By Joyce Jacobo
[Author’s Note: Dedicated to Peter S. Beagle. This poem is based on an account I heard of his writing process for The Last Unicorn, which is a shining example of the different turns a story can take on the road to its completion.]
A lesson known very well
by Peter S. Beagle
is how much work from a writer
can go unused
like pieces of stitched cloth
laid aside for other projects
I heard that he began to pen a fantasy
and wrote more than 40 pages
of a narrative that concerned a unicorn
in the contemporary world
She was indeed on a quest
but among a land of highways and cities
and even dragon police officers
It was a great deal of effort to take
but regardless
the whole thing
seemed to fall apart
into a jumble
that Beagle struggled to straighten
At least until he realized that this mess
had sparked a whole tangle of ideas
There were characters he wanted to explore
and themes that had occurred to him
So Beagle restarted the journey of the unicorn
located in a fantasy world he had crafted
in which a unicorn searched for her people
and encountered a fiery red bull
Without the fragmented draft
that Beagle had written before
Another beautiful story
may have gone unborn
I didn’t know about this writer, but I did a bit of research!
I am intrigued!
You made a wonderful tribute poem for him! 🙂
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Thank you. I heard about his first draft thanks to watching a special edition of The Last Unicorn movie, and it was intriguing to learn about.
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I’ve heard that sentiment repeated by many writers. While I have not experienced that myself, I think I can understand.
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One thing that is nice about first drafts is that while you may not use all the ideas in them, they can actually offer ideas for other works in the future. It’s amazing what twists and turns stories can take.
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