Fairy Tale Failure

While just browsing the 398.2's I came across an interesting title: Sleepless Beauty. Written by Frances Minters and illustrated by G. Brian Karas, it is a modern, urban take on the traditional Sleeping Beauty. It has all the same elements of the story, but instead of being specific about the spindle of a spinning wheel, Beauty just has to prick her finger on anything. And the one to break the one hundred year long curse will be a rock star. The story was very funny, very cute, and had an interesting twist at the end. The text was in rhyming quatrains. Using rhyme in my own story is tricky though. Rhymes can be too cliche, too shallow. But other times, like this book, they can add just the right sound to the story. Throughout the book there is a drawn character of a black sax player, a busker. Given the modern city setting, he appears as a modern bard or storyteller. Taking in the consideration of a muscian telling the story, the rhyme scheme makes sense. Songs sometimes rhyme; rhymes give a musical quality to the text.

So what did I take from this book to use in my own? The subtle, and not subtle, ways it changes the tale to modernity is one. Also I know that my book will not rhyme, but if the book turns to a series (which is entirely possible) another of my stories would do well in rhyme.

I grew up watching the television show Reading Rainbow every afternoon. One of my favourite books from the show was Paul O. Zelinsky's Rumpelstiltskin.

As I reread it today, I looked at the language used to tell the story, but mostly I looked at the relationship between the text and the illustrations. My own book unfortunately will not have amazingly rich and elegant oil paintings like Zelinsky's. I think I can only wish for a Caldecott Honor; I'm just an amature artist. But I still can learn a lot from what he puts on the page. My favourite is a two page spread towards the beginning of the book. It is all one large painting over the two pages, one moment in the story. And yet the text on either page are their own different moments. On the first page is describes the miller's daughter's situation and despair, and the part of the painting above it her in the room crying. The second page has Rumpelstiltskin's first entrance and introduction to the girl. The part of the painting above is of the little man coming in the room and bowing. He captured the scene in art transitioning between the two scenes in the text. The simplicity of using that transistion to capture two moments in one scene is brilliant!

For the most part, there is not much other than what is in the text in the paintings. They have wonderful detail, but are also simple. There aren't any extra little plots hidden in the art. But what is depicted complements the text. You can understand the story just by looking at the pictures, but the text gets the story across on its own as well. It is a balance of the two.

Shakespeare's Hamlet is one of my favourite plays. There is a line given by the mad Ophelia where she says, "They say the owl was a baker's daughter. Lord! we know what we are, but know not what we may be" (4.5.46-48). The line has often puzzled me, but I've put it down to some story that the Elizabethans would know.

But after browsing the 398.2 section of the juvenile literature area in the library, I found the story. When I opened to the the table of contents of British Folk Tales by Kevin Crossley-Holland, there on page 331 was "The Baker's Daughter". One of the "good people" (I assume this means a fairy) masquerades as a beggar woman and goes to a baker's shop who is a known miser. His daughter is even worse. She sneers at the poor and is a sycophant to the rich. Three times the disguised woman begs for just a small piece of dough, and each time the daughter puts a smaller and smaller crumb of dough in the oven. But the smaller the crumb is the bigger the loaf becomes as it bakes in the oven. The daughter refuses each time to give the large loaf to the woman. The third and last time this happens, the daughter is so dumb-founded that all she can say is "who... who..." So the woman says that "whoo-whoo" is all the girl will ever say again and turns her into an owl as punishment for her treatment of the poor.

What this story is doing in the middle of Hamlet I haven't fully figured out yet, but I have some ideas. I think one day I'll have to write a paper exploring it further.

The driving inspiration for my book is my love of fantasy and fairy tales. Sure, I love the traditional and looking back at historical inspirations for the tales, but I also love when people take liberties with those traditions. From the Stinky Cheese Man to Ella Enchanted, I like them all. So when I saw that the BBC was starting a new series taking the Camelot myth to before Arthur was king I was intrigued. And then after watching the first series I fell in love. And now there is only just over a day left until the second series starts. Patience has never been one of my better virtues, especially not with completely awesome trailers like this one. The squees I made were uncharacteristically deafening. So the question I have been asking all week: is it Saturday yet?

So I know that I want to write and illustrate a children's book. I've got the plot outlined and I can draw the characters in my sleep. So what do I do next?

First: See what other authors are writing. It's been a while since I've read different children's books, and I need to get a feel for the language again. I can't exactly be writing like Austen and then expect children to pick it up. I have a list of the best of books for children from a senior editor at Arthur A. Levine Books. Now I need to go to the library, check them out, and see what I can take from each and apply towards my own work. I'll record all that here.

Second: Write it out and get the illustrations finished. Easier said than done. The writing shouldn't be too difficult. I've got the plot all set already, and the research of other authors will help me develop my voice. The illustrating is the hard part. Sure I can draw the characters blindfolded, but to set them in a scene? Plus I need to work out what colours will work, which medium to use, and then pray it all looks good.

Third: Send it to a publisher. I know who I want to send it to first. There's the issue of learning how to write a query letter to send with the manuscript, but I'll worry about that later. I have to finish the darn book first!