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'Wicked' author reveals subtle clue in 'The Wizard of Oz' that Glinda and Elphaba were friends

"I fell down onto the ground laughing at the thought that they had gone to college together."

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Gregory Maguire was inspired by a line in the original 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz."

Have you ever watched a movie or read a book or listened to a piece of music and wondered, "How did they come up with that idea?" The creative process is so enigmatic even artists themselves don't always know where their ideas come from, so It's a treat when we get to hear the genesis of a brilliant idea straight from the horse's mouth. It's often not what you would expect!

If you've watched Wicked and wondered where the idea for the friendship between Elphaba (the Wicked Witch) and Glinda (the Good Witch) came from, the author of the book has shared the precise moment it came to him.

The hit movie Wicked is based on the 20-year-old hit stage musical, which is based on the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West written by Gregory Maguire. It says a lot about how powerful the story is that it has succeeded in so many different mediums and continued to find new audiences that connect with it.

While the musical is a simplified version of the 1995 book, the basic storyline—the origins of the two witches from "The Wizard of Oz"—lies at the heart of both. In an interview with BBC, Maguire explained how Elphaba and Glinda's friendship popped into his head.

wizard of oz, wicked, wicked for good, wicked movie, wicked musical, wicked novel, gregory maguire, art, artists, writers, authors Ariana Grande as Glinda in the "Wicked" film Giphy

Maguire was visiting Beatrix Potter's farm in Cumbria, England (Potter was an author and illustrator who created Peter Rabbit) and thinking about "The Wizard of Oz," which he had loved as a child and thought could be an interesting basis for a story about evil.

"I thought 'alright, what do we know about 'The Wizard of Oz' from our memories,'" he said. "We have the house falling on the witch. What do we know about that witch? All we know about that witch is that she has feet. So I began to think about Glinda and the Wicked Witch of the West…

"There is one scene in the 1939 film where Billie Burke [Glinda] comes down looking all pink and fluffy, and Margaret Hamilton [The Wicked Witch] is all crawed and crabbed and she says something like, 'I might have known you'd be behind this, Glinda!' This was my memory, and I thought, now why is she using Glinda's first name? They have known each other. Maybe they've known each other for a long time. Maybe they went to college together. And I fell down onto the ground in the Lake District laughing at the thought that they had gone to college together."

Maguire must have thought the idea of Glinda and The Wicked Witch attending college together was absurd at the time. What a kooky idea! But he pursued it nonetheless and, well, the rest is history.

wizard of oz, wicked, wicked for good, wicked movie, wicked musical, wicked novel, gregory maguire, art, artists, writers, authors A photo of author Gregory Maguire.By Jeremy Goldstein/Flickr CC BY 2.0

In "Wicked," Glinda and the Wicked Witch, Elphaba, meet as students at Shiz University, a school of wizardry. They get placed as roommates, loathe each other at first, but eventually become best friends. The story grows a lot more complicated from there (and the novel goes darker than the stage play), but it's the character development of the two witches and their relationship with one another that force us to examine our ideas about good and evil.

Watch his explanation and inspiration here:

Maguire also shared with the Denver Center for Performing Arts what had inspired him to use the "Wizard of Oz" characters in the first place.

"I was living in London in the early 1990’s during the start of the Gulf War. I was interested to see how my own blood temperature chilled at reading a headline in the usually cautious British newspaper, the Times of London: 'Sadaam Hussein: The New Hitler?' I caught myself ready to have a fully formed political opinion about the Gulf War and the necessity of action against Sadaam Hussein on the basis of how that headline made me feel. The use of the word Hitler – what a word! What it evokes! When a few months later several young schoolboys kidnapped and killed a toddler, the British press paid much attention to the nature of the crime.

"I became interested in the nature of evil, and whether one really could be born bad," he said.

"I considered briefly writing a novel about Hitler but discarded the notion due to my general discomfort with the reality of those times. But when I realized that nobody had ever written about the second most evil character in our collective American subconscious, the Wicked Witch of the West, I thought I had experienced a small moment of inspiration. Everybody in America knows who the Wicked Witch of the West is, but nobody really knows anything about her. There is more to her than meets the eye."

Authors and artists—and their ideas—help hold a mirror up to humanity for us to see and reflect on who we are, and "Wicked" is one of those stories that makes us take a hard look at what we're seeing in that mirror. Thanks, Gregory Maguire, for launching us on a collective journey that not only entertains but has the potential to change how we see one another.

The second Wicked film, For Good, hits theaters in November 2025.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

This story originally appeared last year. It has been updated.

