guide to wonderland: tips for tailored tales

ch-001: zoom in, zoom out

In a small town near Eguisheim, France, the autumn winds tossed and pushed all movement forward, rocking the peeling paint on the trucks and nudging the trees to sway.

Under such trees, in the small of their apple field, laid two golden brown forms with their hair tangled with grass and browning leaves, crinkling paper the only other sound alongside the whistling wind.

Laying on their backs, the two brown spots in the green grass scribbled in their notepads, looking up at the world with an upside down perspective.

The smaller of the two, the one with the chubby cheeks, cinnamon sweet pigtails, random bandaids, and denim overall dress, glances to her side.

"Sis."

The second girl was very different from
the first, yet similar in the same breath.
No pigtails or bandages, no dress or knee
socks and church shoes. She was made up
of a denim button down with ankle jeans, blushing shoulders and choppy bangs—quiet eyes and quiet hands, eyes gray and observant.

"Sis," the small one calls again.

"What is it Madie?" the older's voice was
sweet and subtle, like the bite of a rich and fully ripened apple, her eyes closing as the wind kisses her skin.

"I decided that I'm going to write a story about caterpillars."

"A nature book? Sounds too plain for you,"

"Don't worry, it's about a caterpillar empire that takes over, forcing humans to die off,"
Madie sighs, flakes of green falling as she digs her crayon into her paper, indenting a portrait of her main star–a caterpillar with a monocle.

"Oh,"

The older shifts her weight, resting her body on her right side, the curve of her figure more visible, the apple of her hip pushing forward as she rests her head against her palm, feeling the crunch of the leaves sticking out of her hair. "How'd you come up with something like that?"

"I'm not sure, I just like thinking small to big," the little girl drifts, glancing down at the tickling sensation on her knee. A black and yellow caterpillar munching on the greenery that fell on her leg.

"Caterpillar, grass, the earth.." Madie scrunched her nose, the small distortion
in her face sanded yellow from the sun's contouring.

"Caterpillars eat grass and grass is all over
the world which means that caterpillars will rule," she finally decides before glancing up
to her sister."Do you like thinking small to big too, Chiara?"

"Actually I prefer thinking big to small," Chiara decided in a single breath, looking up at the windy hula skirts of the trees shaking and rattling to their little dance.

"The tears of the moon pouring down hard, sent down to drench the afro of the willow tree. the caterpillar is building it's cocoon in a small corner of a branch to stay hidden from the storm."

Chiara's lips curl at the visual, inhaling a deep breath–oblivious to the steady gaze of her more lively kin.

Eventually the two both looked back up towards the sky, growing quiet in their thoughts once again.

"Yeah, that's pretty cool too."

༆

Look at the big picture or choose to focus on the little things!

Zooming-in or "big to small", is a writing technique used to slow down time and bring important details to a reader's attention. it makes them feel up close and personal to the setting—starting from an outsider until they're inside a home, holding the shredded stuffed bear in their hands.

Overall the image being presented by the author becomes clearer and the reader can almost"transport" into this new world and build tension.

While zooming out or "small to big", gives a more general perspective, letting them see the entirety of the world. It's not as personal but it gives them a sense of the world that the story takes place.

This tip is a bit hard to explain but you're choosing if you want to paint a big picture and give the readers a sense of the world/ show importance to something that would usually be overlooked or show the personal impact of the scene.

That caterpillar doesn't seem to hold much value or importance at first because it's so small and doesn't affect you directly.

So we zoom out to make the situation seem bigger, we connected caterpillars to a bigger thing like grass and suddenly their importance seems more obvious—they rule the earth duh.

The storm lacks emotional depth because you're watching from the outside. Yeah the storm is big but it doesn't impact you because you're sitting inside your cozy home and completely dry.

But when you zoom in on something small like the cocoon being rocked back and forth,victim to the storms will–you can imagine just how strong and damaging it could be.

Likewise you could zoom in on the one crack in the kitchen that the rain is pouring in from, the floor now flooded and you realize that storm could destroy your house.

Just imagine a camera lens and decide on what you want the focus to be–do you adjust the lens to move closer or farther away?

Do you zoom in on the boy crouched on the ground, hugging his legs as he cries, almost invisible between of all the legs dancing around him?

Or do you zoom out to see the crowd dancing, stereo blasting, party lights flashing and drinks spilling?

Zooming in makes things personal, zooming out gives you a general concept of the setting.

[+]

will definitely have to edit or make a part 2 as my knowledge of zooming grows—perhaps then I will have acquired better explaining skills.