Back in 2012, I participated in the first Chapter Book Challenge. This was one of the first writing challenges I did when I got back to writing fiction. The goal was simple, to write a draft of a novel for children in a month.
I wrote a story where a kid named James went back in time to see a magic lantern show.
If you don’t know what a magic lantern is, it’s the first form of mass communication, a bit like a data projector. I was introduced to them when I was a child and wanted more people to know about them, so I wrote this story. It was a great story, the main problem was that I didn’t know why he went on the adventure. At the time, I asked my kids and one replied ‘But history is cool’. Great answer, but not all kids would think that, so it took a back seat while I worked on other stories.
Earlier this year, the writing bug hit again and I had a brainwave. What if this kid has to do a school project and his ‘research’ starts by going on this adventure? It could also open up his curiosity and help him discover that history is cool (as my kids expressed it). So I dusted off my old manuscript and started rewriting.
Along with James’ story, I have added in a chaotic best friend called Andy and a magical librarian. I also made James scared of presentation and he learns some tips from Bill, the magic lantern operator, on how to do a presentation. With all this in mind, I spent the last few days typing all this up, and tonight I finished this draft! It’s been 14 years in the making!
Now, I am letting it rest before showing it to my 9 year-old nephew. He was a huge help with Lilly’s Library, and I’m sure will give me some invaluable feedback for this one. I especially want to see if my descriptions of the magic lantern make sense to him, I’m not sure if he’s ever seen one.
I’m quite excited about this story. It has a special place in my heart, not least because it was one of the first stories I finished when I rediscovered my love of writing fiction.
Watch this space for more about this book. I’m now on a hunt for some clip art images of magic lanterns…
