Post by Old Dragon (Al) on May 28, 2004 13:45:00 GMT 1
Put YOUR Pen to Work!
Many people think of animal stories as belonging within children’s books but, of course, back in pre-historic times our ancestors painted their lives and dreams on the walls of cave dwellings and spiritually significant places, showing the importance of animals and nature in their lives. Think about them as they gathered around their communal campfires to sing, dance and to tell stories of their hunting exploits, those of their ancestors and remembered through their traditional myths and legends. Think about the significance that animals had in all their lives at that time. Indeed, those people from whatever culture and wherever they existed in the world were dependent upon animals for their very survival. Now ask yourself if anything has really changed in this respect?
Whether we love or detest them, how could any of us survive in a world devoid of animals? The reality is we could not. We are still as dependent upon the balance of nature being maintained in the 21st century as our ancestors were upon it for their survival. Imagine where we would be now without, for example, pollinating insects or the rich and diverse worlds beneath the waves and within the rain forests? Even those animal worlds existing in our own local countryside, a city park or back garden? All are an outstanding source of inspiration to the imagination of the person who chooses to write about animals or with animals as the main theme of their work. Is it any wonder that animals held so much important significance to the spiritual, artistic and creative people amongst our ancient ancestors?
As we come up the years to the present day, we can identify through many art forms the huge significance that animals have had throughout history. How at one end of the scale they have been worshiped as gods and at the other both defiled and exploited to feed mankind’s most base of instincts and defects. As writers about animals there is a wealth of inspiration to be had from all the many creatures with which we share our planet and, if we exploit their antics and characters in search of a story, then surely we do so with the best of motives?
For many people, early reading books were populated by a wide range of animal characters that, in their own delightful ways, begin to teach us our early lessons about the ways of the world. Certainly I can identify with this and my early childhood bookshelf was filled with tales written by Beatrix Potter, Alison Uttley and Kenneth Grahame and yes, of course it contained Anna Sewell’s classic tale of Black Beauty. It was the latter that clearly inspired my first adventures into writing and, to this day, one or two such early pony tales have managed to survive. Childish attempts at literature with many grammatical and spelling errors, but telling ones for all that.
Later my book collection grew to include dozens of paperbacks written by Pat Smythe, Monica Dickens, the Pullien-Thompson sisters and others of that era. Yes, I was pony-mad in those days but my love of animals was not confined to equines and neither did it begin there. My mother (now 80 years old) can clearly recall the day she caught a bus to the local town and sat with me (aged about two years) behind a lady wearing a fur coat. How embarrassed she was when my tiny hand reached out to stroke the coat as I said, ‘Poor Ginger,’ in a sad little voice. Could that have been the origin of what, over the years, has resulted in considerable involvement with a variety of animal causes?
For the inexperienced writer local charities and causes provide an excellent opportunity to gain experience and to develop their writing skills. Believe me, many will welcome the budding talents of an amateur writer keen to offer them the benefit of their pen. Some on your own doorstep will have newsletters and often these are written and produced by people who would never dream of calling themselves writers at all – but I disagree. In front of me as I’m writing this article there’s a copy of a local charity’s literary efforts. That it’s been produced on a photocopier and stapled together by hand may be true, but it has been done so with love and commitment. Its contents are practical, informative and entertaining - and it includes some excellent, inspired and easily publishable copy. This could never have been written by anyone who didn’t care deeply and passionately about the welfare of animals and the fact that it has been written with obvious care and concern shines through. That person just might turn out to have been waiting for years to be ‘discovered’ or they may have never even thought to submit their efforts to a publisher. So many wonderful, expressive writers can be lost to the world in this way and it’s something that the development of technology can help to address and correct.
Having finally moved on from the pony-mad era and through a phase of devouring every Tarzan tale ever penned; the next book that stands out as having made an impact during my teenage years is Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell. What a wonderful, fascinating and factual story that is and how I cried as I read the emotional parts, too.
By that time, and as a result of all the inspiration gleaned from my reading habits, the door had been opened for me to begin penning many a story relating to the host of pets that populated our house and garden as I was growing up. Most of these written efforts were little more than anecdotes and ‘Letter to the Editor’ pieces. Brief fillers that could be sent off to suitable magazines and newspapers and rarely, even when published, brought me more than a warm glow of achievement and the glimmer of hope that one day I would become a ‘real’ writer. It was to take many a year before the penny dropped and I realised that, however unprofessional in monetary, literary or grammatical terms my efforts might be deemed, they were certainly achieved in real terms. They had been written, submitted and published and therefore there was some justification in considering myself a writer. So, in a life populated by such animal friends as Sooty, the bantam hen with only one wing, and Pusher, the long-haired tabby who arrived on 1st April after his mother strayed (pregnant) into my family home, a ‘writer about animals’ was also born into her infancy.
