#edwardian rapunzels

[thinkingimages]

[pinkpinkmermayyy]

more inspo I’ve had for transfem/tangled au luca hehe

@saffron4new @japannkenn @punkeropercyjackson

[pansy-picnics]

Sorry the design isnt exact i was freehanding it and just going off Vibes

@pansy-picnics I finally finished her (don't mine her looking in your soul that just means she likes you)

[heathtrash]

tww fans, help me recover from top surgery!!

okay i am freaking oUT bc surgery is in a few hours but i thought of a cute way you might want to support me - by reading/commenting on my fics? comments are my favourite thing to get so i will LOVE reading them while i'm in that very common post-op depression time

hicsqueak

A Clock With No Hands - it's epic, it's angsty, it's action-packed, it's domestic?? pippa pentangle is a horse girl?? if you love confinement slowburn angst this is the one for you. you can read up to the end of chapter 10 if you don't like unfinished things because it has a nice natural pause there. my first ever fanfiction i ever started. i don't know what else to say about it. it's my child i'll be seeing you in all the old familiar places - pippa is engaged! TO A MAN. hecate is furious about being invited? it's the daily update fic that i devoted my full life to for the month of october! i'm told it was exciting to read as it was updating but still remains a very "i'll just read one more chapter" fic. it really does go places

Theft of a Heart (I know this much is true) - go back to the 80s for this dive into teen hisqueak! it's kind of a prequel to a clock with no hands. if you want to see how morgana orchestrates pippa and hecate becoming friends, then this is the fic for you

Blow, Northerne Wynd - rapunzel au!!! hecate's confinement re-imagined as the rapunzel story. pippa is a gallant knight who visits her. technically this doesn't have an ending but i left it in a pretty good place!!!

there’s something about kittens - tiny little one-shot about pippa and hecate taking care of the kittens that the cackle's students will receive

To ready one's heart (hicsqueak Valentine's Day drabble sequence) - i mean, who doesn't love fake dating at a charity auction?

Going Once, Going Twice - (summary-style) non-magical au where hecate is an archaeologist bidding on an important item for her research. a rival from her past, pippa, bids against her. they have to meet up to resolve matters and. well, it's a christmas romcom.

Other ways of keeping warm - hicsqueak at a christmas market. SUCH fluff.

Taking the Initiative - after a workshop from pippa, hecate gets really into dungeon mastering a D&D game for a small group of students. this was never finished but maybe it doesn't have to be?

Raspberry and White Chocolate - very short university au where hecate is a lecturer and pippa is a PhD student. one of the first fics i ever wrote!

hackle

A Witch in Paris (Yours, Hecate) - hecate is staying in paris for research, and her only means of communication with the headmistress she pines after is by letter. if you've never read hackle before, this is a soft introduction! it's actually a remix fic so i can't take all the credit (originally was a series of letters by @emiline-northeto)

A Rather Distinguished Guest - edwardian au where hecate is on her way to a guest-house where she is the housekeeper, and finds herself sharing a carriage with a very interesting stranger. it's historical cottagecore!

A minute before midnight - hackle love confession at midnight on new year's! it's soft

Hush Little Kitty - only very tiny amount of hackle, but the fic is mainly about hecate looking for morgana. if you love cats and soft hecate then here!!

Only Happy When It Rains - super random magical grunge band au, no idea what i was thinking

mumbroom

A Nanny’s Intuition - hecate goes BACK IN TIME to pose as a nanny and protect baby mildred hubble in julie's flat from a magical attack. obviously she'll have no problems at all keep her feelings in check. what could go wrong???

Merry Christmas, Darling (mumbroom ficlets) - THREE one-shot fics showing how julie and hecate get closer over the years at Christmas, from beginning to date, to engagement and marriage

The Best Cure is Company - hecate is sick, julie helps her recover. established relationship that just gets cuter

misc/collections

A Taste of Honey - one of my most beloved fics??? HONEYBROOM. jennifer honey (yes, matilda miss honey) comes to teach at cackle's as a supply teacher. hecate is about to be in for a Lot. this goes deeper than expected

Fly Me To The Moon (Fill My Heart With Song) - starabella! a year after the betrayal, dimity checks up on arabella by taking a date to her jazz gig. starabella never gets enough love

Something Strong About Her - starbroom, where hecate treats dimity to a lovely day out

The Star of My Sky - starbroom, where hecate has a proposal for dimity and her collapsible broomstick. hecate teases dimity relentlessly. if you're wanting a laugh, THIS.

a dance to remember - pippa/hecate/julie, lots of soft care for hecate at ostara. chill lil cottage one-shot

The Cat Omnibus (multiship Valentine's Day drabble collection) - maybe you really like cats. there's a cat in EVERY drabble. some beloved rarepairs

only three sentences to confess my love (Tumblr Ask Box fics) - askbox three-sentence fics. they're gay

A Selection of Chocolates (April 2020 drabble collection) - so i bought a discounted 65p easter egg, and wrote a multiship collection. i've no idea

The Witching Hour: A Celebration of Hallowe'en (TWW October Drabble Challenge 2019) - random hallowe'en/autumn drabbles

Only This Moment (march 2020 drabble collection) - another multiship drabble collection, for my sins

other fandoms

home is where you kiss me - imodna try to make a home together and perhaps there is a little cONFESSION? some mild threat

creepy creeps with eerie eyes - imodna decorate zhudanna's house for hallowe'en. it's silly and cute and i wrote most of it right after the first episode of campaign 3 aired because i was immediately obsessed with imogen and laudna, like a gay

The Importance of Being Subtle - vex and keyleth go on an adventure and there's a sneaky little love confession. if the tag "sapphics on a broomstick" doesn't draw you in, i don't know what will

As Long As You're Here - downton abbey, mary/baxter sickfic. mary is sick and baxter has been left behind in quarantine with her

Just a touch more - downton abbey, mary/baxter. baxter is dressing mary in preparation for a hunt. it takes a turn for the gay

To the Hilt - flemson in an olympics au. joanne davidson and kate fleming fence. it's very uhhh gay word. even if you don't know the ship, you might enjoy the ladies with swords.

Two First Kisses - flemson university au? kate thinks she's straight and goes to the LGBTsoc meet. there's no way she'll fall for jo, right???? it's also 2006 because i'm nostalgic for my own university days. tbh this might as well be original fiction, the ship is barely relevant

Holding Back the Years - doubt, sister aloysius/sister james. is sister aloysius ready for the cOnFeSsIoN sister james is about to give her? lesbian nuns idk

to seduce a stranger (maryisa valentine's day drabble sequence) - maryisa from his dark materials! marisa coulter has to lead mary malone on, but how far will it take her?

anyway thank you so much if you decide to read or re-read anything! i might have some LAMPBROOM (constance hardbroom/lynne lamplighter) in the works but i’ve been so brain empty these past few days. if i have a braincell in recovery i’ll try to edit and post the chapters i have. obviously if that’s not your ship i’ve written plenty of other fics 🫡

[svnny-ao3]

I’m brainstorming a retelling of twelve dancing princesses where each princess has another Grimm fairytale she’s subtly living out, more through use of allusions and plot devices than full storylines (abandoned slippers and red caps, etc). Hopefully I’m not juggling to many plates. The princesses are:

Clavela (23) - Aschenputtel

Violante (22) - King Thrushbeard

Amarilis (20) - Allerleirauh

Margarita (19) - The Summer & Winter Garden

Elorria (18) - Snow White

Rosalba (16) - The Frog Prince (Iron-Henry)

Liliana (16) - The Shoes That We’re Danced to Pieces

Celandina (14) - Little Briar Rose

Estela (12) - Hansel & Gretel

Oriana (11) - Rapunzel

Crisanta (10) - Little Red-Cap

Narcisa (7) - The Seven Ravens

Names, ages, and stories are not set in stone, but I know the setting will be a fantasy version of Edwardian era Spain (1904 vibes, but not regarding historical events). Fairies are heavily involved and the seventh princess is the MC. The story is mostly about father-daughter relationships and escapism.

