tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3758609568631190155.post5081358118660318513..comments2024-03-28T06:28:49.282+00:00Comments on Picture Book Den: Ideas, Themes and Originality by Malachy DoyleUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3758609568631190155.post-47519328691026252612014-12-15T20:33:00.685+00:002014-12-15T20:33:00.685+00:00I don't think I do that till quite late in the...I don't think I do that till quite late in the process if at all. I think I'd be afraid it might cramp my style. Maybe I should try it! I sort of hope there's something true and real and heartfelt at the heart of each of my stories, but I try to avoid analysing them too closely in case the whole thing would freeze. malachy doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14428551785118345251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3758609568631190155.post-32486723428205661662014-12-15T20:29:00.243+00:002014-12-15T20:29:00.243+00:00Yeah, I was walking the beach once and found mysel...Yeah, I was walking the beach once and found myself chanting, to the beat of my tread on the sand, 'Once upon a mountain stood a Zyderzee...' It survived all the way into the first line of my picture book 'When a Zeeder met a Xyder'. malachy doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14428551785118345251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3758609568631190155.post-83838422730276529342014-12-12T21:54:42.466+00:002014-12-12T21:54:42.466+00:00Interesting, Malachy. When I write a story I alway...Interesting, Malachy. When I write a story I always ask myself what the story is really about - what's at the heart of the story. For me, that's when the theme comes in useful for concentrating the mind and preventing the story from meandering or becoming too complex.Paeony Lewishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13129555451791248798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3758609568631190155.post-9233763651185428992014-12-11T13:12:25.340+00:002014-12-11T13:12:25.340+00:00Quite a few of my picture books stories have sprun...Quite a few of my picture books stories have sprung from a title.<br /><br />My four-year-old daughter spotted a piggy bank wearing a crown in a shop window and pointed it out to me saying "Princess Pig!". I thought this sounded like a great title for a story, so I wrote one, which was later retitled "The Princess and the Pig."Jonathan Emmetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11413964991466780348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3758609568631190155.post-35370760297054163182014-12-11T12:38:44.250+00:002014-12-11T12:38:44.250+00:00Yes, it's funny, Abie - often, when I show my ...Yes, it's funny, Abie - often, when I show my wife a new story she says 'I know what that's about... where that's coming from' and I'd no idea! malachy doylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14428551785118345251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3758609568631190155.post-46190002012016414282014-12-11T12:36:11.670+00:002014-12-11T12:36:11.670+00:00I find sometimes you don't see the themes in y...I find sometimes you don't see the themes in your own work until you look back over years later. A lot of my books are based on the theme of swapping lives or re imagining a job or a person with a twist. So, Pirate House Swap involves pirates and humans changing places, The Mummy Shop imagines life with a different style of parent, The Fairytale Hairdresser puts an ordinary girl into fairyland. I guess it's because growing up in different countries and changing schools so often was so formative for me :)Abie Longstaffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14682225221860351795noreply@blogger.com