5 Reasons To Write Fairytale Retellings - A Guest Post By Christine Smith

YOU GUYS - it's fairytale month, and guess which fairytale-retelling-genius is here to give us an epic post that will DEFINITELY have you itching to write a retelling? The incredible Christine Smith from Musings Of An Elf! <3

And I'm going to hand the blog right over to her, because I'm just as excited to read this post as you are ;D.

Fairytales. Or as I like to call them: Plot Bunny Fodder.

I've been a fairytale nerd since...forever. I can't remember a time where I wasn't captivated by brave princes, cursed princesses, wicked stepmothers, magical fairies, enchanted woods, haunted castles, fearsome dragons, and on and on and on it goes. The myths and legends and folklore and pure intrigue and wonder of the world of fairytales is like an endless wellspring to my imagination.

There are so many fairytales out there and so much that can be done with them. It makes my writer heart trill. (And makes me want to achieve immortality because lololol I'll neverrr live long enough to retell alllll the fairytales I want to. Which is...all of them.)

But maybe you're not big into fairytales. Maybe you're not so sure there should be yet more retellings in the world. Or perhaps you just haven't thought of doing a retelling before. Whatever the case may be, today I'm here to tell you WHY writing retellings is a joy, and maybe even convince you to create one of your own! (Nooo, this is not manipulation because I want more fairytale retellings. What are you talking about? *cough, cough, cough*)

- 5 REASONS TO RETELL A FAIRYTALE -

THERE ARE SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM

I'm talkin' hundredssss here. I'm not kidding when I say fairytales are endless plot bunny fodder. Not only are there a gadrillion stories just begging to be retold out there, there is an INFINITE amount of ways that you can retell them. From the traditional medieval European fantasy story to Cinderella in space. There are NO limitations.

The thing about fairytales is that they're not...detailed. Most are just a couple of pages long and leave much to be desired. But that's what I love about them. They stir up the storyteller in me because I want to know why the villainous witch is so evil, I want to know how the prince found the cursed princess, I want to explore the inner workings of the enchanted forest and see more of the strange castle and figure out a solid reason why the dragon wants a damsel in distress in the first place.

Literally every. single. time. I read a fairytale, I have this incredible yearning to retell it. To dig deeper and create answers for all the many questions the original story left me with. And maybe actually bring some logic to it as well because, let's be real, not all fairytales lean on the logical side of the spectrum. Eheh.

Are you feeling dry on story ideas? How about go pickup a fairytale collection? If you're like me, next thing you know you'll find yourself overwhelmed with hordes of plot bunnies!

IT CAN CREATE ORIGINAL CONTENT

“Okay,” you may be saying, “fairytales are nice and all, but shouldn't we be creating original stories?”

A lot of people complain about this one. I've seen many a person whine that there are too many retellings and that we need more original content.

Well...there are no original stories. Per se. You know how you make a story original? You take already used story elements and twist them into something new. You know how you make a fairytale retelling? You take a fairytale and twist it into something new.

It's literally the same thing.

Retelling a fairytale is basically taking a plot device, as we would with any story, and shaping it into something fresh and intriguing.

I'm a huge fan of Marissa Meyer's The Lunar Chronicles, which takes the stories of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White and puts them in the future and in space. And you know what? I found that far more original than if the author had skipped making them fairytale retellings and instead simply created a generic sci-fi series. Cinderella as a cyborg is the kind of original content this world is looking for.

Turning a story into a retelling is a brilliant and fun way to make original content.

THE STORY FOUNDATION IS ALREADY THERE

Sometimes the hardest part of writing is that blank page. After all, we're literally having to come up with an entire universe (I mean...if you're writing fantasy, but still), people, plotlines, and strain to make it logical and amazing one...word...at...a...time. WRITING IS HARD, GUYS. Plots are hard. It's all hard! But retellings help ease the pressure.

