The Inspiration for Writing “Transfigured Sea”

July 11, 2024

I have always loved the ocean, ever since I was a child. We used to go to the beach as a family, every weekend and we would swim. The sea contains a range of colours and because it moves and because it is salty, it seems alive.

Sunset at the beach

In later years, I learnt to love rocks, rocky platforms and coloured cliffs. Sunset at the beach, over the ocean, is transfixing, flaming pink or gold and different every night.

A charismatic university lecturer took us to some rocky seaside platforms while teaching about evolution. He would lift up a rock and find a small animal there. He would tell us all about it and how these simple organisms were probably the first to evolve. It was very exciting.

Later, I wrote a short story, set on the beach, with light glittering on the surface of the water. I loved the sea, the beach and the moon.

“Manuscript Incubator” was a course run by Writers SA, in 2017, to teach us how to write a novel. I used the short story as a starting point. After those seminars were over, I finished off the book, edited it and revised it. 

“Transfigured Sea” was published in October 2022, by Austin Macauley in London. I hope you enjoy it.

Sally Ann Hunter

Sally Ann Hunter is a biologist and environmental policy officer (BSc [Biol], MEnv Sts.). She has published a collection of poetry called The Structure of Light and a biography called You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down: from Parkinson’s to a New Life with Deep Brain Stimulation.

A paper she wrote on the biography, was read on ABC Radio’s Ockham’s Razor, as was a paper on living with solar power.

She completed a ten-month course called Manuscript Incubator at Writers SA. Also at Writers SA, she did Poetry Studio on Zoom with Jill Jones over several months.

A novel called Transfigured Sea, (Nature Writing) was published in 2022 and another called Golden Cups (Historical Fiction) is in the process of publisher’s revision.

A number of her poems have been published in anthologies and online. She lives in the Adelaide Hills where she gains inspiration for much of her Nature Writing.

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2 Comments

  1. James

    I’m looking forward to reading Transfigured Sea after reading this post. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

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