Monday, February 10, 2020

The Fairy Tale Tag


Fairy Tale Central has created their first-ever tag!  You can find the original here, along with a link-up so you can find other people who have answered it!

It just so happens that I sent off the revised version of One Bad Apple to my editor at the end of last week, and so I am footloose and fancy free for a few days, and this blog tag about fairy tales is exactly what I'm in the mood for.  I hope you are too.

(All photos are mine from my Instagram)

– What’s an obscure fairy tale you love? 

I really love The Tinder Box, which is this weird one involving a kind ex-soldier who helps an old woman who then gives him a tinder box that he can use to call these three giant dogs to help him.  I keep trying to figure out a way to retell it without magic so it could be part of my series because it's so dear to my heart, but so far, no luck.

– If you got to choose Disney’s next animated princess movie, what fairy tale would you choose to be adapted? 

The Twelve Dancing Princesses, because it's my favorite.  And just think of all the merchandising opportunities with that many princesses!  Come on, Disney, get with it!


– What is the first fairy tale you remember hearing when you were a child? 

I had a whole lot of Disney story books that came with records you could listen to while following along in the book.  I had them for Cinderella and Snow White and Mickey and the Beanstalk, so those all kind of tie for the first one I remember.


– If you were to embark on a fairy tale quest, what necessities would you pack in your bag? 

A pistol with lots of extra ammo, strong rope, lots of protein bars, a couple canteens, and a spare charger for my phone.  Also, a good camera.


– What’s your favorite fairy tale trope? 

Overlooked, ordinary person saves the day.

– If you could be any fairy tale character archetype (the princess, the soldier, fairy godmother, talking animal, mischievous imp, wise old woman, evil stepmother/sister, etc.), who would you want to be and why? 

A fairy godmother!  I'm already practicing :-)


– What animal/mythical creature would be your sidekick for fairy tale adventures? 

I'd like a flying horse, please.

– What is your favorite historical era, and what fairy tale would you love to see in that setting? 

I love the Old West, and as it so happens, I have a habit of setting fairy tales there!  So far, my Once Upon a Western series has book-length retellings of Little Red Riding Hood (Cloaked) and The Twelve Dancing Princesses (Dancing and Doughnuts), plus (FREE) short story retellings of Scheherazade, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and Three Billy Goats Gruff.

(All those links just go to Goodreads pages, btw.)


Also, my first retelling, which was of Sleeping Beauty, is called "The Man on the Buckskin Horse" and is available in the Five Magic Spindles anthology.  Next up is my Snow White retelling, One Bad Apple, which I'm hoping will get released late this spring.


After that, I have book-length retellings planned for Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and The Steadfast Tin Soldier.  Plus there will doubtless be short story retellings in there too.

– If you could change a fairy tale’s villain into a hero, who would you choose and why? 

On a whole, I'm not a huge fan of twisting up fairy tales so the villains are the heroes and the heroes are the villains.  But I think Maddie Morrow did a marvelous job doing exactly that with her Snow White retelling "Red as Blood," which is in the Five Poisoned Apples anthology.  So let's stick with that.


– Do you prefer fairy tales with happy endings or sad/tragic endings? why?

Happy!  I prefer happy endings for everything except very specific stories like Hamlet.


And that's the end of that!  I hope you have a lovely Monday :-)  It's dreary here, but the rain has stopped for a little while, at least.

19 comments:

  1. A flying horse would be awesome!! Like Fledge, in Narnia.

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  2. As far as "Tinder Box" retellings go, "man with three huge dogs who help him on his journey" seems tailor-made for a Western. I hope you can find an angle on retelling it someday because I'd *love* to read your version.

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    1. Ashley, well, this is fairly true... I just haven't quite figured out how this would make for much of a story. Like, I need a plot. You never know, though! It could happen.

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  3. A DISNEY ADAPTATION OF THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES, YES PLEASE. I second and third and fourth the motion.

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  4. Eeeeep!! I'm so excited that you sent your first draft of One Bad Apple to an editor!! Oh, you have one for Beauty and the Beast planned out? So many good things are going to come. :-)

    I love The Tinder Box! One of my favorites. Oh, 12DP would be amazing as a Disney movie!

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    1. MC, yup! Got back some suggestions for one major change, which I just finished implementing tonight. We'll see how it all turns out :-) Sending it to my cover artist next, plus my sensitivity readers.

      And yup, Beauty and the Beast will be the next one in this series, though I miiiiiiiiiiiiiiight release a stand-alone in between. We shall see.

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  5. So glad you decided to join in on the tag! This was a blast to read.

    100% AGREED on Disney needing to do 12DP. I want a Disney adaptation of it SO BAD. And you're right, they could go WILD with the merchandise. Seriously, Disney!

    I love that you'd take a pistol on your quest. VERY smart thinking! XD

    Oooh, a flying horse companion, that's a good one! You'd get a great steed AND be able to fly--best of both worlds!

    This was great! Thank you for joining in!

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    1. Christine, I'm fully convinced all questers would have carried pistols if they'd known about them. It's only logical.

      And yes! Best of both worlds -- a horse friend AND the ability to fly.

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  6. Oh, I love that you answered with The Tinder Box! That's my grandfather's favorite fairy tale :D

    I'm also imagining all of the gowns that we'd get in a Disney version of the 12 Dancing Princesses and now I'm upset we don't have this movie in existence (It might overload the Disney Princess Official Lineup, though! XD)

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    1. Hayden, that's cool! Good for your grandfather :-)

      I suspect Disney is shying away from a 12DP movie for some of the same reasons I had a bit of difficulty writing it: that is a LOT of characters to develop and get people to care about. They'd probably have to do what I did, which is take 3 or 4 sisters to really develop and let the others be backgroundy. But still. Allll the dresses we could have!

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  7. I was stuck between a pegasus and a unicorn and a mix of both, but visually the wings were bothering me, so really a princess diva her.

    Anyway, I haven't read enough original fairytales, I don't think I've even heard of the Tinderbox, but this tag is really bringing back my interest in the originals and retellings. I'd set Entwined for a winter reread and I just started it.

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    1. Livia, lol! I love the look of wings on a horse, and Pegasus is one of the few Greek myths I actually know reasonably well :-)

      A quick way to familiarize yourself with lots of fairy tales is to find a compilation in the children's section of the library. I love that those give me a taste for what a fairy tale is about, and then I can go look up the longer "original" versions of the ones that interest me.

      Is Entwined another by Alethea Kontis?

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    2. Yeah, I was being awfully persnickety for an imaginary animal.

      That is a great Idea, I'll have to do that.

      I mean Entwined by Heather Dixon (I think her newest books are under Heather Dixon Wallwork or something). I love this version of the 12 Dancing princess (it's between YA and middlegrade to me), but I also like Princess of the Midnight Ball (definitely more middle grade) by Jessica Day George.

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  8. So happy you joined in the blog tag! Great answers!

    Hahahah! Love how you pointed out the merchandising opportunities for a 12 Dancing Princesses movie! But seriously though... 12 dolls to collect, 12 different princess outfits kids can dress up for Halloween... the money they could make from this!

    *heart eyes* Ooo retellings for Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and The Steadfast Tin Soldier? Love it!

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    1. Thanks, Faith! It was very fun :-)

      Yup! Those three are all in the pipeline...

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  9. Maddie did do an amazing job with that twist! I kinda think of you as my fairy godmother if that counts. ;)

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    1. Skye, I know! She really did.

      You are one of my "practice" subjects :-) That's why I say I'm practicing to be one. Haven't learned how to transform vegetables and critters yet, but I do have a magic wand... so it's a start :-)

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