley, it all started in Grade 10 when his teacher read to him Of Mice and Men. “The characters and dialogue really popped out of the page, and it was then that I realized why it was so magical,” he says. “It was all playing out in my head. I loved it so much. And I thought – maybe I could do that.”
It’s funny how that moment of realization often happens with the right book. The same thing happened for me when I first read Crime and Punishment. It opened up a whole new world.
“In that same class, my teacher said write a really short story – it had to be like five sentences long, but I ended up taking up the whole page; he graded it and gave me 5 out of 5. That’s where it really started where I wanted to write more.”
At first, Wesley wanted to have illustrations in his stories because he also really likes drawing. He was reading a lot of Manga at the time, which led him to eventually creating his own comic strips. “With books, you imagine the scenario in your head, you get more sucked into it. With comics, it’s more that the story is playing out in front of you…I started to learn what worked, and what didn’t and why,” he says.
He thanks the crew at his high school newspaper, The Advocate, for helping him along in his artistic journey and for the improvement he’s made this past year. When they told him he could write short stories for the newspaper, he got to it and has now written a handful.
“The first short story I wrote was ten pages,” he says, “and I didn’t think it was that good…then my second was six pages…and I noticed I was improving.”
“After my short story, The Storm, I really felt like I was starting to understand writing”
The Advocate at St Mary’s High School in Owen Sound has technically been in existence for years, but Wesley says that it didn’t really start back up again until this year. He credits his friend Ben a lot for inspiring him and challenging him, and for getting him into philosophy.
It’s exciting to hear that school newspapers are still a thing. I was worried that high school newspapers and yearbooks might have been a thing of the past. How many writers, poets and photographers got their start by submitting their work to the school newspaper? That was the first place I published any of my stuff (thank you Symposium Arts Magazine at Western).
As for storylines, Wesley likes to write tragedies. “I don’t normally write good endings, because in real life not everything has a good ending. Some people are wrongfully hurt when they shouldn’t be.”
Before we finish our conversation, he explains his premise for his novel. I’m very intrigued to hear he’s half-finished. I wish I had thought of a premise that cool when I was his age. He’s lightyears ahead of the teenaged me and I’m pretty excited for him – I know how much work it is to complete a novel and the feeling of accomplishment that comes after a physical copy is in your hands.
On the horizon for Wesley? He’s currently looking for a publisher. If anyone out there is interested in finding the next young voice you may want to connect with him. It wasn’t that long ago that I was in his shoes looking for opportunities in this area to give me a chance. No one was interested, so I started Rrampt to do it myself. There is nothing wrong with creating your own opportunities when a bunch of doors close.
My advice to him, I say, is to try to find a publisher or agent, and if you can’t – just do it yourself. Get your work out there and let the audience decide if they like it. Write what interests you and there will certainly be others who are looking for the same thing. Find your audience, and work your butt off to keep creating.
Keep an eye out for work from Wesley appearing on our website over the next couple months in a series we’re calling Wesley’s World.
Words and photos by Jesse Wilkinson
