In this month’s Authors & Allies, we delve into the creative mind of Thor—an artist and writer who thrives on contradiction, control, and the macabre. From fleeting visual sparks to cosmic-horror flash fiction, Thor’s process is a dance between impulse and intuition. Here, he speaks candidly about where his ideas come from, the themes that haunt him, and why he worships creative freedom above all.
Art Meets Words: A Creative Tango
Willy: Your work dances between visual art and writing—how do these two worlds collide? Does a sketch ever whisper a story idea, or does a line of prose spark a masterpiece on canvas?
Thor:
I think about this more and more when I see other people’s art. This is also the best possible version of the dreaded “So, where do you get your ideas from” that journalists ask artists like they’re asking them which store sells the best shoes, you can actually respond to this one and it makes you think, and that’s because you rock my friend!
I can’t remember where but there was someone asking people if they think in words or images. I thought “What a weird question” at first but then I asked people around me and they answered no problem, with either one or a mix of the two. I found myself almost unable to answer it and now I’m fascinated by this topic. The same was asked about dreams and that’s even more interesting.
With my art, it’s most certainly a mixture of both but I have to say that visual cues are probably more likely to inspire something that I’ll want to write about to see where it goes. Very often I’ll see an image, it can be in a movie or some video, but a still image sometimes gives birth to some concept that can then grow quite a bit once I begin writing about it. It’s way more prevalent that a visual cue makes me think of something I want to write and often what I do write has nothing to do with the image that inspired it.
The Birth of a Project: Where It All Begins
Willy: When you’re kicking off something new, is it a visual daydream or a scribbled sentence that grabs you? Walk us through that magical (or messy) moment when a fresh idea grabs you by the collar.
Thor:
The majority of anything I end up writing (since writing is the main thing for me) usually comes from something very simple as in It’s usually either a single word, single image or sometimes I’ll get an idea of something I find fascinating. The simpler the actual ‘spark’ is the easier it is to write for some reason. Individual words are an incredibly common theme for me.
I remember a funny example of this process: I was at work years ago and the store I worked at had a TV playing with all kinds of ads running. One of the ads was for one of those ‘Australia’s Got Talent’ shows (This was when I lived in Melbourne) and for like a second or two I saw a little kid dressed up like a magician (standard fare for shows like that) and I said to the guy working with me:
“How funny would it be if one of these child magicians came out and did a few run-of-the-mill tricks like all these kids do but ended on a trick so mind-blowingly crazy that people in the studio would start to scream and run out of the building. I’m not talking about David Blaine type of crazy, I’m talking ancient, miracle slash nightmare type of stuff that would have you question reality?”
I wrote it as a very short story after that. I meant for it to be a comedy, but it ended up being a bleak look at grief and loss, with a little cosmic horror flair in the end. I love when things just lead you into a different direction than the one you intended when starting the writing process. I like thinking that whatever idea I come up with, the actual writer in me will make whatever suits him best and will figure out what the idea wants explained and how much weight should be distributed within its confines.
Themes That Haunt Your Studio
Willy: Your art and writing probably have some recurring guests—themes or motifs that just won’t leave you alone. What are they, and why do they keep crashing your creative parties?
Thor:
I’ve always been drawn to the macabre and almost nihilistic aspects in most things. I think it has something to do with the level of uncertainty that people have to reach or get to where they’ll start to feel incredibly uncomfortable. It’s a similar mark/place for most people.
My own mark seems to be quite further away so I can almost “enjoy” (that’s a bad word here but, there you go) watching a person in a state of unease that they probably could handle in any number of appropriate ways but because of the unfamiliarity of it, it will push that person to dismiss their surroundings and grasp for anything to lower that uncertainty.
That gets them back down to a level they can handle. Going down can often be at the expense of critical thinking and the dismissal of logic. This is a weird way to describe an occurrence in life, but I find it endlessly fascinating. Even though I don’t feel myself getting as confused or uncomfortable in these same situations doesn’t mean I understand them better, rather it’s me just being used to more constant feelings of cluelessness in general.
I like placing any and all situations and scenarios inside such an occurrence and seeing what will happen. I add surrealism, humour and sometimes thoughts of mine that have spiralled from their point of origin and are now something a lot different from what they were initially, into whatever I’m writing, when I feel any of it bloom in my mind. I don’t always know why I feel like randomly breaking up a flow only to add a seemingly unrelated and completely different piece of text into the piece itself.
I just put the things I feel are a part of what I’m working on wherever they tell me they ought to go and it’s always correct. I never have to cut and paste portions or re-arrange them until I feel they are perfect—99% of the time, the words come out just as you see them.
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Juggling Paintbrushes and Pens
Willy: Balancing two creative outlets sounds like herding cats. How do you split your time between art and writing? Do you have a favorite child, or are you an equal-opportunity creator?
Thor:
Well, I definitely put writing at the top, far ahead of anything else. Making art is somehow more fluid, comes and goes and I’m not chasing it, but I always want to be writing more, regardless of what’s going on. I used to have a pseudonym under which I created mostly visual art. I haven’t done anything of note as that persona in quite some time but it’s always there and I’m sure I’ll return to it. I wanted it to be under an artist’s name and not mine and it took on a whole life of its own. I can’t tell you what it is though—that’s a secret!
Muse Alert: Who’s Fueling Your Fire?
Willy: Every artist has their muses—people, places, or peculiar obsessions. Who or what lights your creative fuse? And how do they sneak into your work when you least expect it?
Thor:
Very true, I guess there are so many but to name the most obvious ones for me: Drugs, Manipulation, Control, Contradiction, Surrealism/Magical realism and Indifference and a lack of empathy in general (Thank Asperger’s for that one). These terms all heavily dictate and make up why I like writing, why I want to write, how I approach doing it and the control that I love of being free to do anything with words at my own leisure, beholden to no one and nothing. The world’s restraints don’t reach writing so it is almost a sacred thing and once you see how much freedom it offers, it’s just an activity of endless possibilities.
The Project That Almost Broke You (But Didn’t)
Willy: Spill the tea on a project that had you questioning your sanity. What was the beast, and how did you tame it—or did it tame you?
Thor:
I’ve had, what I feel, is a really great setting, scenes and overall premise to a novel for half my life. I think I got the initial idea when I was 15 or 16 and it’s only grown in respect inside my mind. I don’t think I fully connected the dots on why the story is personal for me at first but it’s fairly clear now and because of that I think I’m hesitant to actually make it a concrete thing in fear of it not being nearly as interesting, unique and brilliant as it currently is, fracture and scattered in my mind. It’s funny to be intimidated by your own idea but I guess it shows how special some of them are for some reason and how much respect you have for them, not wanting anything but the best for them.
I guess I have almost two ideas like that, but one towers above anything else. I can tell you the title, it’s been clear from the start, it’s simple but it makes more and more sense every time I think about the concept. It will be called: The Veiling.
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Evolution of Thor: Then vs. Now
Willy: Your style’s probably done some shape-shifting over the years. What’s changed, and what (or who) nudged you down this artistic rabbit hole?
Thor:
I should have started writing years before I did but I didn’t—some things needed to happen first, I guess. The biggest change was when I realised that rules and how you “should” do things hold no inherent power unless you give them power. When I stopped trying to write a certain way because of what I thought were the ‘rules’ I felt this incredible freedom that I decided to stick with and never look back from. It took my view of something I’ve always loved and made it infinite in possibilities and potential and therefore it became a world in and of itself that has space for any and all of your ideas and experiments.
Wisdom for the Creative Newbies
Willy: For the fresh-faced artists and writers out there, what’s your golden nugget of advice? How can they find their voice without losing their minds?
Thor:
Honestly, just what I said above. You CAN work within rules, like making a haiku but to me a haiku represents everything I find mind-numbingly boring about the thing I love so much (Seppuku before a Haiku I say). If you don’t feel as if you have your voice yet, write something and never once think about if it should be a certain way. Rules can be the worst thing ever so… break them, smash them all and make your ideas the way you feel like they should be.
If you do it sincerely, I’ve found that people never comment on you not going by some rule or not, the work will get the ones reading it to just have no choice but to take in your words in a way that doesn’t have any room for a preconceived set of barriers.
My friend who’s an artist said to me once, and it really resonated with me: “The art I make comes from me but once I finish the work, it’s still only 50% done as far as I’m concerned. My art will only ever become art, and it can only ever be truly done, fully 100% once someone that had no part in its creation sees it. They don’t have to say a word about how they feel, the work just needs outside eyes for it to be art as I view it.” I’m paraphrasing but I just love that view a lot. It makes so much sense to me.