Even if you're making your retelling wildly different from the original tale, you still have that foundation, that fist inkling of a plot bunny. A baby bunny, if you will. Instead of an entirely empty canvas, you've got that backdrop color to get you started, it's just up to you to add the picture and details. (Let's just pretend my analogies make sense...) And as an added bonus, every fairytale has a theme already built in. And I repeat: WRITING IS HARD. Capturing a good theme can sometimes be headache-inducing. But with fairytales? It's already there! (Hey, we will take any excuse to make the writing process easier, amirite?)

It's so, so nice to have that foundation of a story before you. And on that note...

ENDLESS INSPIRATION TO FIGHT BACK WRITER'S BLOCK

Back when I was outlining my current WIP, a Beauty and the Beast retelling, whenever I'd get stuck, I would go back and read the original Beauty and the Beast fairytale. Almost every single time, it would spark an idea and break down that wall of writer's block.

Now, my B&B story is nothing like the original, but it helped so much to snag ideas from the original story and twist them into something new. Such as the magic mirror gave me an idea for a very huge plot device within my own story. And in one part in the original story, Beast sent Beauty a trunk of gowns, which gave me just the idea I needed for another section of my book.

Yeeears ago I wrote an Arthurian Legend novel and did the same thing. Every time I was stuck, I'd go read King Arthur legends and next thing I knew, I had too many ideas.

Of course I don't mean copy the original tales, but studying each element in the fairytale can give you some amazing ideas for where to take the story. Such as in The Lunar Chronicles, Cinderella's glass slipper is instead a mechanical foot because Cinderella is a cyborg. (I know, right???)

 

There are always ideas to glean within the original fairytales. I find writing stories based off fairytales or legends so much easier when it comes to gaining ideas and fighting off that writer's block.

BUT, for the love of everything good in the world, please go to the original source and do not base your story off Disney's fairytales. I adore Disney's movies with all my heart, but those are nooooot the original, they are very much retellings themselves. It just gets really annoying when people mistake Disney's movies for the basis of fairytales. #PetPeeve

Ahem. Moving on!

TWISTING FAIRYTALES IS JUST WAY TOO MUCH FUN

When it comes down to it, retelling a fairytale is just FUN, whatever method you take. Finding new and crazy ways to retell a well-known story is thrilling, and so, so satisfying when you think up a brilliant way to turn the story on its head.

And there are so very many awesome, wild ways to do it. If you're not sure where to begin, our own dear Savannah just wrote THE most inspirational post about asking “what if?”. I seriously have like three dozen new plot bunnies after reading it. It is a fantastic place to start if you're looking for great ways to retell a fairytale!

So have I convinced you yet? Retelling a fairytale is a crazy and wondrous experience. The possibilities are literally endless. ENDLESS, GUYS. Sometimes retellings can be the most original, epic stories in the fiction market.

And have I mentioned they're fun to write? Because THEY'RE REALLY FUN TO WRITE! But you won't know until you've triiiied. *wink, wink* *nudge, nudge*

Christine Smith is a twenty-something, homeschool graduate who still believes in fairies and has every intention of owning a pet dragon someday. One day she thought it’d be fun to write a book. Sixteen years and much caffeine later, she’s still writing. Stories are her life—reading, writing, watching, whatever it may be. She writes primarily YA speculative fiction novels, and refuses to stop, no matter how old she gets. She loves tales grand and epic and whimsical and beautiful. But her greatest love is her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Her favorite adventure of all is letting Him sweep her off on His beautiful plan for her life. You can find Christine at her blog, musingsofanelf.blogspot.com, where she muses on those many peculiar things writers think about.



*applause, applause* Wasn't that great? I always love Christine's posts - and all of that made me want to go out and start writing yet another retelling! If you guys managed to escape the flock of plot bunnies gathering around this post, then you are a special person indeed xD.

ANYways, I hope you all enjoyed that epic post! And if you want more posts about writing retellings, I'll be back with another in a week-ish, so stick around! I can't wait to chat retellings with you ;D. But for now, feel free to jabber with the lovely Christine Smith down in the comments (and check out her blog!)! I can honestly say that she is one of the sweetest people in the blogosphere <3.

~ Savannah Grace 

have you ever written a retelling?

what got you into writing retellings?