Kim Batchelor

Writer of magical realism and other imaginative fiction

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Jan 16 2014

The Mystery in the Moon-lit Sky

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Photo by Lela Shook Paksoy
Photo by Lela Shook Paksoy

I’m partial to the moon. Not much of a surprise for those people who know me and I’m not unique in this partiality. I’ll never forget seeing the white orb for the first time through a telescope and being in awe of the fact that a heavenly body hung so seemingly close to where I stood that night. And I’m amazed by the dazzling full moons that sit just above the horizon, interrupting whatever thoughts are running through my head at that moment. The first novel I wrote had the title, Water from the Moon, borrowing a line from the movie, The Year of Living Dangerously—something you can never have. And if I see a moon on a book cover, I’m immediately drawn to it, which is why I put one on the cover of my first book.

 I notice this more in summer, but not exclusively. Just the other evening, after a string of bitter cold nights, I stood in my backyard and felt that something that’s almost indescribable. Or maybe it is describable. This is what I wrote from the perspective of my Wendy character in The Island of Lost Children:

 [Wendy] sensed old spirits pressed into the cracks of their brick walls as she passed them. And if she took her time and the night began to fall and the moon hung silver over them, something outside the world she lived in but not really frightening hovered near her. She didn’t need to look up to know it was there.

 Some nights, though, have a feature that doesn’t require a moon, a mystery more mysterious without its light. My grandparents lived in a place and at a time when light pollution wasn’t a consideration and when I was young, elementary age, I recall the mystery in that near-solid darkness. Objects around me appeared as the slightest silver, as if they drank up every bit of light from the stars, if they could be seen at all. That included all of us, my sister and cousin and I on the swing set, dipping and rising through the sea of evening. Something outside this world but not really frightening hovering nearby.

 I’m convinced that all fairy tales are born in those moments of pure darkness or those saturated with pure moonlight. All stories of danger and wonder and full of the fantastical.

 One last image I have of night that’s been in my head since I was very young: I’m standing in a neighborhood of brick houses looking down a street at a full moon. It is very late (or perhaps very, very early) and everything is tinged with moonlight. I’m not sure where that street leads and what that moon illuminates, but even though I suspect I’ll never know the answer for sure, I believe that’s the place where I’ll find all the stories I want to tell.

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Written by Kim · Categorized: Creativity, Featured, Imagination, Inspiration, Moon, Night · Tagged: featured

Jan 11 2014

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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Written by Kim · Categorized: Creativity, Fantasy, Featured, Imagination, Inspiration, Storytelling, Writers, Writing · Tagged: imagination, inspiration, Storytelling

May 28 2013

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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Written by Kim · Categorized: Children's Books, Fantasy, Neverland, Novels, Peter Pan, Wendy Darling · Tagged: featured, Never Never Land, Peter and Wendy, Peter Pan

May 16 2013

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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Written by Kim · Categorized: Featured, Paris, Stories · Tagged: Cimetière du Montparnasse, featured, Musee D'Orsay, Père Lachaise, Quai Branly Museum, Tuilleries Gardens

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