Once upon a time … there was a man who could not stop writing fables. OK, not quite true, but I have just written three in a row.

I’ve never written a fable before. At last winter’s SCBWI conference in New York, Tomie dePaola Said to give it a try-find an old story and make it your own.

Myths, Fables, Legends, Tales, Fairy Tales, Allegories.I looked at many. I tried. I failed.

I couldn’t find any that interested me. We all know how hard it is to write a story for which you have no passion. Finally, I thought of a great idea for a fable about a sand dollar. While writing it, I forgot the ending. What? How does that happen? To this day I can’t remember, so it sits in my ever growing unfinished stories file.

Now, on my quest towards 52 first drafts, I have discovered fable writing. Now I have three. The first has that fable feel down in its soul. It is original, but it feels like one that has been passed down from generation to generation.

My second is far from original. While visiting the ancient Buddhist temple of Borobudur, I discovered its stories. The entire temple is covered with relief panels revealing the stories of Buddhism and history. Some of the reliefs tell fables and cautionary tales. The nearby temple of Mendut depicted many animal stories. I took notes on as many as I could. From these I chose my favorite. I used it to create my own version.

My most recent fable is another original. This one was inspired by the beautiful Merlion of Singapore. I did not try to tell the Merlion’s story, but was simply inspired by its form.

My fable discoveries:
-Fables feel more important that other stories; it’s that “passed down through the
generations” thing.
-Your lead characters don’t have to be kids.
-Speech becomes more formal.
-You really need to get to the point.
-You need to work hard at making the complicated, uncomplicated.
-You need to get the endings just right.
-The theme, moral or lesson has to be very clear throughout.

We’ll see if I’m on a role. Will another fable reveal itself next week? Will I remember the ending of my sand dollar fable? We’ll see.

… and we all lived happily ever after.