This year I am writing a novel.

In that wonderful way that writing grows its own wings and takes flight I have watched things develop in my writing of The Nameless Files that I never would have expected and that I certainly didn’t plan for. Once I realized that I needed to stay true to my own love of magic, fantasy and the things that live there The Nameless Files took flight. For example, I am not a bird watcher and my knowledge of birds is limited to basic/common knowledge. Birds, however, have taken up a very important role in The Nameless Files. As a result I have done a fair bit of bird research this year.

Most recently, I needed a scary and possibly deadly bird. Vulture always comes to mind when I think scary and deadly bird, but truth be told vultures are scavengers. They look intimidating but they have no incentive to attack a human and they are classed as “pretty harmless.” So I discarded the vulture and I searched on. That’s when I came across the Cassowary.

Perhaps it doesn’t look like much and I don’t think it looks intimidating like a vulture but this flightless bird has been documented as dangerous. The cassowary was just the bird I was looking for in the story.

Imagine the terror those feet can inspire and inflict!

Have you been surprised about unexpected paths in your own writing?

By Shari Marshall – 2021