Have you ever had a teacher who made a profound difference in your life? How did they influence and/or inspire you?
My junior English teacher, Mrs. Trestrail, was the daughter of famous science fiction author E.E. (Doc) Smith. Here's what wikipedia says about her on Smith's page:
Verna Jean (later Verna Smith Trestrail), born August 25, 1920 in Michigan, his (Smith's) literary executor until her death in 1994. (Her son Kim Trestrail is now the executor.[13]) Robert A. Heinlein in part dedicated his 1982 novel Friday to Verna.[14]
Mrs. T not only taught Science Fiction short story and British short story classes in addition to English, she also brought in the galley pages for some of Smith's books when a publisher was preparing to reissue them. I'm not sure she ever realized what an effect that small look into the publishing world had on me, an aspiring fiction writer.
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ozma914- Mark Hunter
- Mark R. Hunter
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Now, although I've only committed a few notes to paper, I've been refining an idea in my mind for an Oz related book that will either be hailed as genius or get me kicked out of the fandom ...
It may be okay by you, but I'm not sure all Oz fans would feel the same! :-) While I accept Ozma/Dorothy as being possible, my Dorothy continued to look like she's 11 (and blonde, dammit!), so I'm not likely to go into R rated territory. But she's 120 or so, no matter how she looks, so who knows what she's experienced in all that time?
Oh, I wouldn't pressure you to get into R-rated territory. I'd think passionate kissing and above-the-waist, clothed touching would be fine, which is all that's acceptable in a story for a preteen/teen audience anyway. Have you read/watched "Interview with a Vampire"? Maybe Dorothy has run into some of the same issues as Claudia--who was only five physically!
I both read and watched "Interview with a Vampire", and I think they handled it very well. The thing is, Dorothy (and Claudia, at that point) is very much an adult, and can certainly do and say adult things, just as Betsy, Trot, and the other Oz "children" can. It's not a matter of doing anything wrong with the characters -- it's just a matter of considering what the readers can handle. That's one reason why I want to wait until I've achieved some fiction writing success before tackling my book idea -- so I both have a built in audience and some measure of credibility before people start jumping to conclusions about what I'm writing.