While we’re confined by the pandemic, how about another virtual trip with me? Let me take you back in time and place to inspiration for my novel ISLANDS.
A lot of “life” happened this week, so today I’ll take you on a quickie trip to the Caribbean, where my days as a scuba divemaster inspired my suspense novel ISLANDS. Next week, we’ll be back to the magical Aegean and the healing island of Kos. (Hmmm, islands do seem to play a big part in my real and imaginative life.)
I suppose I could be called a “method writer,” since many of my novels spring from extended sojourns in places that excited my imagination. Today, I’ll take you back to the Caribbean, and some of the landscape and culture that inspired my ISLANDS novel. You may recognize my 80s hair in one of the few photos from that time, when I was living in a treehouse in the Virgin Islands, with no running water or electricity.
But who cared, when I could dive twice a day in that stunning turquoise sea? In those hot, tropic days, I practically lived in the sea, and like my character John in the novel, I wished to be reborn as a dolphin.
The Islands storyline started with my journals while living in the Virgin Islands – the diving and sunken treasure angle pretty obvious, since I did some diving on wrecks and found a lovely antique perfume bottle exactly like the one my character Susan inherits from her brother John.
I started research in the island archives, and pieced together bits of actual ship logs for the “Parker Manuscript” that starts the novel. And yes, crew of ships caught in storms actually did seal notes or pieces of their logs in bottles or tubes and toss them into the sea, hoping they’d be found! The story blossomed with the colonial history of the slavers and African religion as the roots of Caribbean Vaudun (Voodoo). In one of the St. Thomas “jungle towns,” as the native quarters were called by many locals, I stumbled upon a lovely little hole-in-the-wall café, Le Lambi’s, pretty much like the one where James takes Susan for lunch. And they did serve delicious conch chowder.
At Le Lambi’s, I noticed some interesting décor suggesting that the owners might have connections to the Vaudun, which officially didn’t exist in the formerly Danish Caribbees. I started hearing references to “Jumbies” (mischievous spirits) and “power spots,” and some of these seemed connected with the petroglyphs archaeologist Susan is researching in the novel, so of course I checked out any sites I could find. Sadly, I don’t have photos of those, but these from a different research trip in British Columbia are similar. The designs are echoed in locations worldwide.
I also did some cruising through the islands as deck hand on a yacht, absorbing the larger expanse of sea and islands, and I tried to capture that glorious, sensual paradise that exists beyond the frantic pace of tourism taking over some of the more developed islands. There are so many contrasts of people and place, and that tension helped drive the plot and character issues for me.
One of my favorite real characters from my time in the islands was “Old Granddad,” a huge iguana who hung out in a tree near my own treehouse. He became a character in the novel. Here’s one of his “minions” in Mexico:
If you’re like me, you’re longing to be just about anywhere different right now! I’d give a lot for a “Star Trek” portal to take me back to tropic seas where I could snorkel the coral reefs.
If you’d enjoy a virtual trip to the Caribbean, the ebook of my award-winning novel ISLANDS just happens to be on special discount right now at Book View Cafe. https://bookviewcafe.com/bookstore/book/islands/
Buen viaje! Happy voyaging!
To be strictly accurate, it was only a partial treehouse on a very steep slope, anchored into tree trunks. My partner and I built a suspended platform for our expedition tent and had an area to cook on our camp stove outside. A friend on the island was letting us build the treehouse and stay on her land while she was building a house there, so we could keep an eye on things. We ran a black hose from her cistern (everyone in the islands collected rainwater in cisterns to last through the rainy season) down a slope to a lovely leafy bower where we created an outdoor shower. The hose would heat the water during the sunny day so we could shower off the salt after our dives. I guess we sort of invented “glamping.”