It has been a while since I've written a silly, funny picture book. I've written very few new picture books at all, and the ones I have written have been angry and gloomy. That's no good. But what to do? We all know that the very act of declaring, "I want to write a new, funny, awesome picture book" doesn't make it happen. You have to actually do the work.
"...but it went from being abstract notions to being particular, and therefore sort of flawed..."
Yes!
It's like those people that pin down butterflies. I mean, I couldn't do that (I trap and release spiders, even), but the idea that you can only see the "ideal" of the butterfly when it's flitting around, not the specifics of it. But to pin it down, means it's not beautiful in a flying way anymore--you've made it flawed--but you can see every part of it, in detail, and you can show it to someone else who wasn't with you when you saw it flittering around. Or something.
Hmm. This analogy isn't exactly working, because I don't want to compare a well-executed story to a dead (executed in another, more chilling way) butterfly. At least it's just a thought exercise--so maybe it's okay.*
*No butterflies were harmed in the making of this terrible simile.
"...but it went from being abstract notions to being particular, and therefore sort of flawed..."
Yes!
It's like those people that pin down butterflies. I mean, I couldn't do that (I trap and release spiders, even), but the idea that you can only see the "ideal" of the butterfly when it's flitting around, not the specifics of it. But to pin it down, means it's not beautiful in a flying way anymore--you've made it flawed--but you can see every part of it, in detail, and you can show it to someone else who wasn't with you when you saw it flittering around. Or something.
Hmm. This analogy isn't exactly working, because I don't want to compare a well-executed story to a dead (executed in another, more chilling way) butterfly. At least it's just a thought exercise--so maybe it's okay.*
*No butterflies were harmed in the making of this terrible simile.