Zoe Lyons
asked
Jennifer D. Lyle:
Hello, I just started reading Swarm, and I'm only on chapter 5, but I am so intrigued! I was curious, though, how did you come up with the idea to make butterflies so terrifying? Literally, new fear, unlocked.
Jennifer D. Lyle
Thanks for the question, Zoe!
I had a pair of dreams years and years apart. The first was about the end of the world, and there were beautiful butterflies everywhere, but I couldn't figure out how to make that scary. I was thinking maybe their wing dust caused everything to die? I always had that idea (butterflies ending it all) in the back of my head. Years later, I had another dream about a foot-long moth climbing up my leg. It wasn't threatening at all, but when I woke up I thought, "Wow, anything can be scary if it's big enough..." and that was the start of it!
I didn't realize lepidopterophobia was a thing until a friend of mine took one look at the cover and said NOPE NOPE NOPE!
I had a pair of dreams years and years apart. The first was about the end of the world, and there were beautiful butterflies everywhere, but I couldn't figure out how to make that scary. I was thinking maybe their wing dust caused everything to die? I always had that idea (butterflies ending it all) in the back of my head. Years later, I had another dream about a foot-long moth climbing up my leg. It wasn't threatening at all, but when I woke up I thought, "Wow, anything can be scary if it's big enough..." and that was the start of it!
I didn't realize lepidopterophobia was a thing until a friend of mine took one look at the cover and said NOPE NOPE NOPE!
More Answered Questions
Sharon
asked
Jennifer D. Lyle:
Hello! Our High School Chapters' Book Club will be reading your book for our October 30. Any tidbit you would like to share with our readers ... for instance... did you get scared while writing this book? I honestly scoffed at the idea of a horror book featuring butterflies, but my scoffs soon turned into fearful gasps! Well done!
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