Fairy tales are more than stories. In the best of them, we see ourselves in them and incorporate their truths and magic. I was seven years old when I first saw Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in theaters. To this day, the twirling leaf in the wolf-haunted forest still makes me tingle. My mother encouraged her children to practice and grow comfortable with theater and performing…
On the back of my laptop is an orange oblong sticker that reads, Beauty will save the world. It’s no coincidence that my favorite fairy tale of all time is Beauty and the Beast. A young girl enters a dark stone castle in order to save her father, and through the power of her friendship, shreds the spell that enshrouded the selfish heart of a prince…
How many times have you found a song that’s so mesmerizing, it actually transports you somewhere else while you’re listening to it? Songs have always haunted me, especially the lyrics. Whether it’s the opening melody to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast as I zoom through the forest toward the castle, or the heartbreaking soundtrack from Once, my brain slips into another realm where inspiration encircles me,…
An Examination of Themes, Messages, and Armatures Every story should have some kind of message, theme, thrust, main point, etc. You may consider the prior sentence as just an opinion, but hear what I have to say and then disagree, if you still do. When you begin writing a story, you might or might not have a good sense for what it will be about. If you don't…
Tangible objects are among the most important components of a powerful story. An object can be anything and can represent anything. It might be a treasure, an item of power, a symbol of doom, a testament of love, a secret of life-shaking identity. Think about objects in movies or famous books that have rendered the story powerful. A favorite of mine is the rose in Beauty and the Beast…