As Told by a Tree

Is it too gimmicky to have what many might think is an inanimate object be a narrator of a story? I've been obsessed with this concept ever since I read The Book Thief, which uses death as a narrator to tell the story of a child during the Holocaust. Obsessed, I tell you! I thought it was so cool and unique that I wanted to create a story with a cool narrator like that.

I've played with the idea a lot over the years, and I'm finally getting around to it with my first stand-alone fantasy full-length novel, "As Told by a Tree." I suppose it's pretty evident who the narrator is from the title. Lame? OK? I don't know.

It's a fairy tale retelling of The Juniper-Tree by Grimm, where, among so many other twisted things, a child's stepmother murders the stepchild, and the child eventually gets its revenge after his soul lives in a bird in a tree nearby. (I guess you had to be there, but it's interesting . . . I promise!)

I'm kind of in love with the story, so I suppose I'll see how it's received when I publish it in December of 2021. My writing progress has halted on it because I had to step aside to focus on my BA in English, but I'm going back to writing it in October of 2021.

I'll keep posting regular updates on Sundays, in case anyone is interested. At this point, I'm probably the only one who is (LOL), but I'm here for it.