My current WIP is an expansion of a short Fairy Tale I wrote some time ago, called A Crystal Tear.
Attention to detail is far too important to me to allow me to ever be a prolific writer. To illustrate this allow me to convey a conversation that took place over a year ago, in which the question of the target audience for A Crystal Tear arose. The conversation is almost verbatim, though the nitpicker in me demanded I correct a few typos and make a few minor modifications for clarity.
My Friend: You mention it will be a children’s fairy tale. Firstly you need to establish what age group you want to target, or think will appreciate this more. Obviously fairy tales are written to be read to children of all ages, but the content must be understood.
My response: mmm, I really really dislike putting things into neat little boxes like, “7 to 10 year olds”. Instead let me tell you what my intentions are.
First, to return people to the magical moments of their childhood, before they were taught to doubt the everyday magic that surrounds us.
Second, to encourage parents to read to their children. Perhaps that is who I’m really targeting – the parents of young children, say in the 4 to 7 year range. I want to give those parents the chance to introduce the magic of imagination into their children’s thought processes instead of taking magic away by giving them technological gadgets that simply cannot replace imagination, and probably suppress it.
With those goals in mind A Crystal Tear should raise questions from both parent and child. I want to encourage the child to ask, “Are fairies really just dragonflies?” which allows the parent to answer, “What do you think?”
I’d like to create conversations that flow both ways, where the parents can ask questions intended to reveal the things their children cherish. Like, “Have you ever seen something no one else has seen?“, in order to allow the child to answer, “Yes! All the time…”
Another goal is to introduce words and concepts the kids definitely won’t know, specifically to encourage meaningful dialogs that are powerful bonding opportunities.
I guess the goal of A Crystal Tear isn’t a set age group at all. Perhaps it is to reintroduce magic into the mundane, technology suppressed minds of both parents and children?
{P.S. Magic truly is everywhere, all we need to do is look for it and we find it. I intend A Crystal Tear to be an illustrated children’s book. Many of the illustrations will be photographs of apparently mundane things, within which magic waits to be discovered, revealed, seen, and appreciated. My youngest daughter, Julia, is creating transitional sequences from some of these photographs. Those sequences are intended as prompts to help young minds see the incredible, magical beauty that dwells in the most mundane. Most of the photographs won’t have transition sequences, those are the ones where you can ask your child what they imagine could be there – while understanding there are no wrong answers in our imagined thoughts. We often look at clouds and see shapes, but those shapes are everywhere. A Crystal Tear is intended to ignite and encourage the imaginations of our young in a way that video games and cell phones simply cannot. Please give your child’s imagination an encouraging boost – you’ll open up wonderful scenes that live forever in their minds.
Remember… a world without art is both dismal and dark, a world without art, is a world without heart.
Even with the help of my daughter Julia converting photographs into artwork, this will be no easy task so please wish me luck!}
