As the granddaughter of a twin sister, I have always been fascinated by the ways in which two people with the same genetic makeup and upbringing will seem almost identical in their character and then suddenly reveal themselves to be extremely different. This got me thinking about how it would feel to be treated like a copy rather than as an individual, and that’s how I started writing my short story “Mother”.
While I was writing the story I would walk home from work and I would see nests of processionary caterpillar on the pine trees (a very common pest in the south of Europe). They seemed to be the perfect example of losing your individuality: moving in a single file of caterpillars that look exactly like you, following the exact same path as the caterpillar before you. So I decided to incorporate them into the story. Plus I have always been slightly terrified of processionary caterpillars and it seemed only right that for once they would do something good for me.
Thanks, Irene!
Check out "Mother" on May 31, 2016 at Electric Spec!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment