My daughter Margaret was my primary inspiration to write The Holy Shuriken. In eight days she turns five years old. It’s a big milestone. She’ll start school in the Fall. Micro soccer on Saturdays. More and more signs of independence. I maximize cuddle time while I still can. She’s sweet, funny, clever. Quite the little artist.
I told Margaret that Daddy’s writing a book for her, and she’ll get to read it in ten years. Daddy often writes or thinks about the story when she’s around. She’s been exposed to my process. I hope that means seeing Daddy doing creative work that he loves. Sometimes, it actually means Daddy is lost in a daydream, not present, pulling at narrative threads instead of playing tag, or house, or princess ball.
Recently Margaret told Mommy that she was writing a book. Based on what I understand, her book was about a family of hedgehogs. She told Rachel that she was “writing the book for when she was older”. In one way, that’s an incredible idea for a child to internalize — planning for the future. In another, it’s a cute imitation of her Daddy.
In a third way, if I may project a little, it’s a wise understanding of artists’ creative process. One of my highest aspirations in storytelling is to tell a story that can impact its reader once when she is young, and in a very different way when she is older. Perhaps the greatest joy in revisiting artwork is to experience a story through new eyes. Character motivations, themes, little choices take on whole new flavors and understandings when they are deep enough to connect across life experiences. Romeo and Juliet reads very differently as a twitterpated teen and as a responsible parent.
I don’t know how I will read these books in ten years. Probably too critically. Maybe I can be like Bob Dylan in ‘My Back Pages’ and gracefully reflect “I was so much older then / I’m younger than that, now”. It would be an honor to enjoy these books in a new light, later.
Phil Gross, Game Designer 