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.)
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| 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.)
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Fractured Fairy Tales anthology KISSING FROGS and Other Quirky Fairy Tales by 20 Hawaii Fiction Writers authors Available in print at Amazon.com ***** |
