A New Side Project
When I say "New" I suppose I ought to clarify that I am drawing this one from the archives.
Traditionally, I write sci-fi, and I have a true passion for sci-fi. But one of my other great goals in life is to write for young ones. I know that, before Forgotten Princess is concluded, it will likely be at a New Adult/YA phase.
I want to try my hand at writing early middle-grade. I started out my publishing career by writing an early middle-grade short story, and I was recently told by a fan of that story that I should return to writing for younger kids.
I have had this idea, for quite some time to write a wacky short story somewhere between a western, Discworld, and A Series of Misfortunate Events, featuring a teddy bear and a talking suitcase. The working title is Teddy Bear Junction.
Anna is a little girl from a wealthy family who was orphaned and raised by her Aunt Mavis. Aunt Mavis can't get at the inheritance and because of her greed, her heart is rotting and she is growing ever more abusive.
One day, Anna is crying in her room, when the teddy bear breaks Aunt Mavis' fancy television set to repay her for her abuse.
With the help of the Teddy Bear and a talking suitcase, Anna escapes to a western outback world beneath her bed, and sets off to Teddy Bear Junction, where Aunt Mavis can't reach her, because only good people can ride the train.
Aunt Mavis chases Anna into this world, but when she arrives, she is a hideous purple monster. As she sees herself in her own reflection, her reflection tells her that this is what she looks like in her heart. This is the monster Anna sees everyday.
Now, she is determined to apologize for her wicked ways. But along the way, Anna, the teddy bear and the talking suitcase are still determined to escape.
When they arrive at the depot, the teddy bear learns that he cannot join Anna because he broke a television. When he sacrifices himself so Anna can get on the train, the conductor grants him a ticket and they board the train.
When Aunt Mavis arrives at the train depot, she must convince the conductor that she has had a true change of heart. And when she disembarks from the train and finds Anna, the little girl knows that her aunt has changed, for only good people can ride the train.
They reconcile and take the train back home where Anna, the teddy bear, the talking suitcase, and Aunt Mavis live happily ever after.
I plan to work on this side project in my free time until it reaches its joyful resolution. It will help me keep my youthful imagination alive as I continue to work on my Forgotten Princess series.
I would love to hear your thoughts regarding this new project.
Traditionally, I write sci-fi, and I have a true passion for sci-fi. But one of my other great goals in life is to write for young ones. I know that, before Forgotten Princess is concluded, it will likely be at a New Adult/YA phase.
I want to try my hand at writing early middle-grade. I started out my publishing career by writing an early middle-grade short story, and I was recently told by a fan of that story that I should return to writing for younger kids.
I have had this idea, for quite some time to write a wacky short story somewhere between a western, Discworld, and A Series of Misfortunate Events, featuring a teddy bear and a talking suitcase. The working title is Teddy Bear Junction.
Anna is a little girl from a wealthy family who was orphaned and raised by her Aunt Mavis. Aunt Mavis can't get at the inheritance and because of her greed, her heart is rotting and she is growing ever more abusive.
One day, Anna is crying in her room, when the teddy bear breaks Aunt Mavis' fancy television set to repay her for her abuse.
With the help of the Teddy Bear and a talking suitcase, Anna escapes to a western outback world beneath her bed, and sets off to Teddy Bear Junction, where Aunt Mavis can't reach her, because only good people can ride the train.
Aunt Mavis chases Anna into this world, but when she arrives, she is a hideous purple monster. As she sees herself in her own reflection, her reflection tells her that this is what she looks like in her heart. This is the monster Anna sees everyday.
Now, she is determined to apologize for her wicked ways. But along the way, Anna, the teddy bear and the talking suitcase are still determined to escape.
When they arrive at the depot, the teddy bear learns that he cannot join Anna because he broke a television. When he sacrifices himself so Anna can get on the train, the conductor grants him a ticket and they board the train.
When Aunt Mavis arrives at the train depot, she must convince the conductor that she has had a true change of heart. And when she disembarks from the train and finds Anna, the little girl knows that her aunt has changed, for only good people can ride the train.
They reconcile and take the train back home where Anna, the teddy bear, the talking suitcase, and Aunt Mavis live happily ever after.
I plan to work on this side project in my free time until it reaches its joyful resolution. It will help me keep my youthful imagination alive as I continue to work on my Forgotten Princess series.
I would love to hear your thoughts regarding this new project.
