Our story guidelines are the basis for all of the Gil adventures. Consider them as a skeleton, whereby we provide the bare bones and you provide the meat to your story.
We base our stories around available child friendly ‘false cognates’. It is these ‘false friends’ which ultimately determine the story and where it leads.
One of our key purposes, is for Gil to become a representative of multiple countries. Over time, each nationality will hopefully lay claim to Gil as their own. Due to the differences in each country’s humour, the books will not be translated into another language. Instead, an alternate story will be written, which will allow for each nationalities humour preference, and based on available ‘false cognates’.
Should you decide to co-write a story with Gil, our Story Guidelines must be adhered to at all times.
Gil’s Character Description:
PERSONALITY
Gil is an anthropomorphic gecko who has lots of human traits, and a very silly sense of humour. He can be rash and make hasty decisions, which sometimes makes him wish that he had listened to advice. He is aware that he makes mistakes and tries to learn from them.
Gil is a very easy going and polite gecko, who loves to travel, meet friends, try new foods and learn new languages. He is curious and adventurous. Gil is somewhat concerned about his tail dropping off. This happens if he gets really scared and therefore not in every story. When it does fall off, his balance is affected which makes him walk in a funny way until it grows back. Gil always carries some tape with him, which he can use to tape on his tail before it completely falls off.
Gil is always the outsider wherever he travels, and he is somewhat reliant on his friends to make sure he has a good time, keep him safe and show him round. Geckos are essentially independent from birth. Gil was hatched at the airport, and although he knew his parents, other than receiving bits of advice from them, he has always looked after himself.
GIL’S LOOK
Gil is a green gecko with a white front, yellow eyes and a green tail. Gil normally wears a woven Panama hat and carries a brown messenger bag with him. In the bag he has a little tablet device, so he can search the internet. He always has a bottle of water and some wet-wipes and a toothbrush. Depending where Gil is travelling, he may wear a different form of hat, or wear goggles for skiing or scuba diving etc.
DESIRE
Gil wants to meet friends and discover new places. He is independent, and often does research on where he is travelling to. He has lots of problems with false cognates, which can get him in trouble. Given that he was born in an airport, he quickly found out that people travelled all over the world.He discovered that he could hop in their bags and travel very easily. He has a long list of pen-friends, who he visits and they also introduce him to others.
CHARACTER CONTRAST
Most books will have Gil meeting one primary friend/protagonist who could introduce ‘their’ friends or families as bit players in the story-line. He has pen-friends who he visits and they also introduce him to others.
DIALOGUE USE
Gil tries to mimick the words and accent of locals wherever he travels to. Sometimes this ‘bad accent’ is mentioned by protagonists in the story, especially when it can add a little humour.
CHARACTER QUIRKS
Gil is a foodie and is willing to try most foods regardless of how different they are. This means that he will try anything new and if he likes it, he may eat too much.
Most destinations include 2 days and one overnight stay, then he leaves for the airport to start his next trip. The books never state where he has come from, or where he is going to. This allows children to read the series in any order without feeling like they have missed part of the story/history. Hopefully they will be eager to find where he goes next even though there is never a ‘fixed’ next.
Gil dislikes chewing gum left on the floor because it sticks to his pads. He also dislikes kiwi fruit ,because it makes his mouth and tongue feel weird and partially numb .
When he is dehydrated, his skin gets wrinkly. When Gil is visiting hot climates, we try to make a point of him drinking plenty of liquids to avoid dehydration.
CHARACTER CHANGE / GROWTH
Gil nearly always arrives in a new location with only a simple idea as to what he will do there, and who he will meet. Over the course of the story he learns a little of the language, maybe also some culture and history depending on the destination.
At the end of each book are some lists of useful phrases in English and the local language. There are also some puzzles to assist the readers in remembering words.
Our Story Guidelines
The Gil stories are aimed at readers of 7 through 11 years of age.
Our humour is based upon children all over the world thinking that poo, wee, being sick, bogies and other ‘gross’ things are funny. Childish, silly humour is at the heart of making kids laugh. It is also what they remember. So, if a silly joke can be incorporated, we are all for it. Simple dad style jokes can also be used.
On each adventure Gil meets one or more local characters. This provides the necessary interaction which allows for Gil and his readers to learn about the destination.
Wherever possible, we try to introduce animal friends which are endemic to the location.
Gil lives in an airport and typically flies to the chosen destination. As in the real world, he could also arrive and leave by bus, boat, train or other means of transport.
He will need to find an open pocket in a suitcase, rucksack or bag in order to hide. The preference is for checked luggage as it is less likely to be scanned in the same way as hand-luggage.
Gil’s goal is to learn a few words of the local language, and try some of the local food. We include the national/local flag visually in one of the book images.
Occasionally he will also learn about the local culture, history and geography.
STORY GUIDELINES – EXTRAS
We try to make a point of the following:
- drinking plenty of liquids to avoid dehydration
- holding his nose and blowing when a plane is taking off or landing to regulate his ears
- politeness and manners
- Gil may occasionally mention things that he has seen or experienced before in other countries
- his Panama hat came from Ecuador
- his bracelets are glass beads and came from Ghana
Co-writing authors are asked to provide photographs of the locations. These will be used to help with the illustrations in the published books.
The bottom line with all of our books, is to be child friendly, funny and somewhat educational.
At the end of the book:
We will include some questions based upon the story.
We generate word search puzzles for the children to do. These will re-enforce some of the words and their translations as they appeared in the story.
Final note about story guidelines
As Gil grows and matures some of these story guidelines may be updated. Always check the latest story guidelines before starting and especially before sending in a completed story.
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