[isabearies]

Haunted By You

The Voice {part 1/?}

Summary: You move into a big, 120-something-year-old house that was converted into apartments and is suspiciously cheap. Everything seems normal until you realize that the original owner never moved out, or rather, moved on.

Pairing: ghost!Loki x f!reader

Word Count: 3.1k

Warnings: none really in this chapter, but there will be horror elements and death mentioned. angst later on for sure. Loki being Loki because his emo ass is a warning in itself. This will 100% turn into something smutty so like yeah -- 18+ minors DNI ya dummies

Masterlist

The city was a big place. A big, scary, expensive place. Finding an affordable apartment to live in that was close to work? You had to take what you could get. A place you could afford by yourself at that? No way that was something a person fresh out of college could pass up.

The pictures online made it seem a lot darker than it actually was. The actual building was an old Edwardian-style house built in 1900. It had three stories and a basement, but sometime in the last 120-something years, it had been converted into apartments. Almost the entirety of the house was original besides some small elements and it had been obvious as to why it was cheaper. Not only was it in a slightly thicker wooded area, but from what you could see it was not maintained as well as it could have been. But hey, neat place, right?

You knew it was big from looking at the photos on Google Maps, but yeesh, this place was insane. You looked up to the towering castle-like structure. The roof was abnormally shaped, with a cone style roofing you saw in a drawing of Rapunzel’s castle roof as a child in one section; scalloped roofing and stone walls pivotal to its gothic design. The rest was tall and had different roofing sections depending on what you assumed to be the inner layout. Half of the wall was stone, the other an aging horizontally-layered wall that was a dim mustard yellow. The burgundy roofing and brown-ish gray stone meant you didn’t automatically dismiss the yellow. The lower perimeter walls on the outside were clearly worn stone with jagged teeth. The only windows that were uncurtained or not stained glass were the second story, which was clearly vacant.

That must be the apartment.

Your eyes switched between the windows, clearly detailing the kitchen, to the main room of the unit, and back a bit was-

A dark figure. It surprised you at first since you were sure that was the vacant unit that was being offered. Maybe they were just checking everything out before you showed up? You were a bit early. It seemed that the figure had long, raven hair and a gaunt, pale white complexion. You were far enough away, but you could tell the person had a faint beauty to them. Maybe a sexy neighbor? How fun.

You heard a car pull up in the gravel driveway. A light gray car from what looked to be 2003. The landlord.

She was a small Asian woman, with a kind smile but stern eyes. Seeing how she drove here, you presumed she lived somewhere else. Not a bad thing, to you. It wasn’t like you were going to be hosting any parties but hey, you liked your privacy all the same.

“You were the Ten o’clock wanting to check out the second-floor apartment right? Come on in.” Her slim fingers hooked through some jangling keys from her pocket. She had to have had at least fifteen keys on that keyring.

“Yes, Ms. Dee I presume?” you tried to sound the least bit frightened as possible. You had found this place while driving by randomly after taking a wrong turn you didn’t remember taking. There was a large sign out “APARTMENT FOR RENT” on the lawn and you thought it was fate. You called the number and scheduled a meeting with this woman, who identified herself as simply ‘Ms. Dee,’ for the next day at 10 AM. And here you were, 9:58 AM on a Wednesday.

“Indeed. I am glad you called, that sign has been there quite a bit. The market here has…changed.” You walked up the ornate porch, the cement stairs at the bottom leading to chipped wood ones under the protection of the porch roof. All of the beams connecting the railing to the top of the gutter were carved and there was a certain whimsy to it. The gold details with the weathered paint and deep stained wood gave the front a certain charm that you found many older buildings to have. Ms. Dee pulled open the large mahogany door that had to be at least 8 ft tall and had a bulbous, black knob. It was heavy but unlocked. The sound of jingling keys returned as Ms. Dee attempted to unlock the second set of doors after the darker doors.

“It snows a lot up here, you see.” Her voice was quiet but controlled. “The second door is just to prevent damage.” She pointed a long, wrinkled, slender finger to her left at a wall that had about nine slim boxes with keyholes. “Those there are the mailboxes. Yours would be D2.”

She ushered you into the main room of the house, although it didn’t give off that vibe when you stepped in. It was obviously the main room, but it was completely empty. An old, 30s style chandelier hung overhead as the main light source. In front of you were two different dark oak doors, one labeled 'A1' and 'B1.' To your direct right was a large set of beautiful dark stained glass doors. You could not see to the other side despite seeing some light shine through and the doors seemed locked.

“A couple lives there, Kristen and Richard.” She motioned towards the A1 apartment and the stained glass doors. Then she swished her hands towards B1, “That’s where Mark lives. He’s the handyman of the house. Ask him if you need anything looked at.”

To the left of B1 were the dark mahogany stairs that wrapped up the outlining light beige walls. The lower walls, up to about your waist, were a dark mahogany paneling that matched the stairs and railing with dark turquoise carpets lining the floor. However, just under the stairs, you noticed a smaller, more plain door with a single frosted windowpane with what seemed to be scratched-off copper letters. Ms. Dee caught this.

“Just a utility closet, nothing to see.” Her dismissal was sharp and she made her way up the stairs. Clearly, she was a woman of few words. You glanced up the walls to see a painting of a Spanish Conquistador whose eyes seemed to follow you. Your steps behind Ms. Dee were calculated as you concentrated on how you were to move furniture up here.

As you got to the top, you could either go straight into a doorframe to a hallway or turn left and continue up the stairs to the third floor.

Ms. Dee pointed up, “Above you is Lisa and Scott, they’re a younger couple like yourself. Then Wyatt next to them.” She went straight through the doorframe before pointing left down the next hallway. “That door down there has Michelle. She moved in a couple of months ago. And below her is an older man, Albert.”

She jingled her keys once before opening the pale beige door ahead of her that had 'D2' written on a small piece of paper with a small copper frame below the peephole. The black, bulbous doorknob was even different from the lower apartments' smaller bronze handles on the first floor. The age was even more apparent on the inside than the outside, you realized.

“Well, here it is.” The squeak of the door echoed through the empty apartment as you entered. It was bright inside despite the overcast day and no overhead lights. The space was large, open as you eyed the ancient eggshell-painted radiators and tri-angled windows to the right. The ceilings had to be 15 feet at least. As you turned the corner, you saw the kitchen was much smaller, the tiles along the walls a sort of salmon color with some black tiles lining the outside. There was no dishwasher, barely any cabinet or surface space, and the refrigerator looked like it was from the 70s.

No beautiful neighbor, you thought.

As you looked up, you realized the ceilings were painted the same off-white as the walls, and what would have been a sharp 90º angle as the wall meets the ceiling was instead a softly rounded curve of a transition. It reminded you of a mental hospital from the 20s. The floors were definitely original, a darkly stained oak that showed their age in texture.

