At Story Playscapes, our independent Australian publishing house, we are proud to produce the exquisite written works of our founder and artisan author, Susan L. Marshall. Richly inspired by nature and classical techniques, Susan brings her signature Fragmentique contemporary metaphysical literary technique to her dedicated global readership and the literary community. It is a unique technique that Susan has developed, refined and used to create more than 40 professional publications, which places both the writer and the reader at the heart of story discovery and journey.

Susan is a multifaceted artist (author, illustrator and theatre practitioner), who has a strong passion and connection with the natural world. She has a special interest in the way that light falls, fractures and shifts, etc., and the way it leads her to rediscover a fragment of nature. Light brings Susan: “beginnings of perception, connection and can catalyse cause and effect. It proudly displays other energies (kinetic, mechanical, etc.) in the way it glows, offering fractured views of the world that mesmerise me and provide deep connection.” In her moments of fragment discovery, Susan finds a thrill in the beginnings of mystery and seeks to discover information in order to begin to reconstruct them into a narrative.

Susan’s connection with natural fragments, that are revealed in light fractures, evolves uniquely. She has always appreciated the classical history of the fragment. Authors like Sappho, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Homer, from Ancient Greek Antiquity, inspired her with the lyrical beauty of their fragments, which taught her about the deeper meanings behind heroic actions, ontology, perception and journey, along with the importance of pathos and catharsis for cleansing the spirit and providing wellbeing. Aristotle himself, provides Susan with her grounding of metaphysical philosophy and its importance in our contemporary world.

Susan is deeply inspired by the Renaissance, through its art and architecture. Her travels and learning in Florence helped her to unearth her own wild soul and its artistry. She is particularly fond of Petrarch’s sonnets and their use of lyrical fragments to capture persona and story in the most simple-complex arrangement. Susan greatly admires Renaissance visual art techniques and the ways that these can be used as inspiration to nurture and reconstruct her located fragments. Sandro Botticelli and Leonardo Da Vinci (Sfumato) are also of high inspiration for her from this era. Susan also adores the Baroque era, particularly Johannes Vermeer‘s unique work with Chiaroscuro (contrast between light and dark) and Sfumato (blending, blurring edges, and soft transitions of tone) to create the intimacy of his works.

Susan has a passion for Impressionist art techniques: Claude Monet (whose home and garden she visited, in Giverny, France) and his passion for the instantaneous use of light on landscapes and subjects during different times of day. She also admires Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s use of luminous colours and shimmering light, to capture fleeting moments within the day. Susan also appreciates Camille Pissarro’s use of light to reveal the deeper truth in landscapes and moments.

Susan uses her inspirations from her favourite artists, to create her original, artful written word. Susan says: “my use of my signature Fragmentique, involves me drawing from my deep connections with the fragments of light and aspects of nature that it illuminates (e.g. leaves, colours, light fall, feathers, raindrops, etc.) and their energies, to create a rich palette that I, for example: sort, spilt, blend, blur, dot, streak, mix, dab, etch and attune myself to.” Susan’s approach to her work is at once observational, immersive and curious … she enjoys seeking the deeper mystery behind the fragment and how it can be reconstructed to reveal the intrigue, wonder and awe of the metaphysical philosophy of the every day moment.

Susan’s reconstructive and active interaction with fragments positions her work between the Romantic and Modernist eras. She shares her passions for the work of Romanticist authors, such as Percy Bysshe Shelley, whose lyrical poetry and its fragments reflected the sublime beauty of the untamed and divine landscape, that could never be quite completed in its description. Susan also enthralls at the darker tones of Emily Bronte’s work (along with the Bronte sisters’ poetry) and how it captures the spiritual, psychological and emotional connections between spirit, person and environment. She also appreciates the modernist take on the fragment and its response to WWI through experimental forms, like stream of consciousness and surrealism, to reflect the fragmented, technological and modern world. Susan admires the lyrical, emotive and psychological works of Tenessee Williams, who etched his characters in ways that mirror the fierce beauty of humanity in chaos. She also enjoys Samuel Beckett’s existential explorations of life through world and character. Susan admires modern authors like Virginia Woolf, who refuted the significance of the complete novel and implored the literary world and society to consider the role of fragments as the intense and revealing moments / thoughts of the fleeting mind. The discourses of these times, are highly inspirational for Susan’s work, as she works with the mysteries of her fragments to reconcile character external journey with inner landscape, in a continuously changing world.