Despite this, years later my son recently asked, ‘Mum, have you still got my old storybooks about Benjamin Thistles?’
For a moment I was brain-fogged and could recall no such books.
‘Dylan,’ I said, at length and with the penny dropping, ‘there never were any Benjamin Thistle books, those were only stories made up in my head for you when you were tiny.’
The look of disappointment on my 6’, hulk-like and twenty-odd years old rugby playing son’s face is something I’ll never forget. More poignant even than that of a child who gradually comes to the conclusion that Santa is really Mum or Dad. This because at a time in his life when he wished to pass on a little of his own remembered childhood enjoyment, my lack or forethought had robbed him of that pleasure. So please, let this tale be a reminder to all that, even a grumpy donkey with a penchant for strawberry ice-cream and naughty adventures behind his owner’s back can be a treasured memory long into adulthood. Realising that, I can’t help feeling a tinge of guilt and regret that I failed to write down any of those spontaneously created adventures.
It is easy with hindsight to see these things, isn’t it? Perhaps in the future it may be possible to rectify what I now see as a thoughtless error and to make what amends I can? One day I may do so but, for the life of me, today I cannot remember any of the plots for those original tales beyond what I’ve already told you and apart from my son’s reminder that Benjamin’s best friend was a little grey Welsh Mountain pony named Pegasus.
Moving onward once more and whilst glancing in the direction of today’s bookshelves, there is now a huge section that is dedicated to animal books and extending to more than one whole bookcase. The collection would probably reveal a number of titles unavailable in many a public library. These books are mostly reference and research works and covering a vast range of species that are spread throughout several continents - but the shelves speak for themselves when one considers the interest and diversity reflected on them.
Here and there I can also see evidence of an occasional favourite novel or a writer known to provide me with a little light reading or escapism. Several titles written by Dick Francis and hinting at my continued passion for the equine species, but there’s also some heavier reading, including Animal Farm by George Orwell.
Yes, readers’ tastes do change but there will always be a market for those of us who write about animals and throughout the full range of genre, perspective and media. We were there in the beginning and we shall be there at the end.
Always remember, at the most basic level it is writers of all kinds who have the power to shape and influence society from the cradle to the grave. To educate, entertain and spiritually influence their readers. Those of us who love and care about animals and our environment, and regardless of our literary skills and aspirations, perhaps have almost a duty to put pen to paper and write about that which we know and love best. After all, animals can hardly be expected to do it for themselves.
Or can they?
© T.R.P.D. – 2000 – Alison H.
Many people think of animal stories as belonging within children’s books but, of course, back in pre-historic times our ancestors painted their lives and dreams on the walls of cave dwellings and spiritually significant places, showing the importance of animals and nature in their lives. Think about them as they gathered around their communal campfires to sing, dance and to tell stories of their hunting exploits, those of their ancestors and remembered through their traditional myths and legends. Think about the significance that animals had in all their lives at that time. Indeed, those people from whatever culture and wherever they existed in the world were dependent upon animals for their very survival. Now ask yourself if anything has really changed in this respect?
Whether we love or detest them, how could any of us survive in a world devoid of animals? The reality is we could not. We are still as dependent upon the balance of nature being maintained in the 21st century as our ancestors were upon it for their survival. Imagine where we would be now without, for example, pollinating insects or the rich and diverse worlds beneath the waves and within the rain forests? Even those animal worlds existing in our own local countryside, a city park or back garden? All are an outstanding source of inspiration to the imagination of the person who chooses to write about animals or with animals as the main theme of their work. Is it any wonder that animals held so much important significance to the spiritual, artistic and creative people amongst our ancient ancestors?
As we come up the years to the present day, we can identify through many art forms the huge significance that animals have had throughout history. How at one end of the scale they have been worshiped as gods and at the other both defiled and exploited to feed mankind’s most base of instincts and defects. As writers about animals there is a wealth of inspiration to be had from all the many creatures with which we share our planet and, if we exploit their antics and characters in search of a story, then surely we do so with the best of motives?
For many people, early reading books were populated by a wide range of animal characters that, in their own delightful ways, begin to teach us our early lessons about the ways of the world. Certainly I can identify with this and my early childhood bookshelf was filled with tales written by Beatrix Potter, Alison Uttley and Kenneth Grahame and yes, of course it contained Anna Sewell’s classic tale of Black Beauty. It was the latter that clearly inspired my first adventures into writing and, to this day, one or two such early pony tales have managed to survive. Childish attempts at literature with many grammatical and spelling errors, but telling ones for all that.
Later my book collection grew to include dozens of paperbacks written by Pat Smythe, Monica Dickens, the Pullien-Thompson sisters and others of that era. Yes, I was pony-mad in those days but my love of animals was not confined to equines and neither did it begin there. My mother (now 80 years old) can clearly recall the day she caught a bus to the local town and sat with me (aged about two years) behind a lady wearing a fur coat. How embarrassed she was when my tiny hand reached out to stroke the coat as I said, ‘Poor Ginger,’ in a sad little voice. Could that have been the origin of what, over the years, has resulted in considerable involvement with a variety of animal causes?