“It’s a studio one bath, perfect for one…or two people.” She tacked the end of that on. She probably hoped you would get a boyfriend so she could raise the rent. You’d had plenty of other landlords before.

“It’s gorgeous, Ms. Dee. Maybe I can see the bathroom?” You turned towards her before she shuffled towards the left of the front door – towards the rest of the unit. As you turned into the doorway, you were assaulted with bright colors of amber and turquoise shining in abnormal shapes. There, parallel to your doorway was a large stained glass window in the most Winchester way you could imagine. The sink to the right, which had to be at least from the 30s, stood underneath an art deco-style mirror. The bathtub to the left behind the door was metal with white porcelain painted on top, you’d seen the same type in the retro 70s style house your grandparents lived in as a child.

Still no raven-haired person.

The tiles on the wall were the same salmon color as the kitchen, the tile on the floor was a dark burgundy and a familiar dim mustard yellow, and the hexagonal shaped tiles faintly reminded you of the carpet from The Shining. How odd.

“The lock on the bathroom door doesn’t work, but it shuts just fine.” Her eyes lingered on the broken turning key to the bathroom, something you weren’t sure was still even manufactured today. “So, what do you think?” Her dimly cloudy brown eyes bored into yours very intensely suddenly, taking you back a bit.

“Well, it’s a beautiful building, but what’s the monthly rent?”

“$700 including utilities monthly.” She seemed to be looking for something in your reaction, which she might have been looking for regarding the price. Obviously, you were shocked, this had to be, what, 900 sq feet? And that price was INCLUDING utilities? What was wrong with this place than what was surface level? It was close enough to downtown that it should have been one grand without utilities. Easy.

“That sounds very reasonable. My new office is just a few minutes drive from here as well.”

“Great, then let’s start on the paperwork.”

–

It took about an hour to fully settle everything. Credit score checking, previous records, etc. Ms. Dee also showed you the basement that was found at a door around the back entrance that could only be entered from the outside of the house. The door was clearly much more weathered than that of the rest of the building, missing the distinct detailing of the rest of the doors. It seemed like this door was merely an afterthought compared to the rest of the architecture, but sure enough, it had the same kind of weather-proofing as the front doors.

Going underground, it seemed like a completely different place than the rest of the house. While your apartment and the main room and hallways had a dry, sort of stale air; this basement was humid, wet. Somewhere where the creepy crawlies would hide away from the outside world. The ground was completely concrete; the smooth, dark, uncracked kind that you know has never seen the sun. after walking through a cobwebbed, empty room with only a string light, through another doorway as a quarter-based washer and dryer. A dusty pool table with a brown tarp sat to your right. Deeper into the basement, you could see there was one more room even further that was shadowed from the light. From what you could gather, though, there was some sort of chain-link fence back there.

“This is the laundry room. It’s the small silver key I showed you. Each of the machines is $1.50 each and only takes quarters. Don’t forget to turn off the light when leaving and never, ever forget to close and lock the door.” Her emphasis on not only closing but locking the door seemed heavy-handed, but fair since it led straight into directly where the outside was, not just within the locked doors of the house.

“Sounds great, Ms. Dee. Just asking, but what is back there?” You tilted your head to the very back towards the floor-to-ceiling fence.

Her face fell and her voice wavered slightly. “Ah yes, that is for residents who have any extra…belongings. A storage area, of sorts.” She was quick to change the topic. “So, you’ll email me your documents as well?”

“Yes, you have my signed copies too. When is the move-in date?”

“As soon as possible. If you’d like to move in today you can.” Her voice deepened, apathetic, seemed more distant as if she had just taken two steps away as she saw a bus coming right for you.

“Oh. Oh! Okay, great. I can rent a U-Haul today and start bringing stuff over then.”

“Splendid.”

Her answer was curt and that was the end of the discussion. It was only hours and a few calls later that you had the basics moved into the second-floor apartment.

Your queen bed sat in the corner next to the window and across the tri-angle window…wall…thing… where your small black dining table with two chairs sat. Your couch was against the wall with your TV angled to where you could be at both your bed and couch and still see the screen. Your stuff was already packed a while ago, but finding a place had been a tedious and long task. You were lucky your previous roommate was nice enough to let you stay a few days after your original move-out date so you could find a place. After moving in the majority of your stuff with some help from some of your older college buddies, it was past sunset as you started to settle in.

You had already said thank you and goodbye to your old friends, promising to let them visit once you had at least gotten settled a bit and maybe set up your decorations. You were sweaty from the constant lifting and traveling up and down the stairs. Honestly, you loved the building. Older buildings were your thing as a kid, and even as your friends joked with you saying stuff like “So did the spider webs come with the place or was that extra?” you still couldn’t help but feel like this place was your dark academia dream.

You decided to take a bath to wash off all of the dust and sweat that accumulated on your skin, and hell why not test out the bath?

Turning it on to a hot temperature, the steam slowly overtook the small bathroom. The large 20’s style mirror was completely fogged over, and the stained glass dripped from condensation. You turned on your Bluetooth speaker to play some nice jazz while your tub filled.

Fuck it, it’s my first night.

You poured some of your fanciest lavender bubble bath soup and matching lavender scented Epsom salt into the bath before going to the kitchen to pour yourself a glass of wine. Lighting some unscented candles also seemed appropriate.

You were going to enjoy your first night in this big creepy house where you now lived.

You slowly stripped off your clothes, peeling some sections off as you remembered the humidity of the basement. Slipping into the warm water, your playlist playing some new lo-fi jazz you’ve never heard before, you felt your bones slightly succumb to the relaxation that threatened to overtake you.

In the soft quiet of the night and through the brass instruments permeating from your speaker, you could hear a soft, melodic voice. It was just a sound in the wind, not even eligible to be a voice at first. But its sound started to materialize in your eardrum, dancing around the outskirts of your skull. It sounded like the soft ocean waves of the sealine, rolling and pushing from whosever vocal cords like the pulling shore. Like the black driftwood that smelled like salty earth that sat on the grey-white sand. Like the prickling feeling of briney, misty air being sucked through your nostrils.

“Who are you?”

A small bit of cool air surrounded your upper shoulders, the parts that did not plunge into the warm, soapy waters. Goosebumps lined your skin, but it seemed so far away as your eyelids fell heavy. Your neighbors were probably just talking upstairs, you reasoned. I mean, there did seem to be a ventilation grate just feet away from you, maybe they connected the floors. It wouldn’t be unheard of in old houses like this.

You started to smell evergreen, maybe some Eucalyptus, as the feeling of being caught between the beach sand and the rustic, earthy woods. It smelled like…green. Like green and black rolling off of ice into your senses. Did you even own those types of scented soaps? It was such a neutral yet slightly masculine smell that it seemed unbecoming, but that seemed so far away right now.

A small purring sound was heard as the goosebumps traveled up the back of your neck to your lower hairline that was pulled up into a messy bun. It seemed this purring came from the same oceanic voice from earlier, as it had the same deep, expansive sound.

In your daze, you chuckled slightly, thinking about answering the detached voice.

“I am your new neighbor.” You replied dreamily, care not insight as your eyes glaze over the shimmering bubbles that barely hid your nude body.

“Ah, a new pet.” the voice seemingly ghosted over your ears, leaving cold trailing breath onto your cheekbones. This wasn’t upstairs, it was behind you.

