My Science School

Bestselling author Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic series is set to be adapted into a Netflix series in 2021. The upcoming adaptation will take on a more modem approach to Gaiman's best-selling graphic novel series, which ran for 75 issues from 1989 to 1996.

The fantasy series followed the adventures of Morpheus, or Dream, the Lord of the Dream World. The 11 episode series will focus on Morpheus after being imprisoned for 105 years as he sets out to restore order to his fallen kingdom and return to his realm.

Gaiman, who is co-creating the series, has been dropping hints on social media about what fans can look forward to in the series Gaiman will take on the role of co-creator for the series

Author bio

Hailed as the modem master of fairytales, Gaiman's work spans across genres and formats. He has written novels, short stories, non-fiction, graphic novels, comic books as well as audio theatre and films. His books appeal to adults and children alike.

"Sandman" begins

Gaiman started his career as a journalist reviewing books, before timing to writing full-time. One day while riding a train in London, he noticed a co passenger reading a comic by Alan Moore. The quirky style sparked his interest in comics and he started writing "Sandman" comics.

Popular works

 "Coraline": Published in 2002, this dark fantasy children's novella by Neil Gaiman is popular with children and adults alike. It traces the journey of the protagonist and the many adventures that are thrown up once she moves into a new flat.

"Good Omens": Written with acclaimed author Terry Pratchett, Good Omens is a comedy about the birth of Satan and the nearing of the end times. The apocalypse is near and so is the day of judgement. It is a delight to read the way things unfold thereafter.

"The Graveyard Book": The novel traces the story of a boy who was raised by ghosts and vampires. It is up to the protagonist to gather the meaning of life living among the dead.

 

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With lives getting busier and attention spans getting shorter long meandering fiction is a luxury few can afford. This has increased the popularity of microfiction. Stories written with extremely short word counts, often as little as 50 words, "Microfiction is here to stay." Meenakshi Gautam Chaturvedi, an internationally acclaimed author tells The Hindu In School.

Based in Mumbai, Chaturvedi writes across genres. Her new book The Moon Cake" is a read aloud picture book, a vividly illustrated fairy tale which introduces children to nature besides kindling their curiosity to ask questions. Chaturvedi is also the author of "The Runaway Moon", "The Corporate Jungle Book", "Tales from Bushland", and Tales of Phoolpur."

A graduate in Zoology from the Institute of Science, Nagpur, she won a University Grants Commission Junior Research Fellowship and took up research for two years, but she wanted to do more than just dissect animals. While in college, she wrote her first piece of fiction, which was published in a local newspaper. She relocated to Mumbai and began her copywriting career with Lintas.

Having written across varied media from television commercials and radio to novels, Chaturvedi considers microfiction to be the future of children's literature.

In a candid chat the author talks about her love for writing and the rise of microfiction.

How did you get your start in writing? Were you a bookworm in school?

I guess I was born to write, only I discovered it much later. I remember reading up anything and everything that I could find including the writing on paper bags. When I was a child, I saw the "Adventures of Peter Pan" (by J.M Bamie) displayed in a showcase at a bookstore in Kashmir. I was in Class III. When my parents refused to buy it. I remember throwing a tantrum something I rarely did as a child. in school, I was a total bookworm. I would walk across from one end of the school to the other to spend the mid morning breaks in the library. I would finish reading all my English course books as soon as I got my hands on them.

However, coming from a family of doctors. (my great grandfather was a Rai Bahadur, a civil surgeon) I was supposed to opt for science and I did. Even won a UGC fellowship and spent two years on research. Later following my heart. I took up writing women's and children's fiction and started my professional career as a copywriter with Lintas. But continued to write on my Commutes to work.

What is microfiction? Is microfiction the future of literature, especially with attention spans shrinking?

To cut a long story short microfiction comes straight to the point giving the essence of the story or a life-changing experience. Microfiction is here to stay. As lives get busier and people are pressed for time, long meandering fiction is a luxury few can afford. So yes, microfiction is the future.

You write across multiple genres. Why did you choose to write microfiction?

In my early years of writing. I was always in a hurry to reach the conclusion of a story. So microfiction suited me best. It was much later that I began writing novels. However, literary microfiction is only one aspect of my writing. I mostly switch genres to overcome writers block. I feel I haven't lived the day if I don't write.

The current COVID-19 pandemic is sure to have far reaching effects on the human mind and behaviour. Has it affected the way you write?

I think authors are one of the few people who have been least affected by the pandemic Since writers are anyway used to staying indoors and writing, the lockdown didn't make much of a difference to us. I am addicted to writing and I can write anytime, anywhere. I once came up with an idea for a story when I was in the Intensive Care Unit for dengue. In semi-conscious state, I heard the doctor say that my dengue could lead to a haemorrhage, but I was busy thinking about how terrorism is like young blood going into wrong places. The moment I was shifted to the ward I asked for my laptop and started writing

What are you working on currently?

After "The Moon Cake: A Fairy Tale". I am currently working on another picture book titled "Corona and the Little Girl and I am planning to work on a graphic novel next.

 

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Ready for some Goosebumps?

RL Stine published more than 62 books in the eerily bizarre "Goosebumps" series. The stories follow child characters, who find themselves in scary situations, usually involving monsters and other supernatural elements. Each book is creepier than the next. Young adults can also follow the "Fear Street" series in which spine-chilling events unfold in Shadyside.

Dementors

The guards of Azkaban, dementors are among the most fearsome among creatures in the "Harry Potter series. They are able to drain all the happy memories out of a person, and even suck out the soul through their kiss And the only way to drive away these ghastly creatures is by producing a strong patronus.

