Words Make The World Go Round

The statement ‘Words make the World Go Round’ is really a no brainer. When I was at school, words and english, correct english was a necessary evil. Not all of us thought that words were a doorway to a magical world that you could create yourself, a world limited only by your imagination. 

I can’t remember thinking to my self “I want to be a writer”. I just wrote. About anything and everything. I think before writing became all-important to me I drew and most of all I read and read and read. I mostly read lady writers (no offence guys), tis was probably to my own detriment, however ladies such as Enid Blyton,who wrote The Famous Five, The Secret Seven The Ringading Mysteries and a lot more; Eleanor H Porter author of the ever optimistic Pollyanna; Pixie O’harris was famous for her illustrated fairytales but I loved her series the Fortunes of Poppy Trelor.  

These are but a few of the wonderfully talented ladies who shaped my early times of reading and who, along with my school teachers at primary school encouraged a young writer on her life's path. Later on in my life the ladies feature once again in the pages of  Catherine Cookson, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Anne and Charlotte Bronte, Phillipa Gregory, Karen Rose, and many many others.

So words! Why do they affect us so profoundly? What is their magic? What do these amazing conglomerations of letters mean to us. We use them every day in a multitude of different ways . We use words without even thinking about it. We spell, write, read learn, all these things involve the use of words. Even those of us who don’t feel this overwhelming urge, no need to put our thoughts into some sort of permanent display, are bound to use words every day.

As I get older I appreciate the use of ‘proper’ language. Not because I am prude so much as for the innate beauty of stringing together the perfect sentence. Hearing how the syllables roll off the tongue painting an exact picture in ones mind. 

I am saddened that our younger people are have created their own abbreviated text that, while they understand it well enough has destroyed the beauty of the english that we were taught in school. Don’t knock old english it is the essence of who we are.

Long Live Fairytales

When you were little did you enjoy fairytales? Did you let your imagination run wild and join the characters in the story. Did you, like me wish that you could stay in fairyland forever. I think every writer enjoyed fairyland and at one stage or another dreamed of following a white rabbit down a hole or being the most beautiful princess in the world who is rescued and married to the most handsome prince in the world. Of course everything ends 'happily ever after' and the conflict is always conquered, after all good will win out. But as writers we know that real life is very different to that. Fairytales like nursery rhymes, in many cases had quite bizarre even horrific double meanings that were pertinent to the time of writing. Telling a tale is just like that, a mixture of events that thrown into the cauldron to brew together tell the story of someone's journey through life.
Writers of all genres can learn from the fairytales of old, for they not only involved a fantasy world but their writers drew from a world of reality to spin their tales. The fairy tale gave a name and a reason to characters that the average person didn't understand; a reclusive old woman who picked herbs became a witch, a very tall man a giant, a small mischievous child a sprite,and so on. 
Next time you read a book, write a story or tell a tale, bear in  mind that the characters events, and places arn't really that different to the fairy tales of yesteryear,

Culture and Etiquette

Tonight my husband and I have a date to watch the DVD version of Dr Zhivago. I am really fortunate that as a small child I was raised by parents who encouraged me to enter the world of culture and art. I am not referring to which knife and fork to use with which meal( however this was undoubtedly part of the teaching) no I refer to Theatre, musicals, ballet, live performances, art, singing and the list continues. This encouragement makes me what I am today- a writer. I love the plots the intrigue the characters that formulate a story. When I watch a movie, see a play, read a book I find myself breaking down the story into its various sub-plots. I analyse each character and reinventing them or deleting them altogether.
Imagine Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, without the white rabbit! 
Tomorrow my husband and I are going to see Dr Zhivago being perfumed on the stage in Brisbane. It will be interesting to see if Boris Pasternak's book is very different to the stage show. I'll let you know.