I've been thinking a lot about forms. How do you know when something you want to express should be a novel, a chapter book, a picture book, or a poem? I have a story that I want to be a picture book. It's not. I tried it as a chapter book--at least, that was my goal. But it came out as a sprawling, boring, way-too-long novel that's been sitting in my file cabinet forever.
Do you think every story has an ideal form? Or can you take any idea and shape it into a story appropriate for any specific form?
Sometimes, when you force one thing to be another, the results might be amazing:
Photo Daniel A. Anderson / Orange County Register
Is it a dog? Or a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle? The answer is that it looks amazing as a TMNT...but it's still really a dog underneath.
And sometimes transformations go even more poorly:
Photo Daniel A. Anderson / Orange County Register
I'm not even sure exactly what this dog's supposed to be. A can-can dancer? A rose garden? But the expression on that poor dog's face, not to mention the owner's, says it all. This dog should've been left alone to be just a dog! You can dye its butt red, but really, this transformation doesn't go far enough and you just have a silly-looking dog.
So, any stories about manuscripts you've tried in different forms? Did you ever find the right form? If so, did you then feel like it was the only way that would have worked, or just one of several possibilities? Please share!
P.S. For more dyed-in-the-coat dog pictures, click here.
new posts in all blogs
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 9/24/2008
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: forms, dyed dogs, Add a tag
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: dyed dogs, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 1 of 1
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 9/24/2008
Blog: laurasalas (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: forms, dyed dogs, Add a tag
