Do you get inspiration from travelling to new places? I do! I love new experiences and seeking out unusual sights and stories. Now that I’m a mum, I don’t get out as much as I used to, so have to draw on my memories and notes about places for inspiration – which is exactly what I did for my recent award-winning short story Darker.
My dark fantasy story Darker won me the 2013 Australian Horror Writers’ Association short story competition; it also ranked me as a semi-finalist in the internationally prestigious Writers of the Future competition; and a few days ago it was published in Midnight Echo – so now you can finally read it! Yippee! What better start do you need to the year??!
Here’s what the competition judge said about Darker, and beneath that is its first paragraph and hook:
“Zena Shapter’s “Darker” is dark fantasy at its blood-soaked finest. Its setting is evocative and sharply drawn, its storyline emotionally gruelling and possessing a surprising sting in the tale. Highly recommended.”
– Guy Salvidge
“Sipping apple tea under the dappled shade of our palm tree grove, I cannot imagine a better life. On the carpets beside me, my wife is nibbling dates, her black beaded hair caressed by a desert breeze so dense with heat it drapes its intensity over us before passing. My son, Gimaal, lies on his stomach, elbows propped on a floor cushion, gazing at the five strangers who have stopped at our farm in search of respite and a drink from our well. Beyond us, the irrigation canals I finished digging this morning quench my fields. Green shoots spring from moist soil and an earthy aroma fills the air with promise. Kharak birds chirp in the branches above us, palm fronds rustle as if talking, and the cerulean sky arches wide above us. I have everything I could want…”
– Kelek loves his life. His small farm is sheltered from the desert by a grassy ridge. He could gaze into the eyes of his wife Yaxeem forever. And although his son Gimaal pines for the city of Darquesh, Kelek is teaching him to value wide arching skies. But when a cavalcade of traders stop at his farm one day for respite from the heat, Kelek must make a decision that will change his life forever…
Sounds good, right? I love my story! But not only because it’s set in a fantasy land of deserts, sultans and spells, but because it’s written from a father’s perspective (so I get to be a parent in it) and it draws on much of my travel around the Middle East, particularly Jordan.
I travelled to Jordan while three-months pregnant with my son and loved the caring and welcoming nature of the people. Jordan is one of those countries packed full of history and amazing cultural and architectural feats. In that way it reminds me of Peru, where there’s a famous landmark on almost every corner. Here are some of the things to experience in Jordan: Petra and The Siq (featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), Bethany and the Holy Land, Wadi Rum (the desert which captured Lawrence of Arabia’s heart), a whole host of desert castles and ruins, and the Dead Sea…
Petra – me standing in the Siq, beyond which is the famous Treasury
The isolating sands of Wadi Rum, Jordon.
Image courtesy of BillShapter.com Photography
Thanks, Hubbie!
Wadi Rum, Jordon
A local risks his jeep to let me drive through the deserts of Disi, Jordan.
Sipping tea, giving baby a shady rest, and chatting with locals in a Bedouin tent in the desert.
Kerek Castle, Jordon
More chatting with locals, in the oval plaza of Jerash, Jordan.
More chatting, this time in the theatre of Jerash.
It’s research – honest!
Me floating in the Dead Sea, Jordon.
Petra, climbing the path to The Monastery – it got a bit tiring while pregnant, so I sat in the shade for a while!
The deserts of Jordon’s Wadi Rum were especially inspirational for me, with their sandy expanses that dwarf you into insignificance and roar with isolation… *Sighs* I wish I could go again!
Anyway, if you’d like to see how I wove all that inspiration into a little story that achieved so much, then I suggest you grab a copy of Midnight Echo 10.
There’s an interview with me too, over on the Midnight Echo Magazine website. Read that here.
Let me know what you think of Darker once you’ve read it. And, if you’d like to see some more photos of Jordan, you can find plenty of inspirational images on my Hubbie’s website. With images like his, and stories like mine to set your imagination free – do you even need to travel?
When I saw the Wadi Rum, you know what planet I thought you were on? Of course, only Sci-fi writers might instantly get the reference. But you’re a well traveled writer, so shouldn’t be too difficult. 😉 Otherwise, beautiful places you visited; thanks for sharing. 🙂
I’m guessing you’re thinking of Dune? 😉
The world is a beautiful place and I love seeing as much of it as I can. Can’t wait until my kids are old enough to backpack!! Have you ever backpacked, Robert?