1. Totally rewrite the Griffin Prince story I did last semester. It's not that I didn't like the Griffin Prince. To the contrary, I loved how it turned out. However, I have been thinking that it would be interesting to have the main character, Griffin, be a completely different creature entirely. What I mean is, I would like to make Griffin a wolf. Perhaps "Griffin" is an orphan in his pack and longs for a home. One night, after howling at the moon, his wish is granted and he becomes a human boy. Then, much like Griffin, he is adopted and intergrated into a human family. However, their neighbor, a woodsman, is suspicious of the boy/wolf (perhaps he never entirely stops acting like a dog), and when the boy is found out he heads a party to run him out of town. Then the boy will have to come to terms with being a wolf and his fear of rejection while the family will have to overcome their fear of the wolf and confront the boy's opponents.

2. I had another story idea about a girl whose grandfather tells her stories everynight. After the old man passes away, the child is lonesome for her beloved grandad. That is--until she trys on his old reading glasses. To her surprise, the glasses allow her to view the magical world that her grandfather always talked about. Armed with the newfound treasure, the child begins a quest through the magical land to find her grandfather, remembering a comment her mother made about grandad living on in the stories. In the end, she will come to understand what her mother really meant.

Well, that's it! What do you think?

February 3, 2005
Detailed Prospectus

Granddad'’s Magic Glasses

When: Modern day

Where: Rural farm

Characters:
1. Tiger: Little girl around 5 or 6 years old. She has golden-brown hair and golden eyes. Very imaginative, and a little ornery. Lives with her mother and granddad.
2. Granddad: Man in his late seventies. Festively plump with thinning, gray hair and large, tortoiseshell glasses.
3. Mom: Dark haired woman in 30s. Granddad is her father. Laughs jokingly at Granddad and says that his stories are “sillyness,” but secretly listens as he tells his tales to Tiger.

Plot:
Tiger, Mom and Granddad all live together in a cozy little home. Tiger’s favorite part of every day is Granddad’s story-time before he tucks her into bed. Granddad asks his daughter why she never asks for a story anymore; to which she says that she is too old, but, regardless, she listens around the corner as he tells them to Tiger and remembers her own childhood.

One day, Granddad dies and Tiger misses him severely. Mom reassures her daughter that Granddad will always be with them in his stories. Tiger, however, takes this quite literally after she discovers that she can travel to Granddad’s fable world by putting on his glasses.

The familiar characters, however, can’t seem to remember what they are supposed to do in their story. So, they ask Tiger to help them reach the end of the fable; where Granddad will surely be waiting. Once Tiger gets toward the end of the story, however, she finds that she cannot remember how the story went. Her tears snap her back to reality & summon a concerned Mom.

When Tiger explains her dilemma, Mom fills in the blanks and finishes the story. A saddened Tiger then realizes that Granddad did not appear. She is afraid that if she has already forgotten his stories, that she will soon forget the man as well. Mother assures her daughter that, from now on, they will try to remember together. The tale ends as Mom puts on Granddad’s “magic” glasses and begins to tell her daughter a familiar story.

February 4, 2005
Genre Analysis

Upon my trip to the Decatur Public Library, my mission was to find children’s story and picture books to compare to my own children’s writing. Once I had entered the children’s library on the second floor, I headed straight to the back of the room; the section for “Fables and Fairytales.”

Immediately I began to look for Hans Christian Anderson stories; mostly because they are the most similar in size and subject to my own writing. I grasped two of my favorites from his works, “The Little Mermaid” and “The Wild Swans.” Both books were translations, not retellings, which tend to shorten and simplify his works. Both books were beautifully illustrated; with pictures on just about every page. However, they seemed disproportionately longer than most other picture books.

As I glanced through other storybooks on the shelves, I realized that most children’’s picture and story books are very short and feature brief language. This worries me somewhat because my stories tend to be on the long side with flowery language. As a child, I had always enjoyed reading stories that used wonderfully rich words. But, if the other picture books are any indicator, perhaps I am pursuing my children’s writing with a fundamental misjudgment of my audience.

Adults have complemented my stories, assuring me that the length and language are appropriate. I can’t help but wonder, however, if children would get bored and find it difficult to concentrate on a story that was twice as long as they were used to with words that they might not understand right away.

So I am faced with a quandary. Do I keep the stories the way that they are because that is the style that pleases me or do I simplify them to appeal to an editor? And, should I label these as children’s stories if I am not technically writing them for children? Certainly, my primary motive for writing is my own personal enjoyment. Perhaps that IS what really matters. All the same, I think I should start my own “research panel” of kids around the block to find out for sure.