Just received copies of the December HIGHLIGHTS with my story "Why Bears Sleep All Winter: A Tale from Lapland."
LAPLAND?
No, I have no ancestral family stories from Lapland. I found this charming story in a tattered second hand volume of Scandinavian folktales published decades ago. The moral of my discovery (ditto the folktale) is to do good works. I was volunteering at a church book sale when I pulled the volume from a dusty donation box.
I've always loved the how or why (pourquoi) stories. One of my favorites is the old African-American one called "Why Dogs Hate Cats." The story begins with dog and cat best of friends until the day they go to town and buy a big ham. On the hot, dusty road going home, they take turns carrying their prize dinner. When dog carries the ham, he always chants, "Our ham, our ham," but when cat carries the ham he always chants, "My ham, my ham." Well, you can see it coming - not far from home cat scrambles up a tree with the ham and eats it all. Dog declares, "I can't get you now, but when you come down out of that tree, I'm going to chase you 'til you drop."
What's your favorite folktale?
My retold English folktale "Five Foolish Brothers" appears in the August issue of HIGHLIGHTS.
I enjoyed finding a new way to portray the problems of these thickheaded siblings. Love those noodlehead stories! No wonder they've lasted for centuries.
"Do not moralize."
"Do not try to teach a lesson."
For years, writers for children have heard this advice. And yet, some of the popular classics for the youngest audience moralize - THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT, THE POKY LITTLE PUPPY, or THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD. Ouch! That moralizing is painfully overt.
For the last year, I've been fascinated by researching and retelling folktales. What about the morals in folktales? They can be in-your-face like that little engine chugging over the mountain, or they can be more complex. Consider two pourquoi stories with very different explanations of why bears hibernate.
The American folktale paints the bear as a mean, loud mouth bully. Sick of the bear, one fall night the animals of the forest wait for it to climb into a hollow tree stump and fall asleep. They stuff the stump's opening with tree branches and rocks to keep it dark inside and rejoice because they're rid of the bossy bear. In spring, the animals wonder if the bear is still alive. When they remove the tree branches and rocks, sunlight wakes the bear. Now it gets complicated because the bear announces his long sleep pleased him; it's the most comfortable winter he's ever had. Are we to believe him, or is he saying that, as a bully might, to save face?
So the bully bear gets months of time out for anti-social behavior, but he says he's happy. What's the underlying moral if we believe the bear? Revenge doesn't pay? And if we don't believe the bear, or leave out the bear's dialogue in the retelling, what then? Bullies get what they deserve?
The other folktale is from Lapland. In this story, a helpful bear performs a kind deed and as a reward Ukko the Thunder God grants the bear the gift of winter sleep. Bears will no longer need to worry about searching the frozen tundra for food during the long winter. This is an uncomplicated story. The kind bear is rewarded for thoughtful behavior. The underlying moral is simple. Straightforward.
I sold the retold tale from Lapland to Highlights.
But I'm still figuring out how to retell the other story. There is something super satisfying about playing a trick on a bully, but how do I deal with that bear?
Last year I submitted one of my retold noodlehead folktales to an editor at a magazine I've been published in before. I've had good luck with my retellings of stories about fools - young readers love to say, "I know better than that!"
The editor, who was about to retire, sent back a cordial note saying it was "a funny idea," but the plot lost suspense early on because the reader could guess this fool would never find the possessions he was looking for. She also couldn't believe the fool could be SO clueless he wouldn't recognize his lost property when he saw it. She offered to have me resubmit.
I set about revising the plot to fix the suspense problem. When I resubmitted to a different editor, I got back a nice note saying she found the story "interesting . . . but a bit depressing." The fool in this revision still searched all day for his missing property and never found it, and I had belabored his long walks in the hot sun. As often happens in revising, you fix one thing and ruin another. I hadn't paid attention to the tone of the story. The light, foolish touch had disappeared and at the end the fool is resigned to his loss, which leaves the reader feeling gloomy. The editor was right. It was a downer. I e-mailed and asked whether she would be willing to see a revision. Lucky for me, she said yes.
In my second revision, I carefully balanced plot and tone - the fool still faces some hardship searching for the lost property he never finds - but I shortened and lightened the descriptions. Most importantly, the ending now has a humorous twist. The fool, rather than being resigned to his loss, is hopeful. He has a plan to solve his problem. This plan elicits smiles, for even the youngest reader will see his foolish plan won't work.
