G.M. DiDesidero is the author of the new young adult novel Undrowned. A Chickasaw author, she lives in Satellite Beach, Florida.
Q: What inspired you to write Undrowned, and how did you create your characters Jasper and Harissa?
A: Undrowned grew from a traditional Chickasaw story about the King of the Tie Snakes. Sent to deliver a message, the chief’s son bungles his errand by tossing his father’s ceremonial vessel into a stream. When he dives underwater to recover it, snakes drag him down to their king.
So clearly did I imagine this impulsive boy, who means well but somehow makes things worse, that he became Jasper.
Harissa arose from the story of the Wildcat Clan. Born to a quick-moving, competitive clan who prefers to hunt at night, she struck me as fiercely independent, competent, and guarded. Where Jasper charges forward, Harissa calculates. Their contrasting dynamics fuel the enemies-to-friends narrative.
Q: Did you know how the story would end before you started writing it, or did
you make many changes along the way?
A: There were set plot points I wrote toward—I knew Harissa and Jasper would become allies—but I found that by the time I wrote into those pivotal scenes, my characters had changed more than I had intended. I had to pare back loose ends and plotlines to strengthen the major conflict.
Almondy, for example, began as a point-of-view character, but her chapters diluted and confused the plot, so she was demoted to a supporting character.
Q: How did you come up with the world in which the story takes place?
A: I started with characters. Jasper and the Horned Serpent were first to populate Terra, so they set the precedence. From there, the clans emerged, each matched with a powerful being.
I wanted Terra to be hidden and, like each clan, diverse, so I considered how terrain, trade winds, elevation, rain shadows, and the like shape movement, construction, and belief. Once Terra had enough texture and global context to support my cast of characters, I layered in culture.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?
A: I hope readers seek out the traditional Chickasaw and Choctaw tales inspiring Undrowned—tales of Sint-Holo, Nalusa Chito, the shilup and shilombish, the King of the Tie Snakes, and the Chickasaw Clans. I’d love for readers to discover where Undrowned follows the origin stories and where it departs.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m working on the sequel to Undrowned, which follows Harissa, Jasper, and Almondy into the Bird’s Nest, where all is not as it seems.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Undrowned was published by Chickasaw Press, my tribe’s publishing house. I’m deeply proud to be working with them and to share a story that connects traditional Chickasaw storytelling with modern YA fantasy.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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