Coraline

Neil Gaiman's dark fantasy novel "Caroline", will leave you spooked. A young, inquisitive girl when exploring her new apartment, Coraline discovers a tiny door that contains an alternate universe in which her parents and her life are exactly as she wants them to be - besides the buttons they have sewn into their eyes. It was adapted into an animated film in 2009 by Henny Selick.

Ghosts from the past

"Ghosts don't require passports. They can turn up without papers in the most unexpected places," reads the book jacket of Ruskin Bond's "Ghost Stories from the Raj." And indeed, Bond has found ghosts from as far back as the British Raj! Bond's interest in the supernatural led him to collect ghost stories from different parts of the world, This book contains 19 short stories written by British officials and travellers during the 19th and 20th Centuries. It even includes tales by Rudyard Kipling.

Pennywise the dancing clown

Do you have a fear of clowns? Then you must read Stephen King's "IT"- a cult classic. The story follows seven children who fight the evil entity that exploits the fears of its victims to disguise itself while hunting its prey. Other hair-raising stories from the horror meister are "Pet Semetary" "The Shining", "Children of the Corn" and "Salem's Lot".

 

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Tales from a galaxy far, far away....

On May 25, 1977, a low-budget science fiction film opened in just 32 movie theatres across the United States. The film. Packed with strange characters such as lightsaber-wielding Jedis and Wookiees, surprisingly caught the public imagination and broke all box office records across the country. That film was none other than the cult classic "Star Wars".

Forty-three years later, the space saga is still going strong with Disney's film and television adaptations. But what exactly did filmmaker George Lucas have in mind when he conceived this timeless series and what did he intend for its characters in the future? That's exactly what a just "Star Wars" companion book "Star Wars Fascinating Facts" written by Pablo Hidalgo reveals.

Disney's film adaptations of "Star Wars" have received mixed reviews from fans over the years. One of the most debated topics was Luke Skywalkers death in director Rian Johnson's 2017 film 'The Last Jedi". It showed the Jedi fading away after expending all his energy. Much to the surprise of the fans, Hidalgo's book states that Lucas loo wanted to kill the character in his original plan for "Star Wars 8" (also known as Episode VIII), which was set Around the same time as that of the film.

Who was George Lucas?

George Lucas Walton Jr. was born in a small town of Modesto in California on May 14, 1944. From a young age. Lucas wanted to become a professional race car driver. But a near fatal car racing accident altered his aspirations and forced him to pursue other interests. He began filming car races, which gradually got him interested in filmmaking. He created classics such as Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones”.

In 1971, he founded Lucasfilm, the parent company of the Pixar Animation Studios. Many of Pars creative geniuses used to work at Lucasfilm.

How it began

Contrary to the science fiction films of the time. Lucas wanted to make something light for young adults. So. he began working on the space drama Star Wars". But its production proved to be tumultuous. From budget constraints and health issues to natural disasters, Lucas had to overcome several odds along the way. On the first day of filming "A New Hope", a huge Tunisian storm destroyed the set and delayed shooting and some of the electronic equipment malfunctioned. To make matters worse, actor Mark Hamil was injured in an accident towards the end of production. That's not all, Lucas had an equally tough time finding producers for the film. It was turned down by major studios such as United Artists and Universal But an undeterred Lucas finally managed to convince 20th Century Fox to invest in the film.

OH REALLY?

"Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" became two of the world's most successful film franchises, paving the way for the others such as "Harry Potter and "Marvel". Today, Lucas is worth an estimated $6.1 billion. But in 2010, the billionaire signed the Giving Pledge, which is a promise to give away half his wealth. During his lifetime. He was particularly interested in donating it to the cause of education.

 

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Don't have time to sit with a book for hours? Here comes microfiction to the rescue.

As attention spans are getting shorter, a new form of story-telling has emerged. One which prides itself on brevity and simplicity. To cut a long story short, microfiction uses the least number of words, sometimes no more than 50, to tell a story.

Really tiny tales

Authors excelling in this format can cram entire universes and tell gripping stories complete with a beginning, middle and an end in just a few words.

Find it hard to believe? Here's a famous six-word short story allegedly written by Ernest Hemingway: "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn." In spite of being perfectly compact manages to paint a complete picture of thwarted desire and elicit strong feelings from the reader. Hemingway wrote 18 pieces of microfiction in his short story collection "In Our Time."

Authors such as Virginia Woolf, O. Henry. Joyce Carol Oates, Arthur C. Clarke, H.P. Lovecraft, and Franz Kafka are also renowned for their microfiction.

Example

Today, Neil Gaiman is known for his flash fiction. Here's an excerpt from his popular work "Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fiction and Illusions":

"Nicholas Was...older than sin, and his beard could grow no whiter. He wanted to die.

The dwarfish natives of the Arctic caverns did not speak his language but conversed in their own, twittering tongue, conducted incomprehensible rituals, when they were not actually working in the factories

Once every year they forced him, sobbing and protesting into Endless Night. During the journey he would stand near every child in the world, leave one of the dwarves invisible gifts by its bedside. The children slept frozen into time.

He envied Prometheus and Loki, Sisyphus and Judas. His punishment was harsher.

Ho, Ho, Ho."

When less is more

Also called flash fiction, this form of story-telling has existed for many years, but has seen resurgence with the rise of microblogging sites such as Twitter and Instagram.

Authors are creating tiny tales to fit into the scant character limits of the social media platforms. The results can spark your imagination. Every word is carefully chosen for both style and content, with little room for niceties of long-form writing. Writing microfiction is like a contortionist trying to fit inside a suitcase. After all, as Shakespeare put it "Brevity is the soul of wit".

 

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