Now more aware and slightly more startled, your eyes focused back to the present. It responded, you realized. The disembodied voice you assumed was your upstairs neighbor talking to someone else had responded to your quiet answer. Not only that, but it sounded so close. Felt close.

You straightened your back and neck, taking in your surroundings. The fluorescent bar light above the mirror illuminated the entire bathroom, the colorful glass window behind you looking bleak in the dark night that loomed outside. You were alone, you were sure of it.

As you looked to your now empty wine glass and pruned fingers, you decided to leave the bath. Clearly, you’d had enough and soaked long enough. Your exhausted brain probably just needed to rest. I mean, you just finished your Master’s in Psychology. Starting in a few days, you would be a practicing psychologist in an office downtown. You just moved into your new apartment. You deserved to sleep well tonight.

That would have been, if not for your very strange dream that night.

--

AN: I hope y'all like this first part, it took a while to write lol. if you have any suggestions or anything, I'd love to hear it! x

part two

[usssnarfblat]

Laziest Disney Designs--Eilonwy

Sure, Eilonwy's character is good. She was really the first Disney princess to have some spunk, predating Ariel by four years.

But her visual design?

Oh, but, "Hand-drawn animation! Frame-by-frame! Hand-drawn! Hand-painted! Time! Details! Deadlines! Hard!"

Eilonwy debuted in 1985.

For comparison:

1937

First full-length animated feature in the U.S.

First animation of this quality

Look at the bows. The cape. The collar. The little red Shakespeare thinggies on her sleeves.

"But muh! First Disney movie, big deal! Special case! Main character!"

Okay, how about the Blue Fairy? Look at the effects they put into her, the glitter, the sheer sleeves. The distinctive face they gave her.

"Not main character tho! Just a few cameos! Also second Disney feature, still special case! No count!"

Okay, fine. Looking at other heroines from before Eilonwy, most of them do have pretty basic looks. But they still at least have something distinctive, related to their time period and/or character.

Look at Cinderella (1950):

Not much detail bar the pink dress's cameo, but each outfit is still distinctive. You know right away if you're looking at a poor(ly treated) working girl, a nice but humble party dress, and a Regency Era ballgown.

Sure she's a clone of Katrina Van Tassel from "Sleepy Hollow" (1943)...

...but at least Cindy wasn't ripping off some household name from a major Disney hit. And at least Katrina's bodice and pilgrim hat hint at a different setting.

Alice (1951) and Wendy (1953)

Victorian/Edwardian little girls, one in a daytime/teatime outfit, one in her nightgown. Got it, copy, roger, acknowledged, etc.

Aurora (1959)

Black lace boddice, barefoot, shawl, hair drawn particularly pretty with swirls and light outlines and stuff. Clearly a peasant girl of notable, possibly title-relevant beauty.

Alright, her blue/pink dress doesn't exactly hint at the time period, but it's still cool looking.

Maid Marian (1973)

Double-horned headdress (made out of her ears, I know) veil thing, gemstone pendant...Medieval noblewoman/furry. Got it.

But Eilonwy?

She looks like Aurora at age 12, in the blandest possible outfit.

And unlike with Cinderella copying Katrina, a character from a short that wasn't as well known, Aurora was a pretty famous Disney character by the time "Black Cauldron" came out. And unlike Cinderella, and all these other chicks, Eilonwy's outfit has, like, NOTHING distinctive. Her headdress is literally just a black line.

It's like all of the most basic princess cliches boiled down to the lowest common denominator. Face it, if you weren't a hardcore Disney buff, you'd have NO idea who this was. Her ONLY physical identifier is "mini-Aurora in purple."

And remember, this is PRE-Disney Renaissance. Ariel had not yet trademarked red hair--which Eilonwy reportedly has in the book! Merida hadn't coded the green or aqua Medieval dress.

Heck, Rapunzel's cute, lacy, Medieval Princess getup would've been perfect for Eilonwy, simplified of course.

Heck, Young Odette's outfit from "Swan Princess" would've been even more perfect!

Never mind the different hairstyles or headdresses they could've chosen to fit her into the Dark Ages time frame (braids, Leia buns, those cute Medieval hats that look like round mints...)

Disney, you weren't even trying.

[rocketmuse]

I thought I'd share my playlist for the anniversary of the boathouse kiss. :)

Song translations, MANY thoughts, and timeline under the break.

Noise warning for song 19, Hinahanap-Hanap Kita. 4:23 to the end. Loud high pitched beeps.

YouTube music version to be made soon.

Translations for foreign songs:

Ewan [Dunno] — Apo Hiking Society — Filipino/Tagalog

Amour plastique [Plastic love] — Videoclub — French

Panalangin [Prayer] — Apo Hiking Society/Moonstar88 — Filipino/Tagalog

Hinahanap-Hanap Kita [I'm Looking For You] — Rivermaya — Filipino/Tagalog

This is a collaborative playlist made with my friend.

Thought Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy would be a good starter song. Something about the music. Represents a good start of Alec persuing Maurice, like, hey, I can be yours... Whatcha doin'?

I added Puppy Princess because of the chorus but I know some people don't like that song so... You can skip if you'd like. KISS MEEEEE KIISS ME WITH YIIR EYESSS CLOSED . ALL I WANT IS YOU YEAH YOU. TELL ME I'M NOT FUNNY TELL ME I'M LEGIIIIT

Ewan. OH MY GOD this song is so them. Alec cares for Maurice, and doesn't like not being taken seriously or being treated badly and brushed off.

"I don't know why you're like that, you're difficult to talk to and you're a snob" COME ON IS THAT NOT THEM — Just a smile from you, and I'll be in heaven. Please give me a response, anything but "No idea"... What a perfect representation of Alec's continuous persuit of Maurice, always talking, always trying...

I could go on with every lyric.

Edit: I just realised this song fits so well for Alec's letters and meeting at the museum. Must resist the urge to add the same exact track twice.

So about Touch Me... Some of the lyrics apply better in other versions. Spotify just has this version tho. Touch me, just like that.

All I've Ever Known. Maurice discovered so much that night about touch and sharing and being with someone. He wants to be with Alec. "All I've ever known is how to hold my own, but now I want to hold you too. [Hold you close, I don't wanna ever have to let you go. Hold you tight, I don't wanna to back to the lonely life.]" Alec opened up his eyes and he'll never be the same.

Can't Help Falling in Love With You. 'Did you ever dream you'd a friend, Alec? ... Someone to last your whole life...' 'Alec, you're a dear fellow and we've been very happy.'

I'd Like To Walk Around In Your Mind was added from Maurice's perspective. Perhaps it fits Alec too...

I think Love At First Sight has the double meaning of the literal title, as well as "wouldn't you like to kiss her" perhaps being... Something Maurice would hear.

I Don't Dance. Based on this post/edit. Please watch this video oh my God.

Pink in the Night. Alec yearns for Maurice in the boathouse. He hasn't come. He hears his heart breaking tonight.

Every lyric is perhaps pulled straight from Alec's brain, to be honest. I remember seeing a post with this song in other contexts with them too. So yes, a few meanings.

Amour plastique. Alec reminiscences on the night in the Russet room. Why hasn't he come?

In my mind, everything goes wild. I lose myself in your eyes. I drown myself in the vagueness of your loving gaze.

And at night I cry tears that stream down my cheeks. I think of you only when the days ends, only when my sad demons descend upon my mind, into the bottomless abyss.

