On my blog today I would like to welcome the renowned illustrator Loretta Schauer.

Loretta paints, draws and prints by hand in a variety of media, and finishes her artwork digitally. She is a self-taught artist and has won the Waterstone’s ‘Picture This’ competition in 2011. Since then she has illustrated picture books and fiction titles for a wide variety of publishers. Her first middle grade book as author illustrator is The Legend of Ghastly Jack Crowheart, which is released on Thursday, October 5th 2023 by Anderson Press.

For Lil, life at the Squawking Mackerel inn couldn’t be more miserable. She’s tasked with the sloppiest, grottiest jobs and picked on at every turn. Her only friend is Augustus Scratchy, a cantankerous crow with a habit of stealing. When the dread villain Rotten Bob Hatchet and his gang of cut-throat highwaymen begin attacking travellers on the road, things get really dire.

Joining forces with a new servant boy, Ned, and armed with the contents of the inn’s lost property cupboard, a pocket full of revolting dumplings and some knicker elastic, Lil comes up with a plot to scare off Rotten Bob. And so the legend of Ghastly Jack Crowheart the Demon Highwayman is born!

Dangerous highwaymen, furious crows, ludicrous underwear, and a turnip apocalypse – stand and deliver!

Blurb for The Legend of Ghastly Jack Crowheart by Loretta Schauer

This amazing looking book will be released on October 5, 2023. So we only three more days to wait. I can’t wait to read it see the illustrations.

Loretta has kindly agreed to be interviewed about the inspiration and writing process for The Legend of Ghastly Jack Crowheart.

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Welcome to my blog Loretta. Please tell us what inspired you to write a book about highwaymen?

Why Highwaymen? – Well, when I was a kid I had a big Smash Hits poster of Adam Ant on my wall so I guess my admiration for a dandy highwayman goes back to then… We see a lot of pirates in kids books but I’ve never seen a recent one featuring highwaymen.

How long have you been writing as well as illustrating for?

I’ve been illustrating for about twelve years. My first book as illustrator was published in 2012 and I became a full time illustrator in 2015. Crowheart is my first title as author and illustrator and it’s the first middle grade fiction title I’ve written – so it’s been couple of years now for the writing. I’ve experimented with a few picture book texts in the past but never quite got them to the stage where they were ready for submission. I also wrote a graphic novel script a long time ago, but again, never got round to submitting it properly – mainly because the pictures were so important to the story, and I never got further than making the first two pages!

For The Legend of Ghastly Jack Crowheart, what came first for you the text or the illustrations? Talk us through your writer-Illustrator process.

The illustrations definitely came first – the characters and setting were there from early on, and that meant there was lots of sample artwork to send out with the story when it went on submission.

The idea for the book started with some character sketches. I love historical fashions so I’d drawn some 18^th century ladies or “wig wafters” as I like to call them, and a crow character, Augustus Scratchy, who definitely needed to appear in a book. I had been playing with the idea of a young girl who uses a Highwayman’s disguise to go off on adventures too and somehow they all fitted together. (Must have been all the feathers!)

When I write, I tend to imagine various scenes and incidents, and quickly write them down in no particular order. Then I begin to expand on them; what happens before or after? What links them to the characters inner story? What elements do I need to write about more? This all helps set the tone and voice for the book. I then do some plotting; shaping the narrative, making sure the character’s motivations are clear, and working out where scenes should go, and what’s missing. There’s obviously a lot of cutting of scenes with this process, and I keep a working doc of bits that I “save for later”. They often end up discarded, but it’s all part of the process. I then do a “proper write” which becomes the first draft. Then it’s editing all the way! By this stage I already have a good idea of what I want to show visually, so once the text was approved, I went through the book and made a list of potential illustrations. There were rather a lot so I was expecting to cut most of them , but my editor and designer at Andersen said “let’s have them all!” so it ended up being a heavily illustrated tome!

What would you say were your main protagonist, Lil Scroggin’s best and worst qualities?

Lil is a little over-enthusiastic when it comes to her grand schemes – which gets her into trouble. As does her unfortunate habit of answering back! She tries really hard to fix the mistakes she makes, but the odds are stacked against her and things have a nasty habit of going from bad to worse. She’s brave and funny and deeply empathetic at heart. Her refusal to be taunted into being cruel is evidence of this, as is her relationship with Scratchy the crow and Ned the shy servant boy. She also takes no guff, and she practically runs things at the Squawking Mackerel, despite being on the receiving end of Ma’s temper and the other kid’s mockery.

As for the villain of the story, Rotten Bob Hatchet, would probably want to be just as ghastly and notorious as Jack.

What advice would you give to other illustrators wanting to write their first book?

For me, writing was quite an organic, instinctive process, so I’d say just give it a try. There’s no wrong or right way to approach it. Just as with your artwork, you have to experiment, and get words on the page. The idea is key, and your personal voice is what makes the story unique to you, just like your art. I know many people benefit from going on writing courses to learn about craft, and although I’ve not been on a writing course as such, I’ve definitely absorbed lots of wisdom and tips over the years being involved in the visual side of making books. My punctuation and grammar is terrible, but I write as if I’m telling a story, whether it’s from the character’s point of view (hello drama skills!) or from my own. And that’s the thing, we illustrators are natural storytellers, and illustration is all about communication – so I guess we’re already halfway there!

Do you play music while you work and, if so, what’s your favourite?

I don’t play music while I write, but I do play music or listen to podcasts while I draw.

If I’m feeling stressed and have a stack of deadlines looming I’ll go for some rousing like S.P.O.C.K, as it always cheers me up,  but if I’m feeling creative and want to get “in the zone” I’ll listen to something atmospheric and a little bit spooky like Lorn or Fever Ray.

I love listening to history podcasts, and lots of true crime. For some reason there seems to be quite a few kidlit illustrators who like to hear about serial killers while they are drawing fluffy bunnies. I’m not sure why.

Is there anything else you would like to tell readers about The Legend of Ghastly Jack Crowheart?

This is a book full of the things I find funny about life in the 18^th century. The second half of the 18th century was fantastically extravagant and thoroughly revolting in equal measure – especially for ordinary people who had to navigate the filth and grime on a daily basis. So if you want to be submerged into a world of ridiculous wigs, pestilential residences, and the indignities of highway travel, this is the book for you. (Spoiler – There’s a lot of mud!)

It’s also the perfect Halloween read, with a lot of creeping about in the woods, a flock of haunted crows and a horrifying demon highwayman on the prowl! Stand and deliver!

Thank you Loretta for your fantastic answers to my questions. It has been a privilege to have you on my blog and I hope we see you again here soon.

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You can find out more about Loretta Schauer, her books and beautiful illustrations on her website: Loretta Schauer – Author Illustrator. You can follow her on X (formerly known as Twitter @Lorettta_Schauer and on Instagram @lorettaschauer.

To purchase a copy of The Legend of Ghastly Jack Crowheart by Loretta Schauer you can go direct through her publisher Anderson Press here: or from your local indie bookshop, or online at uk.bookshop.org which supports local, independent bookshops.