Kim Batchelor

Writer of magical realism and other imaginative fiction

Harvest Moon: A Storytelling Blog

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Harvest Moon (compressed)It appears in those moments between waking and sleep. Or slips into a dream. It lurks in the shadow of a corner. A brief conversation overheard gives it a voice. A man sitting alone on a bus wears it. A woman’s face behind heavy makeup shouts it into being.

A story.

Some say that writers write because they have to. I believe that writers write because they have stories that have to be told. And they can’t stop themselves. Those stories that gnaw at me are why I set aside time every day to put words to paper. Writers have to write down those stories that dredge emotions from us, scenes that make us cry, relationships that make us laugh, and, often, situations and conditions that provoke in us rages small and large.

When I decided I wanted to post regularly, to communicate with my readers—current and future— I didn’t want to talk about myself (although I’m sure one might find my ramblings profound and scintillating and, frankly, life-altering to the point you will never be the same).  Instead, I want to know what forms the fuel of inspiration and imagination plays in the creative process by talking to a range of people with ample imaginations. Okay, occasionally I may indulge in sharing my own ruminations. But mostly I want an excuse to hear from creative storytellers, in all the forms their storytelling takes.

The blog is represented by this photo of the “Harvest Moon” originally posted on Facebook by Anna Maria Gardner. This and two other of Anna’s photos inspired me to want to ask her about how these photos speak to her differently than they speak to me. One of the photos inspired a story I’ll be posting on the web site for my children’s book, The Island of Lost Children. There you’ll find the occasional “Five Minute Bedtime Story” as well as blog posts from the characters in the book. I’ve already approached a couple of writers, one of whom draws from the same source for her material as I have, but who approached it in a very different way. I have in mind a new animator who just revealed a very funny project. And songwriters.

Most of all, I want to have fun and occasionally be moved. And, yes, even inspired. So join me on a flight to the moon of harvesting stories every week or so. Who knows where we’ll end up at the end of the flight.

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Peter Pan and Wendy in a Modern Neverland

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1My writing a story based on Peter Pan has its origins in my childhood. When I was about 8 years old, I convinced my younger sister and my friend Charlotte that I could read the secret messages that Peter Pan left in the sidewalk in front of our childhood home. They frankly weren’t buying it. I, on the other hand, believed my own made-up

I have to admit a soft spot for the story well into adulthood. After writing the middle grade novel, The Mists of Na Crainn, I decided to continue writing for children when the story of a girl forced to grow up too soon, meets the boy who never grows up, appeared somewhere in my imagination. A new Peter Pan and Wendy Darling for our times.

In my childhood, I loved the idea of flying and a faraway place where children are in charge, where small creatures flit about and light up the night sky. As an adult, I have to admit that world still fascinates me.

But beyond simply retelling the story of a modern Peter Pan, a boy who doesn’t grow up, I wanted to create a Wendy Darling who is not simply the surrogate mother who flew to Neverland. The Wendy in Lost Children is a girl who had to care for her brothers JJ and Michael, who’s on the autism spectrum while her parents work several jobs to make ends meet.

I look forward to releasing the book sometime in the never-distant future and I hope that you will return to find out how to get a copy. Just as an FYI: I no longer receive and interpret communication from Never Never Land.

Update: The Island of Lost Children is now available in hardback, paperback, and as an ebook for various platforms. For more information, check out the book’s page.

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Paris and a Woman Looking for Love

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Looking over my website, you might ask “What’s the obsession with Paris? Never mind that I also have a minor obsession with gargoyles. I’ll save that for another blog post.

If you’ve ever been to Paris, you probably know why I decided to write a series of stories about the place. It is beautiful, sometimes exasperating. The waiter tossing a cup onto the wrought iron table in Part III of “Paris Diaries” comes from real experience. In the waiter’s defense, my beloved husband likes to puree French and the Spanish he’s fluent in into a completely new language and use it liberally.

In addition to the bustling life of the city, I find two of its cemeteries the most interesting I’ve ever visited: Père Lachaise and the Cimetière du Montparnasse. The lattter is where Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre lie side-by-side in repose. In the Cimetière du Montparnasse, my Sprench-speaking spouse was surprised to come upon the grave of a notable person from the Dominican Republic where he once lived. And even though other cemeteries I’ve visited have more interesting structures–the cemetery in Santiago, Chile immediately comes to mind–no other I’ve been to has housed so many notable as well.

I love the museums, especially the Musée D’Orsay. My new favorite in the museum category is the Quai Branly, not only because I like the exhibits from many cultures, but it has a river of words at its entrance and a fantastic vertical garden on the side.

I love writing about Paris so much that there’s always the possibility that I will continue the saga of Madolyn. Perhaps she returns to her auditing job but for a different restaurant chain after a hostile takeover while she was abroad. Maybe she pays off her debts and moves back to Paris to help establish the city’s first TGI Friday’s. I see possibilities in a story of a trip to the cemetery, an odd encounter with someone who tends the vertical garden, or an unfortunate career move when Bridget becomes one of those people who wanders the paths of the Tuilleries Gardens looking for unsuspecting tourists and tries to convince them that they’ve’ve dropped a valuable ring.

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Welcome.

I write for children. I write for adults. I write fiction short and long, real and fantastical, foreign and domestic.

Here you'll find my stories and links to my novels.

Thanks for stopping by, and pick up a snack on the way out.

Copyright Kim Batchelor