Once upon a time there was a fuzzy little elephant, who had a gray trunk and tail and ears. She was a Happy little elephant, she lived in the woods all by herself. the end.
I wrote and illustrated this epic in first grade (age 6), and must give major thanks to my mother for saving it so that I could have the data-driven benefit of this early sample of writing and illustration. (Also so I could have the amusement.) I’ve found that it’s helpful to share this story with third and fourth graders when I do classroom visits about writing. I ask the children, “What is this story missing?” It’s got setting: the forest. It’s got character: the little elephant, about whom we actually learn quite a bit. I could perhaps even argue that it’s got theme: the value of solitude. But what it’s missing, as students can gleefully point out after a little reflection, is conflict. Had I introduced a tropical storm, loneliness, hunger, poachers, or a lost left sock, I might have had the makings of a real-page-turner. That is, if I’d managed to go on to a second page. But without conflict, there is simply no plot. To keep a plot going, you have to keep adding conflict. No fictional elephant should ever be as content as mine until the final page. (To be fair, my elephant isn’t content until the final page, either…)
This probably reveals something about my own predilections: I suppose it’s true that to this day I love character and setting, but still don’t care for too much conflict! But the lesson that any avid reader and developing writer soon learns is that a story can’t be about the perfect way things ought to be. It can only be about getting there. And that makes sense, because it so happens that our world is not yet perfect, but we can always be the kinds of characters in our own settings who work on getting there.
[Picture: Title page and illustration of The Happy Little Elephant by AEGN, 1976 or 7.]
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