For the inexperienced writer local charities and causes provide an excellent opportunity to gain experience and to develop their writing skills. Believe me, many will welcome the budding talents of an amateur writer keen to offer them the benefit of their pen. Some on your own doorstep will have newsletters and often these are written and produced by people who would never dream of calling themselves writers at all – but I disagree. In front of me as I’m writing this article there’s a copy of a local charity’s literary efforts. That it’s been produced on a photocopier and stapled together by hand may be true, but it has been done so with love and commitment. Its contents are practical, informative and entertaining - and it includes some excellent, inspired and easily publishable copy. This could never have been written by anyone who didn’t care deeply and passionately about the welfare of animals and the fact that it has been written with obvious care and concern shines through. That person just might turn out to have been waiting for years to be ‘discovered’ or they may have never even thought to submit their efforts to a publisher. So many wonderful, expressive writers can be lost to the world in this way and it’s something that the development of technology can help to address and correct.
Having finally moved on from the pony-mad era and through a phase of devouring every Tarzan tale ever penned; the next book that stands out as having made an impact during my teenage years is Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell. What a wonderful, fascinating and factual story that is and how I cried as I read the emotional parts, too.
By that time, and as a result of all the inspiration gleaned from my reading habits, the door had been opened for me to begin penning many a story relating to the host of pets that populated our house and garden as I was growing up. Most of these written efforts were little more than anecdotes and ‘Letter to the Editor’ pieces. Brief fillers that could be sent off to suitable magazines and newspapers and rarely, even when published, brought me more than a warm glow of achievement and the glimmer of hope that one day I would become a ‘real’ writer. It was to take many a year before the penny dropped and I realised that, however unprofessional in monetary, literary or grammatical terms my efforts might be deemed, they were certainly achieved in real terms. They had been written, submitted and published and therefore there was some justification in considering myself a writer. So, in a life populated by such animal friends as Sooty, the bantam hen with only one wing, and Pusher, the long-haired tabby who arrived on 1st April after his mother strayed (pregnant) into my family home, a ‘writer about animals’ was also born into her infancy.
Despite this, years later my son recently asked, ‘Mum, have you still got my old storybooks about Benjamin Thistles?’
For a moment I was brain-fogged and could recall no such books.
‘Dylan,’ I said, at length and with the penny dropping, ‘there never were any Benjamin Thistle books, those were only stories made up in my head for you when you were tiny.’
The look of disappointment on my 6’, hulk-like and twenty-odd years old rugby playing son’s face is something I’ll never forget. More poignant even than that of a child who gradually comes to the conclusion that Santa is really Mum or Dad. This because at a time in his life when he wished to pass on a little of his own remembered childhood enjoyment, my lack or forethought had robbed him of that pleasure. So please, let this tale be a reminder to all that, even a grumpy donkey with a penchant for strawberry ice-cream and naughty adventures behind his owner’s back can be a treasured memory long into adulthood. Realising that, I can’t help feeling a tinge of guilt and regret that I failed to write down any of those spontaneously created adventures.
It is easy with hindsight to see these things, isn’t it? Perhaps in the future it may be possible to rectify what I now see as a thoughtless error and to make what amends I can? One day I may do so but, for the life of me, today I cannot remember any of the plots for those original tales beyond what I’ve already told you and apart from my son’s reminder that Benjamin’s best friend was a little grey Welsh Mountain pony named Pegasus.
Moving onward once more and whilst glancing in the direction of today’s bookshelves, there is now a huge section that is dedicated to animal books and extending to more than one whole bookcase. The collection would probably reveal a number of titles unavailable in many a public library. These books are mostly reference and research works and covering a vast range of species that are spread throughout several continents - but the shelves speak for themselves when one considers the interest and diversity reflected on them.
Here and there I can also see evidence of an occasional favourite novel or a writer known to provide me with a little light reading or escapism. Several titles written by Dick Francis and hinting at my continued passion for the equine species, but there’s also some heavier reading, including Animal Farm by George Orwell.
Yes, readers’ tastes do change but there will always be a market for those of us who write about animals and throughout the full range of genre, perspective and media. We were there in the beginning and we shall be there at the end.
Always remember, at the most basic level it is writers of all kinds who have the power to shape and influence society from the cradle to the grave. To educate, entertain and spiritually influence their readers. Those of us who love and care about animals and our environment, and regardless of our literary skills and aspirations, perhaps have almost a duty to put pen to paper and write about that which we know and love best. After all, animals can hardly be expected to do it for themselves.
Or can they?
© T.R.P.D. – 2000 – Alison H.