ActressEmily Hampshirehas graced television screens in shows like12 Monkeys , Schitt ’s Creek , Chapelwaite , andThe Rig , and now , she ’s coming to bookstore , too : Her first in writing novel , Amelia Aierwood - Basic Witch , is out on April 11 .
The in writing novel centers onthe Aierwoods , a tiptop - famous family of witches who are about to asterisk in a reality show all about their lives . Amelia is her parents ’ only biological child , but unlike her take up siblings , she mess up up any magic she undertake and ca n’t figure out where she fits in with the relief of her glamorous kinfolk .
make a in writing novel was n’t something Hampshire knew she wanted to do until John Domingos , her one - time agent who now crop as an A&R Liaison for Z2 Comics , approached her with the idea . “ He was like , ‘ You know who I consider might have a comic in her brain is Emily , ’ ” Hampshire recalls . “ It was n’t always a pipe dream for me . I had never even thought about it . But the minute I did , I was like , ‘ Oof , he know me . ’ This is the ultimate medium for everything I could ever want . ”
Not have to interest about things she ’d have to think about in a real humankind shoot , like budgeting , was nice — but most importantly , she could have something she ’d always daydream about but had n’t experienced ( yet ): “ I could have a Jello - O pool . ”
How Reality TV—and Real Life—Influenced Amelia Aierwood
tarradiddle was key for Hampshire , who says she did n’t desire to come out with a graphic novel unless she had a near story to tell : “ If it was going to be my comic script , ” she state , “ it had to be authentic to me . ”
She pull in on two very different things when build the world ofAmelia Aierwood - Basic Witch . One was the reality showKeeping Up with the Kardashians . What if , she wonder , there was another sister , one cut out of the show because she was a terrible influencer ? Making the Aierwoods a family of witches open up up a whole world of magical high jinks . “ you’re able to do anything , ” she enounce . “ I think it all sort of boil down to Jell - O syndicate . I wanted to make that potential . ”
The other matter she tie on was her real living . Hampshire ’s older brother is adopted , and she says he ’s more like her parent than she is . “ I ’m like the inglorious sheep . So I found it interesting to make all of the non - biological sisters the ones who are so in line with their family , and Amelia is the black sheep . ”
Stumbs , Hampshire ’s stuffed Yeti , inspired a character reference ( “ hoi polloi say he ’s engorge — he ’s just playing stuffed ” ) , as did her best friend Neila , who is trans . “ There ’s a panel in the Scripture where Amelia [ tell Neila ] ‘ You have such cool shoes , ’ and that ’s what I always say to Neila . And she ’s like , ‘ Thanks , it ’s really tough to observe horseshoe in my size because I ’m trans and they do n’t make them like that , ’ ” Hampshire says . “ It ’s a childlike matter , it ’s not seek to send any message . It ’s just normal . That kind of stuff that I experienced in my real life can maybe be translate by someone who does n’t have any champion who are trans or nonbinary . That visibility I believe is always crucial . ”
Bringing Amelia Aierwood to Life
Hampshire broughtAmelia Aierwoodto life on the Thomas Nelson Page with the assistant of a crew of talented quisling . Co - author Eliot Rahal was the first writer she met with , but it took meter to find lead artist Kristen Gudsnuk . “ I saw a mass of creative person , ” she says , all of them very talented . “ But I want someone a little scrappy — a little not staring , but I could experience it off the pageboy . And that ’s what I sense like Kristen does . She draws through type and through storey . Even a pin drawing of something is excited and [ plug in ] . ” Artist Ames Liu drew the cover and the world show panels ; creative person Jarrett Williams , Fred Stresing , Caitlin Rose Boyle , Cara McGee , and Dominique Roses contributed as well .
There was heap about the process of creating a graphic novel that surprised Hampshire . “ The thing that blew my judgement was in funny books , there ’s like a letterer — a person who does just lettering , ” she says . “ A colorist — a someone who does just coloring . I ’m the eccentric of person who could get really into a font , so I was like , ‘ Maybe I should be a letterer , just center on that one matter . ’ ”
But what she fuck most about the process , she says , is that “ it ’s such a collaborative culture medium of truthful artists . I do n’t think anyone go into comic books to become robust and famous . You go into it because you love it . ”
Easter Eggs and Inside Jokes
The illustrations ofAmelia Aierwood - Basic Witchare mess - packed with details and puns , giving Hampshire ’s fans plenty of Easter orchis to track down for . “ That is all Kristen , ” Hampshire says . “ I still feel like when I go through the book I ’m find fresh things . ”
mention to Hampshire ’s work on12 MonkeysandSchitt ’s Creekare enshroud throughout the jury . Stumbs the Yeti make an appearance , as does a wordplay involve Justin Bieber ( Hampshire is a buff ) . There ’s even a nod to an sequence ofHumpday with Hampshire , her pandemic public lecture show , featuring herSchitt’sco - star Annie Murphy .
There are also inside prank , like a boxed set of CDs with the titleEvery Musical Except Phantom . “I do n’t like when people talk high , I like when they sing raw , ” Hampshire say . “ It ’s the opera house part of thePhantomthat is bothersome to me . ”
Hampshire has a gruelling time choosing a best-loved panel of the Holy Scripture . She believe one panel , where Amelia does magic and levitates , is particularly beautiful , and she also loves the ones that have baby Spaghetti the Yeti , who was of grade , inspired by Stumbs . In reception to Hampshire ’s passionate explanation that Yetis are material , Gudsnuk made Spaghetti a shirt that say “ I ’m Real . ”
After two years in the making , Hampshire is excited forAmelia Aierwood - Basic Witchto finally be out in the world — and she hop it inspires others the way it instigate her . “ I feel like I got to go back and separate my younger self , ‘ The thing that you suppose is faulty with you is your deception , ’ ” she says . “ If some young kid could record this and find revolutionise to be more themselves , that is the capital thing . ”
you could buyAmelia Aierwood - Basic Witchwherever books are sold .
