This story was about a giant rag doll that was abandoned by her creator as she was deemed to be somewhat ‘useless’, and nothing but a ‘troublemaker’. Through this story, I was trying to convey the idea that although something or someone may be perceived as ‘useless’ or ‘troublesome’ by those around, it may not actually be true. Marilyn the giant rag doll was a very good example. Everywhere she went, she seemed to bring trouble and turn everything upside down. Yet, each time she created ‘trouble’, something good came out of it, like a delicious pot of soup, a runaway bank robber being caught, etc. She was not useless after all.

Sometimes in life, we are made to think that we are useless or of no value to the community we are in, be it a school, a workplace, or sometimes even our own family. That should not be the case. Very often, it is the context that we are in that determines if we have any value. In a setting that you don’t fit in, your skills and capabilities are of literally no use. Naturally, you will be seen as a person of little or no value. But once the scenery changes and you are placed in a different context – one where your skills and capabilities are of great use, your value suddenly shoots up like a rocket. So, the moral of the story is that you should never undermine your own self-worth simply because right now, you are not being valued by those around you. All you need to do is to walk out of here and find another place where your skills and capabilities are of great use. Suddenly, you will find yourself becoming the most valuable person around.

Where did I get the idea of a living life-size rag doll? When my kids were small, we used to watch a lot of children’s music videos, like nursery rhymes and song-and-dance. There was one particular series that really stood out. It was a collection of original songs for children composed by American songwriter Hap Palmer. His songs were so catchy and easy to sing along, and he had such a soothing, calming voice. His songs were very different from the more well-known and established nursery rhymes. In one of the songs, there was a limp life-sized rag doll that came to life and did a lively song-and-dance with a little girl. The song was called ‘Raggedy Rag Doll Friend’. It was raining outside and the little girl couldn’t go out and play. Suddenly a gust of wind blew and in a topsy turvy moment, the little girl discovered that her little doll had turned into a full life-size doll. The doll then came alive! The two of them sang, danced and had lots of fun. In the end, the girl was so tired from all the playing that the doll had to carry her in her arms- the opposite of what usually happens! The rain stopped and the doll turned back into its original form. I guess the image of a life-sized doll playing and dancing with a little girl was so stuck in my mind that after so many years, I had to turn it into a book.

Readers of the ‘Theodore’ series may be disappointed that Theodore and Annabelle do not seem to be the main characters in this story. They must be wondering why. Well, somehow it did not feel right to have linked the troublesome rag doll with Annabelle… because Annabelle already had a doll. She already had Theodore. So it felt very wrong if I were to tell a story about Annabelle and Marilyn, or Annabelle, Theodore and Marilyn. Maybe another time in another book. For I do see a potential for more stories to come from the Marilyn-Stephanie pair, like how I have spun off another series with Sophie and Rudolf (read ‘A Great Day Out with Mr. Woods’ to find out). Somehow, to me, it felt that Marilyn belonged to Stephanie, and Stephanie belonged to Marilyn, even though Stephanie did not appear in the story until halfway through the story. In Hap Palmer’s song, the life-sized rag doll carried the little girl in her arms towards the end when she was so tired from all the playing. I’m not sure if this was a scene that subconsciously caused me to make Marilyn carry Stephanie in the sea. Like how Sophie the little blind girl was dependent on her loyal Labrador Rudolf to guide her around, Rudolf was dependent on Sophie to look after his daily needs. It was this mutually dependent relationship that I was interested to explore. So it made sense to me that Marilyn and Stephanie were a natural pair. And how wonderful it is if you were to have a life-size doll? Someone you can cuddle and have fun with all day long, to carry your when you are tired, or simply to sit together and enjoy each other’s company in a moment of peace and quiet.

I hope readers will not be upset that the title characters were not even the main characters in this book. I promise you that in the next book, the main characters will be the main characters. For I already have some ideas floating in my mind waiting to be realized. And I hope that this time, it will not take me so long (two and a half years!) to complete the new book!

