Z is for Zathura

Zathura is story by Chris Van Allsburg that is a follow up to his story Jumanji.  Both were made into hugely successful movies, along with another one of his books, The Polar Express.

The story revolves around brothers Walter and Danny Budwing who find the abandoned Jumanji game in a park.  Upon opening the box it's discovered that a second game, Zathura, is hidden in the bottom of the box.  With a roll of the dice the game begins and the brothers find themselves stuck in a game that won't end until one of them wins.

Van Allsburg is a wonderful story teller, whose stories are made all the more amazing by his illustrations.  If you have a budding writer in your life, look into his book The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.  Each page is a gorgeous illustration with a simple caption, just begging for you to write a story to accompany it.

O is for Once Upon A Time...

Isn't it interesting that almost all fairy tales start out his way? "Once upon a time..." and from there the story starts.  With just those 4 little words you know you're in for an exciting tale, and yet you don't know what tale it will be.  Are you about to hear the story of Snow White?  or Hansel and Gretel?  The Frog Prince?


All this thinking on novels and fairy tales and labyrinths in previous posts have started some creative musings.  Then today I read an article about a Hollywood resurgence in fairy tales and the plethora of movies we'll be seeing in the coming years.  Not your ordinary run of the mill fairy tales, but re-imagined ones.  Granted they're the same old tales, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, and surprisingly The Wizard of Oz.  They've taken the characters and put a new spin on the story.

While many people think this is a very bad idea (who messes with a classic?!) one should bear in mind that it's been done before.  Quite successfully too.  Gregory Maquire re-imagined The Wizard of Oz  to produce Wicked and look at how well that turned out?  He's worked on other tales too, like Cinderella and Snow White.

       

So I'm thinking, wouldn't it be neat to redo a fairy tale?  I would think it a bit easier than writing an entirely original book...you already know the characters and have a basic plot outlined.  It could be a nice little side project to tackle when writer's block is keeping you from other writings.  I for one would love to write a story where elements of all the tales converge, or perhaps have a character that comes in contact with all those characters at some point.  And of course it will have to begin with "Once upon a time..."

N is for Novel

Ah...the great American novel.  It's what every writer aspires to produce...unless they're not American, then I suppose they hope to write the great "insert country here" novel.  Like many other budding writers, I spent the past November frantically writing for NaNoWriMo, with the dream of a 50k word novel that would be (quite obviously of course) the next number one best seller.

Needless to say that dream was dashed when my 50K+ word novel was accidentally lost (curse you computer virus!) and my back up misplaced (why are memory sticks so small?!?!?!)  So as I've been mourning my shot at fame, fortune, and movie deals, I've also been contemplating what exactly makes a novel.

Staring at my shelves full of books, I realized that if someone asked to borrow a novel, there are truly a select few that I would consider suggesting.  I decided perhaps my definition of a novel was skewed, until I realized that I don't really have a definition for a novel...I just kinda eyeball it.  So I went to the internet to search for the true meaning of what a novel is, because the internet never lies. Ever.

nov·el /ˈnɒvəl/ Show Spelled[nov-uhl] –noun  

1. a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length and complexity, portraying characters and usually presenting asequential organization of action and scenes. 

Upon  reading this I became aware of two things. 

1. Thanks to all those years of schooling, I was correct; novel is indeed a noun. 
2. I must have skipped that day in class when they discussed "prose".  The word conjured up images of Edgar Allen Poe, and I'm fairly certain he did not write a novel...unless he did indeed write a novel, in which case I am totally awesome for remembering that. 

prose /proʊz/ Show Spelled [prohz]  –noun 

1. the ordinary form of spoken or written language, without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse.

 Uh-huh...so...I suppose anything is a novel then.  But I know this can't be true, so I dig around some more and discover that I am not the only one that does not know what a novel is.  A lot of people online seem to think a novel is any book that is over 200 pages and is fun to read.  Wow... if that's all it takes to make a novel, I have a few history books that fit the bill.  So I kept wading through opinions on what makes a novel until I found one that kinda made sense:

"All novels are books, but not all books are novels. Equally, all novels are fiction, but not all fiction is novels. Novels are the longest of the classes of fiction. The other two are 'short story' and novella. A short story is what is says - a short story. Usually published in a magazine, but may be part of a collection of short stories. A novella is harder to define. It's longer than a short story, but shorter than a novel. A long novella may be published as a slim book on its own, or it may get padded with one or more short stories."