Waiting in the boathouse at night, when the day ends.

I ring out in kisses all down your chest. Lost in the avalanche of my heart astray. Who are you? Where are you?

The moments of then repeat in his mind. Where is Maurice?

I suppose Hopelessly Devoted To You and I'm A Fool To Want You are self explanatory. Maurice should really come... Alec really toughed it out, 2 days he spent in the boathouse, really wanted to see Maurice, really knew they had something, and doesn't want to be treated like a dog. Generally, his 1st letter.

Moon Song. My friend said they added it as a general love song. — Why do you treat me like this? Why didn't you come to the boathouse? — Alec's 2nd letter as a whole. Plus bits of 1st.

And you pushed me in, and now my feet can't touch the bottom of you. ... So I will wait for the next time you want me, like a dog with a bird at your door.

Ewan would fit here tbh.

Panalangin. My only prayer in this lifetime: to be beside you, to be together with you, that's my prayer.

"I since cricket match do long to ... place both arms round you and share with you, the above now seems sweeter than words can say."

And this heart won't allow if you will be away from me, my love, please listen.

It also fits the end of museum.

I Want You. Maurice, can you come to the boathouse already? Alec has no power to teleport you there. I hold one card that I can't use.

I found you. I found the door, but when I stepped through, there was no floor. He found Maurice, bit he's not being here for Alec.

You're coming back And it's the end of the world We're starting over And I love you, darling And I am done, dear

Alec wishes this would happen. Also, he does come back later and they love again over, and "it is finished".

Credit for suggesting the next two songs goes to @beatle-capaldi!!! He also wrote was in quotations!

English Summer Rain

The Most Radical Thing To Do

Hinahanap-Hanap Kita. 1st letter, he's looking for Maurice. Thinking about them together.

In my thoughts and dreams, in every turn of destiny, I look for you. Also applies to that hotel/post-hotel feeling. I look for you, even if I try to forget you, saying goodbye, looking back...

Wildest Dreams. They think a lot of each other. They share once more. But they must say goodbye. Alec saw this coming. Maurice hopes that Alec will remember him like this.

I Hear a Symphony. Alec truly opened up Maurice's eyes. Maurice was meant to be with him. He helped Maurice, changed his life. But now Alec is leaving on ship... Or is he? The symphony leads into...

An orchestral sountrack. The Boathouse. Unfortunately the Maurice soundtrack is not on spotify. It's on my personal YouTube music version. I added it because it just captures the boathouse the only way the sountrack itself can.

The Word of Your Body (Reprise). MLM people have moment of romantic tension, which culminates in confessions of love. Just had to add it. "Haven't you heard the word of your body?" perfectly describes Alec gifting and showing Maurice the wonder of truest physical affection and love. He lets Maurice be okay with himself, and again, changes everything. Every lyric is perfect.

Also, sorry JBW, I like other versions more... Too bad Spotify is mean.

I See The Light. Yeah. Every lyric. Maurice is Rapunzel. Movie Blond too. Both the morning at Russet room and the museum. And the world has somehow shifted. All at once everything is different, now that I see you. "By now they were in love with each other consciously."...

Suddenly Seymour. Suddenly see more, yeah? Clive = ass and someone gives him affection for once, wow! Sidenote, I want to sing this with them and their accents... Suddenly SCUDDER...

Helpless. Musical theatre songs seem to be good retellings of their love story. It's why they belong in post boathouse. Summaries and retellings. They're also good at conveying love they'd feel for each other in general, all times ever. Like loving men, retelling a story.

I'll Cover You. Cute love song feat. gays. I like to imagine them dancing around, declaring their love and devotion for each other. Walking and dancing around like in the original scene, sometime post canon. In my own imagination, I thought of Alec as Angel and Maurice (Christopher) as Collins.

Video Games. They must love spending time together. I thought this to be Maurice POV. Only worth living if somebody is loving you I mean, come on.

It's you, it's you, it's all for you. Everything I do. I tell you all the time, heaven is a place on Earth with you.

Un sospiro. I headcanon that Maurice picks up the piano and plays for Alec. Perhaps he picked it up bc of/after Clive, but now can play it for someone who gives a shit.

Something about the melody reminds me of them. And then it gets more intense... A bit like the passions of love, showing up in sharing and touch and more, too.

Liebestraum. I mean, it means love dream/dream of love. I just had to. Also I just like Liszt.

Take Me Up With You, Dearie. This song is just so sweet... So soft... Edwardian to boot... I love how quintessentially 1909 it is. Discovered it in a YT video. The thought of them getting married makes me cry. This song in general makes me want to cry, it's so romantic, tender, and exudes my favourite era...

Let us float, float, float through the clouds, and just have a lot of fun. We'll go up, up, up as two and then come down as one.

Put Your Head on My Shoulder. We Belong Together. I always imagine Maurice and Alec slowdancing to songs that come on the radio together, when the 1950s hits... Alec probably rests his head on his shoulder as this plays and they dance...

I'm using a lot of ellipses, am I secretly Rupert Graves?

Welcome to the 70s and 80s. They love dancing together and being with each other. Now, Panalangin can be a happy song. My only prayer for this lifetime ... To be together with you. And this heart won't allow if you will be away from me.

Just the Two of Us. What a nice, vibey song. Great title, great scenario of them dancing to this...

Tiny Dancer. Your Song. MLM people in the 70s + Radio, being happy and in love with each other. — I just thought I should add some Elton. A different friend, and I, like him. Maurice sings to Alec, "And you can tell everybody this is your song." That I put down in words how wonderful life is with you in the world.

Electric Love. Fun fact: this song got me to share the playlist. Got me thinking about them and their anniversary again. The funky busy instrumental describes well their passionate love. The highs of electric LOOOOOOVE describe the intensity of them.

Alt text continued: themselves together under and the love. And the love. The song has its own tension and it perfectly pictures their own tension. So yeah, this is THEIR song quite literally.

Sorry if my music taste is perhaps basic. I just made it for when I hear songs that are Them.

Falling for Ya. Alec falls for Maurice. "I saw you when you first drove up, Mr Hall..." Something about Maurice, right? Plus really nice vintage vibes with the music. The bit about Into your arms and it's a secure sure sounds like Maurice. Awh, they're falling for *each other*...

Rainbow Connections. Gay and bi people. Marriage. Everything that Maurice and Alec went through to get here, where they were meant to be. Clive. Working for Clive. Leading up to now.

All the things that had to go right, all the things that had to go wrong, that lead us to the place where we were going all along.

On the YT version there's a soft/jazzy cover of Panalangin here. Because they're old and spending time together and being happy. What a throwback, a defined meaning in their lives over time.

Still Into You. After all these decades... Old and grown, together... True soulmates... Two men can defy the world... Maurice and Alec still roam the greenwood. Imagine Maurice meeting Alec's mom in this context. If only.

Postmodern Jukebox cover, because they are a quintessentially 20th century couple. They exude vintage.

Some piano playing for Alec. Soft, tender, romantic, emotional, true. Feels like nighttime. Feels like Maurice and Alec. And a throwback to the pre 1914 world as well. Claire de Lune feels like... A credits of life piece. Time spent in the early 1980s. Nocturne feels like that too, but more romantic. Smidge less nighttime. Ah yes, Gymnopédies. The truest credits feel of them all. None of these actually are credits for Maurice and Alec, but I struggle to find the word for this feeling. But yeah. These all have Them vibes to me. Piano of the time just does I suppose. Glad to be reminded of them at any time.

