Author Robert Beatty shoots video book trailer in Madison County
HOT SPRINGS – Residents of Marshall and Hot Springs may have noticed a film crew at work late last month.
The team shot a video book trailer for author Robert Beatty’s latest book, due out October 8: “Sylvia Doe and the 100-Year Flood.”
The crew spent two days of filming in Madison County – on June 24 at the Little Pine Garnet Mine and on June 25 near the river in Hot Springs.
“This is a new character for me, a new world so to speak, although it is set in Western North Carolina like my other books,” Beatty said. “It’s a contemporary fantasy novel, so it has a realistic basis in that it is set here in Western North Carolina, but there are also fantasy and magical elements.”
Beatty’s publisher is Disney Hyperion and “Sylvia Doe and the Flood of the Century” will be his seventh book for the Disney franchise.
Beatty is best known for his books in the Serafina series, 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, staying on the list for more than 60 weeks, and also won the prestigious Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize in 2016.
His other series, “Willa of the Wood,” combines Cherokee legends, western North Carolina history and magical realism in a story set in the Great Smoky Mountains in 1900. “Willa” is the story of a good-natured orphan girl who carries the ancient forest powers of her people and her struggle to survive in a changing world.
The new book is based on a similar premise, in that Sylvia Doe is an orphan living in a halfway house. One major difference is that Sylvia Doe and the Flood of the Century is a contemporary magical fantasy novel, meaning it is set in the present day rather than in a historical setting.
“She first came into foster care when she was about three or four years old, and she didn’t know her last name or couldn’t give it to authorities, so her last name in the story is Doe,” Beatty said. “So it’s a mystery as to 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 tan skin, but she doesn’t know if she’s Hispanic? African American? Cherokee?”
In the story, Doe’s orphanage is located near a river in North Carolina and is hit by a torrential downpour that lasts for days as a result of a hurricane.
“All these rainy days cause the river where she lives to overflow its banks, and suddenly all kinds of strange and wondrous things come down the river with the floods. Things like wolves that no longer live in this area, and bird species that no longer live in this area, and sapphires and gems and other magical items that no longer exist in this area,” Beatty said.
“She starts to wonder, ‘Where did this come from? Why is this happening?’ During all these events, storms and floods are destroying farms and hurting the farm animals. Her main family becomes a herd of 16 horses that she helps care for, and they are sort of her surrogate family because she has no other permanent family.”
The author said that the title character is placed with a family in Charlotte and Raleigh, but she keeps running away from the family to return to their herd of horses.
“The horses are the only family she knows and the mountains are the only place she knows. She just feels like this is her place, even though her family is nowhere in sight,” Beatty said. “It’s a combination of her character and her life journey as a 13-year-old combined with what’s happening with this river.”
“The catalyst is trying to save horses and other animals when she sees a little boy trapped in the flood. She charges into the river with her horse and starts to save the boy who is trapped in the flood and that’s kind of the beginning of the story,” Beatty said.
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County residents know that Madison is a part of the world where time and place matter enormously.
For the author, the importance of a region’s history is one of the overarching messages/themes of the story.
“Where we come from is important. And knowing that history, where we come from, who we are as a people and how we fit into the passage of time is very important to who we are as a person,” Beatty said.
“Young people in particular think that they were put on this earth and that they are, so to speak, the first here. They look around with fresh eyes, and that is great. But there is 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 time.”
“This case is about the history that has happened along this river and in Madison County, all the things that have happened before us, and the importance of what we are doing now and how that impacts what will 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 lived near Cane Creek, a stream that flows into the French Broad River, for about 15 years before recently moving to his home in North Asheville.
“I was always fascinated by how the river flood changed the landscape, how the river’s course changed, how it knocked down trees and sandbars appeared where there had been a river. The course of the river and the shape of the land were constantly changing and I found that fascinating,” Beatty said.
According to the author, he also owned horses on this property and said he was often busy on horseback gathering goats that were drifting down the river.
“Many of these details and immediate experiences went into the book,” Beatty said.
The idea of featuring three female main characters in his three-volume book series stems from his connection to his family, as Beatty has three daughters who serve as his greatest inspiration in his work.
“I write my books for and with my daughters, and they are my companions,” he said. “I imagine some of the things I’ve experienced, and I imagine them going through it, and in some cases they’ve been with me, as they’re riders too. So it’s kind of an imaginative fictionalization of some of my experiences on the river.”
Beatty and his team have shot numerous video book trailers in Western North Carolina – including at the Biltmore Estate, DuPont State Forest and in and around downtown Asheville – but their recent foray into Madison County marked the first time they produced for “The Jewel of the Blue Ridge.”
The author called Madison County “a beautiful area” and said it was “perfect for what he envisioned as the setting for the story.”
“When we were on the ground and herding the horses near the river, it was just beautiful. Then when we got a drone in the air and got higher and could see the mountains and the surrounding areas, it was just absolutely perfect for what I had in mind for the story,” Beatty said.
Beatty said the residents of Hot Springs were particularly welcoming to the film crew.
“All of the neighbors and property owners in the area have been extremely generous in sharing their special little corners of the world with us,” Beatty said.
The producer of the film project is Scott Fowler.
According to Fowler, the film crew set up camp near the Paint Fork community in Hot Springs and was also hosted 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, ‘OK, jump in the truck and I’ll take you to the mine,’ and that was probably four months ago. He was delighted to have us there and he came to see us the morning of the shoot and was happy to have us there.
“We worked with his children and notified all the neighbors and emergency services. The cooperation from everyone in Madison County was great.”
Beatty said he has already committed to two more books in the series, including another video book trailer, and said Madison County will “definitely be at the top of the team’s list.”
Johnny Casey covered Madison County for three years for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel. He received first place in breaking news coverage at the 2023 North Carolina Press Association Awards. Reach him at 828-210-6074 or [email protected].
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