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Jeni Hankins's avatar

Oh!!! Thank you! I love this. I am working through these very things with my children's story. I often find myself thinking back to books I've loved like "Stuart Little" and wondering when the "sequel" moments occurred. It's interesting because the movie versions of children's books really seem to squish these moments. One great exception is the Paddington films, especially when Paddington is up in his attic bedroom or in the jail thinking about Peru. I'm so grateful that you've given me some language for these moments and some structure for them. Thank you, Charlotte!

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Charlotte Rains Dixon, MFA's avatar

It's so cool that you are applying this to your children's story. I'll have to go read a few and see how it works with them. I wonder if the movies squish these moments because they think they have to keep kid's attention? Fun to think about.

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Jeni Hankins's avatar

I’m thinking the film story compression is to hold the attention of little ones. But it would be fun to reread a book like Stuart Little and compare to the film versions…..for a learning moment — you know, not necessarily because I’m really into animation and children’s books or anything like that 😂

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Suzanne's avatar

This is super helpful! You’re so good at explaining concepts. And any post where you can work in the word “sashay” will always be my favorite.💜

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Charlotte Rains Dixon, MFA's avatar

Aw, thanks Suzanne. And "sashay" has to be one of the best words ever!

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Maria's avatar

This came at such a timely moment! This is the exact issue I was struggling with on my work-in-progress today. I'm going to go back and see how I can use the structure of the sequel to make those scenes productive and interesting. Thanks for sharing!

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Charlotte Rains Dixon, MFA's avatar

Oh I am so glad it resonated! It's a thorny issue and so often difficult to figure out what in the hell is going wrong. I hope this really does help.

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Joanna Monahan's avatar

It’s like you’re in my head! Thank you for this post; I’ll be thinking of this tomorrow while I revise my opening scene some more.

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Charlotte Rains Dixon, MFA's avatar

Excellent. And I like those words "opening scene." Because....it must mean you are working on your next novel! Yay!

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