Inspired

Ah, nothing like a good rainy Seattle outing to the largest Oddity and Curiosity expose to further inspire the macabre. I’m telling you, between my husband’s Horror Film Extravaganza, the steadfast diet of horror books, I thought I was full of dead things and weird stories, but this month has been bountiful.

I took a few pictures of the expose, you’ll find them all over my Instagram, btw. I didn’t buy anything this time apart from a t-shirt and some luck manifesting candles. I’m sort of fickle about my dead things and nothing really reached out and stole my heart. This year I gravitated towards the artwork and the kids had a wonderful time. Each got a bug incased in resin.

The Cuckoo’s Nest is at 30k words now. Nearly half-way there.

There are two, solid themes throughout the story. The Mother/Daughter relationship dynamic in this book is distant in both cases. Molly and her Mum have more of a mother/daughter agreement than an affectionate relationship whereas Molly and her biological mother, Blair is only just begining.

So, why?

Well, my daughter and I both love the ABBA song, Slipping Through My Fingers, and there’s a quote in the song that really just kicks me in the balls every time…

The feeling that I’m losing her forever…
And without really entering her world

This is actually a huge fear of mine as a parent. Not being active/engaging enough. Being emotionally distant because I’m a generally emotionally distant person. To make matters worse, my daughter is also an emotionally distant person who has a strong disliking for talking about feelings.

So in my book, this translates to a very odd little girl making friends with a monster that is an obvious metaphor for the aging, unattractive woman.

Speaking of, that’s my second theme! Unattractive, aging women!

Oooh how society fears the sagging belly and south facing nips. Masculine, crooked noses and warts. Fun fact, the Martha Hamilton-esq witch that we all associate with witchery was originally based on Mother Shipton, an ugly woman.

I imagine Mother Shipton (Ursula Southeil) was born in the late 1400’s and was unfortunately, physically unattractive. This, of course made her a witch-type character in her village. She was a hunchbacked, budging-eyed, cackling sort of thing that would naturally terrify medieval folks.

So she did what any smart woman would do, and capitalize on her appearance. She claimed to be a soothsayer and even has a cave named after her where the calcium content of the water turns everything to stone. Before she married, she lived alone and studied herbs.

All in all, Mother Shipton is my primary inspiration for the monster in my story. Blair is the hag that eats your children. She blights the crops and bewitches the animals. She would fly on a broom if she could, but her mother never taught her…

I still have no idea where Molly, Blair and I are going, but it’s probably going to get weirder, as things do.