Fiction writer Diane Hammond might not be an expert on elephants, but she certainly knows a love story when she sees one.
From Bend, Ore., Hammond recently published her third novel, “Hannah’s Dream,” which tells the heartwarming tale of a lonely elephant named Hannah and her retiring caretaker, who refuses to leave his big friend until the deteriorating, third-rate Washington state zoo can ensure her wellbeing.
Interestingly enough, Hammond has actually spent more time around orcas than she has with elephants. As Keiko’s publicist, Hammond spent two years watching the star of the Free Willy movies.
The killer whale had lived in a Mexico City amusement park, where his pool was much too small and had inadequate water conditions. To save the life of the ailing orca, Keiko was transferred to Newport, Ore., where an aquarium was built especially for him.
Day after day, Keiko’s caretakers would submerge into the 43-degree water with their giant companion to provide social and health support for a very lonely and sick orca. “It’s pretty amazing what people are willing to do to take good care of an animal,” said Hammond.
Keiko had a rigorous daily training session to increase his speed, jumping height, muscle tone and lung capacity. For each feat, Keiko was awarded treats. Hammond, who was in the pool once with Keiko, said “The relationship with different people wasn’t generic. He was very involved and very much present.”
Keiko’s personality lived up to his physical size, and he would often test the younger members of the training crew by doing exactly the opposite of what he was told to do. “It became a joke everyone went to watch because it was so silly, and Keiko knew exactly what he was doing,” said Hammond.
Hammond knew there was a story to be told about the love and sacrifice she watched from behind the scenes. “It’s every writer’s dream to watch something eight hours a day until the story unfolds itself,” said Hammond.
However, she ran into massive writer’s block in her first attempt at a non-fiction account, and her first editor ended up turning the story down.
It was then that her husband suggested trying out a different animal. “(Elephants) have some of the same charismatic appeal for people. There is a whole group of elephant-lovers who are kind of over the moon about them.”
During the writing process, Hammond spent a lot of time with elephant fans. “I don’t know that much about elephants, but the love that develops between different animals and their caProxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0
taProxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0
rs; it’s something powerful most of us don’t see,” she said.
Unfortunately, the closest available elephants, who live in Tacoma’s Point Defiance Zoo, are not exactly the characters Hammond had in mind. “Their elephants are all killers; each one has killed people,” Hammond said. Sadly, this was the result of abuse from trainers, when it was standard practice to beat elephants into submission. “They are a product of what is being done to them, and they didn’t have good things to say about people,” said Hammond.
The simple plot in “Hannah’s Dream” is balanced with character-driven intrigue. Hammond has conjured up a host of eccentric personalities, including a pot-belly pig, whom she called the comic relief of her story.
“It’s always a challenge to write about animals without making them people. It’s very easy to attribute human feels and reactions to animals, but what we may feel might not necessarily be the same.” The aggressive way a killer whale handles a toy might appear like anger for a human, she explained.
Hammond said she writes fiction simply “because I get to make it up.”
“When you’ve been through something complicated, you become hostage to all the fact and reality … In fiction, I only need to know enough to convince you that I know a lot more,” she said.
Tragically, Keiko died from pneumonia in 2003, just a year after being released back into the wild off the coast of Iceland, where he was originally from. No spoilers, but Hammond hinted at a happier ending in her book.
She is working on her next book called “Booking Hollywood,” about competing child actors.
[email protected]