Behind The Scenes
Curious how the story and characters come to life, and where their inspiration comes from? Take a look below!
Commander Nibbles
Let me start by saying, I love geese. Well… I love ducks. It is my goal to one day have a duck, and I fully intend to name him Pedro.
Anyway, Commander Nibbles was inspired by a real event. I was visiting a farm when a grandmother encouraged her young grandson to pet the geese. I gently mentioned that it might not be the best idea, as geese are notoriously grumpy creatures. She was quite confident he wouldn’t bite, so I didn’t argue.
As the boy walked past, the goose nipped at him… and yes, I just so happened to be taking a video at the exact moment it happened.
The child was perfectly fine, the goose simply gave him a little nibble.
The nibbling goose seemed to be one of higher rank amongst the other geese. That moment was all the inspiration I needed for the grumpiest goose in the kingdom: Commander Nibbles.
“The grumpiest goose in all the kingdom.”
Just to be clear, this is not the nibbling goose mentioned in the story. I wouldn’t want to falsely accuse anygoose.
A New Character…
I captured these photos at one of my favourite writing spots, and this beautiful bird ended up inspiring a brand-new character in the story, one who turns out to be pretty important.
You’ll have to wait for the long-form adaptation to meet him, but trust me, he’s worth the wait (if I do say so myself).
