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When I was five or six years old, I thought: What if I'd been born an elephant, or duck? It could have happened! To be a duck — to fly, to swim — how wonderful! I wished I were a duck. Then someone said, "But there are hunters in the world, and hunters shoot ducks down."
Imagining how it might feel to be an elephant or duck is thinking oneself into other lives. And isn't that what writers do?
Other signs that I'd perhaps grow up to be a children's writer: I craved stories, never had enough, couldn't wait to learn the alphabet
and start writing stories of my own.
My first story was about a hunter (not of ducks, of deer, and such). He lived in the woods. I've forgotten the plot, if any. I do
remember that I stuck in commas not just after every word but after every letter. Funny though it looked, my mother did not laugh, and said she liked it. Her praise inspired me. I wrote more stories.
Another was about a dwarf who lived inside a bluebell. The bluebell was his home and also his best friend.
Still another story, pretty long (I wrote one chapter nightly for a week or so) told the adventures of two dolls who didn't like their
girl and ran away.
I lived in Vienna, Austria till I was nine. One day my sister, our nanny, and I were walking alongside the Danube Canal and my sister
announced, "I'm going to the movies later. And you're not." "That's not fair! I want to go!" "You can't, you are too young." I stamped my foot, my face grew hot, I burned with envy, rage, desire. Then and there I made a pledge:"I'll always remember exactly how I feel right now."
Impossible, of course. But we all try, because when children's writers don't remember from the inside how things felt, we get preachy,
we get boring, our writing goes awry.
What is it that inspires us?
The ancient Greeks believed the Muse, a goddess of the arts, inspired (literally, breathed) words, whole songs into a poet's ear.
For us now, inspiration comes from many sources. Encouragement can bring it on. Or someone we admire, an agent or an editor, suggests a
topic, and the topic catches fire. For me, it's leaving myself open, ready for I-don't-know-what. And with luck, at four A.M., or when I take a bath, or do the dishes, or watch birds in Central Park —
flash! Suddenly there's an idea... Well, really just a glimpse of one. But how it glows and beckons! And for a blessed interval, before I face up to the problems and sheer hard work ahead, I bask in
feeling certain that I'm on to something I was born to write.
Or, an earlier interest can return and bloom. In high school I loved reading about ancient Greece, especially its heroines and splendid
goddesses. This love has reignited and inspired these four books:
The Princess and the God (Orchard Books)— A novel in beautiful Psyche's voice, about the "monster"
who claimed her — who proved to be none other than Eros, god of love.
We Goddesses: Athena,
Aphrodite, Hera (DK Publishing)— three goddesses' life stories, told with due respect to ancient sources, but in a new way, by the goddesses themselves.
Ariadne, Awake! (Viking)— In most standard myth retellings Ariadne is a footnote to the hero Theseus's
exploits. My version, re-imagined, tries to do justice to this fascinating Cretan princess as a heroine in her own right.
The Magic Circle (forthcoming) — a fresh look (again, respecting ancient sources) at two pairs of
mother-daughter goddesses: 1) the Titaness Leto and Artemis, goddess of wild creatures and of hunting; 2) the grain goddess Demeter and Persephone whom
Hades, ruler of the Underworld, carried off to be his queen. •
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About the Author:
Doris Orgel was born in Vienna, Austria; came to the U.S. as a child; is an alumna of Barnard College; married
to Dr. Shelley Orgel; has three children: Paul, Laura, and Jeremy; two daughters-in-law: Sharon Lamb and Ling Chen Orgel; three grandchildren: Willy, Jennifer, and Julian; and three
granddogs: Woof, Buster, and Otto. She lives in New York and is a full-time children's writer.
Other Books:
The Devil in Vienna (Viking)
The Lion and the Mouse (DK Publishing)
Sarah's Room (Harper & Row)
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