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by
Owen
(new)
Jun 23, 2015 04:46AM
As long as nothing (permanently) bad happens to the teddy bear (which seems to be the case), I am all for it! I'd likely read it myself.
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Really? Cool. But he might get decapitated.
Iffix wrote: "Really? Cool. But he might get decapitated."Hmmm. That might be a deal-breaker for me. ;-) Depends on how it gets handled.
I will add as an aside, that about 20 years ago, my wife and I happened upon a vendor at a Christmas fair who was selling decapitated teddy bear heads as tree ornaments. Given that (according to tradition) the origin of round ornaments on a Christmas tree is supposedly the ancient Celtic practice of hanging the heads of one's enemy on Yule trees, we couldn't decide if this was really sick, really funny, or both. (The vendor was a sweet elderly lady, whom I suppose had no idea as the the possible symbolism.)
In any case, we did not purchase any teddy bear heads for our tree. :-)
Funny. And no, I've decided to save the decapitation of teddy bear for the sequel.
Iffix wrote: "Funny. And no, I've decided to save the decapitation of teddy bear for the sequel."Okay. I'll bear that in mind. ;-)
So, this is the first part... CHAPTER 1: The Monster under the Bed
“I’m so sorry, Aunt Mavis.” Anna’s eyes filled with tears.
“I don’t know why I keep you around for, little brat!” Aunt Mavis looked as though she could have blown fire from her nostrils. “Oh yeah, I do.” She grinned deviously. “You’re worth a fortune.” Of course, it hadn’t helped that it was a fortune she couldn’t get at. “To bed with you!” Aunt Mavis pointed to the stairwell. “March!”
Anna knelt on her bed, crying into her pillow. She had no idea why Aunt Mavis had been so angry. Anger just seemed to be Aunt Mavis’ usual temperament of late. Anna had missed so many dinners, she’d begun to wonder if Aunt Mavis even knew how to cook.
A sudden crash startled Anna, and she began to cry even harder--if that was possible--because she didn’t know what had happened, but she did know who Aunt Mavis was going to blame. Sure enough, Aunt Mavis screamed nothing in particular at the top of her voice.
“Hide me, hide me!” said a voice Anna didn’t recognize. The footsteps were so tiny, she could barely hear any movements, excepting that the words were also moving about the room.
The little girl lifted her head. It took a few moments to see what was happening. “Teddy? You can talk?”
“That’s not my name,” said the bear firmly, skidding to a stop. Then, with a most regal bow, he said, “my name is Beartholomew, and…” His demeanor changed entirely. “I’m in an awful lot of trouble.”
“Bearth… Bearf…” Anna tried. But she couldn’t get the name out.
“Just call me Beary. Now quick, pack your suitcase, we have to get out of here.” He ran to the corner and pulled out a hefty suitcase. “Hey kid, you got bricks in here?”
“I was planning to run away,” Anna said.
“You’re felicitous then. I was too.”
“Feli… felici…”
“It means you’ve been blessed to have someone to run away with you.”
The suitcase began to mumble something.
“Your suitcase talks?” Beary was as surprised as Anna was. It continued mumbling something Beary couldn’t understand. “And it speaks French!”
The suitcase gulped and burped heartily. “Excuse me.”
“Oh great,” Beary said. “I think he just swallowed your clothes.”
“You have two someones,” the suitcase said. Those were the words he’d been trying to get out. “Sorry. I know it’s rude to talk with my mouth full. It just sort of felt necessary.”
“We need to get out of here,” Beary urged. “I couldn’t figure out what you’d done to deserve all this trouble from that wicked witch of the west type. So I did something for you.”
Anna wasn’t sure whether or not to thank him. It was very considerate if ill-conceived. Now she’d be in even more trouble. Her stomach grumbled at the thought of missing another meal.
She heard the footsteps ascending the stairs. Aunt Mavis’ footsteps even seemed angry.
“Quick!” Beary urged. “Under your bed. It’s the only way.”
Aunt Mavis had gotten really upset the last time she’d tried to hide under the bed. It was the first place Aunt Mavis had looked. It really didn’t seem like a very good idea.
“Trust me,” Beary said, pulling Anna by the hand. The suitcase slipped beneath the bed, leading the way.
They began to crawl. “Careful,” Beary said, “the dust bunnies will get you. They’re out to take over the world.”
