Diane Les Becquets Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Interview

After writing three novels for young adults, Diane Les Becquets describes how her first novel for adults, Breaking Wild, came about.

How do you describe Breaking Wild? What inspired you to write this story?

Breaking Wild is about a female bow hunter who goes missing in the Colorado wilderness and the female ranger who tries to find her. But to me it is about the wild spaces within us, places known only to us individually, places we cannot tame. Both Pru and Amy Raye have vast wild spaces within them. The climax of the story is when their respective wild spaces collide.

I was first inspired to write this story when I was living in Colorado and went bow hunting one evening after work. I had driven to an extremely remote area called Cyclone Pass. I began bugling back and forth with an elk, while at the same time hiking deeper and deeper into the woods. But then, I realized the sky was too dark. The moment had passed. I wasn't going to be taking a shot. I put my bugle away, and reached inside my pack for my headlamp. But when I went to turn it on, either the battery was dead, or the bulb had burned out. The moon and stars were blotted out by dark clouds. And I was lost. There were no trails. I was in the middle of deadfall. I had a compass. And I used the silhouette of the trees against the sky to get my bearings. After several hours, I found the trail ...