#fairy tale retellings

[fictionadventurer]

Part of the reason that the ending of Ella Enchanted works so well is that the final command she resists is the voice of temptation. A voice tells her to do something she wants to do more than anything in the world, but that she knows the long run would cause immense harm. Her fight against this is difficult and heroic because she has to fight her own inclinations.

Ella's endured a million commands that force her to do something she doesn't want to do. We see the injustice in that. We don't want her to have to blindly obey. But if the curse was broken by resisting one of those commands, it wouldn't feel nearly as powerful. It would merely be an escalation of what she's already done. She would rebel against authority and do what she wanted to do, which could be good or bad depending on what it is she wants, but it is ultimately self-serving.

Ella's resisting a command that offers her the greatest desire of her heart is heroic because it is self-sacrificial. She is called to obey a voice that is greater than her own desires. This resolution rings so true because it points to ultimate truth. The curse of obedience is broken when she obeys--not the voice of authority, or the voice of temptation, or the voice of her own desires, but the voice of virtue. She breaks the bonds of obedience by choosing to take on the bonds of love.

[bookshelf-in-progress]

A Father's Heart: A Beauty and the Beast Retelling

For the Four Loves Fairy Tale Challenge at @inklings-challenge

Let me tell you, I sure confused that Beast when I returned. Have you ever seen a cat pounce on its own tail? That was the look of confusion the Beast had when he saw me in his palace. Only this cat was enormous—standing seven feet tall on his hind legs—black as soot, with claws this long, and a mouth full of teeth like butcher knives.

"Where is your daughter?" he asked me. Yes, that's what he sounded like—all deep and raspy, like he was growling and purring beneath his words.

"At home," I said.

"You did not bring her?"

“You told me,” I told him, "that I could return to be devoured or send her to take my place. I returned.”

"She did not wish to save you?"

“I never told her. Do you think I could lay that kind of burden upon my own daughter? What sort of father do you take me for?”

He had taken me for a cowardly one, I guess, because it took me a long time to convince him that my daughters were all safely at home, and I didn't plan to fetch any of them. He didn't seem to know what to do with me after that. He wasn't as bloodthirsty as I'd have expected someone with that many teeth to be.

"You will be my guest," he said at last—and he didn't seem too glad about saying it. No doubt he'd have preferred a pretty young girl as a houseguest to a weathered old sailor. But he gave me run of the place—I could help myself to anything, go anywhere I pleased. I didn't understand it. He'd been ready to kill me for a rose, and now he was giving me everything in the house?

I wasn't about to complain, though, so I set about to enjoy the place. The Beast encouraged me to enjoy the luxuries of the palace, but I've always been a working man—I didn't fancy living the life of an idle aristocrat. Before the week was out, I was working in the gardens—the place was overgrown like you wouldn't believe. When I wanted a rest, I'd explore the castle, and boy, was there plenty to see. He had rooms upon rooms of treasures—paintings, silks, wines, musical instruments, even an entire room full of exotic birds! I'd made my living selling such things, and my head swam at the sight of it—a tenth of it would have been worth more than all the riches I could have transported in ten lifetimes.

I didn't make my fortune by having dull wits, and I didn't lose it for lack of courage, so it wasn't long before I began to piece together the truth of this place and confronted the Beast with it.

"How long have you been cursed, your highness?" I asked him one evening at supper.

That great big cat was so shocked he knocked a wine bottle off the table. "Who says I am cursed?"

"Blazes, man, I'm not blind! This palace is worth more than most of the kingdoms of the world put together. If there was a king out there this rich, you can bet every merchant in the world would know of him. He'd have destroyed the world's economy. Fairy magic's the only way you get a horde like this, but you, sir, are no fairy."

Now the Beast seemed intrigued. "How do you know that?"

"A fairy would never have let me live—if he promised to kill me, he'd have killed me. No mercy among their kind. Only a human could have changed his mind like that—for which I'm very grateful, by the way."

