“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” wrote Neil Gaiman in his book “Coraline”.
Ironically, in my case the dragon was writing a fairy tail (a four hundred pages fairy tail mind you) which I hope to elongate into three books throughout my two IB years. I like to consider myself an aspiring writer and as such, I decided to explore this talent through a CAS experience that would challenge me into writing a full trilogy. This initiative started getting complicated from the moment I commenced to plan the character’s arches. Developing a character through one book is simple, through three novels… not so much. I had to think about three different arches for the main characters that would intertwine and connect the novels in a way that would not seem forced before I could start the writing process, and this was my dragon.
I would say that through CAS I committed myself to beat this “dragon” and I am incredibly proud of my work at this point and how I renovated my writing style and adapted the plot of the novel to a trilogy. In this project I have tried to implement all the characteristics that make me enjoy reading a book, this meant hours of writing and rewriting chapters until I was fully satisfied with my effort.
My book is a story about the characters not about the story itself, the premise is rather simple: three friends go to an enchanted castle to solve a mystery and end up discovering more than what they expected. Instead what truly shows my growth as a writer have been my characters and the ghostly atmosphere that I was able to achieve through perseverance and hard work.
To conclude this article I would like to say that it is our will to push through our boundaries that get us further in growing as individuals, this project wasn’t solely about writing, it was also about all the learning outcomes that we achieve through CAS. We do not know all the wonderful things we can do until we dare ourselves to try, and as Tolkien once wrote in my favorite trilogy: “Not all who wander are lost.”
Blanca Sancho Ibáñez
Student