Influences

It's a strange fact of writing that we often don't remember where elements of our style come from. For instance, I'm rereading The Silver Chair, which I haven't actually read since first grade. And it suddenly struck me that my fictional style as a child, and even somewhat now, was very imitative of CS Lewis. In particular, he tends to insert asides from the author in the first person. For instance:

"I'm not," said Eustance. "I swear I'm not. I swear by--by everything."

(When I was at school one would have said, "I swear by the Bible." But Bibles were not encouraged at Experiment House.)

Or:

What made Scrubb look so dingy (and Jill too, if she could only have seen herself) was the splendour of their surrounding. I had better describe them at once.

Yup, I definitely have a story I wrote back in second grade that contains all sorts of asides like that. At one point, I advise the reader to go get a drink of water, and procede to count to ten in order to give him time to do so. Hey, I was only seven. Anyway, I've been thinking of all the books I read when I was very young and trying to see how they have influenced my style. I think I tend to write my emotional climaxes in the same style as Madeleine L'Engle, and that I like disturbing twists--where something good suddenly becomes evil--much like Lois Lowry's The Giver.

Speaking of writing fiction, NaNoWriMo sign-ups should be starting on October 1st! Hurrah! I am so excited to make more time for writing. It's amazing what time you can find when you look for it. For instance, I just finished my essay for the homecoming essay contest (wish me luck!) in spite of the fact that I have two tests this week.

And on the subject of children's books, there are quite a few of my favorites currently being optioned for movies. Walden Media has the rights to The Dark is Rising, The Giver, and Bridge to Terabithia, and then there's Ender's Game and The Golden Compass. Of course, most of them will probably stay in development hell for a long time. (I've been following the Ender's Game movie since, oh, 2002-ish.) Now someone just needs to option The Westing Game and The Egypt Game, and pretty much my entire childhood library will be on film. A Wrinkle in Time is already a fairly decent TV mini-series. I like. I should buy the DVD. I have to agree with Joni on book movies--they're fabulous!