GOOD news that there is a new national competition for British writers between the age of 5 and 25 -- no other competition has anything like that range and I especially like the Gregory Maguire Award, a special category for 17 to 25 year olds. The task is to re-work an old story, give it a new slant - just as he did when he wrote Wicked from the perspective of the wicked witch of the west from the Wizard of Oz.
I often set an exercise along these lines in class.
Last term I used Hansel and Gretal because I wanted to explore Kurt Vonnegut's advice: you should start a story as near to the end as possible.
Every student was told where to begin their tale...such as
- alone in the forest
- finding the gingerbread house
- Gretal shoving the witch into the oven
The wicked caricature of fairy tale was transformed into a powerless and vulnerable woman
trying to save the children from the real danger at home - a violent and authoritarian father.
It was powerful writing but I have a horrible feeling that the student might miss the 25 year old age limit by a whisker.
Never mind, good writing is good writing, even if it doesn't fit into a competition category
