The Story Behind the Book: The Story Behind How The Deer Moon Hungers by Susan Wingate

Thursday, July 23, 2020

The Story Behind How The Deer Moon Hungers by Susan Wingate

My husband, Bob and I took an evening walk. It was thirty-four days before my Mom died. She was terribly sick by then. We don’t typically walk in the evenings but for some reason―probably, just to get out of the house, leaving Mom with a caregiver―we decided to just take off on a stroll westward

from our home on a road that wraps around a slice of water in North Puget Sound called the Olympic Straits. Walks down that particular stretch of road elicit tons of fodder for my stories. It was along that same road when The Deer Effect idea came into being.

Anyway, we were heading back home after being out for a half-hour, walking east on that same road when the moon decided to make an appearance. It was as full and yellow as I’ve ever seen. It looked like a huge beach ball made of cheese. And in a breath, MacKenzie Fraser zipped by me on her bike―figuratively, that is. In my mind, she and her sister seven-year-old sister, Tessa were racing down the hill on that same road in the direction of the moon when Tessa skidded to a stop nearly making Mac run over her. The discourse between them took on an excited and intimate tone. And there I am with Bob and we’re walking closer and closer to them. I mean, I was listening in, eavesdropping on what they were saying. It was all kid issues…

“You nearly made me run into you, brat!” From Mac.

Nothing from Tessa. Tessa was staring up at the moon. Gaping, really.

Finally, after a barrage of insults from Mac, Tessa says, “See the deer in the moon, Mac?”

Mac answers, “There’s no deer, dork. There’s a man but no deer.”

Tessa now, “Wonder if the deer’s hungry?”

After that scene played out for me, I knew I had to write their novel. That scene occurs in Chapter One of HOW THE DEER MOON HUNGERS. And the title went through several revisions with working titles: The Secret of Deer Moon (not bad), What the Deer Moon Hungers For (I hated the dangling participle and it’s quite a mouthful), Why the Deer Moon Hungers (okay, getting closer), then it takes a hard left to Moon Spyer (what the?), and finally the published title of How the Deer Moon Hungers, which seems to sum up everything I was trying to accomplish with the other title variants. It got a contract as Moon Spyer and we talked about changing the title after the ink was dry both ways. But I knew Moon Spyer wouldn’t be the final title. I mean, just say it a couple times. It’s awkward and the word “spyer” isn’t a real word. I had to force it into my dictionary. And believe me, it wasn’t going easily.

I guess what I want you to know most about this story is that at its core DEER MOON is about two sisters―one who lives and one who doesn’t.

Thank you for allowing me the platform to talk about my latest novel. I hope you love Mac and Tessa as much as I do. Sincerely, Susan Wingate.

About the Book

For those who enjoy reading books like Where the Crawdads Sing and My Sister’s Keeper
MACKENZIE FRASER witnesses a drunk driver mow down her seven-year-old sister and her mother blames her. Then she ends up in juvie on a trumped-up drug charge. Now she’s in the fight of her life…on the inside! And she’s losing.
HOW THE DEER MOON HUNGERS is a coming of age story about loss, grief, and the power of love.

ORDER YOUR COPY

Amazon → https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08676VMT3

About the Author

Susan Wingate is a #1 Amazon bestselling award-winning author of over fifteen novels. Susan writes across fiction and nonfiction genres and often sets her stories in the Pacific Northwest where she is the president of a local authors association. She writes full-time and lives in Washington State with her husband, Bob.