Author: January 2011 Archives

On Friday, January 7, Frank Beddor came to MUS to speak, meet with students, and sign copies of his books.  He gave a rousing performance in chapel and got several students up on stage to read for movie parts.  I must admit that when I arranged for Mr. Beddor to visit, I had no idea that he is a world champion freestyle skier, an actor, a stuntman, and the producer of a major comedy hit movie.  I just thought his Looking Glass Wars series was creative, well-written, and intelligent, and our book clubs had enjoyed reading his trilogy.  Well, it was even more entertaining and enlightening than I had imagined to hear him talk about developing the idea for his books, spending five years writing the first one, and finding a variety of ways to tell the story, including the novel, the movie (which is awaiting production), an interactive computer game, a card game, and now a Broadway musical that's in development.  Mr. Beddor spent hours talking with students, faculty, and library staff.  He discussed one student's writing project with him and the requirements of fantasy writing:  how you have to come up with a workable means to help the reader suspend his disbelief.  He said he spent about two years creating the backstory and the invented world for his vision of Wonderland and pointed out that J.R.R. Tolkien had hundreds of boxes of supporting materials for his Lord of the Rings books.  He encouraged the boys to explore different ways to tell their own stories through art, music, theater, and writing.   Beddor was impressed with the personalities and ideas of the MUS students and said, "I like this school--I want to stay here!"