"You're welcome," he said, seeming dazed.

I went on, "You're definitely more than a dumb beast; you walk and talk and dress like a man, so it stands to reason you were a man once—that furry coat of yours is just some fairy shell. Same way all these riches are probably just dirt and ashes once you take away the magic. Which means you must have run afoul of a fairy sometime in your past, who decided to curse you with an animal body and then trap you in a palace full of false riches."

I looked at the furnishings, the food, the Beast's clothes—everything spoke of royalty. "Fairies always meddle with royals, so you must have been a prince. The seventh son of the king of Gher went missing just before I went on my last voyage, so I'd wager that he is you. Am I right?"

The Beast goggled. "I…can't say."

"Which means I'm right. No fairy worth his salt would let you say you were cursed. Which means all I have to do is figure out how to break it. Those fairies always give you a way out—the more improbable the better."

I came around to his side of the table so I could walk around him and examine him from all angles. "You were disappointed when I came—you wanted one of my daughters, not me. When I did come, you didn't seem too keen on killling me—which makes me think it was an empty threat, trying to convince me to send my daughter instead. Which means she must be the way to break the curse. What can she do that I can't? Easy—true love. No fairy would think a girl could love a hulking monster like you, so that would be their impossible way to break the curse. You needed, what—true love? Marriage?"

"I can't say," the Beast said, but I knew by his face that I'd hit upon the right answer.

"That makes things simple. You let me out once before. Let me go home again and fetch one of my girls, tell her there's a prince waiting for her, and bring her back to join you in wedded bliss."

He seemed genuinely horrified by that. "I…can't say."

"Oh, of course. It won't count if she knows you're a prince. Well, I'll leave that part out. Tell her that the Beast who spared my life is in need of more company. With a bit of time and a bit of encouragement from her old dad, we'll have you back in human form by Christmas."

He thought it was worth a try, and something he could arrange with the conditions of his curse. So I went home to my children, convinced my sons not to follow me to slay the Beast, and made the castle sound intriguing enough that all three of my girls agreed to join me. I thought that maybe Hope would be the one to break the curse—she's always been the boldest of my girls—but it turned out that my quiet, gentle Beauty brought out the soft side of the Beast. It was the cutest thing you ever saw, the way they'd sit together reading in the rose gardens, that great big cat as shy as a schoolboy with her.

It wasn't three weeks before the Beast worked up the courage to propose—and my Beauty accepted without hesitation. Then there was blinding light and earthquakes, and when the dust cleared, the palace was gone. We were standing in a clearing in the woods—and a black-haired prince stood where the black-haired Beast had once been.

He's an excellent boy—I'll be proud to call him a son. He doesn't mind at all that his bride's the daughter of a failed merchant or that she once worked on a farm. We'll all be moving to his palace across the sea to live as honored members of the family.

Which is why we're moving out on such short notice—his highness doesn't want to be away from his kingdom any longer than he has to. I'm sure you'll find someone else to take the old place off your hands.

No, you don't have to believe me, but it's much better if you do. You'll look much less like a fool once it comes out that it's all true.

[miriammctroi]

The ending of Silent Vows is all gentle and cute, but let's be real:

Regulus and James very quickly remember that Regulus can be loud during sex now, so they lock themselves in their bedchamber for the rest of the day.

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

Review: Skysong by CA Wright Rating: 4/5

All her life, Oriane has sung her song to bring the dawn. But when something calls her to the palace, she finds herself trapped. Her only hope is the lady's maid assigned to her who sings a song of her own.

When I saw this was a reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen's The Nightingale, I couldn't figure out how Wright could possibly have reimagined it into something interesting. The original is just ... lacklustre. But this is one of the most beautiful fairy tale retellings I've come across in a long time. 