What a long playlist. Like going through almost their whole lives together. 1:52 hrs. Almost like a movie. Imagine that. A full movie of THEIR lives... But leaving to the imagination was a good thing. Led to this such action. Thank you E.M. Forster.

Timeline:

1. Pendersleigh

4. & 5. Russet Room. Night, then Morning

9. Cricket

10. Boathouse Nights

18. The Museum

20. The Hotel

21. After

23. The Boathouse

24. They Still Roam the Greenwood

I just like to imagine them dancing to songs on the radio, for decades to come...

[ink-fireplace-coffee]

55, 80 and 98 <3

Holii Jana! Thanks for asking!

55. favorite fairy tale?

omg well when I was little I was obsessed with Rapunzel and I don't think it has changed ever since!

80. earth tones or jewel tones?

earth tones. jewel tones are too bold for me haha

98. favorite historical era?

edwardian era or ancient greece bc ✨vibes✨

weird asks that say a lot!

[the-modern-edwardian]

[deathleadsarc]

TEN LAYERS OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

>>>  COPY N PASTE TO REPOST,  DO NOT REBLOG MINE, with the information of your muse,  including headcanons.

LAYER ONE : THE OUTSIDE

Name: Qistina  ‘ Christina ’  Leota

Eye Color: Deep Crimson Red

Hair Style/Color: Rapunzel-esque, thick, light silver

Height: 5′-8″ 

Clothing Style: Modest, High Society, Deep Colors, Professional

Best Physical Feature: silver lashes / plump lips

LAYER TWO: THE INSIDE

Fears: Powerlessness

Guilty Pleasures: Nothing

Biggest Pet Peeve(s):  jitteriness, slothfulness, dishonesty

Ambition for the Future: to transmute a more than perfect replication of the human organs  (  very specifically, the lungs are her priority )

LAYER THREE: THOUGHTS

Your First Thoughts Waking Up:  Whatever she was working on the night before

What You Think About the Most: Alchemy. Verse depending. Her S/O

What You Think About Before Bed: Sahar. Atlas ( @hmrtia​ )

You Think Your Best Quality Is: Her Absolute Drive. maybe this is a little too absolute

LAYER FOUR: WHAT’S BETTER?

Single or Group Dates: She prefers single.

To be Loved or Respected: She has the intense desire to be loved, but will openly say ‘Respected’. 

Beauty or Brains:  She’s rather have her brilliance

Dogs or Cats: she can make both :3

LAYER FIVE: DO YOU?

Lie: of omission, to protect herself, but she doesn’t do it often

Believe in Yourself: A little too much

Believe in Love: yes, but doesn’t believe she can be loved

Want Someone: staring pointedly at @hmrtia​ again   “ No. ”

LAYER SIX: EVER?

Been on Stage: As a Brig. General, yes.

Done Drugs: None recreational

Changed Who You Were to Fit In: Absolutely Not

LAYER SEVEN: FAVORITES

Favorite Color: Royal Purple

Favorite Animal: The Chimera / Raven

Favorite Movie: She’s enjoy Mysteries

Favorite Game: Diabolo, and yes that is an old edwardian game

LAYER EIGHT: AGE

Day Your Next Birthday Will Be: October 31st

How Old Will You Be: She will finally be 30! 

Age You Lost Your Virginity:  “ ... ”  she’s refusing to answer because she is still a virgin.

Does Age Matter: Yes.

LAYER NINE: IN A BOY OR GIRL

Best Personality:   “  A risk taker, highly goal oriented and inquisitive. ” 

Best Eye Color:   “ I do enjoy the color blue. ”

Best Hair Color:   “ I don’t think on it, but, something to pair nicely with the silver of mine Blond... Or maybe black? Brunette would be lovely too. ”

Best thing to do With a Partner:   “ To sit and talk face to face with a partner, and hold their hand. ”

LAYER TEN: FINISH THE SENTENCE [IC]

I love:   “... Sahar. ”

I feel:    “... Listless. ”

I hide:   “ ... Everything. ”

I miss:  “ ... My brother, Edward. ”

I wish:  “ ... There was more time in the day. ”

Tagged by: STEALED from @kiryuiegerin​ <3

Tagging: STEAL FROM ME and say I tagged you!

[themetaphorgirl]

98, 85, 74, 62, 52, 43, 30, 20, 13, 6? All or any combination, lol

98. favorite historical era?

I really enjoy the mid-to-late Victorian era/Edwardian era fashion wise!

85. fairy tales or mythology?

fairy tales! I wasn’t allowed to read fairy tales as a child because of Jesus

74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen?

oof. my sense of pain levels are all over the place. usually a 7 I think?

62. seven characters you relate to?

Anne Shirley, Wendy Darling, Penelope Garcia, Leslie Knope, Amy March, Rapunzel, Winnie Foster

52. favorite font?

Garamond!

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?

Cardigans!! I have so many and it’s never cool enough to wear all of them

30. places that you find sacred?

walking the ride path of the Great Movie Ride before the park opened

20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)?

my tiny tiny chromebook (it fits my tiny tiny hands)

13. lanyard or key ring?

lanyard!!

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear?

pastel, I guess? I don’t know how to describe my style

ask me things!

[buns-with-a-book]

The land of Scotland has always held many mysteries, myths and legends wrapped in fog and hidden behind the rocky crags of the highlands. Occasionally, the mythical air is broken by the caw of a raven or, depending on how far north one goes, the call of the sea as it hits rocky cliffs and jagged stones that stick out from grey waves in defiance of nature’s will. Civilization is sparse, with only the occasional small town and hamlet to break up long stretches of untouched nature.

At the northernmost part of the land is a small dark brown shack, seemingly damp from the sea spray that hangs in the air. Occasionally, a large vulture-like bird stands atop its peak, surveying the empty land before taking flight. Some claim that the cliffs are haunted by the song of a young maiden who sought to elope with a young man, only to be thrown from the cliffs by her own father. The bird is her father’s spirit, always watching for his daughter and making sure the spirit of the young man he never approved of is never near his daughter, despite her song echoing throughout the area, seeking the love of the man she wanted above all else.

Walking across the damp grass was a man, an older gentleman with white hair carefully tied back into a loose aristocratic ponytail. His fine clothes, albeit a century behind with it’s Edwardian style, were striking, their color an almost stainless white. On his right eye was a shining silver monocle. He paused in front of the doorway to the shack, scarlet eyes meeting the bird atop the shack’s roof.

“Griffon.”

A new series is here! It’s a Tangled/Rapunzel AU. The ship will be Dante/OC but Dante isn’t here...yet.

Tags: @furyeclipse @harlot-of-oblivion @queenmuzz @i-write-fanfics-to-procrastinate @astral-space-dragon @nimnox

[safetyphoto]

16 Amazing Vintage Portraits of Edwardian Rapunzels https://ift.tt/2CMsZor

[ginnyzero]

Retelling Old Stories

I've written a book based on old fairy tales and legends and am currently reviewing the Shrek movies in Action Movie Friday. (Shrek 2 post coming next, I hope.) I thought I'd talk about retelling fairy tales, myths and legends.

