Margaret S. Hamilton
I love eclipses and meteor showers. A few years ago, we watched the Transit of Venus through a telescope at the Cincinnati Observatory.
Excited to write my eclipse story, I struggled to generate a plot. I find solar eclipses wondrous, but ominous. Twain uses a solar eclipse to great effect in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, but an actual solar eclipse event is so short. What dastardly crime could happen during those crucial two minutes?
You came up with such an unusual plot, Margaret! When I first read the story, I wondered what the inspiration behind it was.
I remember Connecticut Yankee! It was a great eclipse story. Yours sounds equally inventive!
Nupur, I finally remembered how I came up with the phrase “baby killer.” We spent Thanksgiving in a charming New Orleans rental home, where we slept in the combined nursery and guest room. I awoke one night with the phrase ringing in my ears.
I found it compelling and terrifying, so I wove it into a story about pregnant women during past and present solar eclipses.
It’s a good thing writers dream. I’ve gotten great ideas from dreams. Nice post–thanks for that. And thanks to Rachel for keeping the blog open for this.
I found this so informative. Thankful this is continuing. I have learned a lot each visit.