Suddenly, a bright light appeared. It was a different sort of light than the dim lamp on her desk. It was brighter. It seemed almost like daylight.
Anna was afraid at first that she would climb right out of the other side of her bed.
Beary, however, kept crawling forward, and once on the other side, he shouted, “Kid, you gotta see this.”
Anna figured the bear was just as frightened of her aunt as her. And since he’d broken whatever it was that had Aunt Mavis so upset now, he had just as much reason to be. Of course, Aunt Mavis would never believe her it was Beary’s fault. Teddy bears generally don’t break things. And Anna knew who Aunt Mavis would blame. But she thought of how much she and Beary had been through together. Of course, for most of their adventures, Beary hadn’t said a word. And considering she’d once dragged him to the top of her very first slide at the playground, she supposed it was only fair that he should get to drag her around to an uncomfortable someplace for once.
She crawled out. The floor was covered in dust. Apparently the dust bunnies Beary had been so afraid of had escaped.
Anna stood, dusting herself off. She felt warm, as though she’d been wrapped in one too many blankets. Aunt Mavis hadn’t shared very many blankets, so it was a feeling of warmth she hadn’t experienced in quite a while. Not since before mama and papa… She shook the thought.
As she peered around, her eyes grew wider. They were standing in the base of a rocky canyon. This was the most sand she’d ever seen. Even the beach, where admittedly she hadn’t been in a very long while, hadn’t this much sand.
And the sky was bright pink, scattered with clouds that looked almost like cotton candy. There were too many pleasant memories. Anna wiped a familiar tear from her eye.
“Wow!” Beary said. “This is amazing.”
“What?” the suitcase said. “I don’t see anything.”
Of course, it wouldn’t. It was a suitcase.
Beary took hold of a whistle dangling around his neck. Anna didn’t recall seeing it before. She wondered if he might have acquired it from under the bed. She hadn’t seen much under the bed, but then it had been awfully dark.
“Where did you get that whistle?”
“It’s not a whistle,” Beary replied. “It’s an instant camera.”
“Instant camera? Don’t be silly.”
Beary glared at her. “Silly? I haven’t even started yet.” He blew on the whistle. Suddenly, a camera fell from the sky. Beary caught it in mid-air and snapped several shots of the surrounding mountains. Then he threw the camera off quite a ways into the distance.
“Don’t worry.” Beary shrugged. “I’ll get it later.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to have the camera around your neck?” the suitcase asked.
“Don’t over-think things,” Beary said. “It’ll make your brain hurt.” Beary thought that was a rather silly statement. Suitcases didn’t have brains. He flashed it a devious grin. Thank goodness it didn’t have eyes.
“Well,” Beary said, pulling a map out from under his arm and unfolding it carefully. Anna hadn’t noticed the map before. She was inclined to ask him about it, but then, Beary hadn’t really told her where he’d gotten the whistle, so she doubted he would tell her where he got the map.
“Uh-huh!” Bear said. “Hmm…”
“What is it?” Anna said.
“This canyon. It’s the Yuar Heer canyon.”
“Yuar Heer?” Anna asked. It seemed like a strange name for a canyon.
“Yep,” Beary replied. “See. It says so right on my map. Yuar heer. So that’s where we are. No good, no good, no good at all.”
“Why not? What’s wrong?” Anna asked.
“I want to be somewhere else,” Beary said.
The suitcase gasped. “What a horrible idea.”
“Why?”
“Because Aunt Mavis is somewhere else,” the suitcase replied. “If we go somewhere else, we might run into her.”
“Dear suitcase, you have nothing to worry about,” said Beary. “By the time we’re through. Aunt Mavis will be somewhere else. In fact, somewhere else entirely.”
The suitcase shivered, and its old rusty hinges creaked. “Not the somewhere else entirely!”
“Indeed,” Beary said. “But we have to get a move on. Because if we don’t. Aunt Mavis will no longer be somewhere else.”
“Where will she be?” asked the suitcase.
As a hideous purple hand reached out from under the rock they’d crawled out from, Beary said, “She’ll be here.”
The suitcase leapt up and landed heavily on the monstrous hand. The creature, whoever that hand belonged to, let out an infuriated cry. It sounded quite like Aunt Mavis had when Beary broke… whatever it was that Beary broke.
“We’d best get moving,” Beary said. “That monster sounds like she’s having a really bad day.”
“Right behind you,” said the suitcase.