Myths, fairytales, legends, these are the stories that are near and dear to our hearts. And let's face it, they're familiar, comforting and popular. Fairy tales such as The Sleeping Princess, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast have been told over and over to young children for generations. These stories are oral traditions passed down from generation to generation and have strayed quite a bit from their horrific and sexist roots. So much, that outside of a few key points their original creators may not recognize them anymore.

These oral traditions form the basis of the hero's journey which can be found in high fantasy stories such as Lord of the Rings and Science Fiction stories, such as Star Wars. They've been satirized (Ella Enchanted, the movie), parodied (Shrek) and outright made fun of (Mirror, Mirror) and also taken far too seriously (Snow White & The Huntsman.) Just as much as they've been played straight (see the Elemental Master Series of Mercedes Lackey.) And they've been mixed together until almost unrecognizable. (The Princess & The Frog, Frozen, Once Upon a Time, the 500 Kingdoms also by Mercedes Lackey.)

The great thing about fairy tales and myths and legends is that they have a very low risk level. People are far more likely to pick up something to read of watch that is relatively familiar to them and that they know they already enjoy rather than a brand new concept they don't understand and aren't sure they'll like. Fairy tales are comfort food. People know they like them. And given a choice between a concept they aren't sure of and a fairy tale based media, they're more than likely to choose a fairy tale based media.

So, how do you go about retelling these fairy tales and making them fresh and new for your audience? This was a question I (sort of) asked myself when I started to write the Dawn Warrior. (Available in Ebook & Paperback.) How do I take Sleeping Beauty and make her different without relying on, say, what we know of her through Disney or from Grimm, not the TV Show. (Which honestly, isn't much in either case.) And make them partly relevant without losing making a good story?

Change the Roles:

What if the Princess really isn't the Princess? What if she's the bodyguard in disguise that's protecting the real princess from assassins? (The Decoy Princess, Dawn Cook) What if the Princess is also a spy? (The Princess Series Jim C. Hines) Maybe Prince Charming is actually an actor!

I mean, come on, in real life unless your Prince William and Harry and work for the British Royal Navy, royals don't really have adventures. (I wouldn't want to get on the bad side of Queen Elizabeth either.)

Or, maybe the Princess and Prince aren't really the good guys after all. Maybe it's the Big Bad Wolf or the evil stepmother or even the sea witch. (Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Gregory Maguire) Or, to borrow from Hoodwinked, the Big Bad Wolf is really an investigative reporter trying to do an expose on Red Riding Hood. (I mean, she can't be all that sweet and innocent.)

A good example of this was a recent Sleeping Beauty movie that was in the horror genre. (Unfortunately I heard it was a really bad horror movie.) The Sleeping Beauty in the movie was supposed to be the damsel in distress and ended up being both the trap and the villain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdEo_t-iVbM

(I'll just leave this here.)

Change the Setting:

Fairy tales in SPACE!!! (Lunar Chronicles, Marissa Meyer) Okay, there aren't a lot of fairy tales in space. I think I saw another example on instafreebie the other day. In fact, there aren't many romances in space either. (I was listening to a podcast about an indie author who was doing this and she was the first writing romances set in the backdrops of aliens?) But, this is like Star Wars. Greek Myths in SPACE!!!! (Seriously, Star Wars is built around the classical hero's journey. The franchise even freely admits it in their authorized literature. I've got a book by Bantam called Star Wars: The Magic of Myth that goes through it step by step.)

This is one of the easier ways to make fairy tales seem more relevant and seems to be currently the most popular. Grimm the TV Show, Once Upon a Time (in Wonderland), The Harry Dresden Files, and Fables, all take fairy tales and legends and drop them into the middle of the modern world. I include Harry Dresden, not because he's playing out a fairy tale so to speak, but he's some sort of misguided Prince Charming type on his own hero's journey. The book Charming by James  Eliot, takes the character of "Prince Charming" plays it straight, and makes it a bloodline that is involved in some sort of knighthood charged with keeping the mundane world safe from the evil things that go bump in the night set in modern times.

Mercedes Lackey took a slightly different approach with her Elemental Masters series. She took fairy tales, played them straight, but set them in Edwardian times right up through the First World War. By doing so, she was able to show how the beginnings of the modern world like industrialization and rail roads and wars fought with machine guns instead of swords were effecting the world of magic and the magical creatures. (For instance, all the pollution made it easier for evil or nasty type elementals and creatures to thrive and good elementals and creatures that couldn't abide cold iron were dying off or going into hiding.)

Change the Genders:

Let's face it. Fairy tales are pretty sexist, no matter what your gender is. I had in the first draft of the Dawn Princess an entire rant by Roxana, who is a 'Beauty Asleep' about the differences between how a female Princess who is cursed to sleep and a male Prince is cursed to sleep and how neither tale does royalty any justice whatsoever.(Seriously, in the male version, when the Princess who had been sitting by his bedside took a nap, the clock should have reset, the Prince shouldn't still have sneezed and been woken by the maid.)

Maybe it's really Prince Charming asleep in the Castle and well, Beauty has to belt on her sword and gird her courage to get through the hedge and kill the dragon. Or, the tower bound male Rapunzel is intruded upon by a Pirate Princess who is looking for gold, not love. Maybe it isn't a brave little tailor but a brave seamstress! Or it is a male who is captured by a bunch of cannibalistic female bandits.

...

Okay, there is taking some things too far. (That story is terrible no matter what.)

Apply some Common Sense:

In fairy tales, things don't always make sense. I read them and go "why? why would they do that?" A lot of times Princes don't get punished for their ill deeds. Another Prince comes along, "saves" them and they go about their adventures without showing any sort of remorse for what they did in the first place. Princes don't become goose boys or shepherds or kitchen tweenies.(Or at least, not very often, I think Faithful John/Hans is about the only one I can think of.)

No, those punishments are reserved for Princesses who have been tricked into changing places with their maids and end up being goose girls or in the kitchen. (I can think of half a dozen variations of that tale.) And the Princess, instead of finding a nice baker or farmer to settle down with who appreciates her, instead figures out how to reveal her plight to the Prince who actually married her uppity maid/sister and seems happy with the maid/sister and once the maid/sister is out of the way, marries the Prince. (The Prince was tricked, happy to be tricked and the Princess took him anyways? That makes no sense.)

A really good example of this is the original and horrific Beauty Asleep tale. In the original tale, the King comes upon Beauty Asleep in her tower and rapes her, while she's asleep, repeatedly. In fact, he gets her pregnant with twins. The babes are born and he doesn't even take them with him! No. He leaves them with their sleeping mother. One of the babes gets hungry, as babies do! And sucks the thorn out of her finger that was keeping her asleep. Beauty wakes up. The Queen finds out about her existence. Tries to kill her. The King kills the Queen in turn and ends up marrying Beauty and bringing her and his twins to the castle.

Just what the ever loving hell?

It's good to be king?

No, really, the Queen should have taken Beauty's side. They could have killed the King for being an adulterer and ruled the kingdom together setting up the twins as the heirs. Female solidarity. Because the story as written is insane.

There's a post wandering about tumblr about swan maidens and selkies. And how awful the stories are about the men who take the swan maiden's cloaks and the selkies' skins to force these women to be their brides. One of the reblogs adds the caveat that it feels like these stories don't take into account the actual nature of swans and seals. Swans are pretty. They look graceful.

Swans are mean, they hiss, they bite, they're incredibly aggressive and they can break bones. Approach with caution. Don't try to steal from them. Don't try to pet them. Aggressive swan is aggressive. Okay. Anyone who steals a swan maiden's cloak deserves the punch in the face!

