Inklings: About Husks

Like pretty much every story I’ve ever written, the idea for HUSKS was Frankensteined together from a few different sources of inspiration.

The original version of the short story was written for an anthology where every tale had to take place in a specific small town. Other than that, the only other prerequisite? Every character suffered from – or perhaps was blessed by – insomnia and the insanity sometimes born from it.

In keeping with my love of small towns, I wanted to explore what could possibly go on behind-the-scenes of such a place. What secrets would the powers-that-be hold? Why would so many writers flock to this one town? And what would happen to them once they arrived?

Ideas were already swirling, but it was a seemingly innocent tweet from a friend that gave me the final seed for what would become Husks…

“One day, my family will find my dried husk perched over the keyboard… Keep forgetting human’s need watering.”

Couple that with a show I watched on Animal Planet and research about the stages a butterfly goes through from caterpillar through metamorphosis — and the secrets of what goes on behind closed doors at a publishing house in the fictional town finally came together for me…during another bout of insomia…