The Speed of Falling Objects: Why the Author Wrote This Novel

*This is copied and pasted from the paper that the publisher gave me. I didn't want to change any words because this is from the author herself. I wanted to share this with you guys. All credit goes to Nancy Richardson Fischer and Inkyard Press/HarperCollins.*

Why I Wrote The Speed of Falling Objects

by Nancy Richardson Fischer

I've always been fascinated with stories of survival-sinking sailboats and months lost at sea, climbers who help each other crawl down mountains after brutal injuries- there is no better way to figure out who people are, at their core, than to witness them struggle and see who retains their humanity, survives and thrives. Usually, it's the person you lease expect that digs deepest and surprises everyone.

In The Speed of Falling Objects, Danny Warren, nicknamed "Pigeon" by kids after losing her eye in an accident, defines herself by the cruel name, a sense of inferiority, a bitter but brilliant mom and her famous TV survivalist father's rejection. Still, when her dad invites her to be in an episode of his show with a teen movie star, she jumps at the chance, determined to overcome her fear of anything that creeps on eight legs, bites or slithers, and prove she is a daughter he can love. But when their plane crashes in the Amazon rainforest, leaving some of the crew dead, others wounded, and the survivors lost without food or shelter, Danny is forced to confront everything that terrifies her plus the truths about the father she worships and the boy she falls for. As she struggles to redefine herself, Danny's unique skills transform her into the unlikely hero of her story.

Originally the plane crash in this novel was going to happen on a snow-covered mountain. I've spent time winter-camping and used to rock climb, so I understand that world. But through research, it became clear that nothing could push Danny toward growth more than the Amazon. There are 3,600 species of spiders in the Amazon Basin, 2.5 million insects, and 17 types of highly venomous snakes. Plus, there are so many ways to die! If the plane crash doesn't result in devastating injuries, a bite from a wandering spider can kill in less than twenty minutes. The fer-de-lance, an aggressive pit viper, has venom that leads to gangrene, amputation and death. Even the frogs exude a toxin that can cause fatal heart attacks. There are bullet ants whose bite feels like a gunshot, bloodthirsty leeches and electric eels that can unleash over 600 volts...all of which I studied with shudders (Danny and I have that in common) as I squinted at photos, read first-person-accounts and watched survivalist videos.

When I write a novel, I know where I want to start and how it will end. Then I create a protagonist and, if she's strong enough, she takes over. When I started as a survival story with an insecure young woman who allows others to define her, morphed into a novel about the power of labels, how early tragedies shape us, and that pivotal moment in every teen's life when they see their parents for who they really are for the first time and have to decide whether to forgive those flaws.

I think authors write characters we wish we could have read about when we were teenagers. I was an insecure teen. Perhaps if I'd read Danny's story, I wouldn't have taken childhood taunts to heart or worked so hard to fit in. Maybe I would've understood sooner that if you spend all your time trying to be what everyone else wans, you lose sight of all the amazing things you actually are and will never shine as bright.

My hope is that readers will recognize something of themselves in Danny and looks at their fears and experiences they've allowed to define them; that they make the choice to follow their own north star. Despite the past, insecurities, fears and betrayals, we can all write our own narrative and be the hero of our survival story, if we're brave enough to try.