HOT SPRINGS - Marshall and Hot Springs residents may have noticed a film crew out and about working at the end of last month.
The crew was filming a video book trailer for author Robert Beatty's newest book to be published Oct. 8, "Sylvia Doe and the 100-Year Flood."
The crew spent two days filming in Madison County — at Little Pine Garnet Mine June 24, and near the river in Hot Springs June 25.
"This is a new character for me, a new world so to speak, although it does take place in Western North Carolina like my other books," Beatty said. "It is a contemporary fantasy novel, so it's got a realistic base of taking place here in Western North Carolina, but there are also fantasy and magical elements taking place as well."
Beatty's publisher is Disney Hyperion, and "Sylvia Doe and the 100-Year Flood" will mark his seventh book for the Disney franchise.
Beatty's most known for his Serafina series books, including "Serafina and the Black Cloak," in which the title character lives secretly in the basement of the Biltmore Estate during the Gilded Age. "Serafina and the Black Cloak" was a No. 1 New York Times bestseller, spending more than 60 weeks on the list, and also won the prestigious 2016 Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize.
His other series, "Willa of the Wood," incorporates Cherokee legends, Western North Carolina history and magic realism together in a story set in 1900 in the Great Smoky Mountains. "Willa" is the story of a sweet-natured orphan girl who holds the ancient forest powers of her people and her struggle to survive in a changing world.
The new book operates from a similar premise, as Sylvia Doe is an orphan living in a transition house. One main difference is that "Sylvia Doe and the 100-Year Flood" is a contemporary magical fantasy novel, meaning it takes place in the present day rather than in a historical setting.
"She first came into the foster system when she was about 3 or 4 years old, and she didn't know or wasn't able to tell the authorities her last name, so her last name in the story is Doe," Beatty said. "So, this is a mystery of who Sylvia Doe is, what her family is, what her background is. She doesn't even know what race she is. She knows she has brownish skin, but she doesn't know, is she Hispanic? Is she African-American? Is she Cherokee?"
In the story, Doe's orphanage is set near a North Carolina river, and the orphanage sees a torrential dayslong rainstorm resulting from a hurricane.
"These many days of rain cause the river she lives on to flood, and all of a sudden all sorts of strange and wondrous things start coming down the river in the floodwaters. So, things like wolves, that no longer live in this area, and species of birds that no longer live in this area, and sapphires and gems and other magical items that are no longer in this area," Beatty said.
"She begins to wonder, 'Where is this stuff coming from? Why is this happening?' During this whole event, the storm and the flood is destroying farms and hurting the farm animals. Her main family becomes a herd of 16 horses that she helps to take care of, and they're sort of her surrogate family, because she doesn't have an other permanent family."
The author said the title character gets placed with a family in Charlotte and Raleigh, but she always runs away from the family to return to her pack of horses.
"The horses are the only family she knows, and the mountains are the only place that she knows. She just feels like this is her place, even though her family is nowhere to be seen," Beatty said. "It's a combination of her character, and her journey of life as a 13-year-old, combined with what's happening with this river.
"The catalyzing event is when trying to rescue horses and other animals, and sees a young boy that's been caught in the flood. She charges her horse out into the river and starts to rescue this boy who is caught in the flood, and that is sort of the beginning of the story," Beatty said.
Message
County residents know that Madison is a part of the world that places immense value in time and place.
For the author, one of the overarching messages/themes in the story is the importance of a region's history.
"Where we come from is important, and getting to know that history and where we come from and the people we come from and how we fit in with the arc of time is very important to who we are as people," Beatty said.
"Young people especially, they just think that they've been planted here on Earth and that they're kind of the first ones here. They're looking around with fresh eyes, and that's great. But there's also a long continuum of history that came before them and will follow after them."
One of the main goals of the book is to try "to put our lives in perspective in terms of the arc of time."
"In this case, the history that has happened along this river and in Madison County, all of the things that have happened before us, and the importance of what we do now and how it affects what's going to happen in the future," Beatty said.
Beatty also served as executive producer, director and editor for the video book trailer.
Inspiration for the story
Beatty spent roughly 15 years living near Cane Creek, a stream that flows into the French Broad River, prior to moving to his North Asheville home recently.
"I was always fascinated by how the flood of that river would change that landscape, how the course of the river would change, how it would tear down trees and there were sandbars where there used to be river. It was just always changing the course of the river and the shape of the land, and I found that fascinating," Beatty said.
According to the author, he also had horses on that property and said he would often find himself on horseback trying to gather up goats that were floating down the river.
"A lot of those details and those visceral experiences got put in the book," Beatty said.
The idea of featuring three female leads in his three book series comes back to his ties to his family, as Beatty has three daughters, who serve as his biggest inspiration in his work.
"I write my books for and with my daughters, and they're my companions," he said. "I kind of imagine some of the things that I've gone through, and I imagine them going through it, and in some cases they were with me, as they're also horseback riders. So, it's sort of a fantasy imaginative fictionalization of some of my experiences on the river."
While Beatty and his team have filmed video book trailers in Western North Carolina numerous times — including at Biltmore Estate, DuPont State Forest and in and around downtown Asheville — the recent foray into Madison County marked the first time in The Jewel of the Blue Ridge.
The author referred to Madison County as "a beautiful area" and said it was "perfect for what he'd been imagining the story taking place in."
"When we were on the ground, and running horses near the river, it was absolutely beautiful. Then, when we put a drone up and got up higher and could see the mountains and the surrounding areas, it was just totally perfect for what I had imagined for the story," Beatty said.
Beatty said Hot Springs residents were especially welcoming of the film crew.
"All the neighbors and property owners in the area were extremely gracious with sharing their little special spots in the world," Beatty said.
Scott Fowler is the film project's producer.
According to Fowler, the film crew set up shop near the Paint Fork community in Hot Springs, and was also accommodated by Jackie Ball at Sandy Bottom Trail Rides and the Little Garnet Gem Mine in Marshall.
"Jackie was wonderful from the first moment we showed up unannounced," Fowler said. "He said, 'Well, hop in the truck and I'll carry you over to the mine,' and that was probably four months ago. He was tickled pink to have us over there, and he visited us the morning we were shooting and was happy to have us there.
"We worked with his kids, and notified all the neighbors and all the EMS. Everybody in Madison County was great to work with."
Beatty said he's already committed to an additional two books in the series, including another video book trailer, and said Madison County "will definitely be first on the team's list."
Johnny Casey has covered Madison County for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel for three years. He earned a first-place award in beat news reporting in the 2023 North Carolina Press Association awards. He can be reached at 828-210-6074 or jcasey@citizentimes.com.
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