Where did the inspiration come from for this story? Sometimes, it is a hard question to answer with a creative work but in the case of The Albatross there is a pretty clear story behind how I came up with this strange, haunting tale.
The first part of the inspiration struck when I was working on another writing competition entry for the @sankofa folktale contest. In the sankofa post, I decided to write about the ancient Cornish folktale of the mermaid of Zennor. This archetypal theme of a yearning love between a mythical being and a human being seems to recur throughout the Celtic traditions. I explored this archetype further in that article which planted a seed of an idea in my mind about writing an equivalent set in the modern world. This has been happening to me a lot more recently and I think is the start of developing a true writers sensibility. Themes, plot, characters and creative ideas are sparked each from the other in a synthesis of the real-life themes that my subconscious is processing.
When I first read the CELF Writing Challenge announcement, I knew that 'nature' was the theme for me. The seed of my idea was already sprouting from the sankofa post and I had a feeling it would eventually lead back to the sea. I have a deep love and affinity for the ocean and marine wildlife. I have explored this in many of my blog posts and as a keen scuba diver I am also painfully aware of the threats to ocean ecosystems. The story of Hinata & Ichika was driven by a need to reconcile my feelings toward humanity as a complex destructive force and the simpler give & take of the natural world. The use of the tsunami as a plot device was indicative of this ambivalence toward man's place in nature.
As the first draft progressed, it developed toward the idea of Hinata and the people that he encounters being ocean creatures living a duel existence. Kind of like Hinata was a killer whale unaware that he was inhabiting the human world and the ocean at the same time. This thematic device was born out by Hinata's encounter with the gang at 'The Albatross' bar, who cleansed him of his unsettled mind-state, just as the Albatross will pick parasites from the skin of a whale. Also, in Hinata's constant and overriding thirst. I am not sure how clear this idea was, but the genre of magic realism is a tricky ship to navigate. I purposefully kept these ideas simmering below the surface, in the sub-textual undercurrent. I wanted the story to have two possible interpretations, the one I have described above and also a simpler story of a woman reincarnated as a killer whale in an act of cosmic karma. This is the great thing about magic realism as a genre, you can experiment with story ideas like this where two concurrent stories are happening at once, almost as if in two separate dimensions.
One of my favorite authors is Haruki Murakami and my story undoubtedly shows influences from his style. I haven't read a books of his since 1Q84 came out in 2010, so I felt quite happy that I hadn't been directly influenced by a recent read and the work wasn't derivative. The final thing it's worth mentioning is that I chose the setting of Japan, despite having never visited, as I love to research for creative writing. I spent hours with this story researching Japanese etiquette, Tokyo landmarks. and even went on a trip to the eastern coast around Hamamatsu using google earth. This type of research will never replace the true essence a writer gains from visiting or living in a location, but it comes close when the author has steeped themselves in a series of novels set in that country. This is the key to good research and something I try to pursue in all my writing.
Thank you for reading this post about my inspiration and process. I would like to say thank you to both @celfmagazine and @sndbox for running this amazing competition. Also, congratulations to all the other winners, I feel hugely honored to win 2nd place and be included among such great writers.
