Anthropomorphic cats and dogs! Guitars and ghosts! Superheroes with super powers! Fresh fruit! Okay…no fresh fruit…I was thinking of a Monty Python sketch. But all of the other above mentioned elements are relevant. Before there were any Our Lady of Righteous Rage books, there were a ton of other books. And when I say ton, I mean A TON (how does 46 sound?).

Everything has a beginning. Every story was inspired by something. The world of Our Lady has several beginnings. If I had to pick a starting point, I’d have to say second grade. My teacher read James Howe’s Bunnicula out loud to my class, and I fell in love with it. I later discover Howe’s other books, including Nighty Nightmare, which became my favorite. I didn’t know what the term was at the time, but looking back I realized that was my first encounter with personification: giving human qualities to non human characters. Howe’s stories featured two dogs and a cat, named Harold, Howie and Chester, and they were the ones who talked and told the stories. That fascinated me enough to begin writing books for myself, using my Pound Puppies as characters.

I learned about another writing term in sixth grade: anthropomorphism. Tom McGowen’s Odyssey from River Bend gave me the idea that animals could not only talk in a story, they could also read and go on adventures the way people did. I gave my Pound Puppies more human-like qualities in my stories, and eventually wrote my first chapter book, Odyssey from Room 103 (obviously inspired by the title of McGowen’s book). Written in December of 1993 (when I was eleven) it takes place at my elementary school, Machen. The students from from room 103 find the school unlocked one Saturday morning and decide to enter the building, only to be chased by a giant bird-like creature named Osdor, who they must send back to his world. Again, I was eleven. But this book inspired a series pf handwritten books featuring some of the characters from the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series before there was an Our Lady.

Between Odyssey from Room 103 and Our Lady of Righteous Rage, the cast of Our Lady has spent time going on a series of adventures, fighting ghosts in a haunted woods, and some of them have even been superheroes (I’ll explain all of that in another post).

Pictured above are the covers for Odyssey from Room 103 from 1993 and it’s sequel written in 1995. Next is the first book to feature any Our Lady characters: Nicole Woolaston’s The Odyssey, written in 1996. Last is a rewrite of the first book, Beneath Room 103, with a more developed plot and characters, written in 2004.

If it hadn’t been for these books, both the ones I read and the ones I wrote, there wouldn’t be an Our Lady series. In fact, I don’t think there would be very many other Woolaston Entertainment books today. Is there a lesson to be learned from any of this? I think so. One would be, nothing you do, even as a child, is a waste of time. Eleven year old me had no idea what she was on to. Another lesson is for any adult out there with a child who has an active imagination. Don’t dismiss their fantasies. You never know where they will lead.

Next time I’ll tell you all about the time Rob and Amy from Our Lady had super powers. 🙂