I have this idea about a wolf named Willard who goes to a boarding school where wolves are taught to be big bad wolves like you see in Grimm’s fairytales. But Willard’s an sweet-natured wolf who doesn’t have the heart to be bad and he sticks with this. He gets very uncomfortable at the thought of eating pigs and little girls. As a result, everyone in school hates him including the teachers. When he accidentally goes to Pig Prep, he meets a pig named Polly who wants to be her own person rather than a meek pig like the school teaches her to be. The two bond over what society treats them as, as opposed to what they want to be. Is this story so far so good?
I like this! It's something I can imagine reading when I was younger and unlikely friends stories are also fun. Like @keysersoze asked, where does the story go from there? What happens to them?
There's also 'The true story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf' which is the wolf's side of the story - I used to love it when I was little. There is a reading of it on YouTube:
Willard and Polly decide to leave their unaccepting societies behind so that they can find a place in the world where they can belong together. They end up on a special island where other animal outcasts live and accept one another.
Sounds good. Make sure you pick a strong theme so that it isn’t just a nice wishy washy story. What are the character journeys? Who wins? What do they learn? Do the other wolves learn from Willard or even the pig? That kind of thing. ATB.
Though, are you sure this conclusion is... uh, healthy? Kinda seems like running away from the problem, rather than trying to fix it. They're basically giving the bad guys what they want, whereas your main characters are the ones who have to compromise through voluntary deportation. Sure, it can be considered a happy ending, but it makes for a bit of a bleak moral. If there are enough of these "outcasts" to populate an island (and presumably support a self-sufficient community), wouldn't it be a more positive ending for them all to, say, band together and form some sort of movement demanding rights and basic respect within their community? There's got to be a lot of pigs and little girls who'd rather not be eaten by wolves, at any rate. I mean, maybe you don't want to get too political with this story, but you're still basically writing an allegorical commentary on harmful societal norms and the right to express ones personal identity. Like, that's how this is going to be read. What I'm saying is, this strikes me as less of a Winnie the Pooh type story and more like an Animal Farm sort of deal. Even if it's written for kids - or, actually, especially if is - that makes your ultimate thematic statement pretty important. So, I'm not really sure "let's just move to another country" should be presented as the best solution for this conflict.
You make a good point, I’m just not sure how I can incorporate that. Just like in real life, it’s very hard for those raised in harmful society norms to break from them just because of one or two people telling them it’s wrong. I want to try to be realistic and have Willard and Polly find a place where they belong. It’s like a member of the LGBTQ community moving away from a homophobic town to a place that’s more accepting of them.
Where they end up and how they end up is a reader's curiosity. For a writer, you need significant challenges for them. I remember Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach is on a similar theme. He goes on a giant peach through the Atlantic ocean with a bunch of human sized talking insects. How they navigate the new world, how they meet challenges, how they grow individually and how their friendship develops. They are going to go through an adventure before they find their comfortable home. Their inner person would come out or the inner person would perish. That is writer's choice. But the trials they go through should seem real. That would make for a captivating read. My two cents.
