ILE Children's Story Time!

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Inspired, rightly or wrongly, by the unexpected reception of my creation Carrie the Catfish and her rather irascible fellow Zingle Pond dwelling denizen Tim Turtle on this thread here as well as comments elsewhere. Mr. Noodles, James and Jess have all taken Carrie and her fate to their heart, so I figure I'll flesh out the story a bit more once I finish the novel (four chapters to go! woohoo!). In the meantime, Englebert the Eel has been proposed as a fellow character, along with Carl the Catfish, presumably Carrie's star-crossed love. Any further suggestions?

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 17 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Chad the Catfish, actually, as Rainy said. :-)

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 17 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

sally the salamender, fred the frog , you could make it a story of amphibans and fish finding the love

― anthony, Saturday, 17 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ned the Newt, obviously. 8)

― Kim, Saturday, 17 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ned the newt is good but can you make him a Salemndar turned into a newt by the witchy duck?

― Mr Noodles, Saturday, 17 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ned the Newt sighed as he sat by the shore of Zingle Pond. One time, he was a salamander, the best ever! He burst into flame at the drop of a hat. But now he was a newt, and a sad one at that.

Soon Kim the Kakapo gently wandered through the brush in search of luscious insects to nibble on. She saw Ned sitting alone and thought he looked a bit down.

"Ned, surely you're not worried about your former salamander life."

"But Kim, it is so sad, when I can think of fire and heat, and now I'm here under a wet sky by a pond."

"You really must learn to accept what you are now," said Kim firmly but kindly, as she nosed here and there in the grass.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 17 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

As someone who edits children's stories for a living, I'll be interested to see whether this thread develops into a proper children's story (i.e. written for children), or whether the wit and erudition of the ILE masseev transforms it into a twee tale full of wordplay and subtle humour and references that can only be appreciated by grown ups. Mr Raggett has started well, but can ILE deliver...?

― Tha script editah, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

sammy the stickleback! pammy pondskater! you could have a gang of maverick mayflies! all the creatures could hang out by the old rusty bicycle that someone dumped years ago and dodge marauding coots! it sounds WICKED.

― katie, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

no there must be a QUEST!! The Liberated Bunny Fellowship are battling the Dark Nosegoblins of Silflay!!

― mark s, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

maybe they could battle their way past the marauding coots, suffering heavy losses but winning through due to the massed sticklebacks' spiny armour, to recapture the rusty bicycle which infact = pond Valhalla?

― katie, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

*makes mental notes of all this* I think I want to avoid both the Redwall and Watership Down scenarios, not because both don't work -- they do, very well, especially the latter -- but because, well, time for a little something different. And I agree with boyincorduroy (hey, are you a Wedding Present fan?) -- whatever happens has to be something you give to a kid and they can like it. :-)

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

mark (c that is, not s. although he may be sitting on a chilluns book as well) how hard is it to break into the childrens book market (in yer opinion.) writing for children as always = jess' lifelong dream, parhaps even more than writing about music.

― jess, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

or maybe, re-reading your post, you dont work in books at all. in which case i submit my plea to the ilf massif.

― jess, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Impossible according to acquaintance X's SUPER-ANNOYING girlfriend Y, but Mark may know better.

Something kids will like? I suggest a book set in ancient MINOA.

― Tom, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

jess could actually really give a toss about childrens books as jess = wishing he was born in japan so he could be hayao miyazaki and make films beloved of children the world ovah (or at least make a lot of money), but he'll take what he can get.

― jess, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

why "minoa" tom? (or crete as non-mentalists call it) are the children you haf in mind not weaned heh heh?

― mark s, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

isn't that where the mighty MINOTAUR resides? minotaurs = good adversaries for adventurers.

― jess, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

labrynths and puzzles and riddles also = good.

― jess, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Tale of origin of minotaur = likely to be be deemed unacceptable by publisher of children's books.

― RickyT, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nonsense, RickyT, have you not read [hype surrounding] "Lady: My Life As A Bitch"?? Bestiality is IN among the kidZoR, also breast- displaying topwear.

― Tom, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

them greeks were filthy buggers!

― katie, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

derrida and the hedgehogs!!

(alt title: fuzzypeg deconstructs)

― mark s, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

hey, i read all them filthy, satanic greek myths as a kid and i turned out just fine. now where's my goat...

― jess, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

'Jackie D versus the Hedgehogs of DOOM' being the sensationalist movie version of Mark S's suggestion.

― alext, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I work in children's TV, rather than in books, but I do have to deal with publishers quite a lot. I can't imagine it's impossible, and it's certainly easier to get published than it is to write for TV (for more reasons than I can mention here).

It probably comes down to contacts, as things usually do, plus persitance, thick skin and a unique selling point. If you're an unknown, you have to persuade somebody why they should take you on board rather than squeezing more books out of established talent who'll sell thousands regardless of whether it's any good or not.

The reason I posted my rather high-handed post earlier is because writing actually for children is quite an art that takes an awful lot of practise to get right. Every single aspect of what you write needs to be focused on your target age group - you have to bear in mind at all times that mum and dad may love reading the book because of its humour and allusions, but if the child gets bored in these parts you've failed. So you need to do proper and substantial research into what children do, like, want, need, and also more dry research on a child's sociological and physiological development (Jess, if you'd like a copy of some research a colleague of mine did in this area, focusing on children from 18 months to 7 years, let me know).

If you combine a rather cynical look at ancillary opportunities (whether it can easily be branded/turned into merchandise being the main one) and what the market wants/what you think the market will want in 18 months time with a beautiful, warm, funny (almost all children's stories up to a certain age use humour as an urgent+key elemt) and original idea, and are willing to network, badger and try and try again, you have a slim chance of making it.

Good luck - it's a fantastic industry to be in, and you could make millions (of children very happy).

― Mark C, Monday, 19 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

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