Guest Post by Author Joely Sue Burkhart

Guest Post by Joely Sue Burkhart author of Beautiful Death

 

One of the most common questions writers hear is “Where do your ideas come from?”  For me, it’s not the idea that’s so important.  I get a dozen ideas every day, but they don’t necessarily end up in a Story.  A Story becomes special, though, when it absorbs little things from real life to give it texture, substance, and vibrancy.

 

For example, in Beautiful Death, a butterfly metaphor became very important:  from the main character’s nickname, to the display of power in Isabella’s aura as her virus mutated, to a treasured pin her father gave her as a child and what that pin signified.  Like a butterfly, Isabella’s journey took her through transformation and taught her how to fly, not with wings, but with love and trust, something she’d never had before.

 

 Now I didn’t set out to write a story involving a butterfly metaphor at all.  I wanted to write a different kind of story about Hades, Lord of the Underworld, in a post-apocalyptic world devastated by a pandemic virus.  So where did the butterfly come from and why did it become so important?

 

My daughters (now aged 10, 6, and 5) are creative and spirited (that’s why I also call them monsters).  My oldest, Princess Monster, loves art projects, and while I was writing Beautiful Death, she kept making butterflies.  She molded puffy clay into wings; she drew and colored butterflies; and she cut out colored paper to make mosaic wings.  Our house was covered with butterflies.

 

At the time, I was in a really tough spot in my writer’s journey.  I’d been hearing a lot of “no thanks” and had suffered several setbacks.  I’d lost my path and I didn’t know what to write anymore.  I didn’t even know if I wanted to write at all, let alone finish the current project.  Maybe my daughter sensed this turmoil — or maybe she just wanted to do a project with Mom — but she asked me to do a book with her.

 

We decided I would write a butterfly poem, and she would illustrate it.

 

It was magical.  The “book” came out adorable, we had a blast working together, but more importantly, something broken healed inside of me.  I remembered the joy I used to have when I wrote, very much like what I imagine a butterfly must feel when it takes to the air.

 

Inspired, I did research on butterfly symbolism from dreams and mythology, and I knew, then, why the butterfly had been speaking to me so strongly.  Butterflies symbolize transformation and the life cycle, including death.  I was writing about the Underworld, and what could be a more “beautiful death” than a brilliant indigo butterfly soaring above the destruction? 

 

While researching and brainstorming, I stumbled across the song “Wings of a Butterfly” by H.I.M.  Oh, how that song spoke to me!  It became the theme song for the book and I listened to it on a repeating loop while I finished the last few chapters of Isabella’s story.  Could she learn to fly, even if someone ripped off her wings? 

 

Sacrifice, death, destruction, yes, but in the end, a beautiful creature soared with stained-glass wings magically healed by love.  Even more importantly, I found my path.  I finished Beautiful Death, and in the process, I learned how to fly again. 

 

Thank you, little butterfly.

 

Princess Monster’s picture book poem:

 

Butterfly, butterfly, dance for me,
On your powdery stained-glass wings.
Orange and black or cornflower blue,
My favorite colors look good on you.
Gently, gently, blows the wind,
Daffodils and tulips sway and bend.
Robin hunts the wiggly worm.
Acorn Oak stands tall and firm.
Butterfly, butterfly, fly for me,
Carry me on your stained-glass wings.

 

Joely Sue Burkhart

http://joelysueburkhart.com

http://drolleriepress..com