We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tom Guilfoyle a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Tom, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

I have always had a passion for writing since I was 11 and wrote my first horror story. However, I never thought I could turn that into a career until I was in my last year of college and thinking about what university to head to. During this time, my passion for comics had grown from loving them to wanting to create them. So, on a whim, on the university database, I typed ‘comic book course,’ fully expecting nothing to turn up. To my surprise, Staffordshire University did a Cartoon and Comic Arts course.

I spent the next three years honing my craft, learning there was more to comics than just Marvel and DC. I had a lot of fun working on different types of comics and stories, but there was one problem. The course was primarily art-based. During my third and final year of uni, I found my passion for writing the scripts outweighed my love of drawing them. When I graduated, I knew I wanted to write comics, but I had no idea if I would be successful.

So scared, I put that dream on hold. I spent the next year looking for a ‘normal’ job. However, my desire for writing never died. My brain would come up with a hundred ideas for stories each week. I would fill notebooks upon notebooks with these ideas. So, in 2017, I decided to test the waters and offer to write a script, just to get it out of my system.

A few people were interested, and when I was writing their scripts, I felt more alive than I’ve ever been. I knew right there that this was what I needed to do. So, by the time 2020 arrives, I will make it official and become a full-time freelance comic book writer.

I had never worked freelance before, and even six years later, I’m still navigating this world like it’s my first year. I have had some incredible highs, like working with HAPSIE, writing a children’s comic educating them on the oceans and the dangers of global warming. To lows that have made me question if it’s even worth it. When that happens, and I feel like quitting, my brain will come up with a new idea. Reminding me that while it may be hard at times, I have to be writing.

I honestly still don’t know if this is a success, but I’ll never stop writing.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m Tom Guilfoyle, and I’m a writer and owner of Covenant of Horror. I have two writing models: the first is freelancing, turning people’s ideas into comic scripts ready for illustration. The other is a horror writer/poet creating original works that I sell at conventions and online.

Model 1 – I believe we all have an idea for a great story, but now everyone can put that idea on paper. That’s where my services come in. I work with clients to turn their ideas into fully-formed stories that I write into scripts. I primarily work with clients on comic book-based projects. I have worked with an airline to create a comic book-based safety instruction leaflet and with other authors to turn their novels into comics.

Model 2 – This is where I let my originality and creativity go. During model one, I write a variety of genres, but my passion is horror. Here I unleash all my horror ideas into short stories, novels, poems, and recently, a snail mail club. I publish all these works under the publishing banner Covenant of Horror on Substack. Some of the projects I’m most proud of are my poetry collection, ‘Music is the Gateway, Imagination is the Key,’ that takes my experience wth self-harm and how music helped me. Another is ‘Butcher with a Smile’, a comic and now a novel that was inspired by my love of The X-Files.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, I’d like to say it’s the creative process, but I think it’s seeing the final product, either printed or posted online. There is no better feeling, especially in the age of AI, to see something you’ve spent weeks or months working on out there in the world. I get a rush whenever I see something I’ve worked on out there in the wild. My favorite thing to see that I worked on is a trilogy of graphic novels for a perfume company. There is no better feeling.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Yes, one of my goals is to be published by a traditional publisher. However, what drives me to continue to create is the hope that someone will read my work and be inspired. I’m asexual, and I try to have ace representation in my work. I hope that my work makes them feel seen and that they can have adventures that don’t involve romance.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tomguilfoyle.substack.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/mosby_mystery_writer
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/covenantofarca1
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-guilfoyle/
• Other: https://www.fiverr.com/tgartstudios

Image Credits

‘Butcher with a smile’, illustration by Oli Wharton