Guest Post: How to Write a Fairy Tale Retelling
By Katie-bree Reeves
FAIRY TALE RETELLINGS.
Fairy Tale Retellings, or Modern Fairy Tales as they’re called, have become exorbitantly popular over the last few years. I have edited and read many of them, and if you type the title into a Google search bar, you will be sure to find access to literally lists of recommended reads. In essence, a fairy tale retelling is exactly as it sounds-it draws from a fairy tale or lends itself to the fairy tale trope.
From a sales pitch, it is a great way to draw in readers due to high demand and the fact that essentially the baseline for a story is already written and waiting with its own fan base. Right? Well, sure, but it isn’t quite that easy.
What is a Fairy Tale?
Fairy tales have been told for thousands of years, possibly dating back further than the 17th Century. They have undertaken a lot of evolution, from more gritty plotlines (think Brothers Grimm) to sweet-loving, good triumphs over evil (hello, Disney 😊). In general, though, fairy tales will meet a few criteria: they will have a hero/heroine (sometimes both), a villain, and usually, be set in a ‘distant’ or ‘magical’ world.
If you are writing a retelling, you must follow these criteria to keep with the genre. However, that doesn’t mean you have to choose a plot the same as the fairy tale you borrow from.
A prime example of this is Cinderella, which has been retold countless times and in different ways, but more on that in a moment.
If you plan to write a retelling, you will benefit from researching the trope and reading several different fairy tales from many different eras. Read some Brothers Grimm, read Disney, read more retellings from the modern era, and research the genre’s history. Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to write like any of these authors. Still, it does mean you will have a solid grasp of how to remain within the guidelines of a fairy tale while also seeing how other people have managed to utilize the tools of the trade to create something new and different.
Talking about different, let’s move on to the next section.
Creating a new story from an old one. And doing so correctly.
So, you know what a fairy tale is. Now you have to write one. The last thing any author wants to do is essentially plagiarize someone else’s fairy tale. You can’t just rewrite Cinderella and change the names. This would be a. incredibly wrong morally (and more likely legally) and b. boring. Everyone has already read it.
The thing is, fairy tales as we knew them were written in different times, with different ideals and attitudes. Audiences no longer want damsels in distress waiting to be swept off their feet or villains with little to no back story. Instead, we want badass, gender-equal characters, villains as complex as our story itself, and moral choices that reflect our real lives or at least mirror them.
Your world can be as dark or light as you would like it. And your characters don’t have to conform to tradition. In fact, it is becoming increasingly more popular to really lend complexity to your characters. Treat them as you would any story: create a back story, a 3-dimensional personality, give them vices, weaknesses, and strengths. And do the same to your villain. In general, a villain your readers can actually empathize with will be far more engaging than someone who is only out to kill your hero because they hate them. Answer the traditional who, what, when, where, and why of your plot and characters, and you will be halfway there. The most important thing about your retelling is in keeping it interesting and fresh.
CASE STUDY.
Let’s look at Cinderella once more as a case study. In the traditional story, Cinderella was mistreated by her evil stepmother and stepsisters, snuck out to a ball one night with the help of a fairy godmother and some charming little animals, and met her true love… and you remember the rest… before eventually marrying Prince Charming and living happily ever after.
But what if Cinderella was actually bought as a slave girl (loads of backstory info there), and mistreated by her masters? Then one day, when she is carrying her masters’ luggage, she makes a break for it and accidentally runs into the prince in town, who is disguised as a commoner. He hates his life and his abhorrent father, and long story short, they have to escape together to a new town and a new life and live happily ever after.
As you can see, same trope, same spiel, completely different characters, and plotline. And that’s just an example. I’m sure you can make your work even more intriguing.
The general idea here is that you use the main skeleton as your backbone. But a young girl who has to undergo hardship is far more relatable to the general public (while still keeping to a fictional piece) than a young princess forced to clean by her stepmother. As I have already mentioned, keep it relatable.
Overview.
I truly believe there is a lot of potential moving forward in fairy tale retellings, and as we have seen here, there are loads of possibilities in the story plotline itself. The main ideas are as follows:
Read and learn about your chosen genre so you can utilize the information.
Keep the backbone of the genre trope.
Expand on your world, characters, and plot to keep it relevant to today’s readers.
Ensure your idea is unique and fresh, so it doesn’t disappear into the void of other retellings.
This gives you a baseline of what a fairy tale retelling is and some ideas on how best to create one.
Katie-bree Reeves
My name is Katie-bree Reeves, editor of Fair Crack of the Whip Proofreading and Editing. I’m an Australian editor, enjoying life with coffee, cats, and books. My focus is on giving every author a fair chance at writing their book, and although I work across multiple genres, I specialize in the fantasy, romance, and YA genres.