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Le Week-end (2013) Storytelling Notes
Le Week-end is a comedy, drama, romance, but not a rom-com — unlike the bulk of romantic/comedy blends this is about a couple on their 30th wedding anniversary, attempting to fall in love with each other again. The promotional material shows the characters laughing, but this is not representative of the mood, which is heavy. The…
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Teachers In Children’s Literature
Teachers in children’s stories can be mentors, opponents, fake opponents, or very much background characters. In young adult literature, teachers can (problematically) be love opponents. Why is it that English, drama and music teachers are most often recalled as our mentors and inspirations? Maybe because artists are rarely members of the popular crowd. Roger Ebert…
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Storytelling Tips From Anne Of Green Gables
Revisiting Anne Of Green Gables as an adult reader, several things stick out: Listen to Anne of Green Gables for free at Librivox THE INFLUENCE OF CINDERELLA In real life, the character of Anne Shirley would be a lifelong social workers’ project. Her parents died of ‘the fever’ when she was an infant and since…
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The Shadow Of Courage, Courage The Cowardly Dog
At first I wondered if the title “The Shadow Of Courage” were a riff on The Red Badge Of Courage but no — apart from the grammatical structure and perhaps some of the themes (of bravery vs cowardice) this plot line borrows little from the classic American novel. Shadows who disentangle themselves from their bodies…
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Garth Pig And The Ice Cream Lady By Mary Rayner
Garth Pig and the Ice Cream Lady is a British picture book written and illustrated by Mary Rayner in 1977. The story is part fairytale, part 1977 modernity. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mary Rayner was born in 1933 in Mandalay, Burma of British parents. She was 8 years old when Japanese troops invaded Burma. Her mother…
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Gender Inversion As Gags In Children’s Stories
There’s this gag in many humorous children’s stories which almost everyone else finds hilarious and I find really troublesome. It’s when a male character dresses as a female character. This gender inversion in itself is meant to be funny. But why?
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Jack And The Beanstalk History and Symbolism
Jack and the Beanstalk is also known as Jack The Giant Killer, which kind of ruins the ending, so no wonder they changed it. WHERE TO HEAR “JACK AND THE BEANSTALK” READ ALOUD If you’d like to hear “Jack and the Beanstalk” read aloud, I recommend the retellings by Parcast’s Tales podcast series. (They have…
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Bluebeard Fairy Tale Analysis
“Bluebeard” is a classic fairytale — the O.G. tale of domestic violence. Any story in which a fearsome husband murders his young wife is probably a “Bluebeard” descendent. The husband in this tale is monstrous, and related to the archetype of the ogre. If you’d like to listen to the tale, I recommend the (free)…
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The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tale Analysis
Always remember that the crowd which applauds your coronation is the same crowd that will applaud your beheading. People like a show. Going Postal, Terry Pratchett If you’re here because you’ve been assigned to write an essay on emperors, be sure to double check which emperor you’re meant to be writing about. A BRIEF HISTORY…
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Absent Parents In Children’s Literature
One job for children’s authors is to get adults out of the way so child characters can solve their own problems. “There are an awful lot of books about ‘I love you mummy’. ‘Yes, I love you, too, darling little bear!’ I’m not saying there’s not a place for those, but there’s so many books…
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The Role Of The Chimera In Storytelling
Before modern science took hold, when humans were still trying to classify everything we saw around us, people really did believe in the chimera. Take the example of the Scoter duck. No one could decide whether this bird was a bird or a fish. he Abbe of Vallemont even took it out of the bird…
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The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield Short Story Analysis
In March 1907 Katherine Mansfield’s mother, Annie Beauchamp, held a garden party at their residence, 75 Tinakori Road. On the same day, a poverty-stricken neighbour was killed in a street accident. Later, KM wrote a story about it.
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Doppelgangers, Twins and Changelings In Fiction
A doppelganger is an apparition or double of a living person. It comes from German, and translates literally from ‘double walker’.
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The Symbolism Of Altitude: Clifftops, Mountains and Roofs
Hills and valleys, cliffs, mountains — altitude in story is highly symbolic. When creating a story, remember to vary the altitude as much as you’d vary any other setting.