Author Spotlight 07/20 D M Hitchins

What is your name?

D M Hitchens

Where are you from?

Dirty Jersey, USA

What do you do creatively?

My creative life is a bit all over the place. I currently work for a theatre company/music studio teaching piano and designing sets. On Etsy I have a small textile business. Periodically I will show artwork in local galleries. It’s only recently I’ve been devoting a serious amount of time to writing, though I’ve written several short stories to go along with drawings over the years.

What is the first thing you remember ever creating?

An imaginary friend called Astor. As I got older I would draw him all the time, and he’s now a major character in my first longer piece of writing, though he’s been renamed.

How do you find art and writing differ? Is one harder than the other in your opinion?

I suppose they’re different in the way they present to the viewer or reader. In art you present a direct image, in writing you try to cultivate the idea of a character or setting in the mind of the reader.  For me, writing is a bit more of a challenge. Making a character or entire world come alive in someone else’s mind is difficult, and almost sounds insane as I type this.

Where do you draw your inspirations from?

There are characters and worlds to be found in just about every piece of music I’ve heard. I’ll also take inspiration from stories and films I enjoy.

Where can we find your work online?

You can currently find me @dmhitchins on twitter or @dmhitchins on instagram

Maybe give us some insight into the pieces that you’ve shared. What are they called? What inspired them? Do they have special meaning to you?

The Indigo-Haired Doll (both the short story and the artwork) are inspired by a long marathon of Goosebumps episodes. My other pictured works are largely drawn from fantasy races like elves and angels. I enjoy drawing  and writing about ethereal characters, with just a hint (or more) of macabre.

What can we expect from you in the future?

Great things. Terrible but great.

What is something people should know about you?

Almost every character I’ve created can be traced to a David Bowie song.