Growing up, all my stories and poems and songs and plays - even my first couple of books - went into spiral notebooks. They were badly smudged, with that pesky left-hander pencil smear across most of the pages. I can still remember the smell of pencil shavings and the satisfying rustle of pages turning. I [...]
Tag: c.s. lewis
Affection and Concern for a Marshwiggle
It's always with a bit of trembling that I hear of another Narnia movie being produced. Part of my nervousness comes from excitement, part from fear. The creatures and characters of Narnia mean a great deal to me, and I want to know they are in capable, loving hands ... hands that appreciate them for [...]
Fictional Forests: The Real-Life Inspirations
“Beyond the Wild Wood comes the wild world,” said the Rat. “And that’s something that doesn’t matter, either to you or to me. I’ve never been there, and I’m never going, nor you either, if you’ve got any sense at all.” ― Kenneth Grahame The Wild Wood Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows was inspired [...]
Fictional Forests: Why They Enchant Us
“Only with a leaf can I talk of the forest.” ― Visar Zhiti Forests, in literature, can mean many, many things. Adventure, escape, danger, evil, magic, temptation, mystery, freedom, death, life, or shelter. Depending on the story, the setting, the characters, the author, or even the reader’s interpretation – a wood can be seen in [...]
Names of Strength and Whimsy in Literature
While researching names for my next book, I began thinking of all the names I've always loved from my favorite stories. What makes a good name, exactly? Does it need to have a certain sound? A particular meaning? A "feel" to it - happy, solemn, playful or fateful? I came up with a list of several [...]
A Few Things About Dragons
“Never laugh at live dragons.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien “Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale [...]
Pictures of the World Through the Wardrobe
I am a huge believer in the capability of art to take us into other worlds. In fact, it’s much the same way I feel about books. And when the two are brought together – a book and the artwork that represents it – the cosmos can utterly explode! Okay, well, they do for me, [...]
What In the World is “Christian” Fantasy?
Truthfully? I don’t know. All right, I know how I myself define Christian fantasy, let’s put it that way. But a clear-cut definition that pleases everyone? Not sure that will ever happen. So, here’s what I think: I think a Christian fantasy story can be one of a few things. For now I’m going to [...]
Ashlee Willis, Author of Fantasy 