Not Twice, Not Thrice, But EVEN MORE Blind Mice

By Meghan E.

          Upon gazing at the title 'Thrice Told Tales looks like a children's book. It seems childish, simple unhelpful to a hardcore writer. The last one could be true, but for a budding writer such as myself who apparently has no clue how to really write, this is a work of art. Not only is it witty enough to make me actually want to continue reading it, the illustrations are actually in many cases the words or actions the author is trying to teach. Somehow our author Catherine Lewis manages to go over a wide topic of writing themes, from the basics such as actions, the theme itself, to a bit more complex such as mythos coincidence suspense and sex. She manages to accomplish such a feat even more amazingly by using the nursery rhyme of three blind mice.

    We start out with the basics, story, "three blind mice ran after the farmer's wife, she cut off their tails with a carving knife." Then we transition to the plot spelled out to us in incredibly bold print, "Three blind mice ran after the farmer's wife, she cut off their tails with a carving knife because she was a sadist!" From there it's not too hard to see how the rest of the book goes. While we do drop the repetition of repeating the same nursery rhyme over and over again after the second page and simply call them by the names the author gives to us on page four as we look through the lenses of psychic distance. Henceforth our three blind mice are known as Peewee Mary and Oscar, and oh the tale of woe they tell.

   The author has an intriguing way of lumping certain topics together, my favorite being irony and sarcasm. After the horror of Oscar losing his tale on page five 'immediacy' we find the three mice siblings sitting around a 'Survivors anonymous' meeting, where Oscar tells the circle just how elated he is at losing his tale when they stupidly ask how it feels. Now you must be wondering am I really reading a book on writing? All I've talked about is a story of three blind mice, well that's just it, it's one story retold many a times using the different topics of writing, from metafiction to fairy tale we see just a portion of the many ways this tale can be spun.

   Now what I found most helpful was what Lewis labeled as 'Snip of the tale' a floating little set of words located towards the bottom of the page on every page. Here Lewis gave us helpful advice on the topic on hand from something short such as the definition of oxymoron, to a few sentences on describing such themes as: fables, epilogues and denouement.

  I must say this book has opened my eyes to a few writing themes I've been skimming over as well as reminded me of some I've forgotten. While it may not be thirty pages long this book is definitely not shallow and would benefit even adult readers. It doesn't tell you what to do but explains why such things as 'sex' while may beneficial in other stories, does not belong in a story of three blind sibling mice. There are other such examples, but I will not go into detail, simply read the book yourself. I have already made several revisions to my story after looking over the themes told in this tale of Three Blind Mice. All in all I feel this book is beneficial to any struggling to learn the ropes of writing as well as those more seasoned who simply find themselves at a standstill.