Ah.  I think I'm beginning to understand it now.  Then I stumbled upon a nifty little piece that broke up books by word count.

So now that I have all this knowledge, the number of "novels" on my shelves should have increased in my mind...right?  And yet, there are some books that I just can't give that title to.  Look at romance novels. Sure, I own more of those than any other type of book, I even call them novels, but in my head they aren't.  In my head they're labeled as "trashy guilty pleasure books".  If I asked you for a novel and you handed me one of those I'd think you didn't quite understand my request.

So I've decided on my definition of a novel.  In my mind, most novels are hardback (they seem classier that way lol), they're long, have an elegant writing style, and have such a great plot that even the clues dropped that you think you would pick up on, you don't. Not until the authors big reveal.  A novel is fresh and intriguing and keeps you guessing until the final page.  That, to me, is what makes a novel a novel. 

So here's my favorite novel so far.  The Thirteenth Tale.  It's the one I would suggest if asked.  It meets all my criteria and fits all the other definitions too.  If that's not enough to tempt you, the cover art is pretty freakin awesome...and come on.  Who doesn't judge a book by its cover?  Even a novel?

 

M is for Mercedes Lackey

Mercedes Lackey is a fantasy writer that I just adore.  I was introduced to her quite randomly one
day when I received The Serpent's Shadow in a box of free books.  At the time, fantasy was not really my thing.  I had read so many through middle and high school that I had begun to think myself a little too old to be caught up in such books.

It was the cover that drew me in.  It was so unlike any other book I had seen at the time.  I read it and fell in love.  This was one of the best fantasy books I had ever read, I was sure of it.  Not only was it a tale of magic and wizards fighting in Edwardian London, but it was a very cleverly disguised retelling of Snow White.

A new take on an old fairy tale brought me back to the world of fantasy, or to be more precise, the world of Mercedes Lackey.

I began to search for more of her books, hoping to find more fairy tale wonders to read.  I would not be disappointed.  I found The Gates of Sleep, a Sleeping Beauty retelling set in Victorian England. Then The Fire Rose, Beauty and the Beast set in 1905 San Fransisco. Phoenix and Ashes, Cinderella set during World War I in England.  The Wizard of London, The Snow Queen, again in Victorian London.  Reserved for the Cat, Puss in Boots, set in England.  And lastly The Black Swan, Swan Lake, Medieval period.

Now none of these books are exact retellings...if you know the fairytale you'll have no problem picking out their elements in her story.  They're kind of like re-imagined tales for grown ups.  At the moment I believe these are all of her fairy tale based books, although she has a whole slew of other fantasy books to read if you find you like her style.  There is a new one, Unnatural Issue, based on the fairy tale The King Who Wished to Marry His Daughter that comes out in June that I can't wait to get a hold of.

                                                    

L is for Labyrinth

...and for being late. I had finally caught up and thought I was doing well!

Labyrinth is a Jim Henson movie starring David Bowie and some random girl that every fan girl wishes she could be. Why? David Bowie, for one.  The first time I watched this movie I had a serious WTH? moment...it pretty much lasted throughout the whole movie.  I put it away near the back of my movie collection and forgot about it.

Fast forward a few years and I come across this book at the bookstore, The Goblins of Labyrinth, by Brian Froud.  It looked eerily familiar.  Browsing though the book I fell in love with the Labyrinth for the first time.

When I got home that night I googled the Labyrinth and spent the next few hours reading reviews, browsing fan art, and discovering the joy of fan fiction.

Fan fiction is amazing.  It's like finding that perfect story and after lamenting the fact that it's over you discover that it was only book one in a series of thousands.  It's a story lover's dream come true.

Now not all fan fiction is awesome.  Some of it will make you cringe and wonder how much the monkey with the typewriter got paid to pound this particular story out. But sometimes...sometimes you get a real gem.

If you're not already familiar with the Labyrinth, I would suggest you watch the movie first, or head on over here to read the novelization.  The book is long out of print, and what few copies do come available are quickly snatched (I saw one bidded up to nearly $300) so don't feel too bad reading this free copy.

Then head on over to fanfiction.net (movies > Labyrinth) to see the wonderful continuing stories of the Labyrinth.

Some fan fics that I love:   

My Fine Feathered Friend

(also known as the best fan fic ever!!!!)

Candies and Pumpkins

Within You

The Tshirt Incident

The Tshirt incident: Retaliation & Escalation 

Of Pineapples and Kings 

 And the beginnings of my own late to be updated Labyrinth fanfics:

http://www.fanfiction.net/~simply01