And how does this blog tale end? I sold the story and have renewed respect for the tricky mechanics of revision. Now that's not foolish!
Last month, on Friday, May 15th, J.L. posted an interview with Kristen Kemp in which she said one of the biggest reasons writers fail is they don't finish what they start.
But is every project worth finishing?
Last week I wrote a retelling of the old tale about a father, his son, and their donkey traveling down a hot, dusty road. When the father is riding the donkey and his son is walking, a passerby says the little boy should be riding, not walking. So they switch places.
The next passerby says it's a disgrace the young boy is riding and the old father is walking. Now they don't know what to do, so they both walk.
The third passerby calls them fools for walking down that hot, dusty road instead of riding on the donkey.
The point of the story? You can't please everyone, or each person looks at a situation differently. But aren't these adult concepts? Would they have meaning in an easy-to-read story for children? I doubt it. I should have thought longer before beginning to write. The donkey story may be finished, but I think the hee-haw is on me.
As "Mommy" to a just turned two year old, I have spent a lot of time recently celebrating milestones. First smile and first laugh. First words and first steps.
But toddlers aren't the only ones who reach milestones.
Recently I received a wonderful letter in the mail from Highlights. One of the three poems they accepted from me will be published in their upcoming December issue.
That's when I realized that writers reach milestones too!
Just like my son went from helpless infant to walking, talking (and ever so independent) toddler, I went from no writing credits to my beautiful first acceptance from Wee Ones. Other small and online publications followed.
Then Cobblestone accepted a query. Finally something I wrote would be in a national publication in the library. And now Highlights is actually going to publish one of my poems.
Looking back at each of these milestones, I realize how many similarities there are between my journey and my toddler's. With my toddler, each milestone is the cause for great celebration. So it is with my writing. (I'm sure that, no matter where you live, you could hear my screams when Cobblestone accepted that query and when Highlights accepted those three poems!)
But even though I remind myself that "writing (just like childhood) is a journey and not a race", the time in between milestones can be long and stressful. Would I ever get a poem accepted? Would I ever be published in a national magazine? Those questions have now been answered with a yes, but, at the time, I was anything but sure.
And then there's the biggest milestone still on the horizon: Will I ever get a book accepted by a publisher?
But somehow, just like I believed my little boy would take those first steps, I believe that first book contract will come. It's just a bit hard to keep the faith some time. Don't you think? How do you do it?
In my experience, a majority of pre-published writers yearn to produce a book. No surprise! Writing conferences, blogs, and professional journals are mostly aimed at book publication. In a dozen years of attending regional and national SCBWI conferences, I only remember one with workshops for the magazine writer. But consider the upside of writing for magazines.
You don't need an agent to submit.
Most magazine pieces are short and less complex to write than a picture book.
Using a different slant, you can reuse research or fiction ideas.
You might see your name in print without waiting four years.
Often a wide audience sees your work.
You don't have to do a lot of promotion.
You don't get wacky reviews in professional journals.
Your magazine piece could earn additional money through reprint rights.
There are magazine contests and prizes to be won.
And now the downside of writing for magazines:
Rejection letters - a reality of the writing life anyway.
Your check per piece won't be as large as a book advance.
Friends, family and writing colleagues are more impressed by a book.
Your moment of glory only lasts for a month.
Magazine pieces? A book? I made my choice twelve years ago when I started writing. I tried both. My quiet picture book probably would not be published in today's market. I welcome writing for magazines. It keeps my mind limber while inspiration for the next book germinates.
I rest my case. Magazines anyone?
Our blog is aptly named. As writers, there are so many days when it seems like all we do is wait. And, of course, the daily mail is the subject of much anticipation. So when something good shows up in my mailbox, it’s definitely a cause for celebration.
Hurray! Today was such a day.
My two contributor’s copies of Appleseed’s Animation issue arrived in the mail.
My article, “From Triceratops to the Mars Rovers: Surprising Uses of Animation” is on pages 21-23, and it looks so cool with all the fun photos and illustrations they included.
Yep! With all the tough parts that come with being a writer, it’s so important to celebrate the good ones together.
Please let me know the next time I can celebrate with you!
