How a letter sparked a literary career

Did you know that the children’s classic The Tale of Peter Rabbit was originally a letter?

 

Yes, indeed. Beatrix Potter wrote the story and illustrated it in letter to Noel Moore, who was the son of Potter’s former governess, Annie Moore.

 

Noel was sick at time, and Beatrix wanted to give him something to cheer him up.

 

The story was later reformatted for printing in book form and was the first of many small books based on animal characters that Potter would write.

 

Writing stories and sending them as letters to people can still be done today, of course. Now with the rise of stickers it’s easier for those who can’t draw very to illustrate their stories if they wish.

 

I’ve done this myself with penguin stickers. I chose which images I thought told a cohesive story together and then wrote my story around them.

 

Your story doesn’t have to be long. My penguin story fit inside the same size card I sell in my shop at the link below:

 

https://gracearant.com/product-category/all-cards/ 

 

In fact, using small stationery can be a good limitation to have. It prevents you from being long winded and forces careful word choice.

 

To your card giving,

 

Grace Arant