Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Building an Excellent Adventure From a GKC Quote

Wow... since I last posted here, I wrote a short story... nothing profound, of course, but just something entertaining. No "moral" at the end, no little aphorism to go around being burdened with. Instead, I rather started with the aphorism.

I took a very powerful line from Chesterton:
A man cannot deserve adventures;
he cannot earn dragons and hippogriffs.
[GKC Heretics CW1:72]
and built it up into a story.

(If this reminds you of God making Eve, I understand. But then you see I am made in the image and likeness of a Maker... see Tolkien's essay on Fairy Tales for more on that.)

Anyway, the story is called "How Mark Earned a Dragon" and it came out very nice. (Yes, the "Mark" is Mark Weaver, one of the Weaver triplets from Quayment, the famous book town on the Atlantic.) I hope that you will get to read it shortly, but that depends on things beyond my control. I shall, however, keep you informed about it. Yes, it really has a REAL dragon in it...



(Image from the excellent Larousse Encyclopedia of Animal Life)

But I mustn't spoil it for you. No, I have no plans on writing about how Mark earns a hippogriff - if you want to, go right ahead. I'd like to read such an adventure!

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