Susan is also inspired by the theories of post structuralism, particularly the works of Michel Foucault and his theories of power, knowledge and discourse. Such works on the use of fragmentation and fragments themselves by authors like Roland Barthes and David Mitchell, showed her how fixed meanings can be broken apart through multiplicity, instability, and the fluid nature of language; along with the many truths to be conveyed in the vast world. Post structuralist works confirmed for Susan, the importance of the multiple meanings and representations of the self and its multiple truths in our expansive world. A concept she explores, even through the intimacy of her Fragmentique technique. For Susan, tiny fragments can be found in the vastness of the world, along with the internal states of her characters.

For Susan, genre itself is a fragment in her work. Using Metaphysical philosophy as her foundation, she will draw conventions from genres that are appropriate to tell her stories. Susan views genre as a way to connect with the intricacies of the world and its structures with a contemporary voice and has used more than 16 genres already in the construction of her works. It is her genre blending that adds more intrigue and pleasant emotive surprise to her work, as she does not feel that works should be tied to a single through line or one genre. Susan’s works are non-linear in structure, using words that are etched from her fragment finds, metaphysical philosophy, genre choices and literary / artistic inspirations. Her works transition between moments and genres effortlessly, providing a fluid, kaleidoscopic story for the reader. She is also renown to expertly omit information and to control the pacing of her story in ways that evoke the mystery for the reader. Susan’s works commonly reflect the yearnings and spiritual pursuit of Romanticism, along with the motivation and internal landscapes required to take on the challenges of an ever changing world (as per modernist ideology). The wondrous dual nature of her work, leads to more than the character’s journey. It places the reader at the centre of the experience. They too, investigate as they read, filling in the gaps with their own discoveries and also partaking in their own wellbeing journey.

Beyond the ‘broken’ view, historically, that fragments took in historical literary eras, Susan’s innovative work challenges such perceptions. She does not view the universe as whole, yet in fragments. She views the fragment as an active entity that can be equipped with ontology (meaning) and can be associated with greater life exploration for humanity. It is Susan’s masterful art, in reconstructing separated fragments, to develop work that is often paradoxical, profound and deeply emotional in nature, that sets her apart. Her writing style echoes a lyrical, mystical and Romantic quality, sometimes surrealist, evoking wonder and awe. Her work seeks a way to unify discovered world and character fragments; in order to set the Romantic Spirit alight for both her characters and her beloved readers. It is a spirit that she believes is eternal in human nature, that is very important in a world so full of change and progression at such a rapid pace.

Susan’s completion of more than 40 professional works; along with her dedication to the Romantic Spirit, global literacy advancement and wellbeing of her readers in her work on her My Story Meadow Program and the Spirit Alight Readers’ Garden are admirable. Susan finds further inspiration for her own spiritual growth, creativity and wellbeing, through Eastern styles and techniques found in: Japanese Zen and Ikebana, Chinese Shan Shui and Indian Landscape painting, particularly the works of Bireswar Sen.

Susan has contributed significantly to shaping the narrative of contemporary metaphysical literature. She is also the founder of her monumental Theatre Playscapes style for young adults, which places their wellbeing at the centre of theatre (introduced in her dramatic literature: Fleur of Yesterday and All the Hope We Carry,). She is a multiple award recipient (Top Story Award at Vocal Media; Award for Special Civic Service; Arthur Andersen Prize for Business Studies and an Australian National Volunteer Award for her work in literacy education). Susan is also the Amazon best-selling author of Bare Spirit (which is also recognised as a Popular Psychology publication) and Wild Soul (which was also a #1 Hot New Release at Amazon Australia and #8 Hot New Release at Amazon USA).

In 2026, Susan L. Marshall has stepped into her new era as author and debut illustrator, on the release of her publication: Princess Zyra’s Lost Storm: An Australian Childhood Myth. Susan is also continuously developing new publications and the highly anticipated product line of Story Playscapes’ premium and bespoke, signature Romantic Spirit Collection. Its first edition will present her renown novel: Adira and the Dark Horse in a luxurious, premium hard cover, Dawn and Dusk Deluxe edition. 

Susan’s extensive body of work reveals her healing nature and dedication to the wellbeing of her readership in our demanding and busy world. She aims to make contemporary metaphysical literature a source of healing, nourishment and as a unique way to alight the Romantic spirit within the precious, diverse and challenging moments of the every day.

Susan’s major professional publications, published here at Story Playscapes, are available at all good book retailers in more than 200 countries and territories around the world.

People’s Choice
Favourite Quotes of Susan L. Marshall, 2026