Hi there! Thank you for coming by to check out my blog space, somebody (*cough* my husband) may have mentioned to me that I can get a little long winded in my social media posts, haha. So I invite you into this space where I can expand a little more on my thoughts, especially when it comes to the WHY of what drives my writing.
So, WHY did I choose to write a snake of all creatures as the main character for my next book. I admit, it was a bit of question I had for myself as well. One of my earliest memories and most vivid nightmares was simply having a snake pop out of a black void hissing at me, close up, fangs bared. I was born in Arizona and though I don’t remember ever seeing a snake there, it certainly felt like snakes were the symbol of my childhood fears, so this dream made sense.
Moving to Washington, I’ve encountered many snakes in the outdoors. Thankfully, at least on this side of the mountains, none of our snakes are poisonous. Later in life, the more I hiked, the more I met snakes sunning on the hiking path, slipping away at the sound of my boots, only a brush of a bush, and a tail whipping away. Over time, I noticed that even though my body still reacted with fear, a jump, a quickening heart, my mind stayed curious. I started to still my breathing, freeze my body, and simply observe what they did next. Whether on a hike, in a field, in my garden, on a neighborhood walk, this was my process, and now I have become enchanted with snakes (admittedly probably all of the ones I encounter in the wild are some variation of garter snake), and instead of seeing only my fear, I see the spirit of life present in them, another amazing addition to the world.
I particularly love their movements, the way they can glide like a straight arrow, or whip through the grass, as fast and as fluid as a ribbon waving in the wind. With research, I discovered that not only are they adept climbers, but that our local garters are great swimmers as well. I connect with their love of soaking up the heat from the earth and sun on a sunny day. The way they sense their world through vibrations and smell is fascinating to me.
As this love of snakes was forming, I also started hearing from readers that they were quite curious about the character of Issabella, who was only briefly mentioned in Sir Frederique von Turtlestein. This tickled me as she is only an aside, “even Seymour snake’s sister, Issabella.” But that little seed of curiosity from my readers was all I needed to begin having a character and story unfold in my mind.
So there it is, how I went from writing a story about one of my all time favorite animals (turtles) to writing about, historically, one of my least favorite animals (snakes). My hope is that we can keep this spirit of curiosity at the forefront, where there is division and difference, even fear, I hope our spirits can remain curious enough to see the breath of life, amazing and beautiful, present in us all.
I’ll leave you with this quote from one of my favorite poem:
“As Kingfishers Catch Fire”
As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came.
-Gerard Manley Hopkins
I’ll be posting some of the videos I captured to study their movements for my writing on my Instagram @amandarachellegeers