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An 8-year-old snuck his handwritten book onto a library shelf. Now it has a 56-person waiting list.

Dillon Helbig's 81-page graphic novel— written by "Dillon His Self"—captured the hearts of his local librarians and their patrons.

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Dillon Helbig's 81-page graphic novel captured the hearts of his local librarians.

Writing a book is no easy task, even for adult professional writers. Many would-be authors dream of a day when their work can be found on library shelves, unsure if it will ever come.

But for 8-year-old Dillon Helbig, that day has already arrived—in truly unconventional fashion—thanks to his own determination to make it happen.

Dillon wrote his 81-page graphic novel, "The Adventures of Dillon Helbig's Crismis" (written by "Dillon His Self") in a hardcover journal with colored pencils over the course of a few days.

He even put a label on the back of the book that reads "Made in Idho" [sic] and put an illustrated spine label on it as well. Then, without telling anyone, he brought it to his local library in Boise, Idaho, and slipped it in among the books in the children's section.


The library Facebook page shared that it had officially added the book to the collection at the branch, writing, "Imagine our surprise yesterday when Dillon's mom called to tell us that her son had authored an entire book, shelved it at the Lake Hazel Branch, then announced to his family later that he had written a book and it could be checked out at the library."

The library also announced that Dillon's book had won the first-ever Whoodini Award for Best Young Novelist—an award created in his honor.

Dillon told local news station KTVB that the book features him, his mom, Santa, a bomb, a portal and a giant carnivorous turkey. Because of course.

"I've been wanting to put a book in the library since I was five," Dillon told the station. Nearly half his life, in other words.

Dillon said there were a lot of librarians he had to sneak past with his book to surreptitiously put it on the shelf, but he did it.

"I'll always be sneaky, like how I get chocolate," he explained. Classic.

The adults on every front handled this kid's creativity and determination the best possible way. His mom called the library to let them know the book was there so it wouldn't get lost or taken.

And rather than just returning the book, the librarians actually put it into circulation.

"His parents were worried we would find his book and we would get rid of it," Lake Hazel Branch Library manager Alex Hartman told KTVB. "Which was an unfounded fear because if there's ever a place a book would be safe, it would be here."

The librarians loved Dillon's book.

“It deserves a spot on our library shelves,” said Hartman. “It’s a good story.”

At the time of this local news report, the book had a handful of people in line to check it out. But The New York Times reports that as of the end of January, the waiting list has grown to a whopping 56 people. If each person kept the book for the maximum four-week checkout period it would take four years to get to the people at the bottom of the list.

The experience has made Dillon decide to become an author, his mom said, and he even has some career goals laid out.

“I’m going to stop writing when I’m 40,” Dillon said. After that, he will switch to game creation. In the meantime, he has a sequel to his first novel in the works.

“My next book is going to be called ‘The Jacket-Eating Closet,’" he said, "based on actual events.”

Amazing. Kudos to Dillon for following his dream and making it happen, kudos to his mom for encouraging him and kudos to the librarians who saw an opportunity to support a child's creativity and ran with it.


This article originally appeared on 09.13.22

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Famous writers pep talked a new author after just two people came to her book signing

Ah, the power of vulnerability and solidarity.

@chelseabwrites, @jodipicoult, @neilhimself, @MargaretAtwood/Twitter, Photo by Pauline Loroy on Unsplash

Famous writers shared their book signing woes with a disheartened new author.

Putting creative work out into the world to be evaluated and judged is nerve-wracking enough as it is. Having to market your work, especially if you're not particularly extroverted or sales-minded, is even worse.

So when you're a newly published author holding a book signing and only two of the dozens of people who RSVP'd show up, it's disheartening if not devastating. No matter how much you tell yourself "people are just busy," it feels like a rejection of you and your work.

Debut novelist Chelsea Banning recently experienced this scenario firsthand, and her sharing it led to an amazing deluge of support and solidarity—not only from other aspiring authors, but from some of the top names in the writing business.

Banning shared on Twitter that 37 people had responded as "going" to her book signing at Pretty Good Books in Ashtabula, Ohio, on December 3, but only two showed up.

"Kind of upset, honestly, and a little embarrassed," she wrote.

A librarian by trade, Banning spent 15 years crafting the story for her fantasy trilogy about King Arthur's children. The first book in the series, "Of Crowns and Legends," was published in August and Banning has been trying to market it ever since.

"For a while I felt like I was throwing my book into the void and getting nothing," she told NPR. "This felt like last straw."

