Running Wild With A Writing Exercise: Your Turn!

As mentioned in an earlier post, HAWAII FICTION WRITERS members participated in an entertaining and educational project involving the creation of fractured fairy tales. The anthology, compiled to raise money for local libraries in Hawaii, is entitled KISSING FROGS and other Quirky Fairy Tales. 

Frogs are well represented in such tales as the eponymous Kissing Frogs; Frog Prince Wants a Condo; and The Kindred Frog. Some tales are a bit more unconventional, quirky to be precise. Examples include: Jack and the Beanstalkers; Why Were the Brothers Grimm?; and Hansel, Gretel, and the Food-Challenged Witch.

One of my tales easily falls into the "quirky" category. The story employs details from various tales of Snow White, details concerning the methods in which the queen attempts to eliminate Ms. White - diabolical plans that included ordering the huntsman to cut out the step-child's heart; then resorting to poison, and finally asphyxiation. And while Snow White is forever associated with the lives of seven dwarfs, my story has Detective Whitey Snow focused on the demise of seven corpses. 

Available at Amazon.com

In the opening lines of her FOREWORD to the anthology,

Cultural Mythologist Jane L. Mickelson poses the questions: 

"What is the relationship between ancient myths and retold fairy tales? When does a myth morph into a fairy tale? And at what point is the fairy tale turned inside out to become “fractured” or “retold”? 

She continues in this following excerpt: "In one sense, all myths, fairy, and folk tales, as we know them now, are retold. They arise out of oral tradition and are passed along by memory, which inevitably puts new spins on their telling, to match the cultural environment in which they’re told. From the sacred to the profane, nothing seems outside the permissible."

Would your version of a fractured fairy tale lean toward romance, comedy, mystery, or a completely different genre? Pick a well-known or even an obscure fairy tale and let your imagination run wild writing a whole new (fractured) version. 

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HAWAII FICTION WRITERS: Meet, Greet, Join

HAWAII FICTION WRITERS is a writers' group whose members meet on the first Saturday of every month at the Aina Haina Library on the island of O'ahu. Members on outer islands; in Texas or other states of the USA; England or other continents; correspond and receive updates via electronic means. HFW members are always eager to meet other writers and hear about their journeys as authors.

We also meet as a critique group on the third Saturday of the month. While HFW is an informal group, its cohesiveness is maintained via our fearless meeting coordinator, author Michael Little. Michael's novels, Queen of the Rodeo and Chasing Cowboys, are both heartwarming, light romantic comedies complete with wild horses, bulls, and even a horned toad.

  

Heading into the summer of 2024, Michael is compiling an anthology of short stories focused on a library theme, with authors choosing varied locations, plots, and genres for the stories they contribute to the collection. More information will be available soon on the project's participants and stories.

Michael also spear-headed and published another anthology around the time of Covid, when any accomplishment was considered well-done. With the publication of this particular, rather "quirky" anthology, Kissing Frogs and Other Quirky Tales, he pulled off quite a successful feat with proceeds earmarked for donation to a local library.

 

A collection of 26 new variations on familiar fairy tales, fractured for your entertainment.

Enjoy a quirky take on familiar fairy tales: Goldilocks; Snow White; The Frog Prince; Hansel and Gretel; Jack and the Beanstalk; Little Red Riding Hood; Hansel and Gretel; Pinocchio, and the Brothers Grimm. 

Kissing Frogs and Other Quirky Fairy Tales is available in print at Amazon.com

Quirky Retold Tales #AtoZChallenge2021

Earlier this month, I wrote about a project involving fractured fairy tales. The anthology we compiled to raise money for local libraries in Hawaii is entitled KISSING FROGS and other Quirky Fairy Tales. 

Frogs are well represented, in such tales as the eponymous Kissing Frogs; Frog Prince Wants a Condo; and The Kindred Frog. Some tales are a bit more unconventional, quirky to be precise. Examples include: Jack and the Beanstalkers; Why Were the Brothers Grimm?; and Hansel, Gretel, and the Food-Challenged Witch.

One of my tales easily falls into the "quirky" category. The story employs details from various tales of Snow White, concerning the methods in which the queen attempts to eliminate Ms. White - diabolical plans that included ordering the huntsman to cut out the step-child's heart; then resorting to poison, and finally asphyxiation. And while Snow White is forever associated with the lives of seven dwarfs, my story has Detective Whitey Snow focused on the demise of seven corpses. 

Available at Amazon.com

In the opening lines of her FOREWORD to the anthology,

Cultural Mythologist Jane L. Mickelson poses the questions: 

"What is the relationship between ancient myths and retold fairy tales? When does a myth morph into a fairy tale? And at what point is the fairy tale turned inside out to become “fractured” or “retold”? 

She continues in this following excerpt: "In one sense, all myths, fairy, and folk tales, as we know them now, are retold. They arise out of oral tradition and are passed along by memory, which inevitably puts new spins on their telling, to match the cultural environment in which they’re told. From the sacred to the profane, nothing seems outside the permissible."

Would your version of a fractured fairy tale lean toward romance, comedy, mystery, or a completely different genre?

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Fractured Fairy Tales: Novel (Anthology) Research

FRACTURED FAIRY TALES

When it came to researching the background of fractured fairy tales, I learned what it means to go from Zero to Sixty in record time. In January of 2020, I was invited to join a team of three editors to compile and publish an anthology of fractured fairy tales for our writers group, Hawaii Fiction Writers, with proceeds going to the two libraries where we hold our monthly meetings and give readings twice a year. I quickly became fascinated with the process of writing fractured fairy tales. 

Fracturing a tale means taking the essence of a famous fairy tale and imagining an entirely new plot using an original character from the story and/or an interesting and recognizable topic from the story.  

For example, if you chose to write about Cinderella, you could tell a modern-day story about the disadvantaged child and how she never had money to take an Uber to the dance . . . or, The Three Bears could be crushing the stock market with their bullish trading practices. (These two ideas are straight off the top of my head as I type this. Ideas - as they say - are a dime a dozen. Writing the story isn’t quite as simple.)

Thumbelina's Blue Swallowtail Butterfly

One of my two stories for the anthology is titled Thumbelina’s Butterflies. I viewed several YouTube videos of the animated fairy tale before choosing my tale's topic. Then, while writing the short story, I researched butterflies along the Mississippi River, and the scientific fields of Entomology and Lepidopterology, a branch of entomology concerning the scientific study of moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies.

For Sgt. Whitey Snow and the Seven Corpses, my research was less extensive. I write mystery novels and I merely went into detective mode after coming up with the title. Only later did I learn that my Zodiac character is Snow White! Which Fairy Tail Character Are You Based On Your Zodiac Sign? (cbr.com) (Yes, the article is labeled fairy tail.)

Fractured Fairy Tales anthology

KISSING FROGS
and Other
Quirky Fairy Tales 
by 20 Hawaii Fiction Writers authors

Available in print at Amazon.com

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