As I mentioned in a recent post, I’ve been having a lot of fun with fairytale retellings lately. It’s a genre I was never even really aware of until Rooglewood Press’s Five Glass Slippers competition gave me the inspiration to write Corral Nocturne. Writing for that contest and reading the winning entries was such fun, I’ve long toyed with the idea of writing more fairytale-based stories at some point. More recently, I’ve been inspired by Suzannah Rowntree’s wonderfully creative takes on both well-known and lesser-known fairytales. So the long and the short of it is, I have a couple more of my own in various stages of pre-production (to borrow a filmmaker’s term). Lost Lake House is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses set in the Roaring ’20s. And The Mountain of the Wolf, an idea that basically came out of nowhere and smacked me between the eyes this month, is a Western tale of outlaws and revenge based on Little Red Riding Hood. I’m planning to work on one or both of these over this autumn.
Along the way, I’ve been considering the question of why fairytale retellings are such fun to read and especially to write. Perhaps the appeal lies in starting with an existing story structure—for writers like myself, anyway, who find crafting a cohesive plot one of our biggest challenges! The few main plot points are laid out for you, almost like a template, leaving you free to play with the more colorful and subjective elements of character and setting to your heart’s content.
Looking for a metaphor, I thought at first of comparing it to a recipe, but then thought better of it: you don’t have quite so much freedom to shuffle the ingredients of a recipe. It’s more like a menu. On a menu you have a list of categories or components—appetizer, soup, meat, vegetable, side dish, dessert—and it’s up to you to fill in the blank on each and come up with as many different combinations you can think of, using a specified number of each of those pieces.
So, to take the most familiar example, the list of components for a Cinderella story looks something like this:
Key components (main dish and entrees, shall we say)
- 1 heroine in unhappy or restricted circumstances (Cinderella)
- 1 unkind relative/figure of authority responsible for heroine’s unhappy state (Wicked Stepmother)
- 1 hero, deemed inaccessible to heroine by his station in life or some other circumstance (The Prince)
- 1 important event at which hero and heroine are brought together, with a crucial moment or disaster coming at midnight (The Ball)
- 1 benefactor who makes it possible for heroine to attend said event (Fairy Godmother)
- 1 lost shoe that proves vital to the heroine’s fortunes (The Glass Slipper)
Minor components, optional (appetizers and desserts, if you will)
- 2 other relatives/persons in heroine’s life who assist in making her unhappy; also frequently rivals for hero’s attention (Wicked Stepsisters)
- Parent or parents of hero, preferably in position of authority and/or grandeur (King and possibly Queen)
- Variable number of small friends or allies of heroine (mice, dogs, horses, etc.)
Putting it that way, you see how innumerable variations can be crafted on this one basic plot! How many difficult situations can we think of for our heroine to be trapped in (we writers are much too good at inflicting trouble on our characters), how many different eccentric or unlikely benefactors can we invent—how many creative uses can we find for a stray shoe? (Has anyone done a version where the shoe gets flung at someone?) Outlining my second and third, I’ve realized that my own particular angle on retellings—unintentional but consistent—is their real-world setting. They’re straight historical fiction, without magical creatures or imaginary kingdoms involved, but still paralleling the characters and plot of the original fairytale. Coming up with those real-world equivalents is a fun challenge.
Do you enjoy fairytale retellings? If so, what do you think makes them fun to read and write?
Suzannah says
Wow, Elisabeth, those fairytale retellings of yours sound terrific fun.
I too love the fact that writing fairy tale retellings means you don't have to come up with your own plots. Then, I think there's a lot of the same appeal as fan fiction… You get to relive a favourite story in a new way. And me, I also like the process of matching the right fairytale to the right setting, time period, and genre, and experimenting with settings and genres I'd normally never dream of trying!
Elisabeth Grace Foley says
Thanks! They've been awfully fun to brainstorm, and I'm excited about writing them. And I'm looking forward to more of yours too!
You know, that's one thing I forgot to mention—all three of my retellings started from an existing, vague scrap of an idea that "clicked" when I realized it would be the perfect fit for a certain fairytale. I think I sort of did the matching process backwards. 🙂
wisdomcreates says
Yes, I agree with the menu idea. And it was fascinating to read your breakdown of the Cinderella menu. I'd be curious to hear your breakdown of this year's subject: Sleeping Beauty.
Also, now I really want to read a story wherein Cinderella throws her slipper at somebody.
Rachel Heffington says
Totally agree about the challenge to set it in the real world, Elisabeth! Also, I really cannot wait to read the Twelve Dancing Princesses story! It sounds amazing. I love a good fairytale retelling…but I love it most when I don't realize it was a fairytale until a key moment. That's skill.
Hamlette says
I do enjoy retellings of all sorts, not just of fairy tales. It just so happens that I am right now working on my very first attempt at a fairy tale retelling, something I've thought about for a while. Your "Corral Nocturne" is part of why I've decided to give it a try — I saw how well a fairy tale could work in a western setting and realized that my idea of western fairy tales wasn't so far-fetched after all. Thank you!