Stories represented in "Once Upon a Time" (as of 3x19)

1. Snow White
2. Pinocchio
3. Little Red Riding Hood
4. Rumpelstiltskin
5. Sleeping Beauty
6. The Three Billy Goats Gruff  (trolls under bridge 1x03)
7. Cinderella
8. King Midas
9. The Prince and the Pauper (loosely in 1x06)
10. Hansel and Gretel
11. Aladdin / Arabian Nights
12. Beauty and the Beast
13. Peter and the Wolf
14. Alice in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass
15. Mulan
16. Lancelot /Arthurian Legend
17. Peter Pan
18. Frankenstein
19. Jack and the Beanstalk
20. The Pied Piper of Hamelin
21. The Little Mermaid
22. Robin Hood
23. Medusa / Greek Myths
24. The Wizard of Oz
25. Rapunzel
26. Blackbeard

Film and Television

I've already written about my interests in books. I'm also really into fantasy films, which shouldn't be too big of a surprise. I love Disney films as well as other film versions of the same genre as the books I love.

TV series that I watch include Once Upon a Time, Doctor Who, Star Trek and Game of Thrones.

Escapism and Fantasy in Oz

I often read fiction novels that take me into different worlds and have been called by friends an escapist. I love the fantasy genre of books such as The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Chronicles of Prydain and anything written by Roald Dahl. As a child I was always intrigued with fairy tales and anything fantasy and I don't think that ever escaped me. 

Probably the most influential book however was reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L.Frank Baum, as well as its many sequels and spin-offs. Before reading the book I had previously seen the delightful 1939 film, which inspired me to read the book, which took me on an imaginative journey unlike anything I could experience from just watching a movie. This then encouraged me to read more and later I would read all of Baum's thirteen sequels such as The Marvelous Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Tik-Tok of Oz and The Scarecrow of Oz as well as many of Baum's non-Oz books like The Sea Fairies, Sky Island and John Dough and the Cherub. The world of Oz is probably more known in film and stage than the original books, for example the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, Return to Oz, the musicals The Wiz and Wicked, the mini-series Tinman and the film Oz: The Great and Powerful.

I really admired the comraderie seen during the different journeys as well as the diversity of characters such as The Scarecrow, The Tin Woodman, The Cowardly Lion, The Good Witch Glinda, Jack Pumpkinhead and Tik-Tok the Clockwork Man (considered the first "robot" of literature, before the term was coined). There was always a great sense of fantastic escapism where magical adventures occur within such an idealistic utopian society, where all the animals can talk (as well as many "objects") and such a diverse group of people can live in harmonious friendship.

 It were these books that strongly inspired me to be a writer of fantasy fiction. I have already placed ideas of stories of my own, such as The Flying Giraffe, Jack and the Gryphon and Oliver and the Emperor of Wolves. I'm also very strongly inspired to one day be involved with film (especially animation) but that costs more money, so I will probably start with writing. If I do manage to make films, I am definitely interested in the fantasy genre and definitely interested in adapting my own stories, but also from the works previously mentioned by L. Frank Baum, most of which have been forgotten in the last 100 years. From what I have heard many of these books in the Oz series were very popular at the beginning of the 20th century, having a similar intrigue to the Harry Potter books of today. This puts these books in the category of books that one reads for fun, however its idealist fantasyland, as described earlier, does hold implications and thoughts of how one views their own world and the people within.

*Note, that this was taken from a writing paper I did in a Media and Society class in 2012. Since then the titles Jack and the Gryphon and Oliver and the Emperor of Wolves, are no longer current writing goals at this time, however I do still have strong intentions for The Flying Giraffe project. I just decided to put this up for its obvious relevance to this blog. 

World of Fantasy - Benny Rotondi Smith

Hello Readers! My name is Benny and I love using my imagination. There is something about the escapism that comes with the fantasy genre, not only is there wonder and excitement but also hope and creativity in creating worlds that are different. I love the idea of what can be thought beyond just what we see with our eyes (i.e. "The Real World")

I have started this blog to expand and keep track of my work as an author of fantasy books. I also have a goal in possibly working for film/television (but one step at a time... =) 

I am currently working on a middle-grade novelette that is loosely based on a short story I wrote in the third grade. I won't reveal too much, but it is basically a Halloween version of Pinocchio, but with an anthropomorphized pumpkin, created by a witch, who at first believes it to be an error in a magic spell to communicate with a ghost who was the witch's friend and magic partner before he was poisoned by someone. The Pumpkin, who is the only one who can communicate with the Ghost, will deal with identity/purpose of life issues while helping free the bat who was framed for the crime of poisoning. I'm still on the 2nd chapter with an intention of writing 6 chapters, and I also need to proofread and revise it, but I'm really excited about it!

My second project will be finally publishing a collection of short stories I have written in the past 10 years or so. Some of these stories are retellings of fairy tales and fables (which I have always loved!)  and others are original stories I created, plus I'm planning to write a few more. I'm starting off as mostly middle-grade but also open to more mature writing as I progress. 

Some of the books that I've loved reading include the Oz books by L.Frank Baum (the next post will deal a lot with that series), Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass, The Adventures of Pinocchio/Le Avventure di Pinocchio (Bilingual version English & Italian! I also love foreign languages!), Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Chronicles of Prydain, Roald Dahl books, Animorphs and Everworld. 

*Photo credit to Martin Gonzales of the One Word Project at University of the Pacific.