tonight, tonight.
There are two stories that I love, for completely different reasons. One is spirited away, and the other is Alice in Wonderland. One I love for its characters, and the other, I love for the world the story is set in. I’ve searched hundreds of times for a Spirited Away novel, hoping I could enjoy the story not only on the screen but on the pages of a book as well, but alas, to no avail. So of course when it was time for me to conceptualize on what book to publish, the first thing I wanted to do was to find a way to breathe new life into Spirited Away, a life separate from the one it has lived on the screen—a version I can keep on my book shelf for me to cherish and read over and over. But then I also wanted to do a new version of Alice in Wonderland. The story is so convoluted that it borders on bizarre to beautiful, and the fact that it’s a little bit of both is what makes it truly unforgettable. For a while, I was torn. But then I thought, why not do both?
Enter Spirited to Wonderland; a ‘mashup’, if you will, of the best elements of my two favorite stories. I have placed the characters of Spirited Away into the world of Alice in Wonderland, manipulating the story in such a way that they are the ones who go through what Alice has gone through. Of course, this is more than changing names of the characters; I have changed many elements of the book to make the transition believable as well as to make each event in the story fit the Spirited Away character’s personalities. It somehow feels like a play where the spirited away characters get to play the parts of the Alice in wonderland characters, but enhance the play by adding their own nuances and flavor to the ‘role’.
I have also decided to make the novel a multilayer picture book, so as the novel’s illustrations can actually serve as the book’s cover art as well. I did this because I simply hate when the cover of the book tells you absolutely nothing about what you’re going to get to read. With the use of this, readers know exactly what they are going to get without the cover giving too much away. I think the book style also fits the stories perfectly. They are both unique, complicated, and bizarre in a beautiful way.
-foreword from my alpajora plate! wala na, sabaw na. :)) will finish this TONIGHT! I SWEAR!!
