Backstories & Treatments
The bite-sized facts found in the newly refurbished Vidalia Onion Museum teach guests about the history of the Vidalia Onion, from its 1930's origins until now.
SCAD partnered with the City of Vidalia to redesign and refurbish Georgia's new Vidalia Onion Museum. As the project’s writer, I compiled and organized the research, decided on the “story” for each wing, collaborated with the illustrations team for the digital timeline and graphics team for didactic signage, wrote log lines for exhibits and described them through the lens of three distinct guest personas, and coordinated with the sound team to script and produce an audio tour.
The World of
Gossamer Grove
Written for Storyland’s 2024 Design Challenge
Fairies have invited humans to traverse Gossamer Grove, an enchanting yet low-stimulation community where guests can shop, dine, and partake in fae culture.
Fairies are fiercely curious creatures. In an effort to learn more about human culture, they have opened up a passage between our world and the fae realm. As they explore our towns, sprinkling little miracles here and there (you can find a fairy’s handiwork in our sunsets’ pinkest rays or woven into a snowflake’s lattice), they have, in turn, invited us to traverse Gossamer Grove.
In Gossamer Grove, homes are threaded into the trees’ very trunks and roots. This allows the buildings to shift and shape according to their inhabitants’ needs. When a fairy youngling is born, for example, the magic in the tree senses this and adds a nursery. When you hear the creaking and groaning of wood, such a transformation is taking place.
In the shops, you will find quiet nooks for reading and crafting, gathering halls warmed by blazing hearths and joyous laughter, and eateries where you can sprinkle confidence onto your dish or add a pump of charm to your coffee. (To some palettes, confidence has a chile pepper–like kick while charm tastes sweet and mellow, like vanilla.) Do not be alarmed if the fairies seem to be paying close attention to you. As eager as many are to journey into our lands, many more yearn to study us in their home environment. Fairies pride themselves on being thoughtful hosts and clever barterers. Fascinated by trade (long ago, they granted our wishes in exchange for our eye color or memories), they are experimenting with our currency-based methods and want to see how well they fare.
Fairykind can trace their ancestry back to one of five heritages: Arbor fairies seem to be made of twigs and leaves and have been raised to prioritize personal growth, which they also encourage in others. With eye-catching, colorful appearances, floral fairies are used to being noticed and therefore tend to be cheerful and outgoing. Though fungi fairies have an age-old reputation for being homebodies, the younger generation often defies this stereotype, though they do still take great care to keep their homes comfortable and clean. Adventurous and elegant, critter fairies are said to have descended from the ancient butterflies, dragonflies, fireflies, and moths that roamed in between our world and that of the fae. Last are the ore fairies, who once lived deep underground but have since entwined themselves with their above-ground kin; despite their stony exteriors, most ore fairies search for deep, emotional connections.
When the shops close and the petal-lanterns dim, you wander through moss-lined passages back to the human world and remember to carry with you the kindness, curiosity, and the peaceful feeling of being present that makes Gossamer Grove so special. When you take that kind of magic back with you, it might just make our world a little more magical too.
Meet the Founders of SeaSparkle Cove
Marissa & Hailey
Written for DWRI 720: Stories as Experiences: Writing Immersive Narratives
Humans and mermaids alike are welcome to dive into SeaSparkle Cove, a shop brimming with bioluminescent lamps, shimmery stationary, and other aquatic trinkets for purchase.
SeaSparkle Cove wavers between worlds, allowing humans and mermaids to coexist within its cavern walls. Here, humans see mermaids as fellow humans, and mermaids see humans as fellow mermaids. But how did such a place come to be?
Its founders—Marissa Del Mar, a mermaid, and Hailey Reid, a human—met along the waterfront in a town called Starlit Shores: Hailey, feet firmly planted in the sand, scoured the coast for fossils while Marissa, tail fully submerged below the tide, gathered pearlescent shells. After comparing their finds, they decided to help each other. Marissa plunged to depths Hailey couldn’t fathom while Hailey scaled rocks Marissa couldn’t reach. When they traded their baubles, a friendship was formed.
Hailey’s family visited Starlit Shores annually, and with every passing year, that friendship swelled. Marissa told Hailey of a myth called the Cerulean Reef, a enchanted cave where mermaid and humans once lived side-by-side, without barriers.
They set out to find it.
Marissa chronicled the details her elders could recall about the myth while Hailey attended college to study marine biology and archeology. For years, they traversed the globe, convening at ports, comparing notes, and accumulating artifacts until they at last excavated a map and amulet that led them to the Cerulean Reef.
There, they opened up SeaSparkle Cove, a shop where they sell the treasures they’ve collected from their travels. Marissa and Hailey hope their guests—human and mermaid, bubbly and down-to-earth—form lifelong friendships while playing among the shop’s enchanted waters, jellyfish canopies, and squid-ink pens.
