The other day I watched Saving Mr Banks with my film club.
Later we had much to discuss about author P.L. Travers and her difficult relationship with Walt Disney throughout his quest to get her to sell him the film rights to her Mary Poppins books.
During our discussion we considered the curious fact that many great children’s authors do have a tragedy in their background, often the death of a parent or a sibling which created trauma. In fact one of our number, who is herself a prolific traditionally published children’s author, reported that she attended a children’s writing conference, and one of her readers said to her: “I’d love to be a successful children’s author, but I don’t think I can, because I haven’t experienced the death of a parent when I was young.”
As I thought about P.L. Travers and her enduring pain about the death of her father, which fed into her character George Banks, and led her to create the magical figure of Mary Poppins who would somehow redeem him, I thought of other great children’s authors who also wrote immortal fiction out of their pain and tragedy; or out of their own inner demons.
We can immediately think of JM Barrie and Peter Pan; of AA Milne and Christopher Robin; and of course Lewis Carroll and Alice.
Several weeks ago I listened to a BBC Radio 4 programme about Lewis Carroll, and the evidence of his unhealthy interest in little girls, and how he strove to control and manage this (with greater or lesser success at different times). It was also interesting that his own family destroyed certain personal documents to save his future reputation, including vital diaries and letters written around the time he was intensely involved with Alice and her sisters.
As I was listening to this, I found myself reflecting on what Lewis Carroll had created out of his own personal demons. Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass will be remembered and loved for as long as there are children around to read stories, and will always testify to Charles Dodgson’s supple genius, making the little girl who inspired him immortal.
A second element of the story is the real Alice herself, and how in her subsequent life she handled this unlooked-for literary ‘immortality’. Again there is a strong element of sadness there. The older Alice, perhaps, was haunted by a feeling that she had not lived her life in a way truly worthy of the sassy little girl she had once been, who had inspired a creative genius to create a classic of children’s literature.
Life changes, people change, but one thing does not change: the power of the creative imagination.
scskillman.com 
And so the challenge? How to create an amazing character loved by millions, without either being, or becoming, a sad person. 🙂
I certainly hope you meet the challenge, Philip! With great children’s authors it seems to be either struggling with inner demons or the death of a parent when young, which recurs so often. JRR Tolkien’s mother died when he was age 10, and CS Lewis lost his father at the age of 4 and his mother at the age of 12. Authors can often be unwilling to reveal the true source of their inspiration in their biographical details; it can run so deep. P.L. Travers was definitely unwilling to talk about it, and I do have empathy with that viewpoint. Even acknowledging all this, may the heroine of your own novels catch the imagination of millions, Philip!
Thanks, Sheila, and I hope so too! Kat has caught my imagination anyway, and that’s enough for me. But I wonder whether the grim tone of much that is written these days stems from too many people leading miserable lives. So I always try to include a bit of humour in my stories, to bring a lighter touch, and make them more enjoyable (I hope).