The writing is simple and enchanting. The characters are calm but full of emotional underneath. The story itself is quite action-packed but reading it felt like flowing down a quiet river which was an incredibly nice feeling. 

This isn't a hashtag-cozy-fantasy but it's certainly a fantasy that leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling inside. And there are lesbians. So if those things appeal to you, definitely track down a copy. 

[ekbelsher]

I always prefer the line art to the finished piece

[specificpollsaboutbooks]

Favorite Rewritings

Round 3

Rilla of Ingleside is a retelling of WWI, "one of the only contemporaneously written books about life on the Canadian homefront during WWI"

The Lunar Chronicles are a retelling of "multiple fairy tales: Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Snow White"

"sci-fi fairy tale adaptation/rewrite, one of my favorite series ever, the world building is amazing, characters feel so real, plot hooks you in, it gets better on every reread!"

[of-the-way-and-wildflowers]

I know we’re all excited about the Jurdan moments in Prisoner’s Throne but I gotta circle us back to Wren and Oaks story for a sec. Has anyone else noticed the Snow White undertones of the story? It very, very loosely based where it is more subtle nods but it’s there. Wren as a child being corpse pale, the hunt for her heart and the deception of an animals heart!?! Those are the one I remember in Stolen Heir. In Prisoners Throne, Oaks kiss brings her back to life!?! I love when Holly Black does this. Like with Cruel Prince it was Alice in Wonderland. Did y’all notice any others cause their story already has me in a puddle in the floor then there are these nods and aaaaahhhhh

[dragonbadgerbooks]

September Fun Day Book Photo Challenge September 24, 2024: Be Brave Day

You need a certain type of braveness to survive fairy tales

[smolandweirdwriter]

Cinderella retelling where the fairy godmother adopts her after her father dies

[fictionadventurer]

Figured if I was going to go on the Snow White rant, I needed to actually rewatch the Disney movie.

The opening credits are much more interesting when you know some of the names. The only women who got on the list were Dorothy and Hazel, but it was nice to see their names at least and know who they were.

That book is gorgeous. All the details of the calligraphy and illustrations and binding.

Wow, the Queen is so much creepier than I remember. The fact that using the magic mirror involves summoning a "slave" trapped in the mirror? Don't like that.

That peacock behind her throne, though? Stunning, fantastic, no notes.

I kind of love how the Queen forces Snow White to be a maid, and Snow White just...doesn't care at all. She's just scrubbing a floor and totally fine. Queen's obsessed with Snow White every minute of the day and Snow White doesn't think about her at all.

Sorry, I don't buy the romance at all. I know it's a fairy tale, but one song does not a life-changing romance make. (There was a version of the scene where the prince was going to rejoice over the fact that she loved him, which might have been too much, but it at least would have helped sell it.)

The scene of Snow running through the forest and then collapsing in tears did make me feel for her.

It seems like Snow White and the Queen are from a completely different movie from the dwarfs. They've got this whole high fantasy feud going on, meanwhile these guys are living in a sitcom.

The dwarfs were the best part. Forgot how cute those guys could be.

There was not enough story here. 75% of the running time is them trying to stretch this paper-thin story to feature length. There's a big long cleaning sequence. A big long sequence of the dwarfs figuring out who invaded their cottage. A big long introduction sequence. A big long washing-up sequence. Multiple extended gags involving a fly. All fun to animate, I'm sure, but not at all up to modern pacing standards.

(I'd kind of like to compare this to other escapist '30s musicals--is this kind of structure common for movies where the point is just to show up and escape the Depression for 90 minutes?)

As a kid, I had one of those sing-a-long videos with a bunch of Disney songs, and I did not realize that I had a deep emotional connection to it until "Heigh-Ho" made me instantly happy and the Silly Song unearthed memories I didn't even know I had.

A lot of the other songs kind of stink, ngl. There's a reason the washing-up song is not in the public consciousness.

Kind of out-of-line for Snow White to just show up at their house and treat them like misbehaving children.

