When a Hollywood film crew arrives on Martha’s Vineyard with a mechanical shark and a youth film contest boasting a huge cash prize, disgraced pitcher Gayle “Blue Streak” Briar sees a chance to turn a bad season into the best summer ever.
We had the pleasure of chatting with author Ira Marcks about his debut graphic novel Shark Summer, writing, book recommendations, and more!
Hi, Ira! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m a graphic novelist living up Upstate New York. I like watching movies, talking about cartoons, and telling stories about weird places and strange ideas. My favorite hobby is falling down a Wikipedia rabbit hole about something esoteric. I come up with all the ideas for my books while walking my dog, Dottie.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
It’s definitely Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. The art pulled me in instantly and each page is burned in my memory. But even as a kid, long before I knew what subtext was, I could feel there was something bubbling below the surface of those drawings. That book made me curious about that magical aspect of storytelling; the one that lets you say something without actually saying it. I think about that every day.
Your debut graphic novel Shark Summer is out on May 25th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Blair Witch Project for Kids
What can readers expect?
A fast paced, nostalgia infused, summer adventure about new friendships, filmmaking, and the creepy secret history of a New England island.
Where did the inspiration for Shark Summer come from?
Since I was a kid, I’ve been obsessed with the creative process. Filmmaking, publishing, songwriting, journalism, and on and on. I’ve tried to have some kind of experience in all of the creative industries, even historical preservation! Shark Summer is about the trials and tribulations of teaming up for a creative project and the powerful bonds we form with people we work with.
Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing or illustrating and how you were able to overcome them?
The most difficult part of the process was trying to find the right balance of cartoon humor, horror movie tropes, and real-world consequences. Shark Summer takes place on Martha’s Vineyard in the summer of 1974 during the filming of JAWS. While I worked hard to convey the geography and spirit of this time and place, there were also choices to be made about how to use these elements to tell an inspirational story for kids. My editor Andrea Colvin deserves a lot of credit for helping me find the best way to tell this story.
What is your creative process like when it comes to illustrating?
I always start with dialogue and description. Once I have a script in place, I use it to inspire the visuals of the book. If I do my job right, a lot of that text gets cut out as the illustrations begin to tell the story. It’s funny to say this but I’m always very hesitant to start the drawing stage of a comic (even though it’s the best part of the job!). The more stages I can put between myself and the final product, the better the story will be.
What’s the best writing advice you have received?
I like the quote by fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett that goes “The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” Which is to say, the later drafts are intended for the reader. I think it’s important to distinguish a first draft from the rest of the process. To be honest with yourself is crucial to the early stages of a project. So when you bring other cooks into the kitchen and begin to edit and clarify the story, there will always be a seed of truth left from that first draft you wrote for yourself.
What’s next for you?
The next story in this series! In the second book we join Shark Summer’s aspiring filmmaker Elijah Jones as he heads off to Colorado to make a documentary about a reclusive horror writer who has been living at a certain infamous hotel.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
I am currently enjoying Wild Minds by Reid Mitenbuler. It’s about the Golden Age of classic animation, the iconic cartoon characters of the early twentieth century, and artists who made them. It’s basically the story of the birth of an art form and the innovative minds that defined the industry. If you’re a fan of the early Disney shorts and Looney Tunes this is the book for you!
