Interview: “The Wind Witch of Weird Water Harbour” by Steve Vernon

In “The Wind Witch of Weird Water Harbour,” Steve Vernon spins a salt-soaked fable of pride, punishment, and the price of a bargain struck with forces older than the sea. When Captain Donny Parsons accepts a leather cord with three knots of captured wind from Gusty Annie—the Wind Witch—he sets in motion a storm that will follow him past shipwreck and death.

Interview Questions

Did a real place or moment inspire part of your story?

No, this story was born completely in my imagination. However, being as I live in Nova Scotia, a province nearly surrounded by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, the sea sings in my heart, soul, and brain.

Did the story start with the ghost, the water, or something else entirely?

Well, it’s been a little while since I actually wrote this story, but it seems to me it started with the idea of a “wind witch.” Yes, that was definitely the seed for this tale—it started with those two words “wind” and “witch.” Once I had that concept fixed in my brain I just had to figure out what a wind-witch would actually do!

Have you ever been somewhere that felt haunted to you?

Oh yes, many times. Now, you have to understand that I have released more than a few collections of ghost stories, so my brain is kind of tuned towards the booga-booga of existence. Besides that, living here in Nova Scotia kind of stirs that side of my brain. You just can’t stand on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, listening to the whoosh and the whisper of the waves painting and repainting the coastline, without thinking about those many thousand folks who lost their lives upon that water. You keep thinking along that line of reason and sooner or later a ghost is going to pop up.

The story feels like an oral legend passed down through generations. How did you find Captain Donny’s voice?

Working in a fish plant down in Yarmouth, as well as a half a dozen other factories and mills. Most of the fellows I worked with all had strong salt water accents of one form or another. It kind of soaked into my own voice over the years.

The story has the rhythm of a tall tale but the heart of a tragedy. How do you balance humor and horror in your storytelling?

I believe that I balance humor and horror in the same sort of manner that the sky balances sunshine and shadow. A writer’s opening paragraph, and the pages that follow, represent a very cautious painterly process. You are trying to create a story tinged with both light and darkness. That sort of creation requires a little creativity, a little free spirited madness, and just a hint of dumb luck.

Much of your work celebrates Atlantic Canada’s maritime culture. What draws you to writing about the sea and its stories?

I grew up in Northern Ontario but moved to Nova Scotia to meet my mother who lived in Yarmouth. When I came to Yarmouth to get to know the mom whom I had never truly met before then, I was in the mood to fully embrace my new living arrangements. The sea was a part of that picture.

The use of dialect and rhythm adds incredible authenticity. How do you ensure the language feels real without losing clarity?

The best trick to double-check your story’s clarity is to close the door of your writing office, clear your mind, and commence reading the whole darned story out loud. And LISTEN while you’re reading it. If you can read it straight through without stopping to scratch in puzzlement, then you know that you have written a well-told story! Reading aloud, as silly as it might feel, is the best way to keep your writing engine purring.

The story’s imagery—the knotted cord, the whispering wind, the wreck of the ship—feels almost ancient. Were you influenced by specific myths or sailor’s superstitions?

The first thing that springs to my mind is Homer’s Odyssey. I read that tale first in the old Classics Illustrated comic book version of that Greek saga. I watched the story on television as the 1963 Harryhausen flick, Jason and the Argonauts. However, you have to remember that I’ve written over a half a dozen volumes of maritime folklore for my local publisher, Nimbus Publishing. My brain is crammed full of folktales and legends from a lifetime of compiling these legends.

What are you working on now—and what’s fun or exciting about it?

I’m working on a young adult local novel. As for fun and exciting, any day that I can get a few more pages down the trail is about as fun and exciting as my life needs to be these days. Thanks for the interview.

About the Author

Steve is a writer and an oral tradition storyteller; he learned the storytelling tradition from his grandfather, and regularly tells stories to in-person audiences ranging from 5 to 5,000 spectators. He writes horror, paranormal, dark fantasy, and ghost stories, and specializes in the fine old art of booga-booga.

Think of Steve as that old dude at the campfire spinning out ghost stories and weird adventures and the grand epic saga of how Thud the Second stepped out of his cave with nothing more than a rock in his fist and slew the saber-tooth tiger.

Find out more about Steve at stevevernonstoryteller.wordpress.com

Read the Story

“The Wind Witch of Weird Water Harbour” appears in Haunted Waters, available now from Blackbird Publishing.

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