On the Three Metamorphoses of a Book
THERE ARE THREE different levels a book can be written on. The first is a child's bedtime story, using small words that even a four-year-old could understand, with pictures on every page and very short, simple words. A good example of this is Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree.
The second is for elementary level children. This involves complex sentences, but the story is told very quickly and simply, relying not so much on dialogue as it is on storytelling; the average college student would be able to read this book, reaching just into the triple-digit page numbers, in just one or two days and would still very much be able to enjoy it. A good example on this level would be Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
The last and most complex level is the perverbial novel, which is basically what all upper-level high school books and college books are written on. They can normally reach well into the several hundreds of pages and focus on intellectual dialogue that moves the story along through context of speech and the reader's own logical problem solving abilities. There are usually no pictures on this level and characters are not plain and simple, but indirect and complex, usually making it unclear who is good and who is evil. Most victorian age books fall into this category, such as Mary Shelly's Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus. A more well known author may be Stephen King, who is known for his exceptionally long and dialetic books.
Originally, The Ladder in the Backyard was mean to be written on this most complex of levels, but I've realized one of the things I hate doing is pushing myself through long diatribes of conversation between two people to move the story along. It takes too much away from the fairytale essence of the story, and I just plain don't enjoy writing it. I want people to enjoy reading this story, not have to push themselves to get past the "boring parts." I want the writing to be quickly paced and entertaining, much like one of my favorite books, Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is the first book I ever read in one day.
Hopefully, my dear readers, this evolution in writing will be just what the doctor ordered. At this rate, the book should be finished by the end of this year. Although, that seems not to be the way that things end up in my life.
The second is for elementary level children. This involves complex sentences, but the story is told very quickly and simply, relying not so much on dialogue as it is on storytelling; the average college student would be able to read this book, reaching just into the triple-digit page numbers, in just one or two days and would still very much be able to enjoy it. A good example on this level would be Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
The last and most complex level is the perverbial novel, which is basically what all upper-level high school books and college books are written on. They can normally reach well into the several hundreds of pages and focus on intellectual dialogue that moves the story along through context of speech and the reader's own logical problem solving abilities. There are usually no pictures on this level and characters are not plain and simple, but indirect and complex, usually making it unclear who is good and who is evil. Most victorian age books fall into this category, such as Mary Shelly's Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus. A more well known author may be Stephen King, who is known for his exceptionally long and dialetic books.
Originally, The Ladder in the Backyard was mean to be written on this most complex of levels, but I've realized one of the things I hate doing is pushing myself through long diatribes of conversation between two people to move the story along. It takes too much away from the fairytale essence of the story, and I just plain don't enjoy writing it. I want people to enjoy reading this story, not have to push themselves to get past the "boring parts." I want the writing to be quickly paced and entertaining, much like one of my favorite books, Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is the first book I ever read in one day.
Hopefully, my dear readers, this evolution in writing will be just what the doctor ordered. At this rate, the book should be finished by the end of this year. Although, that seems not to be the way that things end up in my life.
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Saturday, July 22, 2006 2:52:00 PM