The Voyage of the Pleiades: Love

Sep 06, 2021

What's Love Got to Do with It?

I wasn’t certain what I was going to write to my newsletter subscribers this month. I have finished my line-by-line edits and am going through one last word frequency analysis before sending this draft off. What that means in author speak, is that I am wrapping up my final draft. Because I am an editing/writing nerd, I thrive on activities like word frequency analysis. These are the necessary, microscopic details of editing a book that truly make the final product shine.

So, returning to what I have to share with you. I was working on my word frequency analysis when a story came on our local NPR station about love stories in literature and in life. Bolu Babalola is the author they interviewed, and her book sounds fantastic (link in the sidebar). However, it was their discussion that got me thinking about how we write about love in novels and the inherit bias that many people have toward books they consider “romantic”.

One of the central themes of my novel is love. It is about love of travel, discovery and nature. Love of self. Desire for the love that comes with belonging and family. It is a love letter to Chile. And it champions unconventional love. The truth is, I don’t know how to write without writing about love. Love is at the heart of our motivations, it is the great equalizer. The love story is a sub-theme in my book, but it is there, and it felt vital to this story and these characters. I hope that those of you who have a bias toward relationships beyond friendship between protagonists, will keep an open mind when you read my novel. Below is an excerpt from early in the book, when Linnea and Matias are establishing their friendship.

Voyage of the Pleiades Chapter Excerpt: Friendship

by Amy Turner

We stood amicably staring out at the moon and the waves. I shifted to my toes, leaning on the rail. I didn’t want to discuss my nightmares, but I also didn’t want to be alone.

“Do you ever feel as if you are destined to remain on a ship, forever traveling toward the horizon? That whatever it is you are looking for, you will keep chasing it because it doesn’t exist, or it only exists as some wisp of a dream?”

My voice was rough and thready, painfully aware that I had given voice to a thought that perhaps I should have kept to myself. I felt Matias’s sharp gaze considering me. My cheeks flushed in embarrassment at such a sentimental observation, and I kept my eyes fixed on the horizon. He drew in a deep breath, releasing it long and slow.

“Yes” he said, “I know precisely what you mean, although I’m not sure I could have put the feeling into words. In part it is why I am finally traveling to Chiloé. Perhaps it will be the place where I will be whole.”

“I hope it will be that for you.” I said, “I have no idea where that place lies for me, or if it even exists.”

I fumbled with the edges of my cloak and spoke on, embarrassed by the spontaneous blurting of my mawkish sentiment.

“When I went on my first voyage with my Uncle William, I pleaded with him to allow me to sleep on the upper deck. He was worried that we would encounter rough seas at night, and I would be thrown overboard, but I kept sneaking from my hammock”.

I smiled recalling our good-natured argument about my need for fresh air. I insisted that I would not miss a moment of the journey because I was asleep in the cabin and not on deck.

“He finally rigged up a rope that I tied to my waist while I slept. I had a palette that I rolled out in the scout boat at night and stowed during the day. I rarely slept more than a few hours; I was mesmerized by the stars. The calls of birds navigating by the constellations. The phases of the moon. I could not fathom how anyone could sleep when there was so much wonder all around us.” I softly laughed. “I asked Uncle Liam once, how he could sleep when there was so much to experience? He said age, cynicism, and a hardy dose of rum.”

Matias gave a bark of laughter. “Your uncle was an unusual man. Most bachelors wouldn’t take young, female charges on an extended sea voyage.”

“Uncle Liam was unique. In many ways though, we were two parts of a whole. He and I shared something elemental. Something deep within us recognized we were different. We belonged to that rare group of other. Those that exist outside of society’s norms and expectations.” The pressure of suppressed tears caused me to frantically blink at the moon to contain the wave of emotion. Matias’s hand slid along the rail stretching his little finger until it touched mine.

Book Update

The Voyage of the Pleiades is going through final revisions and is on its way to the publishers. We are hoping for a publication date in 2021.

Next time....

In the next newsletter, an excerpt from the novel, about ship life aboard The Cormorant and the real ship it was modeled on.

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