Everything is inspired by something right? It can be a bit traumatic to be a writer and suddenly realise that there is actually no such thing as a completely original story but once you come to terms with that terrifying fact it is actually quite liberating. You no longer feel the unrealistic pull of having to write something new and you can be inspired by what has already been written.
Most writing is influenced by everything a writer has seen, heard or read.All of this combines to create a writer. My story Meena was inspired by just one tale, The Red Shoes by Hans Christian Anderson.
The Red Shoes is the tale of a peasant girl who grows up vain and tricks her adoptive mother into buying her a pair of red shoes. She repeatedly wears the shoes to church, without paying attention to the service.
When her adoptive mother becomes ill the girl deserts her, preferring to attend a party in her red shoes. Once she begins dancing, she can't stop. The shoes take over. She cannot control them and they are stuck to her feet.
The shoes continue to dance, through fields and meadows, rain or shine, night and day. An angel appears to her, condemning her to dance even after she dies, as a warning to vain children everywhere.
The story actually continues far beyond this point but this is the section of it on which Meena is based.
In the movie version of The Red Shoes a ballerina dances to her death.
Meena is a bear cub who longs for more. She dreams of leaving her family to have adventures and her curiosity leads to her being captured. Her captors bring her up as a dancing bear. To find out if she dances to her death you will have to buy the book ;-)
Coming soon..... a few basic facts about bears. See you then!
Most writing is influenced by everything a writer has seen, heard or read.All of this combines to create a writer. My story Meena was inspired by just one tale, The Red Shoes by Hans Christian Anderson.
The Red Shoes is the tale of a peasant girl who grows up vain and tricks her adoptive mother into buying her a pair of red shoes. She repeatedly wears the shoes to church, without paying attention to the service.
When her adoptive mother becomes ill the girl deserts her, preferring to attend a party in her red shoes. Once she begins dancing, she can't stop. The shoes take over. She cannot control them and they are stuck to her feet.
The shoes continue to dance, through fields and meadows, rain or shine, night and day. An angel appears to her, condemning her to dance even after she dies, as a warning to vain children everywhere.
The story actually continues far beyond this point but this is the section of it on which Meena is based.
In the movie version of The Red Shoes a ballerina dances to her death.
Meena is a bear cub who longs for more. She dreams of leaving her family to have adventures and her curiosity leads to her being captured. Her captors bring her up as a dancing bear. To find out if she dances to her death you will have to buy the book ;-)
Coming soon..... a few basic facts about bears. See you then!
Wow- it's so interesting how stories form and a very clever adaptation of a famous story, so beautifully crafted to tell Meena's story. Of course I have read the story a few times and I can say it really creates that feeling of depair for the dancing bear.
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Thanks Debz. That made me smile :-)
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