Whale Fall Stories: Downloadable Content

When I was a kid I spent a lot of time alone. I am an only child and my single mother worked multiple jobs while attending graduate school just to keep the family afloat, so learning how to be a self-motivator was in my blood. When I first got the idea for Whale Fall I was volunteering at a weekend camp for children who experienced a loss and it occurred to me that I might have benefitted from just such a reflective exercise much earlier in my development.

That’s when Whale Fall was born.

Photo by Sho Hatakeyama on Unsplash

See: Why I Wrote Whale Fall

But, the story behind the story is obviously much more complex than that. The idea for the book — an optimistic, yet honest discussion about loss and the stages that one may feel during this universal human experience didn’t come to me all at once. In fact, my background is in biological science, genetics, and marine biology, but I’ve always had a much more passionate (and less romantic) relationship with cosmology. The original book was going to focus on the need to depart from the Whale Fall (a metaphor for an ailing Earth), and through that discussion, I would pivot to the idea of “moving on” from a loss.

So, the idea wasn’t all at once. It evolved. But once I settled on a theme, a “main” character (Baleen was the main character AND the setting, fun) I had to start writing. Again, I’ve never been the guy you ask to write a paper for you, I’m the guy you ask to help you with your math homework. So, I started looking for writing resources, templates, and best practices for turning an idea into a story. I mentioned this in my “How I Wrote Whale Fall” so there isn’t much need to get into the weeds of writing, but again… it evolved.

A year later I had my book and a pile of notes that was three times the length of the book. I also had the opportunity to work with an incredible illustrator that happened to be a dear friend. So although the writing was difficult, I had a teammate who I could never thank enough. The illustrations are always what gets attention.

So what’s next? Well, you probably saw this coming thanks to the title, but I’m planning on putting pen to paper once again with Whale Fall side stories! Yes, that’s right. I have my format (6–7 page short stories), I have my theme (still, Whale Fall/ocean), and I also have a list of characters and ideas that I worked through in my notes but never put on paper.

Just a handful of characters that haven’t we don’t know too much about… yet.

I’m going to try and keep these posts frequent and short, so that’s where I’m going to leave it today. Yes, I’m going to start translating my Whale Fall Side Stories into Medium stories, but I also have a few other things up my sleeve.

Thanks for reading | ♥ RB

Now, here’s how you can spread the word about the book and help give more families and communities access to meaningful conversations about grief and hope. Please do at least one of these things, I would be over the moon if you did more than one ❤

1. Clap for this article (little hands button, you can press up to 50 times!)
2. Visit/share the WhaleFall website: https://www.whalefallthebook.com
3. Like Whale Fall on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whalefallthebook
4. Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/whale_fall
5. ANNNNNDD Get a copy of my book on ibooks or Amazon Kindle, it’s as cheap as I can possibly make it AND the book will update automatically with goodies every now and again.