Any Fairy Tale Writers?

I've written a trilogy of fairy tale books. They don't specifically retell one story. It's more like the characters were written into existence centuries ago, and we follow some of their descendants who are involved in a war for the Book that brought them to life. Though some originals are there, too. (I actually wrote these years prior to "Once Upon a Time," too, so some of the similarities there kinda irk me from time to time.) The first two are actually published. The first is here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AVGFGAM/?tag=absowrit-20

The second is in my signature. (End shameless plug.)

I'm so not, but I always feel so annoyingly hipster about the topic. Like "I did this years before it was popular!" and now everybody is doing it.

None that I've written yet, but I have 5 in my queue that I'm working the kinks out of. I love fairy tales! It's taken me a few years to come up with workable concepts that I like though. So many people do the same stories (Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella), so it's taken me a while to figure out how I'd like to approach it. I'm really excited about them, but I probably won't get to them until next year.

I also have an original(ish) fairy tale concept, but that will also be waiting a while.

Depends.

How are you distinguishing fairy tales from folklore?

I don't write re-tellings of fairy tales, but I do write magic realism, which I've argued could be considered a genre of modern-day folklore. So I think it would be accurate to say I sometimes write fairy tales.

I also have a couple hundred "bedtime stories" I've written for personal reasons.

My novel Wicked Wonderland published by Samhain Publishing is an erotic retelling of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer which is basically a fairy tale.
Rewriting a more traditional fairytale is on my tbw list.
Oh I also have a short story published in an anthology that was an erotic retelling of Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen.

Have a few in the trunk. Wrote 'em when I was really new to writing, so they ain't much good. There's still some substance to them. One day I'd like to revisit them and give revision a whirl.

I haven't written any fairy tale retellings but it's sounds like something I'd like to try someday.

annalangford said:

ceramiccoconut: That sounds like a really interesting series. I'll have to check it out. Are you still working on the third in the trilogy?

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The third has been written for some time, but it's pretty heavily into a revision stage. It has a handful of issues that need ironed out.

I was reading faerie tale retellings in the late eighties, when there were some really well-done anthologies by Name authors. I don't think the genre has gone out of fashion since.

I borrow from faerie tales and folklore for some of my secondary-world fantasy stuff, but usually turn the tropes around somehow.

My first trilogy (first book coming in August) is what I consider a modern day fairy tale. In it we find most of the tropes of fairy tales, but I take a look at what might happen if we were, say, 400 years later. So all the old fairy tales happened. They're ancient history, but the Fairy Godfather is still around and still out to make money and magic.

Not exactly a retelling...just an urban fantasy series with evil queens, wicked stepmothers, stingy fairies and plenty of humor.

Not retellings exactly, but I like making up my own fairy tales. That's way harder than you might think though.

I had a fairy tale retelling published (short story) that was mostly based on The Frog Prince and a little bit the Persian fairy tale Turandot. Funny, I didn't realize that I was channeling the latter until it was pointed out by a reviewer. That story had sunk into my subconscious from something I had seen or heard about the opera, maybe long ago.

I love the genre, especially when heroes and villains are turned around, as well as genders. Most of what I write explores mythology and folklore.

Not a fairy tale as such, but the book I'm worldbuilding is kind of a Beauty and the Beast and Robin Hood mashup. With werewolves. And probably a train heist. It probably won't read much like a fairy tale once I'm done. It does have magic trees, though. Sort of like evil ents.

I wrote a short story Snow White retelling for an anthology and it was rejected. I have since subbed it but no takers yet...

I'm also working on a version of The Light Princess.

I rather enjoy retellings.

Not a fairytale, but the secondary-world fantasy novella I just sent off to a big market is a sideways riff on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth.

This post made me wonder something. What's the difference between myths and fairy tales? Age?

(/random derail)

Scope, I suspect. And marketing by Renaissance and Neoclassical scholars. Many of the fairytales I knew growing up were actually Welsh and Irish myths. But that could well be a discussion for the Mythopoeic Society.

I'm far more interested in developing root-level myths and fairytales for my secondary-world settings.

CQuinlan said:

This post made me wonder something. What's the difference between myths and fairy tales?

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Myths are generally sacred narratives. Fairy tales are a subset of folklore, which may come from mythology, but usually aren't considered sacred themselves.

Myths are generally regarded as "true", while folklore and folktales (and fairy tales) are more like "fiction" set in the world of a mythology.

A myth may become a folktale or fairy tale if it loses its sacred significance.

A creation story would be myth, for example, while a fable would be a kind of folktale.

kuwisdelu said:

Myths are generally sacred narratives. Fairy tales are a subset of folklore, which may come from mythology, but usually aren't considered sacred themselves.

Myths are generally regarded as "true", while folklore and folktales (and fairy tales) are more like "fiction" set in the world of a mythology.

A myth may become a folktale or fairy tale if it loses its sacred significance.

A creation story would be myth, for example, while a fable would be a kind of folktale.

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That's a great distinction. Myths tend to be about "actual" gods while fairy tales or folklore have made-up characters, i.e. did anyone ever believe that Cinderella was a real person?

Still, fairy tales have a lot to say about cultural values, beliefs and morals. That's another reason that I'm drawn to rewriting them.

To use Tolkien's work as an example, The Silmarillion is myth, while The Adventures of Tom Bombadil are fairy tale.

Alternatively, to use a real-life, non-mythopoeic example, the Bible is myth, while Prester John is folklore.

The idea of what a fairy tale is confuses me. I might just be confusing for those poems called fables.

JustSarah said:

Not retellings exactly, but I like making up my own fairy tales. That's way harder than you might think though.

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I'm currently working on a retelling, but I have an "original fairy tale" project outlined too. You're right. It's not that easy.

I'm thinking of writing it down first as a short story then hoping to make a full-length novel out of it.

Have you read any recently written and published fairy tales (not retellings) that you can recommend?