Monsters

At last week’s family storytime I read stories about monsters. All the best Halloween books were checked out, but there are a ton of monster stories out there.

Some of the stories chosen for storytime were: Monster Goose by Judy Sierra, Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems, Harry and the Terrible Whatzit by Dick Gackenbach, Shrek by William Steig, Dexter Bexley and the Big Blue Beastie by Joel Stewart, Dogzilla by Dav Pilkey and There’s a Nightmare in my Closet by Mercer Mayer.

One thing I noticed over and over again in these books, and some others that I didn’t use for storytime was the theme of monsters turning out to be not so bad after all. In story after story a monster, who stands for all those scary things that we are afraid of, turns out to just be lonely and in need of a good friend. The monster is suddenly seen to be something that isn’t scary at all.

I realize that these are picture stories and intended for an audience who needs to be reassured about their fears in a simple and entertaining way. Still, as an adult reader of picture books I am always seeing lessons in them that could be applied to those of us with a little bit more life experience under our belt.

Maybe it’s time we got a little bit better acquainted with our fears and insecurities. Whether it’s a phobia about spiders or the stress and anxiety of keeping current with monthly expenses, it’s possible we might find that our monsters aren’t so terrible after all. If we got to know our monsters a little bit better, could they even turn out to be our friends like so many of the monsters from picture books?

Do you have a favorite writing quote?

“If there’s a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” – Toni Morrison

In response to my last post Christina noted how her search for a door to Narnia led her to start writing. That reminded me of the above Toni Morrison quote.

Sometimes I feel lost. I don’t know what I should be writing. It’s not an absence of ideas, but too many of them swirling around in my cluttered head. I find myself thinking that I should work on the book that would seem most likely to sell, but then I recall this Toni Morrison quote, and am reminded of the fact that the book I need to write is the book that I would be most inclined to read.

There’s a much repeated adage that writers should write what they know. I have issues with this adage, because there are a lot of things that writers simply can’t know. There’s a lot of stuff that you have to make up along the way. I think a better adage might be to write the book you want to write, or as Toni Morrison points out the book you would want to read.

What about you do you have any favorite writing quotes?

Have you ever wanted to go into a book?

I just finished reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman. I think I was two thirds of the way through this book before I realized what it was really about, and not until the very end did I realize that the book is brilliant. Described by some as Harry Potter for grown-ups, The Magicians is more of a book that takes a look at the world of fantasy literature from an adult perspective, which is not the same thing as Harry Potter for grown-ups.

Anyone who has ever fallen in love with a novel has probably wished, at least for a little while that they could have escaped into the world depicted there. The protagonist of The Magicians actually gets to live out this fantasy, only to find that it is not the wonderful experience he expected.

This actually made me think of Mr. Popper’s Penguins, the classic children’s novel by Richard Atwater. My third grade teacher read this novel aloud to my class. I don’t know what it was about this book that struck us, but my friend and I spent many an hour in her basement pretending to be penguins, creating elaborate obstacle type courses as we practiced our penguin stunts, all in an effort to bring the world of the novel to life.

Since that time, I have read many a book whose fictional world I have longed to escape into. Who hasn’t wished to spend a year or two at Hogwarts? Who hasn’t wanted to explore the curious world of Wonderland? There’s been more than one spaceship that I’ve wished I could ride as it explored the vastness of outer space. Like the characters in Shannon Hale’s Austenland, there are plenty of folks who have longed to experience one of the greatest love stories of all time.

So, if you could pick a book (or two) to escape into what would it be?

No Internet Access? Am I Trapped in a Horror Movie?

It’s always been a dream of mine to live in a little log cabin in the woods, and while I am pretty sure I would be fine doing without most modern conveniences, I don’t know how well I would do without access to the internet.

Once again this week (this is after a couple of weeks ago when internet service was down for nearly a week at home) I found myself without access to the internet. As it turned out this time around, the problem was on my end, but until I figured this out and figured out how to fix it, it was very frustrating. Besides all the ways we have come to rely on the internet for keeping in touch with friends and family as well as keeping up with what is going on in the world. I actually use the computer at home for actual work, my day job being one that doesn’t involve commuting to an office.

For the 24 hours or so, that I was internet-less this week, I felt like I was trapped in some sort of nightmare. How was I supposed to do everything I needed to get done? How long would this situation last? (That week without internet was still fresh in my mind.) In the end the only result was that I ended up wasting a lot of time trying to figure out what was wrong, tearing some hair out in the process. Everything got done, eventually, and I survived, but I have amended my log cabin dream: wonderful, reliable internet access is a must.

Although, geared towards cell phone service, here’s a great horror movie montage that shows how modern film makers have gotten around a pesky little problem known as technology. This comes courtesy of the funny folks at CollegeHumor.com, but I found it courtesy of the always informative Scott Meyers at GoIntotheStory.com