I didn't know "the lion's share" meant something taken by unfair force or authority... interesting. I love seeing those big lists of commonly misused phrases or idioms. "First come, first served!"
Androcles and the Lion: I always expect these fables to have unhappy and sometimes disturbing endings, because they're usually the harsh truths about life, but I like that this story surprised me--instead of eating his friend, the starving lion ran to him and greeted him as a friend. You always want to surprise people in stories; otherwise, they're boring. Write something unexpected!
The Lion in Love: Role Reversal. In some stories, you start reading thinking you're cheering for one particular character (in this case, I assumed the lion would do the usual "lion thing" of a story and get mad, or try to trick the parents; kill the girl, kill them, I don't know). But then you realize who the real "bad guy" is! It does a sick thing with your reader's emotions. At the end of this story, I felt bad for the lion and thought, "you sick humans, what's wrong with you?" Something like this sort of happens in The Shining. The story starts with a relatively sympathetic protagonist, John, who is confronted with all sorts of demons, both internal and external. As the reader, you want him to overcome his fears of inadequacy, his troubles with the creepy hotel. But as he fails, you have to cheer for his wife and kid, who are suddenly trapped on a mountain with a psychotic murderer. And then you're pretty satisfied when the once-sympathetic father burns alive with the devil-hotel.
I've loved writing "poems," or rhyming verses for a long time. Sometimes I think the shorter, "quippy" verses of the fables have more impact than the longer stories, because it leaves more room for the reader to interpret the meaning behind the fable, rather than focus on characters or setting.
The Wolf and the Lamb: "If it was not you it was your father." And with that he rushed upon the poor little Lamb and . . . WARRA WARRA WARRA WARRA WARRA . . . ate her all up. --One of the reasons I shy away from onomatopoeia in writing: it just reminds me of cheesy Batman cartoons or makes me giggle. WARRA WARRA WARRA! Describing crunching bones (while not kid-friendly) might fit the mood of the story better.
One of the differences between the fables and my stories will be the writing style. Obviously, these tales are old, and so the language is different, but I've learned that "good writing," doesn't come from using complicated speech and elaborate vocabulary. You just need to make it flow, and have action driving the story.
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