Isaac Newton said that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Which is probably why, after blogging (nearly) every day for one month, I took the subsequent months year off.
My blogging hiatus was mainly due to a lack of direction. In the past, I’ve let my ‘creative adventures’ guide my content. But over time, I became unsure about the direction this blog was taking.
After taking some time to think, I found a common denominator in many of my interests: stories.
“Augustus Gloop! Augustus Gloop! The great big greedy nincompoop!”
I could recite pretty much the whole poem from memory. Like many people, I read Roald Dahl when I was a child but unlike most, I never really outgrew him. Some might have acquired a taste for the classics, others may have dived into the contemporary. But amongst all the books I have opened, all the pages I have turned, all the stories I have lived in, Roald Dahl’s remain my constant companions.
Why?
Well. Looking back at his work now, as an ‘adult’ (and I’m using that term loosely here), I’d by lying if I said my opinion hasn’t changed. I was telling my mother about one of my favourite parts in Matilda just hours ago – where Matilda puts superglue on her father’s hat. Saying it out loud made me realise just how strong her sense of vengeance is.
Fuelled by the occasional article skimmed online, I also began to wonder if books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Witches are sexist. Some characters’ punishments seem a lot more cruel in retrospection (seriously, how harshly are the children in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory punished?!). And the enormous crocodile and the Twits scare me much more than they did years ago.
But despite everything, I can never forget the feelings his words evoked. Reading a book of his was like listening to my grandmother spin captivating tales out of thin air. It was chatting with someone who’s always ready with a spine-cracking joke at the right moment. It was laughing about everything and nothing with my closest friends on a lazy afternoon.
Continue reading “My Friends Matilda, Charlie, Danny and James”
Some elements that make a good story, in my opinion, with some examples that show those qualities.
1. Storytelling
I believe a good story requires a good balance between revealing and withholding information. If everything is given away too quickly, the reader may lose interest, and the same thing may happen if the story goes on and on with nothing to capture the reader’s interest in the first place. I think a story is more compelling when it reveals just enough so that the reader starts and continues to read, and then gradually gives away more information, like a trail of breadcrumbs. Example: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
