Fairy tales –
they’ve been told and retold, but maybe you’re drawn to tell one again. And
you’d be in good company.
But what more
can be said with these stories? Bookshelves in YA and children’s libraries are
full of fairy tale retellings. How might you craft fresh versions?
Perhaps the
more appropriate question is this - Why do we still enjoy reading these tales?
Why are many of us drawn to write them?
The simple
answer is that they continue to have relevance for contemporary readers. What
follows is a list of suggestions for finding unique relevance in old stories –
the unexplored but rich terrain in fairy tales.
Draw a Cultural Picture.
What stories are too little told? How might they depict cultures and peoples
misrepresented or underrepresented in literature? Grace Lin used Chinese folk
and fairy tales to inspire the wonderful MG fantasy Where the Mountain Meets
the Moon. However, those of us considering writing
outside our cultures should think carefully on the if’s, when’s, and how’s of
such a decision.
Find Logic in the Illogical.
Often, the things that occur in fairy tales don’t entirely make sense. Why
doesn’t Red Riding Hood notice that her grandmother has a hairy face? Why is
Cinderella so obedient as she’s robbed of her position and possessions? Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted offers an answer to
this last question that’s both humorous and emotionally resonant. Great stories
can come from making sense out of nonsense.
Tell the Tale from Another Side.
Every character has his or her own story: the prince, the witch, the servant
girl who walks into the tale briefly and then walks out. Try seeing the story
from all sides, and writing it from an alternative perspective. To read an
example of this kind of story, track down Donna Jo Napoli’s Zel or
The Magic Circle, both of which offer the perspectives of
witches.
Kindle the Emotional Heat.
Fairy tales might be about magic and once-upon-a-time, but they’re also about
fathers who abandon children, lovers who must see past the ugly outward
appearance of a beloved to the sweetness beneath, girls who make the wrong
choices and must try to save themselves. These stories are, at their cores,
about situations people continue to face every day. When we’re drawn to a
particular tale, we might ask, why? What truths are we finding in it? The
answers to these questions led me to write a version of “Hansel and Gretel”.
Robin McKinley provided two sets of answers in two novels that retell the story
of “Beauty and the Beast”, Beauty and Rose’s
Daughter.
I’m sure I’ve overlooked some ways of
approaching old and yet compelling stories. How do you create unique stories
from already-told tales?
I love this post! and your advice about how to make an old tale fresh. I think that if you add a lot of specific detail (not just "a girl in a forest" but what she looked like, what she's wearing, why it's torn, what kind of trees are there, what kind of birds, what's under her feet) it necessarily becomes a new/original world--though maybe also less of a "fairy tale" world.
ReplyDeleteA great point. All those details can make a story distinctive, even one told often. Billingsley's Folk Keeper vs Lanagan's Brides of Rollrock Island come to mind.
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ReplyDeleteSometimes I think we love certain fairytales because they resonate with us in ways we don't fully understand -- until we try to retell them. I found that with my retelling of H.C. Andersen's "The Snow Queen". CROWN OF ICE is told for the Snow Queen's perspective, for some very specific reasons. Discussed this on my blog if anyone's interested -- http://tinyurl.com/butrlx9
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree. Thanks for the link.
DeleteThe trick I like best for making old tales new is reading/writing a story where we get to know the characters as more than just the archetypes we're used to. Many fairytale characters are household names, but who are they beyond the girl with the glass slipper / red hood / hundred-year nap? What are their personalities, voices, thoughts, and feelings? Why do they do what they do? Make the characters *people*, and since every person is different, every story retelling will be, too.
ReplyDeleteYes, absolutely. And the actions of the characters can help us discover who the character might be. We use the behavior to determine motivations.
DeleteLove this post, especially your Find Logic in the Illogical and Kindle the Emotional Heat. That's really the key to making any story our own -- because without emotion, we don't have a story. I still remember the delicious dread of going to bed with Grimm's fairy tales, and the emotional roller coaster I went through in each of them. Recapturing any of that for another kid would make me thrilled.
ReplyDeleteI remember a lot of my dread while reading Grimm collections, but I often didn't understand what chilled me. Hansel and Gretel was one of those tales - and I was an adult before I realized that father, who abandoned his children, was what frightened me so.
DeleteI love that you mentioned Robin McKinley! As for fairytale retellings, I've had a hankering for a while to do one, but with a boy as the main character rather than a girl--not sure which story, though. Maybe Cinderella? :) I absolutely adore female MCs, but I want to try out a male MC sometime just to break the market mold.
ReplyDeleteI discovered Robin McKinley's work when I was 15. She is definitely one of the reasons I write fantasy. A male Cinderella? That would be a twist. There are lots of great fairy tales with male protags, tricksters and younger brothers that are believed to be fools but aren't. Go for it.
DeleteI love that idea--a male Cinderella-- in novel form. I have a collection of Cinderella-based books (mostly for children, of course) and one is The Irish Cinder Lad, which is quite original, but not really one of my favorites. (I also have Dinorella, Cinderella Penguin... the list goes on and on... and some are pretty ridiculous! But I can't seem to help myself from purchasing them anyway!)
DeleteI'd love to see what you come up with somewhere down the line! Go for it!
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ReplyDeleteI love fairy tale retellings, and Robin McKinley's are among my favorites! My debut novel (and its sequel) refashions Snow White & Rose Red, a favorite Grimm tale from my childhood, across the scope of two books: The Ryn (March 2013) and The Remedy (April 2013.) I'd always been more partial to the spunky Rose Red as a character than the demure Snow White and always felt a little robbed that the Bear/Prince ended up with Snow White in the end, so I switched it up, added in a little girl power, and made sure that he couldn't even BE a prince without Rose Red making it so...
ReplyDeleteRight now I'm digging into a new Grimm tale for books 3 & 4 of the Eyes of E'veria series and I hope readers will be really excited to find out how I am integrating a pirate and knight they met in the first two books into this newly reimagined tale. (and, since I'm a "pantser" I'm pretty excited to see how it turns out, as well! LOL)
I've loved Snow White and Rose Red for years. Thanks for mentioning it. What a very odd fairy tale. Good luck with the new story.
DeleteLove this post - got me thinking about rewriting some of my olde stories!
ReplyDeleteI've been mulling over The Greenman for years - thanks for the guideposts!
Sounds like it's time to dig out those ideas and sit down with them, Keely.
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