Exciting news! The Gambit blog tour is underway, and for the next four weeks, some very cool bloggers will be featuring my book on their websites. Some will do regular showcases (cover, blurb, bio/links), while others will offer interviews and guest posts.
To prep for this awesome marketing opportunity, I filled out interview forms and wrote several guest posts. The posts cover a wide range of topics that all tie back to the book. A few are even "spotlights" written from the point of view of my favorite characters.
So I thought I'd put the posts out here as they are revealed during the tour. This one tells a little about the inspiration behind Gambit and why my brain is a spider.
Enjoy!
A Web of Inspiration
(featured 4/22/15 on Words Escape Me)
My brain is a spider. Weird, right?
I’m not terribly crazy about spiders, mind you. Especially those gray ones with the hairy legs. Ugh! I almost stepped on one as a child. It was a dark morning, and I was barefoot, and when I flipped on the light, I saw that hairy beast right beside my toes. I’m pretty sure I screamed. And for weeks afterward, I would stand on my bed and lean over, propping my hands against the wall before turning on the light. No way was I going to step on that floor until I knew it was hairy-legged-spider-free.
But when I think of my brain, it reminds me of a spider. Not because they’re venomous and predatory and attack defenseless hobbits carrying The One Ring, but because they spin webs. Delicate, intricate webs that catch the morning dew and sparkle in the sunlight. Meaningful webs, like the ones Charlotte spun for Wilber to save his life.
When people ask me what inspired Gambit, I can’t really give them a quick answer. That’s because my brain is constantly spinning a web of thoughts. A strand here, a strand there, not really looking like much or making sense—until suddenly, they all come together.
It was an episode of Alphas on the Syfy channel that gave me a revelation moment for Gambit. My brain had been doing its normal thing, spinning strands of thought and speculation and wonder. One was about the 2012 Mayan prediction for the end of the world. Another had to do with an article I’d read about the instability of the US economy. Yet another was about the theory of evolution. Others were actively being spun—like the cool, superhuman abilities in the Alphas episode.
And then, somehow, my brain connected the superhuman characters with evolution; and those connected with my wonder at our planetary alignment; and then it mixed in my fears about an economy that might be on the verge of collapsing.
A series of “what-ifs” followed. What if the Mayan prediction wasn't about the end of the world, but about a jump in human evolution? What if people all over the world started manifesting unusual abilities? What if those people were treated like celebrities, but then—as they became more numerous—were feared and eventually hunted down? What if those extraordinary people fought back by initiating a global economic meltdown? What if a terrible war followed, and the people with abilities won?
For me, it was one breathless moment. In that moment, my brain connected the strands—and I saw that future in all its darkness and possibility. So I handed it over to my imagination and let the magic begin.
So while I’m not a huge fan of spiders, I love what they can do. I love their dedication, their persistence, and their talent for connecting tiny strands together to create a thing of beauty.
Just like Charlotte. :)
Photo credit: Blog Tour Banner by Ashley Ruggirello, REUTS Publications; Grunge Spider Man via http://bit.ly/1Dkgkg6