The skeleton in the dungeon reaching for the water pitcher? Can't believe the movie went there.

(Then they drew too much attention to it and kind of wrecked it. But wow.)

I like that they give a valid reason that the Queen thought True Love's Kiss wasn't going to be a problem.

But the queen cackling over the fact that Snow White's going to be buried alive? When it comes to showing this movie to children, I'm not hesitating about Snow White as a female role model, I'm hesitating because it's dark.

(But also--why not just poison her? I get that living death/buried alive is a worse fate than just plain death, but if she's not actually dead, how does the Queen count as fairest in the land? Especially since she magically made herself as ugly as possible?)

They carved her name in the coffin! Just like the bed! They finally get to make her a bed and it's to lay her to rest! It's almost enough to make me tear up.

The castle in the clouds makes me think of heaven/resurrection imagery, which ties in interestingly to my take on it.

There is so much potential to flesh out this story in a live-action version. Since you can't fill up the runtime with comedy dwarf antics, there's so much space to flesh out the relationship between the prince and Snow White, and give texture to the feud between the Queen and Snow White, and to dig deep into Snow's sweet character and how it affects the dwarfs, which is why it stinks that they're going for just another Not Like Other Girls update.

[bookshelf-in-progress]

What If? is the question that drives most retellings. This works best with the well-known fairy tales. Everyone knows the original story, so readers will be interested in how you twist it.

You can change

Plot: What if Cinderella didn't go to the ball?

Character: What if Snow White was evil?

Setting/Genre: What if Sleeping Beauty was set on a spaceship?

Theme: What if Beauty and the Beast was about family love instead of romance?

There's a variation of the plot What If? that asks:

What's Next?: What happens after Cinderella marries the prince?

In this case, you're writing a sequel. The fairy tale is backstory, and your story is something new.

There's also a mash-up What If? that asks:

What if these two stories were combined?: What if the prince in Cinderella was also the Beast in Beauty and the Beast?

Here, the readers are pulled through the story because they want to see how the plot and characters of these stories fit together into something new.

In all these cases, What If? is the question that motivates your readers. They want to see how your changes make for a different story.

With traditional retellings, you have to ask different questions. You want to tell a story with the same plot, characters, and setting as the original--maybe because you love the original story so much, maybe because you're retelling an obscure tale. But then what's the point of your story? What question are you going to answer in a way that can't be satisfied by reading the original tale?

The questions that work best here are:

Why?: In fairy tales, things usually happen "just because". There's very little explanation of why events happen a certain way or why characters act the way they do. Asking Why? allows your story to give an answer that explains confusing or ambiguous points in the original story.

Who?: Fairy tales don't dig very deeply into the psychology of their characters. A retelling allows you to enter into the perspective of one of the characters and explore what it would be like to live through the events of the story. What kind of person acts the way this character does? What fears and hopes motivate them? What do they think about the events of the story?

There's a variation of Who? that asks:

Who is telling the story?: This is your classic POV switch. Your story can have the same plot, setting, and characters as the original, but if you focus on the viewpoint of someone other than the traditional main character--the love interest, the villain, a side character, a confused bystander--you can wind up with a very different, sometimes almost entirely original story.

Almost every retelling needs to answer at least one Why? question. Even if it's a minor plot point, your story should offer a clarification or a rationale behind some element of the original. Asking Who? is a great way to expand upon the fairy tale and make it something more psychologically complex. First-person point-of-view is very helpful in this case, because it instantly adds something new to your telling of the story, even if you follow every beat of the original tale.

What If? retellings also need to answer Why? and Who?, but they're not the driving force in the same way that they have to be for traditional retellings. What If? allows for a twist that's the driving force behind the story, but when you're not changing anything, the depth that Why? and Who? provide is crucial to making your story feel new.

