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Dragons In Children’s Literature
Dragons have always evoked a mixture of fear and attraction. They’re everywhere in The Bestiaries. Folkloric dragons always talk. They are semi-human and have wily intelligence. Sometimes they’re regal, sometimes cowardly.
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Domestic Dramas In Children’s Literature
While adventure stories were originally written for boys, domestic dramas were written for girls. DOMESTIC DRAMAS AND PLOT SHAPES Adventure stories are linear. The hero starts the story by leaving. He often finds himself in a new home after completing his journey. This is a linear plot. In contrast, domestic dramas are circular. Domestic stories are home-away-home stories, with…
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The Difference Between Folklore and Fable
Folklore refers to the traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth. No one knows the origins of folklore. Fables are parables which star non-humans (animals). Contemporary speakers rarely make this distinction. Mostly nowadays ‘fable’ is sometimes used instead of ‘parable’. Commentators know the lines have blurred and will…
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A Brief History Of Horse Stories
Horses and horse-like supernatural creatures go way back in folklore. They don’t get much of a mention in Grimm’s fairytales, but I’m guessing that’s only because horses were simply assumed. Mentioning horses would be like us pointing out all the cars. The water-horse or kelpie was a creature from English folklore. This horse was a…
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Broadchurch Pilot Episode TV Writing
Broadchurch is a TV murder mystery in which a village is a miniature for society. As one reviewer points out, “the death which happens at the beginning incites all sorts of unexpected human behaviour, with repercussions all around the town. Initially the show seems to be making the banal point that the residents of this…
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An Affair Of The Heart by Frank Sargeson Analysis
“An Affair Of The Heart” is one of New Zealand author Frank Sargeson’s best-known short stories. Was Sargeson essentially misogynist? Frankly, I think not as there are positive women characters in some of his stories – including the wrenchingly sad one in An Affair of the Heart. But women-as-controlling-bitches is one recurrent motif. Review by…
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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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Character Looks Into A Mirror Introduction
Before mirrors were invented, the earliest type of “mirror” used was nature – reflections in ponds, lakes and rivers when waters were calm enough to reveal a flat surface. But even then, we had never truly “seen” ourselves and, because of this, we had a very different concept of who we were. In his book Millennium: From Religion…
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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 Magic Porridge Pot And Famine
The Magic Porridge Pot is also known as Sweet Porridge and goes by various similar titles. This is a fairytale borne of famine.
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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.
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The Woodland Idyll In Art And Illustration
Pookie (1946) was my mother’s favourite series of picturebooks when she was very young, and she has a hardback copy held together with yellowed sticky tape. This one before me is a much later version, which has come out since in soft cover. I wonder if fairies will make a true comeback. The illustrations in…
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Menstruation In Fiction
Menstruation is depicted rarely in fiction. Perhaps you are rattling off half a dozen stories which feature menstruation right now, hoping to prove me wrong. But when you consider the impact of menstruation on lives, and how frequently it occurs, menstruation is heavily underrepresented across storytelling. We need more of it. People going through female…
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Symbolic Names In Storytelling
Generally speaking, a lot of thought goes into choosing character names. Sometimes a name is chosen because it is appropriate to the age of the character, culture and era. Sometimes the name is aesthetically pleasing. Sometimes the name is symbolic.