Shelby Van Pelt talks "Remarkably Bright Creatures"

With author Shelby Van Pelt 

Author Shelby Van Pelt is a firm believer in the adage that timing is everything. Her novel "Remarkably Bright Creatures" went out to prospective publishers at the very moment when everyone in the world was enamored with the documentary "My Octopus Teacher." In the movie, a diver develops a relationship with a wild octopus. In Van Pelt's novel, a cleaning woman at an aquarium develops a relationship with an octopus that periodically escapes from its tank. Cue the bidding war. But I've gotten a bit ahead of myself. 

Since 2003, Sarasota County Libraries have participated in the One Book/One Community initiative. The idea is simple (although I suspect the implementation is anything but). A book is selected by the library staff and a series of related events are organized in which community members of all ages can participate. This year's book was "Remarkably Bright Creatures." Each year's program is capped off with a talk by the author, and I found myself front and center to hear Van Pelt's story.  

Van Pelt didn't grow up wanting to be an author. She studied economics and philosophy in college. (Her ornery octopus is named Marcellus after Marcus Aurelius.) She'd always been interested in writing, though, and eventually took the plunge and registered for a class at Emory's continuing education program. The first assignment was to write a scene from an unusual point of view. Hmm. 

She searched for an idea, primarily by listening in on other customers' conversations in Starbucks and making up their backstories. Then she came upon the YouTube world of Naughty Octopi. She saw a video about an octopus trying to escape from its tank. With that, Marcellus was born. When she turned in her assignment, her teacher told to keep going. And so she did.

Van Pelt soon realized, though, that a single character does not a book make. She had written a number of scenes featuring Marcellus, but her story had no plot. Van Pelt began hanging out at the Georgia Aquarium in search of an idea. Much of her time was spent observing the octopus. But she also watched the fish in the other tanks. She noticed that they circled their environments over and over again. It made her think about how humans, like these fish, have routines. In particular, it made her think about her grandmother, whom Shelby lived next door to when she was growing up. 

Van Pelt's grandmother was a cleaning fanatic with a strict weekly schedule. Windows and floors would be washed and cabinets cleaned out whether they needed it or not. It wasn't that she was OCD. She just needed something to do, and cleaning filled her time. Eventually these musings led to the birth of Tova, the aquarium's cleaning woman who is the protagonist of the story. 

Emilie with her new friend

Still, the years passed without Van Pelt finishing her book. Instead, she found herself rewriting -- and rewriting again -- what she had already put on the page instead of making forward progress. She finally finished the first draft thanks to a pact with a friend from her long ago writing class who was similarly stuck. It's always good to have a buddy. 

When "Remarkably Bright Creatures" came out, it was given a huge boost by its selection as a book of the month for Read with Jenna. (Click here to see what Jenna had to say about why she choose the novel.) The selection was made when Van Pelt was still in the editing process. When she got the news that Jenna and her people were interested but needed the completed book right away to make their decision, she pulled an all nighter to finish her edits up. It was worth the lost sleep. It took a few months, but Van Pelt and her team were eventually told that the novel had indeed been chosen. They were cautioned, though, that if word leaked, it wouldn't happen. What a secret to have to sit on for months! 

Shelby Van Pelt 

"Remarkably Bright Creatures" became an instant NYT bestseller once it hit bookstores. This means that a minimum of 5,000 copies were sold in the week following its publication. Since the book came out in 2022, it has been on the NYT Bestseller List for more than a year's worth of weeks. More than a million copies of the book have found their way into readers' hands, and that's only taking into account the people who have purchased the book rather than queuing up for it at their public library. The fact that an article about the book's staying power appeared on the front page of the New York Times in December 2023 didn't hurt. Sort of an aside, but Van Pelt shared a funny story about she and her team looking for the piece on the day the article was scheduled to run. They checked the book section and the arts section and were becoming the tiniest bit concerned when someone found the article below the fold on page 1. Cue the excitement. You probably won't be surprised at this point to learn that a movie is in the works. Sally Field will play the role of Tova. 

Thanks to the Sarasota Library System and the Library Foundation for another terrific author event. I'm already looking forward to next year's One Book/One Community celebration. In the meantime, happy reading.