Tag Archives: neil gaiman

Writing Inspiration: Your Favorite Classic

22 May

Trigger Warning
Fan fiction is a popular activity online with whole communities of writers sharing works based on their favorite stories and films.  I have been running a weekly short story discussion through Discord where we discuss stories from Neil Gaiman’s terrific Trigger Warning collection (we have some really great discussions so you should join us if you are available on Friday afternoons) and some of our favorites are stories that have been inspired by other works such as “The Case of Death and Honey” featuring Sherlock Holmes or “Nothing O’Clock” set in the world of Dr Who, which we are discussing today at 2 O’Clock.

For Today’s Writing Prompt think of your favorite classic story (no longer in copyright means you don’t have to worry about intellectual property issues that pop up if you want to publish your piece).  What could have happened if the story had been set in a different time period or was told from a different character’s perspective?  An example of this would be Wicked, told from the perspective of the “Wicked” Witch from The Wizard of Oz.  Maybe you didn’t like the end of a story and you want to give it a “better” one.  Maybe a romance should have happened that did not.  Perhaps as your story unfolds it will lead to something more original and you will find your own characters or world lurking in the works of your favorite author’s.

This is a fun prompt for poets too.  I’ve written several poems inspired by other poets including one inspired by “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” by Wallace Stevens.

Gaiman says in the opening to Trigger Warning, “Writers live in houses other people built…[those who] built Speculative Fiction, always leaving the building unfinished so the people who came by after they were gone could put on another room, or another story.”

If you love Gaiman’s work as much as I do, check out our next post on Monday about Coraline.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Head of Information and Digital Services

 

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Halloween Horror Reads for Teens

30 Oct

There is no better way to get into the Halloween spirit then to borrow some Horror-themed YA reads for FREE at the Hoboken Public Library. Below are four suggested reads that are great for Halloween, Day of the Dead, and even all year round. If you like to feel the anxiety and adrenaline that comes with being a little scared and comfortable at home, CHECK OUT these awesome reads!

Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds
by Gwenda Bond
Stranger Things Suspicious Minds
The hit thriller Netflix series has a prequel!!! In the series, we are familiar with curious characters like Eleven. Like most things in the series, Eleven’s past is still a mystery. This book investigates Eleven’s mother’s past and the moments that set things in motion for the original series. The author, Gwenda Bond, makes the story her own with respect to the show by introducing new characters and following along with the original story. If you are a fan of Stranger Things, this is the book for you.

For Grades: Middle and High School

Theme: Science Fiction, Horror, Paranormal, Mystery, Horror

Coraline
by Neil Gaiman
Coraline
Leaving your friends and moving away is tough, and there are no siblings to bother in Caroline’s case. She is not afraid to tell her parents that it was not fair that they had to move. But her parents do not care to acknowledge it or her for that matter. She is the only kid in the building of weird neighbors like Mr. Bobo, the mouse trainer, and Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, the building’s fortune-tellers. Even they could not keep boredom away. She counted the windows and the doors to fill in time but stumbles on a small door in the wall. This door happens to open to another dimension where the “other mother” lived. The other mother was the replica of her birth mother, except she gave her the attention she craved, and she had the TWO BLACK BUTTONS for eyes. The reader can get a virtual taste of the story’s setting through the black and white illustrations sporadically throughout the book. Coraline could not wait to go through the door and hang out with her “other mother and father.” But the day came when the “other mother” asked her to stay with her at the price of letting her sew buttons into Coraline’s eyes. Coraline escapes, the other mother is not happy, and kidnaps her birth parents. What can Coraline do now?  You can also borrow the movie adaptation.  You can also check out a previous post about Neil Gaiman here.

Grades: Middle and High School

Theme: Paranormal, Horror, Graphic Novels

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
by Ransom Riggs
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
In Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Jacob grew up listening to his grandfather, Abraham’s, stories. He told stories of surviving monsters of human and mystical forms during World War II. Jacob always looked up to him, but as he grew into a teenager, he started to doubt his grandfather’s stories where true. When his grandfather is found brutally murdered, he ventures out to the island setting of his grandfather’s stories to find out more about him and his death. He stumbles upon to an orphanage of children with peculiar abilities. There is a boy with bees in of him and a floating girl which are displayed in old fashioned style pictures throughout the book. Little did he know was that his presence made the children valuable to the murderous monster’s that lark in the shadows.  A movie adaptation is also available.

Grades: Middle and High School

Theme: Orphanages, Mystery, Supernatural, Monsters

Thornhill
by Pam Smy
Thornhill
The Thornhill orphanage intertwines the lives of two girls. Mary was a mistreated orphan of Thornhill 35 years before Ella moved into the neighborhood. How do they connect all those years apart? The secret is a diary and dolls! In this book of traditional text and haunting grayscale illustrations, the reader cannot help but wonder what became of Mary and if she wants Ella to join her.

Grades: Middle and High School

Theme: Bullying, Orphanages, Ghosts, Supernatural

By Elbie A. Love
Young Adult Library Associate

Want more Halloween suggestions?  Check out our Halloween Urban Fantasy post and favorite Horror movies.

 

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