[miriammctroi]

Chapters: 3/3 Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Marauders - Fandom, Die sechs Schwäne | The Six Swans (Fairy Tale) Relationships: Regulus Black/James Potter Characters: Regulus Black, James Potter, Sirius Black, Orion Black, Euphemia Potter, Walburga Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Harry Potter Additional Tags: Fairy Tale Retellings, Inspired by Die sechs Schwäne | The Six Swans (Fairy Tale), Regulus Black & Sirius Black Have a Good Relationship, Regulus Black & Sirius Black are Twins, Sirius Black Ships Regulus Black/James Potter, Simp James Potter, Mute Regulus Black, Princes & Princesses, Royal Prince James Potter, Royal Prince Regulus Black, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Curses, Fairy Tale Curses, First Kiss, James Potter Loves Regulus Black, Sewing, Historical Fantasy, evil Euphemia Potter, Alternate Universe - Royalty, german fairy tales, Christening | Infant Baptism (Christianity), Religious Imagery & Symbolism, witch burnings, jegulus raising harry Series: Part 4 of The Regulus & Sirius as Twins Agenda Summary:

A Jegulus Take on the fairy tale The Six Swans (you don't have to know the fairy tale to read) - Sirius is cursed and transformed into a large dog. Heartbroken, his brother swears to do whatever it takes to break the curse - even if it means living in silence for four years and working until his hands are burned and blistered. He did not expect a handsome prince to find him. He expected even less to fall in love with him.

[amywrites256]

It kind of irritates me that most popular retellings of Snow White and Cinderella are from the perspective of their abusive mother figures/siblings. Especially when the synopsis on Goodreads subtly implies that they made up the abuse for attention or where actually just evil children deserving of being mistreated. I’ve been looking at popular retellings to comp my novel to and almost all of them are trying to make me feel sympathetic towards their abusers and it genuinely triggers me.

[konglindorm]

Untitled BATB retelling, chapter 2

Mira plays on the floor with her baby brother, and invents for her mother a whirlwind romance with a wealthy suitor from the city. Her mother doesn’t question this highly improbable story; the curse takes more out of her every day.

It came upon her slowly, at first. But Henry’s nearly two now, and it’s had plenty of time to settle.

Henry was christened late. There was no help for it—the only priest in miles was dreadfully ill, and he came as soon as he safely could. But an un-christened baby is a terrible temptation for fairies.

They tried to take him, and leave a changeling. Mama was watching, and she chased them off, but got a scratch on her arm for it.

It won’t heal. The priest and the local witch and the doctor they called in from the city all agree it won’t kill her. It will only trap her deeper and deeper inside herself, until she’s as good as gone. They all agree there’s only one cure, magnificently expensive, only available from a sorcerer in the city who communes with the fairies directly.

Mira doesn’t know how her father will ever afford it. He’s been putting a little by, whenever he can, and they had hoped that maybe Mira’s bride price—but it’s been a hard year. Father has to feed his children before he cures his wife.

She doesn’t think even double her bride price will be enough, after how hard a year it’s been. But the extra can be put away in savings, and maybe in a year or two, when her sister Anna marries—maybe.

Anna, she tells the truth, or most of it. She says, “He’s richer than Ralph, and not so scary, really. I don’t think he’ll hurt me.” Which is true.

She doesn’t say “I’d rather be eaten by a monster than marry Ralph,” or “I all but begged the Beast to take me,” both of which are also true.

In the morning she’ll leave. It isn't much time to say goodbye. But in the afternoon Ralph will come home, and ask officially for her hand, and she wants to be far away by then.

-

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[specificpollsaboutbooks]

Favorite Rewritings

Semifinals

The Lunar Chronicles are a retelling of "multiple fairy tales: Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Snow White"

"sci-fi fairy tale adaptation/rewrite, one of my favorite series ever, the world building is amazing, characters feel so real, plot hooks you in, it gets better on every reread!"

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents is a rewriting of The Pied Piper of Hamelin