Reading Cinderella to my son

AuthorAppleton on January 25, 2016

There are so many wonderful ways to create timeless memories with the people we love and care for. I was recently reminded of this one Sunday night after work. Typically I get home, eat one of my wife’s delicious dinners (she is a good cook) and then we let the kids watch an episode of an old show before getting them to bed. But, desiring to make more valuable use of our time this evening, I dug through my library for an antique edition of Mother Goose printed in 1901.

I do love old books. The tales you find in there are truer to their original form instead of edited for modern readers. Modernizations tend to simplify the fairy tales and also the prose to such an extent that they do not stimulate greater intelligence in children. They are not “dumbed down” for young readers. I am often reminded that some of the most famous of historical figures actually learned to read from the Bible. Can you imagine a child nowadays tackling even half of the Bible before they reach ten years of age? Sadly, I don’t know of any.

The first story in the Mother Goose book surprised me, for it was the tale of Cinderella. It varied slightly from the versions I have seen previously. Most notably, in this version Cinderella wholeheartedly forgave her stepsisters. She forgave them fully, not just in word but by her deeds as well. Cinderella brought them to live at the palace after she and the prince had been married, and she arranged for each of them to marry affluent men in the kingdom.

At first, when I saw the first story in this little book was Cinderella, I glanced down at my son and thought perhaps I’d skip it for the next one. Find one more suitable to a man. But I thought better of it.

Children need stories of princes and princesses. Classic tales told in a traditional manner reinforce family values, instilling in them codes of conduct and virtue that strengthen them in life. Cinderella’s story shows my son what kind of a woman to admire and what virtues to look for in his future wife. There is wisdom to be gleaned from these old fairytales. Wisdom that is often neglected and forgotten in the modernization of story that we often see today.

Q: Do you make a point of sitting down to read to your children?

How nameless characters enhance story

AuthorAppleton on January 18, 2016

Nameless characters. They may seem useless to the writer and to the reader but in many respects they are key to enhancing a great fiction story. Consider how many nameless characters populate the books you read and the movies you watch. Nameless characters play well into plot development and world building.

When I am writing a story I take into consideration the environment I am throwing my main characters into. What are the sights, the sounds, the smells. I want to engage the senses so that the reader experiences the story in a profound way. But a great part of creating the environment is the establishment of nameless characters.

Let’s use the example of John, a character who is feeling lost. If you want to convey that John is starting to feel panicky you could throw in a nameless character. Crowds are milling about, heading down the busy sidewalks. Someone bumps into John. He reaches down and finds his wallet is now missing. He franticly searches the sea of faces for the pickpocket but instead his gaze is arrested by a pretty face. She stands a short distance off, smiles, then disappears in the throng moving around him. Someone steps on his foot, mutters an apology, and several other people jostle him. A pistol presses against his back.

In this short example the only characters able to affect John are nameless ones. The advantage of this is that the reader now does not feel the need to know these other characters. Instead they want to know how John is going to react to these nameless characters and the situation in general. The nameless characters have revealed a deeper level to the story and left the mind imagining what could be the motives and purposes of these nameless characters. All the while, John remains the focus.

Nameless characters add mystery and, when written well, they will enhance the traits of the main characters by causing them to react to different circumstances. While it is true that you can effect much of the same with named characters, nameless characters provide less distraction to the reader, thus allowing more focus on moments of suspense and interior dilemma.

A story is incomplete without nameless characters. In my novels I greatly enjoy creating background characters who are not assigned names. Why? Because later I can return to those characters, perhaps fleshing out their own unique stories for later projects. For example, when writing a series of fantasy novels a nameless character might be the bartender or the stable hand. Later in the series I can revisit the character, assign them a name, give them a more significant part in the series’ plot, and reference back to that moment in the story when they were nameless. To the reader it seems as if the author knew all of these facts about the nameless character all along. But truly it is often not the case.

The author might make reference to how the story’s hero/heroine glimpsed something happening to a common soldier during a battle. Then at a later point you reference back to that and make a new and insignificant background character come to life by relationally tying them to the original nameless character. Their deed then matters to the reader on an emotional level.

As you see, there are many uses for nameless characters in fiction.

Q: What sorts of nameless characters to you find interesting in fiction?

 

 

How you can fail as a writer

AuthorAppleton on January 11, 2016

It’s a straightforward dilemma. If you dream of writing the kind of stories you love then one day you hope to share those stories with the world. You will focus on the things that matter, like good grammar and stronger sentence structure. You will face the demons of self-doubt, and you believe you will emerge victorious because you have prepared for this battle. But equally important for you to understand is how not to succeed as a writer.