I always tell my family that illustrators are grossly and unfairly underpaid as compared to authors.  Illustrators may spend months or even years just to complete the art work for a book, but the author may take less than 2 weeks just to write the whole thing. Yet both author and illustrator have to share the book royalties equally. Where’s the fairness? For me, I used to spend months (and now years) to complete the art work of a book, only to finish writing the story in less than 2 weeks. However, this time it’s different. After writing about half of this book, I had a sudden revelation one day- this book is meant for young children, then why are there so many words? I decided to drastically cut the number of words in this book to no more than 5 or 6 sentences in each page. So I literally rewrote the whole book half way through. And as I wrote, some of the sentences started to rhyme. Hey, that’s quite nice, I thought. And so did my younger son (who’s 13 this year). He happened to be pretty good at rhyming and ended up giving me lots of ideas for my writing to rhyme well. I even invited him to edit my book to see if he could come up with better rhymes.

Rhyming, my son said, requires creativity and talent. It’s true. On an uninspired day, I can find myself sitting in front of my computer for hours, unable to come up with any decent rhyme. On a good day (when I feel relaxed and happy), the rhymes just keep coming. So, while I used to only review and edit my writing no more than 4 or 5 times before the book is being published, I have to now spend about 4 to 5 months just to complete the writing. There were also a lot of breaks in between as I needed to rest my mind and distance myself from the writing so as to get new insights when I come back to it again. All in all, I’ve edited this story no less than 20 times! But fortunately, each time I find that the writing gets better. Writing in rhyme is so hard, but it can be so rewarding. Sometimes the story has to go this way but the rhyme needs to go that way. But when you are able to find a match between the two, it can be so satisfying. And I suppose like all things, it gets better with practice. I’m not sure if my readers would like the way my new book rhymed, but I have certainly enjoyed the process myself! It’s like poetry writing and I never knew that writing poetry can be so fun. I also never believed that children’s books must be written in rhymes, though there are so many children’s books out there that are. While they are fun to read, I find that rhyming also limits the way the story can develop, as you need to get the sentences to rhyme. Sometimes they seemed to have taken precedence over or come in the way of the story, which I feel shouldn’t be the case. The story can also lose its spontaneity and fluidity when you try to force sentences to rhyme. So it remains to be seen if my future books will be written this way. Something to think about for my future book/s.

Postscript

For those who are wondering why this book was dedicated to the composer Ludwig van Beethoven, who was neither a writer nor an artist, here’s why. Most of my books were dedicated to people who were important to me or have had an influence which made me who I am today, most of whom were actually no longer alive. Beethoven is without doubt one of them. For a classical music lover like myself, Beethoven is to me the greatest composer of all time. It’s not an exaggeration to say that out of every 3 great pieces of music ever written, one of them is a Beethoven. Somebody once said that if you give Beethoven any 4 notes, he could turn it into a classic. I can’t agree more. His music is so full of life, energy and optimism. There’s so much to expect in his music and so many surprises that you wonder how someone who lived so long ago could write music so cutting edge and out of this world. This was a person who’s constantly innovating and challenging himself to reach new heights. And what stratospheric heights did he reach! Despite living 200 years ago, Beethoven remains one of the greatest influences in my life. He is my hero, inspiration and role model. I’m inspired by the way he lived, how he loved the people around him (though it may not always be reciprocated), and how he gave his whole life to music. I’m also amazed by how he markets himself! At a time when there were no copyright laws (which means that each piece of music he wrote could only be sold once!), he was one of the few musicians who were able to survive by selling his music. I think it’s the hallmark of successful artists, writers and musicians to be able to market themselves and be able to survive selling their work.

The number ‘10’ has special significance for Beethoven. Beethoven lovers all around the world would be able to tell you why. This is because Beethoven wrote 9 great symphonies but unfortunately, did not live long enough to write his 10^th-a great loss for the whole world I’d say. Many great composers after him, strangely, stopped at their 9^th symphony, and died. Like Beethoven, they never got to write their 10^th-Schubert, Mahler, Bruckner, just to name a few. Some were even so afraid to write their 9^th as it seemed ill-omened (that this would be the composer’s swan song and prediction of impending death) that they skipped this number altogether and named it something else. I’m glad I managed to publish my 10^th book, though it’s a far stretch to compare myself with Beethoven. Nonetheless, given my close affinity to Beethoven (his music lifts me up every day and every night), I’d like to dedicate my 10^th book to Beethoven. It may not be my best (I know that my best is yet to come), but 10 books (in 7 years since I first started) is a milestone worth celebrating, and a small achievement that I can call my own and to share with the person I admire the most.