Then something amazing happened.

That tweet—which Banning had considered deleting shortly after she posted—started making the rounds. And much to her surprise and delight, Banning got responses from the likes of Margaret Atwood, Jodi Picoult, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King and other famous authors, who shared their own unattended book signing woes.

Even some famous nonauthors unexpectedly swooped in to lift Banning up.

Story after story poured in from dozens upon dozens of household writing names who had experienced two or one or zero people showing up to a book signing event. Anyone who has ever felt like they had failed due to a lack of interest or audience would find the thread inspiring, or at the very least, comforting.

But what was just as heartwarming as the successful writers commiserating with Banning was the fact that she shared her story in the first place. It's not easy to be vulnerable like that—most of us want to share our wins, not our perceived losses, with the world. But Banning demonstrated how opening up invites others to do the same, which lets everyone know they are not alone in their struggles.

What a beautiful thing all around. And to make it even better, Banning sold out of her signed copies that very same day. Here's to the power of sharing and caring!

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People can't get enough of this sweet story of Eric Carle responding to a lost cat sign

Lara B. Sharp/Facebook

Eric Carle may be best known for his beloved children's classic, "A Very Hungry Caterpillar," but he actually created more than 70 children's books in his 91 years of life. His unique paper collage illustration style makes his books distinctive and instantly recognizable. With his passing this week, the world has lost not only an artist but a simply lovely human being, according to a delightful viral story shared by writer Lara B. Sharp on Facebook.

Sharp wrote:

"Eric Carle, the incredible children's book author, has passed away...

Many years ago my chonky cat Julian — I called him The Shmoo — was let out of my apartment by an irresponsible and perhaps, in hindsight, diabolical landlord of my rent-stabilized apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I was absolutely devastated, of course, so I posted homemade fliers: Have You Seen My Cat? — with several of The Shmoo's photos, and offering a substantial reward, ALL over the neighborhood.

The SchmooLara B. Sharp

Shortly after my fliers were up I received a phone call from a very concerned man telling me that HE was going out to look for my cat. Every day, for five days, morning and night, this unknown man called me to ask after my lost cat, and every day he reported back to me about his own search... He was so unbelievably kind to me, while I sobbed into my landline telephone... I told him that I had no education, and no career, and no family, and a boyfriend who was all Boy, and No friend... The Shmoo, my rescued dumpster cat, was my Everything... I talked and talked and talked about myself, and he endlessly listened...

Eventually, my extremely overweight cat was returned to me from the kitchen of the Italian restaurant a block away. He spent the whole time there, eating ravioli and meatballs. Aside from being four pounds heavier and stinking of roasted garlic and stewed tomatoes, he was fine.

The SchmooLara B. Sharp

The first person I called with the great news was the nice man on the phone!

He was as happy as I was about the return of The Shmoo, and he asked if he could meet him... Normally I'd be like, 'Nah bro, you ain't gettin' my address', but this unknown, older gentleman was so kind and so supportive of me - like the dad that I'd never had - that I said I'd love to meet him, and have him meet my fat, beloved kitty...

When he arrived, because I knew he loved cats, and not much else about him, and because I wanted to express my gratitude, I gave him a huge stuffed cat from FAO Schwartz as a gift, and after he met The Shmoo, as he was leaving, he handed me a thin envelope...

Inside, was a beautiful book, called 'Have You Seen My Cat', and it was signed by the author, Eric Carle.

The sensitive, selfless person who listened to my sobbing, for days on end, called me twice a day, and physically searched all of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for my chubby lost cat, was the famous children's book author Eric Carle.

The revelation was so stunning to me that terminal shyness set in, and I never phoned him again.

To be treated like a daughter, when I'd never had a father, and by such an important person, who cared so much about a kitty that I loved so dearly, meant more to me than I was able to express at that time...

All these years later, it still means just as much. Many years later, when The Shmoo eventually passed away, I had him cremated with an Eric Carle postcard of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'.

I've never told this story before, because it was so precious of an experience that I kept it to myself.

I'm sharing it today, because I have so much love for him, and I always will, and because I can't stop thinking of him. I will never, ever forget him.

For five whole days, I had the world's greatest dad.

'Have You Seen MY Eric Carle?'"

People are loving Sharp's story, as it gives us a glimpse into the private character of the man most of us only know through his kids' books. What a lovely tribute to an author who not only brought joy into the lives of millions of families with his books, but who also took the time to help a stranger who needed support.

Rest in peace, Mr. Carle. Thank you for making our world a bit brighter while you were here.

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