- March 19, 2025
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It was a YouTube video of an octopus that set Shelby Van Pelt on the path to writing her bestselling debut novel "Remarkably Bright Creatures."
Deanna Ferguson hoped by attending Van Pelt's lecture and book signing at Selby Library on March 14, she might come across something to inspire her as well.
"I'm hoping I have some sort of great American novel in me, and sometimes they say you go near the people who are doing the things," she said. "Not that I think she's going to rub off on me, but what if something that she says sparks me?"
Ferguson had read the book at the time of its publication in 2022, even before Sarasota County Libraries chose it as the selection for their One Book, One Community program for 2025.
When she learned Van Pelt was speaking in Sarasota, she quickly purchased a plastic octopus, and brought along her mom, Debbie Ferguson.
The mother and daughter were part of a large crowd that filled the rotunda of Selby Library, including the upper level.
"It blows my mind to even think that I am on a stage that Stephen King might have once stood on, or anywhere in the same sphere as someone like him, in this level of success," Van Pelt said. "I'm not kidding when I say I wake up a lot of days and I'm just like, 'What happened?"
The novel is the story of a 70-year-old widow, Tova, a night janitor at the fictional Sowell Bay Aquarium who befriends Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus who reluctantly resides there and helps unravel the mystery of her son's disappearance.
According to Van Pelt, the book has been a New York Times bestseller for 64 cumulative weeks.
The One Book, One Community program, now in its 22nd year, features a variety of programming built around a specific book each year.
For Ferguson, a former biology teacher and now teaches English Language Arts, the appeal of the novel was the combination of two fields.
"I love the chapters from the perspective of Marcellus, because it embeds science in there, but then I love that outside of it, with all the other human characters you have... the loss themes, and the grieving themes, the way that humans, some of them are so deep and some of them are so shallow, and I feel like her book navigates through that really beautifully," she said.
Van Pelt recounted writing the book, which began after a move to Georgia, while taking time off from her consulting job to find the career she truly wanted.
She described eavesdropping on conversations at Starbucks, or in the grocery line at Publix, to pull ideas "from the wild."
When she stumbled into the world of "naughty octopus" YouTube videos, it was inspiring to write a piece, the diary of an octopus, for a creative writing class, with her professor finding it funny and offering encouragement.
She said her grandmother, who was always cleaning even when it wasn't necessary, inspired the character of Tova, as well as by the marine life she would observe for inspiration at the Georgia Aquarium, always stuck in the same swimming patterns.
"I took my grandmother's character, her mannerisms, her way of life, and really brought her into this fictional character, that was born out of this very aquarium-centric idea of being stuck, of being stuck in a tank, doing the same circle of patterns over and over again," she said.
However, she said in the future, she planned to approach the publishing process differently.
"I think in my next book, I'm going to have a little bit more confidence in myself," she said. "I feel like, especially as women, we're always just wanting to say 'yes' to everything, and I'm like, next time I actually have a misgiving about this, I'm going to push back and say no," she said.
She said in writing the book, she initially wrote 250,000 words before settling on 98,000.
Attendees said they enjoyed hearing about the process behind the bestselling novel.
"She was very down to earth..." said Joan Pifer. "I was inspired by the fact that clearly, she's a first-time author, and clearly this took a while to go through, but her discussion about perseverance and luck, I was inspired."
Graziella Abujawdeh said she enjoyed the intergenerational connection offered by the book, which was also touched on in the lecture.
"It appeals to all ages. And what touched me a lot is her connection with her grandmother, who inspired her," she said.
During her talk, Van Pelt also noted the connection books can inspire.
"When you're talking about a book, you circumvent a lot of the walls that we put up around each other, and I've seen that magic happen so many times, and I think especially in our current times, it is just more important than ever," she said.