Instagram: Your Digital Gallery
Willy: You’ve got a killer Instagram game—any secret sauce for making art pop on a tiny screen?
Thor:
I spend like, way more time making the “cover” for my written works than I do actually writing them. No matter how long or short it may be, I always make a cover. I like the idea of an image being somehow connected to the words and that for you to read the words themselves, you have to flip one page to get to them. I have severe OCD so every placement on my covers is deliberate. I’ll move things a fraction here or there, so it’s perfectly aligned to my standards.
I usually never have to spend a long time thinking of what the cover or title should be, I spend way more time in choosing what font to use, how the title is to be displayed, the colour is really important. I’ll sometimes alter images tens of times, adding various effects and dirt or sheen until I feel it is just as it should be. I think it’s a good way to give your work a stamp that says who made it.
I’d also just make sure to have your posts sized correctly for mobile phone screens, so they take up as much of the screen as they can. Try to avoid using crazy fonts but don’t be afraid to go through a LOT of fonts to find the one that speaks that piece’s language the best. Use more than one font if the work calls for it. Just make the post look interesting before anyone even reads the words, I think that’s a solid idea in more ways than one.
A lot of people attach songs to the post itself, but I don’t like to do that. You can add a song to your story once your post is ready, and you want to notify your followers via story about it. That’s like a trailer to me and choosing that trailer song is also something I spend way more time on than I should. I feel the post itself doesn’t benefit from one song being attached to it forever. I can’t read it while a song is blaring or if I did, I feel as though I’m not really taking it in properly.
I also like to use the “Location” option as a tiny added atmospheric overtone. I have no interest in putting the actual location I’m in when writing but that option has so many fun things to choose from. For instance, if I wrote a piece while I had a migraine, I’ll add the location as “Migraine Mountain” or something similar.
The words won’t mention migraine at all, but I feel the migraine was a huge factor in what ended up as that particular post and I feel like “tagging” it as such. This may seem trivial and unimportant and most likely is, but I like to do little things to pad the little universe of each post so that it’s presented with all the pieces available to show what it is at its core.
Sneak Peek: What’s Next in Thor’s Universe?
Willy: What upcoming projects have you buzzing? Give us a teaser—what’s brewing in your creative cauldron, and when can we expect it to boil over?
Thor:
I haven’t written as frequently lately as I want to and used to. I think the world, my world, is having a structural shift of some kind. It has nothing to do with the usual current state of things; it’s very much something personal to me. I get these ideas about projects I’d like to do but they don’t have any specific timeframe in which I want to accomplish them.
I might do something very different but as long as I’m alive, I’ll never stop writing. I want to go even deeper and become even more of my own self in my writing—freer, more wild, more untethered, more crass, more soft, more eloquent, more abrasive. I want what makes up the way I approach things now to just keep growing, become more.
I do really want to put together a poetry book that has maybe 40–50 of my “poems” but I want to connect them, however loosely, together by writing a little segue from one to the next and make the book a little different than just poem 1, poem 2… I want the book to be a whole that also offers you to just read it in any order you want, and it will make just as much (or little) sense however you decide to approach it.
I want to ask a handful of artists I love to maybe provide some visual stuff for me to use. I’ll most likely spend the majority of its creation making the cover! I meant to do a book of poetry a long time ago, but I found that I wasn’t interested in the normal format. It seems too barren and not a good fit for how I write. I’ll most likely try to make this happen very soon. I’ve had the name of it set for a long time: Glossolalia & Drug Paraphernalia. I think that’s the perfect name for a book like that one I have in mind.
The world is weirder than usual at the moment. My distance from it has grown quite a lot. I can’t promise I’ll be here tomorrow but while I am here, this is what I’m planning on doing: write, make a book, publish that book by whatever means are available to me—and then just do more of it, all of it!
Thank you for exploring Thor’s world with us. Stay tuned for more Authors & Allies features—where we bring you closer to the creative fires lighting up the margins of speculative fiction and art.
👉 Explore more of Thor’s creative universe in these 5 articles:
- Haunted by Spirits: Poem by Thor S. Carlsson
- Sugary Sweet
- Your Name is Perfect for Screaming in Despair
- Timpani Abrasions
- Authors & Allies: A Mind on Fire Summer Series
Follow Thor’s ongoing chaos on Instagram: @thor_art_and_words.
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