Before The Prince, there was Crusoe

The Prince is not my first attempt at publishing a story. No, it seemed I had wanted to tell stories since I was a kid, and I wasn't slowed down by physical plausibility, logical consistency or conventionally-accepted grammar.

And thanks to my Mom's meticulous memento-keeping habits, I have proof from the fabled days of middle school:

The whole book was done in pencil, then inked in red, blue and a bit of green. Apparently this would be the first of many thrilling adventures. I can't recall exactly how long it took, but it was many weeks.  If there was a mistake in the inked version, I would rewrite the whole page.

Ah, the classic "Once upon a time" opener. You can see the corrections I made using Wite-Out correction fluid, and my teacher's corrections in pencil.

The story moves quickly. By the second paragraph our protagonist Crusoe (any relation to a much better-known character ?) already received his task of slaying the dragon of Black Mountain. Ten-year-olds do not have time to lose. Don't let the fact that his horse is named "Jolly" fool you, this story is not a peaceful one. The action picked up quickly:

Then he said, "You are a very dangerous monster, I must kill you !!!" Crusoe drew his sword and fought bravely. But the Fire Dragon was very big and strong. Crusoe's strength was giving out and he fell to the ground.

As you can see, Crusoe was a man of action, a heroic figure who conveniently announces his intentions. Though perhaps he could have benefited from a bit more aerobic training, falling to the ground from exhaustion during a fight is a little embarrassing !

Black Mountain was clearly a metaphorical name, since the mountain is not colored in. (CORRECTION-- my Mom tells me I didn't want to color in the mountain, afraid that the page will bleed though and I will get ink all over myself).

More illustration. For a proudly talkative man, Crusoe had no visible mouth. Maybe he was doing a stoic stiff-upper-lip thing. It's also a bit odd that Crusoe faced *away* from the castle even though he had just arrived there. Maybe he was checking the surroundings to make sure he wouldn't be ambushed ?

A twist !!! The Fire Dragon turns out to be a prince who had been transformed by an evil wizard-prime minister Crome who usurped the throne after the prince's father died. Crusoe traveled to confront Crome at Richmon (not to be confused with the more conventional RichmonD!).

"But Crome was transformed [into] an owl and flew away. Crusoe took a bow, an arrow, and shot it. The owl fell down and it transformed into an egg. Crusoe broke the egg and it was transformed [into] a needle. Crusoe broke the needle and Crome was dead."

I'm sure this scene would have the budget of a small city if this was adapted into a JJ Abrams movie. If it was a Peter Jackson movie, it would be a small country.

An early attempt at cartography. I think I was getting impatient with the third act and needed to explain how Crusoe could get between places so quickly. Perhaps he had learned his lesson and built up aerobic capacity? He seemed to be walking everywhere, environmentally-friendly, but slow. I'm sure it's so he can keep his horse Jolly, well... jolly and just left him/her in the stable (CORRECTION-- Mom: "It's because you couldn't draw a horse !"). There were also an angel,  more transformations, and well... more violence.

After his adventure predictably ends happily, Crusoe was invited to administer the country he had just saved. I'm sure my parents were relieved that my career aspirations included civil service and not just vigilantism and poor transportation choices.

So there you have it. Thankfully I have since left illustration in Annie's much more capable hands, and my narrative skills have improved over the years.

See you next week, when Annie will write a post that will likely *not* involve dragons.