What better way to set the scene about trust than pit a small vulnerable character like a turtle against one of the fiercest, a tiger. These were my thoughts when writing the social skill story about trust. My brainstorming evolved to reflecting on The Gingerbread Boy, a classic fairy tale that ended with a journey in trust. Timely Umit Upturns Tim is about a tiny, timid, and misunderstood turtle and a confident, extroverted, and trusting tiger. It was written for the Reflections on Practice Course noted in the previous blog.
Where did I find the inspiration for the characters? First, I decided that I wanted this story to link to the study of animals and habitats which at the time, was a grade four curriculum topic. My thoughts revolved around people’s personalities and comparing them to animals and what I speculated the personality of various animals might be like. I associated quiet and shy traits with a turtle and a tiger with being dynamic and outgoing. Simultaneously, my brainstorming made links to people I knew who were reserved and misunderstood with those who were forthright, helpful, and full of initiative and how often opposites help bring out the best in each other. Then I returned to the Gingerbread Boy story and thought hmmm I wondered what would have happened if the interaction between the tiger and the turtle was opposite to the Gingerbread Boy’s fate?
Next, I did some research on where tigers and turtles coexisted and set the story in Turkey. I found out that Caspian tigers are extinct due to hunting humans. I realized that a tiger character would certainly have the empathy of being prey and that this would ignite compassion and a sense of service to the survival of others, (an interesting twist to the stereotype of the aggressive hunting nature of the big cat). Also in my research, I found out that loggerhead turtles in turkey run the risk of extinction.
Last, my goal was to incorporate alliteration. Since tigers, turtles, and Turkey all begin with the letter T, it was a natural choice that the story focuses on as many words beginning with the letter T. I looked up male Turkish names and found Timurhan which could easily have a nickname of Tim and also found the name Umit for the Tiger. Funny enough Umit is Tim backward with an additional u. It was creating a word puzzle finding appropriate descriptive T words while also writing in rhyming couplets. I like to write in rhyming couplets for purposes of reader engagement as they can anticipate the ending of the next line. Rhyming couplets also help create a sense of rhythm to a story.
Initially, when I shared this story with the students at Highview and we were planning on filming the story, we asked a grade eight student to illustrate the story, since acting out the two animals and creating a monsoon would be almost impossible. I then narrated the story while children sat in the audience. It was our best alternative. Once I retired and I wanted to self-publish, I had the fortunate opportunity to meet Helen who introduced me to Keith Cains, her artist father. Ironically, Keith had done an outstanding tiger pencil sketch, which was entered into a juried art show. In his late 70’s, recently having lost his wife, Keith as a semi-retired draftsman was looking for inspiration. Both of us have a passion for the arts and literacy development. He was willing to collaborate with me. Keith and I have since collaborated on two more projects. I couldn’t ask for a better partner!
In summary, stories have a way of coming to life if we are open to mulling ideas and connecting dots. There is no right or wrong way to start. The journey will follow the style and musings of the traveling writer. We often hear writers speak of writer’s block. I would suggest that sometimes an igniting trigger can be rethinking a classic tale. What classic tales could you flip or turn to create a fractured fairy tale?
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