My favourite part of writing is definitely the research. Before I put pen to paper, I’ll spend about six-months learning everything I can about the topics in my story. The best way to research something to get it right? Go out and experience it first-hand!
Storm Seal is about a young girl from a small fishing village who feels like she’s caught in a storm of change. When she meets a special seal pup, she thinks this seal might hold the key to escaping. But in reality, Martha learns lessons about seals, her town and her Nana that empower her to make positive change on a scale bigger than she ever thought possible.
To write this story, I needed to know about seals, small fishing towns and commercial fishing. And – as someone living in land-locked Oxfordshire – it was fair to say that I didn’t know much about any of them. So, I reached out to a few organisations and that’s when I met a brilliant female fisher called Sarah Ready. Sarah invited me to stay with her in Brixham and told me all about the issues facing fishers in the area. She took me on a tour of the harbour, showing me the various boats and what they are built to catch. And she took me to meet a man called Dave French, who is one of the few people who knows how to weave withy crab pots.
Withy crab pots represent an old way of fishing – before plastic. Weaved from willow, these pots have a hole in the top where crabs and lobsters can get in, tempted by the bait in the bottom. Even better, after the season is over, they can be composted. It’s interesting isn’t it, how an old way of fishing can feel so much like the future of it, too?
Sarah also took me to meet Sarah Greenslade, the founder of The Seal Project. Sarah took us to see a haul-out of real grey seals in Brixham marina and told me about the important work she does identifying grey seals. The UK is lucky enough to have 80% of the world’s population of grey seals on its shores, but we know relatively little about them. Sarah’s important surveying work helps us know more about how we can best protect seals, and she told me how important it is that humans stay well away and keep their voices down when they see a haul-out like this one.
This trip inspired every word of Storm Seal, and everything I learned – from the withy crab pots, to the special seals I met that day – went into making this book as realistic as possible. They say the best way to write is to ‘write what you know’, and if you don’t yet know it, what a joy it is to go and find out!
very inspiring and motivated style of researching and writingby Rita - 05-08-2024 09:12
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