“Joey!” I called out. The word hung in front of me, trembling in the air but traveling no further than the space around me. “Joey!” I tried again, only to have my voice swallowed by the thick atmosphere surrounding my presence. I took a deep breath and screamed his name once more, using all of my power to force his name to travel with the wind, hoping it would reach his ears.
“JOEY!”
I could sense a sudden release in pressure as my voice shattered whatever was separating me from the rest of the forest. I was joined by a thousand cicadas, casting their deafening mating call in the trees as they, too, screamed for someone they loved. – A Symphony of Cicadas, Chapter 4, pages 36-37.
Over in the northeast part of our country, a breed of cicadas known as Brood II are beginning to climb out of the earth to begin mating and laying eggs for the next generation to come. Like, a billion of them….per square mile. This phenomenon only happens every 17 years (and 2013 happens to be the year), and it is not an easy event to miss. Cicada-enthusiasts are blogging about it, creating recipes for the tasty buggers, and are even following these little guys on Twitter.
For the next several weeks, the northeast will be overwhelmed with the winged insects, making it appear slightly apocalyptic (the locusts are coming!). And the noise! It’s going to create quite the buzz. Literally.
Like this:
If you’ve ever gone into the forest, you’ve likely heard the buzz from the cicadas and wondered what that sound is. For some, it’s pretty annoying. For me, however, that sound brings back some fond memories. My husband and I are avid campers, and there is one campsite we frequent quite regularly up in Lake County. In fact, my husband even proposed to me on one of the trails of this campsite! To get anywhere on the grounds, you have to hike across a trail surrounded by trees. And in those trees are tons of cicadas, buzzing their mating call. So when it came time to begin writing this scene, I slipped in the sound of the cicadas buzzing through trees as a sort of nod towards my favorite place to be. And the scene was so powerful, I wove bits and pieces of it throughout the story, and re-titled the book “A Symphony of Cicadas.”
As for the northeast, however, it will be interesting how the cicada frenzy is going to play out. Will the states be covered in these winged creatures? Will the noise be deafening? Do people really EAT cicadas? And did the cicadas actually plan their 17 year arrival to coincide with my book just to try and get the word out?
This is just one of several posts to come that dives into the chapters of A Symphony of Cicadas, and the inspiration behind the story. For all sneak peeks at the novel, CLICK HERE. To purchase the book, go to http://amzn.to/YZYB8w.
Stay tuned for more!