I believe that stories are incredibly important.

Neil Gaiman on stories. (The Commonplace Book Project)

You can find all the posts in The Commonplace Book Project here:

“I believe that stories are incredibly important, possibly in ways we don’t understand, in allowing us to make sense of our lives, in allowing us to escape our lives, in giving us empathy and in creating the world that we live in.” — Neil Gaiman, in the Guardian

Last night I was talking to Brian Rowe. We were talking about movies and he said that his very favorite year for movies was 1999. I knew, without looking it up, that 1999 must have been the year American Beauty came out.

It’s his favorite movie. Or at least his favorite that could have come out anytime around 1999. He really is a serious movie buff.

Anyway, I looked up movies from 1999 and there was American Beauty. And some other really good movies. But I wondered if maybe he was so blown away by them because of his age at the time (mid-teens.)

So I went and looked up movies that came out in 1986. I’m thirteen years older than Brian. And I was like O.M.G. these movies are the most amazing ever. Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Alien, Labyrinth, and Top Gun all came out that year.

So I thought — maybe we’re hardwired to love movies that come out when we’re fifteen. So, I messaged my daughter and asked her to look at a list of movies that came out in 2007. The year she was 15. Did they make her heart skip a beat?

Big. Fat. Nope. Man, 2007 was a stinker of a movie year. One of the later Harry Potter movies came out. Juno — which I loved, but had no impact on her. Across the Universe, which she liked, but it didn’t make a huge impact, say the way that Pretty in Pink or Labyrinth did on me when I was fifteen.

And Stardust. In a remarkably dismal movie year, we got the movie version of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust. (Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links.)

I put Stardust on while I was writing this post. It never gets old for me. I love the book, too. When I want to give someone who has never read Neil Gaiman a book to start with, it’s always recommend either Stardust or The Graveyard Book. I love them both.

So, my theory about everyone falling in love with movies that came out when they were 15. Some years are just not good in Hollywood. But even in a rotten year, there are bright spots. There’s a metaphor for life in there somewhere, isn’t there?

A few years ago my daughter and I went to Book Expo America in New York City. I waited in line for a very long time to be able to hear Neil Gaiman speak. He had just come out with his middle grade book Fortunately, the Milk and spoke mostly about that. I still have the signed copy that he gave us.

But what really has stuck with me was the way that the audience hung on every single word he had to say. Every word. I mean — they leaned into him, on the edges of their seats. And this kind of awed hum went through the room everytime he stopped to take a breath.

It was extraordinary. I’ve never seen anything like it except once, when I was at a Bernie Sanders rally. Only not even really then, because at the rally, the audience was loud and rowdy. The energy was there, only louder. More participatory. He spoke, we spoke back.

When Neil Gaiman spoke, the audience simply received. It made me think of the term ‘rarified air.’ And I remember thinking, how odd that must be for him.

I’m making my way through Gaiman’s MasterClass course right now. Someone asked me in the comments of another post whether I’m actually learning anything from it. Or if I’m only getting enjoyment from it.

The course is called The Art of Storytelling and it’s interesting to get Gaiman’s take on that. He’s a master, for sure. I’m learning from the course because I’ve decided to learn from it. I’m doing the exercises. I’m researching the concepts — even if they aren’t completely new to me.

Anyway, I’m enjoying it and I’m taking it as an opportunity to learn and become a better writer.

Neil Gaiman has a blog he doesn’t update too often, but it’s very interesting.

Gaiman writes the first drafts of his books by hand, in a notebook with a pen. He started the practice with Stardust. I loved this post that shows what some of his handwritten books look like.

I have an idea for a middle grade book that should be relatively short. I think I’m going to give it a try.

If you’ve never seen Neil Gaiman’s 2012 commencement speech at The University of the Arts, it’s a must watch.

And here’s a little about some projects Gaiman has coming up.

Today’s Short Story:

Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Neil Gaiman

Today’s Poem:

House by Neil Gaiman

Sometimes I think it’s like I live in a big giant head on a hilltop made of papier mache, a big giant head of my own head. I polish the eyes which would be windows, or mow the lawn, I mean this is my house we’re talking about here even if it is a big giant papier mache head that looks just like mine. And people who go past in cars or buses or see the house the head on the hill from trains they think the house is me. I’ll be sleeping there, or polishing the eyes, or weeding the lawn, but no-one will see me, no-one would look. And no-one would ever come. And if I waved no-one even knows it was me waving. They’d all be looking in the wrong place, at the head on the hill.

I can see your house from here.

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Shaunta Grimes is a writer and teacher. She is an out-of-place Nevadan living in Northwestern PA with her husband, three superstar kids, two dementia patients, a good friend, Alfred the cat, and a yellow rescue dog named Maybelline Scout. She’s on Twitter @shauntagrimes and is the author of Viral Nation and Rebel Nation and the upcoming novel The Astonishing Maybe. She is the original Ninja Writer.