Yesterday, I went to speak with my sponsor. She said a lot of things. This, she said, would be an exploratory summer, that I should try out different things, find my own style, work and rework and, of course, do this all regularly. I thought to myself, this is what I had planned as well... the only thing I did not plan though was this: how in the world was I going to get a plot?!

Now, I am no stranger to plots, I have about five in my head that will one day work themselves into beautiful novels, but, what I did not have a plethora of was children's book plots. It was...panic worthy.

So this afternoon, I decided that I was going to go and do some research.

I lumbered out of the front door and opened the door to my car. I pulled out my camera and started the five minute walk to my studio. I saw birds, lots of bird. The birds saw me, too, though, so I only managed to get a couple shots as I walked by, we'll see if you can even see the bird in the pictures.

I swung by my studio to grab a notebook and then went up the way to the education building to find the education library... which was harder to find than I thought. I started in the office, where she told me to go around the back of the building and I would find it there. "You can't miss it" she said. Well I did. In fact I 'missed' the darn thing after asking three or four more people. All the while, I felt a little like I didn't belong there. One lady on the top floor looked at me like she was not so sure if she should direct me to the library at all, until I explained my project. About then, I wished I had one of those corny badges that said, "VISITOR" with my name Sharpied in.



I found the library. I spent the next four or five hours milling through the stacks and reading children's books. I wrote down the number of pages, how many words were on each page, how many words there were in the book, what sort of organizational structure they had, etc. They were about a lot of things: arrogant animals, demanding animals, vain animals, angry animals. I thought to myself: where are all the shy animals. All of these animals seem so... forward, but the truth was that most of the little animals I saw walking around (childfolk and birdfolk mostly) were actually not very forward at all, but painfully shy! Piccolo seemed more likely to be shy. I wrote a little about Piccolo.

Just as the day was ending a young boy walked in. He talked to the janitor, called him by name. That alone caused him to remind me of someone I knew VERY well. He told the janitor that it was this birthday this weekend. The janitor told him that he should have fun and the boy said that he was sure he would. I thought back to all my birthdays. I thought about the agony it was to ask all those people, about how I cut down the number of people as I grew older and more cautious. Piccolo was much for shy than me. I wrote, "Piccolo did not even send out invitations because he thought no one would come."

For now, I had a story.

have fun!
» renaye on 2008-05-16 11:13:02

Piccolo... Dragon Ball Z... agggggghhhhh!
» randomjunk on 2008-05-17 12:16:40

WooHoo! You found a story to write about! ^__^
» Mockiller on 2008-05-17 09:44:58

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