And seals, seals aren't all that nice either! Zefrank1 hasn't done a true facts about seals, but maybe he should. Male seals are called bulls for a reason! Elephant Seal bulls charge at each other when they fight. Leopard Seals are considered one of the ocean's more dangerous predators and take on whales and sharks. Seals train well to do tricks. Look,  just, don't mess with them because not only are they cute and have sharp teeth and claws, they're smart. Do you really want to mess with the woman who can steal all your nets and drive the fish away and beat you to a bloody pulp? Seal fights involve mud wrestling.

Add some reality to the stories. Give the actions of those involved real consequences. Change the personalities to actually reflect the animals they are sharing their bodies with.

Mash things together:

This is another popular tactic and TV Tropes calls it the "Fractured" Fairy Tale. Think how in Once Upon a Time, (spoiler alert) Rumpelstiltskin is also the Beast of Beauty and the  Beast and his father is Peter Pan. And he's the grandfather of the Truest Believer and thus the "father in law" of Emma Swan the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. And that barely dips a toe into the confusing of Once Upon a Time Family relationships.

Mercedes Lackey also did a version of mixing up of fairy tales in her 500 Kingdoms. In the 500 Kingdoms, The Tradition is a form of magic that ties to make fairy tales happen no matter what type of tale they are and no matter if all the pieces are actually 100% correct. Fairy Godmothers are there to steer the tradition so that disaster doesn't strike constantly. (Because what if the Prince of the Cinderella tale was actually a Princess or well, a Prince who was too young, too old, or just liked other Princes.)

Fables does this as well. Prince Charming is the same Prince across Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. Sleeping Beauty ends up marrying the Beast in her second marriage. (Prince Charming is good at wooing, not staying.) The Gingerbread witch of Hansel and Gretel ends up being the witch who puts most of the tales in action across the Enchanted Forest. The last arc I read, Rose Red was making her own version of Camelot (and there was much trepidation about how that was going to turn out, probably badly.)

Grab a bunch of different stories that seem to work well together, stitch them together in a way that makes sense or seems fun. It's okay not to always tell the exact same tale.

Add Real People's stories:

Look, if you're going for a more empowered woman in your stories. There are plenty of women in history that were actually pretty awesome. And I'm not just talking about Esther from the Bible or Rahab. (Both pretty awesome ladies.) There were female pirates and female queens who outwitted and beat their male counterparts to be on the throne and to keep themselves out of jail. There are female scientists, female snipers and well, I'm sure if you look hard enough you can find something a woman did in real life that men get praised for more often.

In fact, one person go so fed up with the way fairy tale princesses are praised at places such as Disney, they created a site/book for girls about such heroines at Rejectedprincesses.com.

Youtube has videos labelled things like Top Ten Badass women from History you probably don't know about. (But if you'd read Rejected Princesses you actually might!)

So, don't be afraid to use some real world inspiration to give you ideas about how awesome your female characters can be.

And these are just a few ideas on how to take something old and make it something "new."

In the Dawn Warrior, I took a bunch of these. I applied some common sense. Changed the Princess' role. And really mashed some things together. But, I kept a medieval fairy tale like setting because I wanted to keep this series different from my other series, Heaven's Heathens MC, which is a light science fantasy that could read urban fantasy if you squint at it. (Or maybe it's the other way around.) Two series set in the modern/future world seemed a bit silly to me.

Mostly, my advice is if you want to retell a fairy tale or myth or legend, have fun with it. Take your ingredients, mix them up as needed and don't sacrifice your story for message. (Because really, that gets old very quickly.)

Whelp, now if you like fairy tales there are plenty of pieces of media in this post to check out. Happy reading/watching/researching!

[fictionadventurer]

Could you tell us more about these yet-to-be-used story ideas? And are you working on anything right now?

Indeed I can! The trouble is figuring out which ones to talk about...or which ones I can talk about in a semi-succinct manner.

How about a few fairy tale retellings? Those ideas tend to pile up, because I just need an aesthetic, a genre and a fairy tale and I’ve got a half-baked story that’s just developed enough to distract me from whatever I’m currently working on.

Rapunzel: I’ve envisioned a Nero Wolfe version of the fairy tale. Rapunzel’s a young woman living with her mother in a penthouse apartment in 1950s New York. A private detective learns about her existence, and learns that she’s got a brilliant detective mind--she often solves crimes based on what she learns from newspapers and radio, but this focus on crime also makes her afraid to ever leave her house. Despite the objections of her mother, the detective keeps coming to see her, and enlists her help in a couple of mysteries. Naturally, they find out that her mother’s involved in some organized crime stuff and they have to make a daring escape...and since I know next to nothing about New York, or detectives, or plotting mysteries, this is going to remain nothing more than an idea I wish someone else would write for me.

Beauty and the Beast: Sci-fi version. After an interplanetary war began, Monica’s father’s business went under, and he moved his family (six kids) to a desert region of a colony planet to start a spaceport venture. Monica’s one of their best mechanics. Then her father gets stranded in space, rescued by an infamous cyborg outlaw, and somehow damages the outlaw’s ship. He swears that Monica can fix it--and she almost does.  But then the authorities show up and the outlaw’s forced to take off with her still inside--and he can’t really bring her back without endangering himself or getting her family in trouble for helping him. So she stays with him, and of course she learns that he’s actually a decent person. My favorite thing is that she learns his real identity halfway through the story--he’s a prince and a starship captain who fought on the other side of the interplanetary war, and got captured and used for medical experiments--and then winds up going home with him, meeting his family, and seeing their reactions to his cyborg state. And then there’s all sort of drama when Monica’s family catches up with them. I’ve actually got most of the pieces of the plot laid out, and I like the family dynamics, so I may focus on this one someday relatively soon.

The Wild Swans: Takes place in a fantasy version of Edwardian Oxford. Sarah, headstrong proto-feminist writer (starting point for her character was “fantasy version of Dorothy L. Sayers”) attends university while sharing a house with her brother Leo, a melancholic musical prodigy, and Jack, Leo’s extroverted and irresponsible best friend. One day, a young woman named Eliza shows up with letters of introduction from a friend of Sarah’s family. She wants to study at the university and needs a place to stay. Sarah’s slightly suspicious, until she finds out that Jack’s also suspicious, and Jack can’t ever be right about anything, so she lets Eliza room with her. But soon Eliza gets wrapped up in some mysterious research project that she refuses to explain, Leo starts to get wrapped up in Eliza, and Sarah and Jack get wrapped up in some timey-wimey happenings in the house, and Sarah has to take some drastic action to get to the bottom of all this. I like the characters, I like the aesthetic, and I finally know all the pieces of the plot, so this one’s also near the top of my list of future projects.

As for what I’m currently working on: I’m attempting (and largely succeeding) at focusing on a prequel and sequel to my sci-fi “Sleeping Beauty”. Prequels take place a hundred years before the original, and I accidentally paralleled the Star Wars sequel trilogy: first one takes place several years before the other two and is a cheerier story; other two are sadder and darker and much more closely connected, and the final one ends with tragedy. I may never need to write the first one (it could just remain backstory), and I’m focusing on the second right now (probably about halfway done). The sequel is (very) loosely based on “Snow White” and takes place at space college. I’ve rewritten this beginning so many times but I think I’ve just written what’s going to remain the “real” version of the first two chapters.