What the Dickens?

It’s Charles Dickens’ birthday today! You may not know who that is, but you WILL know one of his most famous books: A Christmas Carol. Not only is it one of the most popular stories retold throughout history, it’s also credited for changing how we celebrate Christmas.

Did you know that before A Christmas Carol, the family feast wasn’t an important part of the holidays? Can you imagine Christmas dinner without a big turkey and all the trimmings? Charles Dickens even introduced the concept of a Christmas TREE. Decorating the tree is one of my family’s favourite parts of the holiday season!

I know, Christmas is over, but celebrating Dickens’ birthday got me thinking about books and authors who have made a difference, either personally or for society as a whole. Don’t worry, I’m not going to go all deep on you (it IS Friday—and Superbowl weekend…Go Seattle!) but there’s a number of writers who’ve made an impact on me.

Like, if it wasn’t for Roald Dahl, I might never have starting writing my fan fiction story about the Mad Hatter. What’s fan fiction? Um…it’s when you take the characters from a published book and write about them in your own story. It’s kind of tricky, because you have to keep true to the character. Not that I would ever consider publishing them—but fan fiction is a great springboard into creating your own characters.

Anyway, the point is, authors and books have an impact. And today, I’m raising a glass of water and toasting the writer who helped shape Christmas—Happy Birthday, Charles Dickens.

Gotta jet!

— Chase Superman Duffy