Oscar the Octopus: The Story Behind the Story
A few years ago, while I was babysitting my small grandchildren, my granddaughter (2-1/2 at the time) and I hung out while baby brother napped. She wanted to color together, so out came the sketchpad which was already full of her "sketchings." She asked me to draw an Octopus, so I scrawled one out quickly, because, you know, the attention span of a toddler. I asked her to name him and suggested we tell his story.
She agreed and asked for more creatures in our story and insisted that Oscar, the Octopus, needed a Mommy, and that Chickie, the Seagull (whom she also named), needed a baby. I dutifully obeyed and quickly scrawled out all the characters in our tale, with no more than a line or two of story on each "page."
I am a Plotter, not a Pantser (which is the subject of heated debate in literary circles). I am not one to come up with a story by the seat of my pants but rather spend much time plotting and planning. So I was pleasantly surprised when we actually produced the nutshell of a story. I chalk it up it to the inspiration of an intelligent child with a short attention span and a love for family.
It turns out we created a structural 'Hero's Journey': Hero wants something. Hero sets out to get it. Hero has a dark moment, followed by an epiphany. Hero is rewarded for his perseverance and lives happily ever after. And all told in just 8 pages, with just enough text per page for the big reader to finish reading aloud just as the little reader is proceeding to turn the page.
Hello, Flash Fiction. :)
So this is how Oscar the Octopus, the tentacled little trooper, was born. The story is available on Kindle for .99c so take a moment download it and see what a novel-writing Grammy, a smart little cookie, a well-used sketchpad, and a handful of colored pencils created, and all while baby brother slept.
~Camille
She agreed and asked for more creatures in our story and insisted that Oscar, the Octopus, needed a Mommy, and that Chickie, the Seagull (whom she also named), needed a baby. I dutifully obeyed and quickly scrawled out all the characters in our tale, with no more than a line or two of story on each "page."
I am a Plotter, not a Pantser (which is the subject of heated debate in literary circles). I am not one to come up with a story by the seat of my pants but rather spend much time plotting and planning. So I was pleasantly surprised when we actually produced the nutshell of a story. I chalk it up it to the inspiration of an intelligent child with a short attention span and a love for family.
It turns out we created a structural 'Hero's Journey': Hero wants something. Hero sets out to get it. Hero has a dark moment, followed by an epiphany. Hero is rewarded for his perseverance and lives happily ever after. And all told in just 8 pages, with just enough text per page for the big reader to finish reading aloud just as the little reader is proceeding to turn the page.
Hello, Flash Fiction. :)
So this is how Oscar the Octopus, the tentacled little trooper, was born. The story is available on Kindle for .99c so take a moment download it and see what a novel-writing Grammy, a smart little cookie, a well-used sketchpad, and a handful of colored pencils created, and all while baby brother slept.
~Camille