If you want to succeed at something you must also recognize what things you need to avoid in order to succeed. We learn best by example, so let me tell you about Tommy Hopeful, a (fictional) writer who followed the path to writing failure.

Tommy was born to be a writer! He told stories to his siblings out of the crib. He read extensively, studied hard, and hoped one day to emulate his favorite authors. Yes, Tommy always wanted to be a writer. He jotted down story ideas that interested and excited him. His notebooks burst at the seams and he found he had to buy boxes of rubber bands to secure the well-used notebooks. Ah! Tommy had a veritable library of ideas, some partially constructed on paper, others fully written out.

At last, Tommy submitted his work to a literary agent. This was the moment he had waited for, he felt sure. Now a professional would see and believe in him. He didn’t dream of big money, lavish vacations, or any such frivolity. Tommy dreamed of seeing his book on Grandma’s shelf. It didn’t have to be fancy. It was his. He waited for ten months before the letter came, and with eager anticipation he cut open the envelope to read the letter within. Surely it would be handwritten, or personally notated.

Tommy’s first rejection letter was as generic as they come. He felt disappointed, yet not disillusioned. Well, that is, not until three years later when he added another generic rejection letter to the pile. He stopped writing as the discouragement settled in. He was a young man now and everyone around who cared about him told him it was time for him to put his energies into something that would pay his bills. It was time for him to stop disillusioning himself. The world awaited.

Tommy turned his passion into his hobby. He shared his stories with a handful of polite friends, he settled into that steady job, bought a house and began raising a family. Before he knew it the years had gone by, leaving him with gray hair. His children had moved on, much of his family had deceased. Tommy looked around him and realized that he had left nothing of import to the world, that is with the exception of his children. But he realized that the rest of the world would never know him. They would not remember his existence, except for the gravestone. But what epitaph would there be on his stone? What had he done so that a few hundred years from now he was still blessing the world.

Tommy let the demon of discouragement destroy his immortality. If he had wanted, he could have taken the bull by the horns. He could have picked himself up out of the dirt. Instead he allowed discouragement to govern his responses to the world around him.

Acknowledge discouragement but do not let it govern your choices.

Q: How do you react to discouragement?

Balancing fatherhood and writing

AuthorAppleton on January 4, 2016

It is not always easy for me to admit the areas of the writing life that I find difficult. But one such area is a direct result of being the father of four wonderful yet energetic kids. These little ones are precious to me and they are a heavy responsibility. God has entrusted them to my care, leaving me without excuse to be with them through the good times and the bad. But though juggling fatherhood and writing is not easy, its blessings outweigh its challenges.

My dad worked two to three jobs throughout my growing up years. He worked hard and even though I could tell that he was often worn out, he still kept his arms open and the spirit of a child in his heart. He loved his children (he still does). Nothing seemed to be more important to him than our dreams, our education and our Christian upbringing. In the midst of all his work I always saw that struggle between his love for his family and his hearty work ethic.

Today, I attribute much of my balance of family and work to my father’s legacy. There is no greater gift that a father can give than to set an example for his children to follow of a hard-working attitude.

Before I was married I filled my “free” time with writing. Soon my wife and I had our first child. He has been a great blessing, but I must admit that being a writer in conjunction with children, especially when they are restless or sick, limits my creative time a lot more than I realized it would. One of my youngest has been restless the last few nights, so my routine has been practically non-existent. I work my day job, get home some time in the evening, then tuck the kids in bed after watching an old show with them. Normally I like to work on writing after everyone is in bed, but sick kids and restless kids change that.

Remarkably I think I am getting better at juggling the two. After all, the challenge is making the time and continually reminding yourself that you are doing this to provide for your family.

So for now I accept this stage of life as a means of maturing as a man, learning more about humanity, developing greater patience, and in all of these things I find that I continue to improve as a writer. The key is to write in the moments, being willing to sacrifice sleep where needed in order to get the writing done. And that is certainly the greatest challenge: getting the writing done. It is easy to put it off instead of sitting down and pouring out the writer’s soul.

Through this more challenging period of life we writers can grow into better storytellers. The children only add to our growth and our imagination. I find that my children are growing quickly their imaginations. And their creativity is feeding me with fresh writing material every day.

Q: Do you know writers who are young parents, or are you one yourself?