“You see, most wings are grown in a cacoon—but the most beautiful are grown outside in the wild. Not many know that can happen because they have never been given the challenge to try it. You are a true Miss Metamorphosis!”
-from my latest book Miss Metamorphosis, coming this Spring 2023!
Whenever I watch movies I always relish in the atmosphere—the set design, origin, style, tone, musical score—all of these elements enrich a story. I have brought that same appreciation I find in movies into the creation of each one of my children’s books: creating the perfect atmosphere through my art illustrations to carry out a storyline. Here is a behind-the-scenes look into all things that created the atmosphere of my latest and greatest book Miss Metamorphosis…..
A FAR OFF PLACE: WHERE IT WAS BORN
This photograph (above) was taken around the same time that I came up with the idea of creating a human butterfly—for what, I did not know at the time. I was miles from my comfort zone in America, strutting on the bridge deck of a ferry cruising from Helsinki to Stockholm with my family on that brisk October eve back in 2017. My first children’s book Roku and Tanza had not even come into inception until months later in the summer of 2018, so the fact that I started creating Miss Metamorphosis years after her inception now intrigues me on a deep level. I have come to a realization that it was all by design, having more to do with my own trials and triumphs which inspired me to create the storyline around this character who represents the “the heroes journey.” Furthermore, during that trip I found part of myself through discovering my motherland, miles away from my birth place in America—Scandinavia is, after all, where my great great grandfather sailed from in 1890’s to carve out a better life in America. He couldn't grow his “wings” in Åland so he had to seek elsewhere. He had to improvise, much like my main character Elin in Miss Metamorphosis. Such reflects my life, too, which is what inspired the premise of this storyline: I have not lived a conventional woman’s life (get married and have kids by a certain age, etc..) and so I’ve had to carve out another way to bring meaning and purpose into why life—create my own kind of wings that make me fly for that matter.
MIND ABYSS: HOW IT WAS BORN
The initial concept of a human butterfly came out of thin air, although the story surrounding it would come in increments over the years. Sometimes my imagination is like that—there doesn’t seem to be any direct inspiration for said idea. Maybe it’s just the absence of distractions and there was a lot of meaning behind it because when I don’t have any distractions I think of whimsical things. It’s not everyday that one idea blooms like a beautiful butterfly releasing from its cocoon and I need to catch it before it vaporizes and gets recycled back into my factory of thoughts. My mind is always moving from one thing to the next, that’s why I always write my character ideas down and stow them for later, gradually adding on the beginning, the plot, the end and the whole atmosphere around them. Five years later, standing tall like a mighty oak tree after years of growth in the making—+100 hours of illustration and written story—it’s hard to believe that this all started from the little acorn of my imagination.
METAPHORICAL WORLD
Much like meta from the word “metamorphosis,” it means “beyond” and that’s what a lot of elements in this story are: figures of speech going beyond their regular definition. Though up to the interpretation of the reader, most people will draw these conclusions of what each one represents in this book:
Elin (main character): means “ray of light.” She speaks to the reader on a heart level. Every one has their own little heroes journey, some bigger than others, but it’s there. Everyone has felt ostracized, especially with the “life is not fair’ notion.
Amera: Means ”leader.” She represents the trial by fire, the beacon of hope, the light at the end of the tunnel. She is not the answer to Elin’s search but she is the catalyst for Elin to grow her wings! We all need a catalyst, the person on the sidelines that either subconsciously or consciously is helping us move toward our purpose.
Allies (dolphins, bird) represent our friends and family that lift us up along the journey.
Scary things (shark, snakes, scary forest): these things resemble the trials and tribulations we will all face on the journey of searching. Sometimes we will have a well-thought out plan, other times we are not sure where our destination is but we know we have to get moving. Such is life and when faith comes in—sometimes you need to fully surrender over to God what you may not see in the distance.
Hutterland : the safe place where we were raised and feel comfort, it represents conventionality and security. We live in such a cookie cutter culture of comparison: things are supposed to happen like this and in this way and at this time. Elin is forced to throw conventional norms to the wind as she finds a new way to grow her wings.
Anotherland: the place of adventure, mystery and discomfort. These can be played out physically in our lives or on a mental level—facing CHANGE and getting out of our comfort zone is always going to be challenging. Elin’s journey to Anotherland is bringing about the change within her and that determination to get there makes her wings grow outside of that comfortable cocoon that all the other hutterflies depended on.
Miss Metamorphosis Pageant: the destination that is so short lived, (as we see in the final page). The journey where she came to be Miss Metamorphosis is the more interesting part. It represents so much of our lives, the struggle to get to that “place"—whatever place that is important to you.
Cocoons: the passive element of growing something in your life, not working hard for “it”—whatever that “it” represents in your life. For some. like Elin, we have to improvise and take a detour to get that.
Wings: The wings are the “it” represented in this storyline. They are a powerful symbol of attaining something in unconventional fashion that other’s seem to attain more easily. For some people, life is more at ease; for others life is not fair, it favors others in some ways it does not favor you—and there is nothing that you did to deserve those circumstances. Such is the mystery of life and the old adage “necessity is the mother of invention” which is so pronounced in Elin’s case of finding her wings outside of depending on something else (the cocoon) to grow them.
INSPIRATIONS
Mariah Carey’s “Butterfly” song. This has always been one of my favorite MC ballads and it struck me even more during the making of this book.
Fern Gully: the Last Rainforest is one of my favorite animated movies and I really leaned on the curiosity and adventure-seeking pesonality of Crista!
Passengers. I was inspired by the sci fie movie stasis scene where they are all in sleep pods on their way to their destination. Passengers reminded me of when Aurora is abruptly awakened out of her pod (like Elin with her cocoon).
