EEEEK!! Y'all know I love a good guest post, and of course, Kirsten is basically my absolute favorite guest to have here! (Inserts round of applause)
Without further ado, the author herself! (Click on the photo to go to Kirsten's blog!)
Retelling
an Unknown Fairytale
Fairytale retellings are becoming a
bigger genre every time I turn around. Big-name authors and indie authors and
all the authors in-between are writing their take on some of the most popular
fairytales out there. I’ve been trying to keep up with all of them (at least,
note and list all the retellings that I can), but I think I’ve got to admit
that it’s impossible to find them all. Especially all the Cinderella and
Beauty and the Beast retellings. There are hundreds of those. Or
so it seems.
(Don’t get me wrong; I love a good Cinderella
retelling as much as the next fairytale enthusiast. I just wish people would do
MORE.)
But what about fairytales like Thumbelina?
Toads and Diamonds? The Steadfast Tin Soldier? The last has a
mere ONE retelling that I know of, and the other two aren’t much better. And
the fairytales that are so obscure that, if I mentioned them, no one would have
any idea of what I’m speaking? Zilch.
“These aren’t popular fairytales,”
you argue. “People want Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast
because they already know the story. They want to have something familiar
within the retelling.”
If you say that, you’re not wrong.
We do have a tendency to lean towards things that are familiar. But in doing
so, we’re leaving so many wonderful fairytales untouched and unloved. Imitation
is the sincerest form of flattery, and if you call yourself a fairytale
enthusiast/author, you have to do better than just a version of Cinderella and
Beauty and the Beast. You have to go all in.
The
unknown fairytales NEED a chance in the spotlight. Many of them are beautiful
stories that have magical elements and themes not found in some of the more
popular ones. I don’t know why they’re not more known and loved, but they
should be.
Committing to retell an unknown or
obscure fairytale isn’t easy. I struggled a bit writing my book, The Bear of
Rosethorn Ring, since it’s based on the little-known fairytale Snow
White and Rose Red. Now, even though people may recognize the names of our
titular heroines, they often don’t know the actual story. (Try me: Do YOU know
their story?) I wanted the story to be unique as a retelling, and yet still
have enough of the original fairytale to make people interested in that as
well.
When
working with an unknown tale, it’s really important to keep as many of the big
elements intact (or somewhat intact), to allow the reader to get a good feel of
the original story. Cinderella is so well-known that if you take away
the glass slippers, people still recognize her. If, however, you retell
something like The Gnome and take away the underground kingdom, there’s
a good chance people won’t recognize it. Many of the original elements are what
make the fairytale in the first place, so why erase them?
Now,
I’m not saying that you should spit out a near-exact replica of the original
fairytale. No, it needs to be your own. Your style, your spin, your retelling.
While you should stick to many of the BIG elements, the smaller ones you should
change around to create a new story. Decide what’s important to keep for the
retelling, and then make the rest your very own.
Obscure
fairytales have the same problems that popular fairytales do: ALL THE WHAT IFS.
They have plot holes, unexplained details, and sometimes unsatisfactory
endings. And these are the perfect fodder for a good retelling. Look for the
pieces in the fairytale that don’t make sense, and make sense of them.
Cinderella has been given a good many reasons to go to the ball, but do we have
reasons for why the witch wanted to poison the prince in The Riddle? Why
did the queen put that pea under twenty mattresses when making up a bed for the
princess, and why were there twenty mattresses? That reason just became your
retelling.
The
fun part about retelling an unknown fairytale is that there are so many ways to
retell it since no one (or next to no one) has retold it before. If the
fairytale is obscure enough, your retelling may be the very first. It’ll be the
gateway that introduces people to the original fairytale. How cool is that? I
want more people to know about SWRR, and that’s one big reason I’m so excited
to share The Bear of Rosethorn Ring with everyone. One of my favorite
obscure fairytales is Princess Rosette, and I know that if I ever get
around to retelling it one day (which I’d love to, BTW), I’ll be using my
retelling to introduce this fairytale to more people.
Retelling
an unknown fairytale isn’t just allowing the author to have fun with something
that’s been untouched. It’s also allowing the author to become the doorkeeper to
offer readers a whole new world of fairytales.
Thank you Kirsten, for agreeing to be here today! Don't forget to check out all her books on Amazon!
