For the Grown-Ups

Where Do the Stories Come From?

There are a few ways to answer that question.

We can all share in the first answer – living our life. All the stories in the five original story series have some connection to daily life in the Sewell McCann household. Martin and Sylvia, though different in many ways, are culled from the ordinary (and magical) events of our life in Northern Vermont. Our older boy loves books and inventions and projects. Our younger boy (boy, not girl) loves imaginative play, costumes, and relating.

Many of the So Many Fairies and By Thistle By Thimble stories are inspired by thresholds or challenges that our children (or their parents) are facing. Moving to a new home, death of a beloved pet, teasing by peers, how to share a toy – these things we have met and continue to meet. And we meet them with story.

Then – some of the stories begin with an image. Like a By Thistle By Thimble story from a few weeks ago called “The Cellar in the Woods.”

The story is about how two brothers find the remnants of an old car in the middle of the woods outside their house. At least that is where the story started. As you can see, the story comes out of a real experience.

Then the story began to take form. This is the second answer to the question “where do the stories come from?” They come from the infinite wisdom that surrounds the storyteller at all times. This wisdom is always available and ready to offer just the right image or notion or piece of dialogue that will turn something personal into something universal. The trick is to listen.

So, I listened and the story took form. It became about a cellar hole adjacent to the old car. It became about a house gnome who wished to replace something missing in the old house that once sat on that cellar hole and now sits in town as a museum. It became a story about restoring integrity.

And this is what my boys experienced, as I reflect on the way they related to the old car in the woods. They started piecing it back together: not physically with all the rusted bits of metal scattered about the woods – but in their imagination. They dreamed the car back together, where it became whole again – complete with all the stories that took place within and around it.

With these two sources of inspiration, the storyteller will never run out of stories to tell. What an abundant business to be in!

You can hear the story "The Cellar in the Woods" by subscribing or purchasing the entire season of By Thistle By Thimble in our store.