For Fictionate.Me’s new short fiction contest, our theme is a fairy tale retelling, speculative style. Modern fairy tales and fairy tale retellings are popular the world over. Why?
Most of us grow up reading fairy tales, no matter the culture or country. Fairy tales are a portal to magical worlds, that we as children are introduced to at an early age. The whimsy, magic, endearing characters, frightful villains, and exquisite worldbuilding sink their teeth in and never let go. Even as adults, fairy tales can be endlessly entertaining, allowing us to take another dip into the golden pool of nostalgia.
Fairy tales are more than just entertainment, however. These tales also offer up some sort of moral at the end to teach readers a lesson: don’t go into the dark woods alone, witches are not to be trusted (the old crones especially), don’t take candy from strangers, and whatever you do, don’t go into a house made of candy, for it will spell your ultimate doom.
Modern authors have taken their love of fairy tales and given them fun twists over the years, whether in book or movie form.
Retellings are so popular because:
- They’re a spin on an old classic. There’s some comfort in picking up a book and already being familiar with its foundation, but excitement in seeing how the author will make the story their own
- They challenge old standards and values and highlight modern ones that we can relate to. This is seen especially in female heroines, who no longer sit idly by while waiting on a man to save them
- The characters are more diverse and differently abled
- Character and plot development are much richer, as it can be explored in depth in lengthier works.
Some modern fairy retellings to check out before you write your own:
- A Court of Thorn and Roses by Sarah J. Mass ("Beauty and the Beast" meets the fae realm)
- The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Myer (sci-fi Cinderella)
- The Sea Witch by Sarah Henning (Ursula from “The Little Mermaid” retelling)
- Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman (vampire Snow White)
Even well-known stories like “Cinderella" and "Snow White” can be completely new again, so don’t worry if you think you won’t have a new perspective. No one has told your version yet! The ways to retell a fairy tale are limitless! So, let’s get into the nitty gritty on how to craft your own retelling.
Do your research
Before you dive into writing your own retelling, revisit the original tales first. Skip the Disney movies and go straight to the source material. You need to understand the original story first so you can see which elements you want to keep, and which ones you want to toss.
If you’re looking to reread some old fairy tales from your childhood, most can be found online for free since they’re in the public domain:
- Grimm’s Fairy Tales
- Andersen’s Fairy Tales
- The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault
- Children’s Hour with Red Riding Hood and Other Stories
- The Thousand and One Nights
- Japanese Fairy Tales
While you read, take notes of your favorite details from the story you want to keep. Many of our favorite fairy tales were written centuries ago, which means they can be rife with outdated content with sexism, misogynism, racism, homophobia, etc. But there are so many other elements you can leave in, like portal magic, fairy godmothers, or enchanted castles, for instance.
Take note of what you’re drawn to. Did you particularly enjoy the love story tropes, the idea of a magical quest, or defeating an evil queen? Once you have your core elements, you’re closer to crafting a unique fairy tale retelling of your own.
Also, do some research on modern retellings. You want to do something that hasn’t been done before. Your readers will drop your story if it’s the same as Cinder (cybernetic Cinderella) or A Court of Thorn and Roses, for instance.
Another piece of advice when choosing a fairy tale to retell is not to pick one that’s too obscure. You want your readers to be somewhat familiar to the story so they can revel in the details you’ve changed.
Add an unexpected twist
The bread and butter of a great fairy tale retelling is the unexpected and unique twist that makes it different from the original story. You don’t want to completely change the entire story, because then it’s not a retelling. Just … tweak it:
- Rewrite it in a new genre. Taking fantasy characters and throwing them into a sci-fi or contemporary urban setting will throw your readers (and characters) for a loop, helping you create unique characters and situations for them to be in
- Set your story in a different era or location. Like changing the genre, bringing medieval characters to a modern setting, or putting Ariel in a desert dystopia instead of an ocean kingdom will definitely mix things up
- Swap gender roles. Have Rapunzel save a prince from the tower or make Snow White a male warrior with female dwarves in his army instead. Simply changing gender roles will immediately bring a new perspective to your story
- Swap roles between the MC and villain. Make the MC the villain to pull the rug from under your reader’s feet. This is a trendy way to retell a story, as in the case of Gaiman’s Snow, Glass, Apples, where Snow White is the villain, and the not-so-evil queen is trying to save her kingdom from her monstrous stepdaughter
- Switch to a different POV. This is a popular take on fractured fairy tales, where authors retell fairy tale faves from the POV of a contrasting character, usually the villain or a minor character
- Do a crossover or mix a few stories together. Make your own multiverse filled with all sorts of fairy tale characters and storylines. Shrek! by William Steig is a notable example of this
- Make it a prequel or a sequel. Everyone loves a prequel, so why not delve into the history of your favorite fairy tale character or realm, do a drop in on your characters after the happily ever after? Check out Kingdom of Fairytales: After Ever After - a Kingdom of Fairytales Prequel (various authors) for inspiration.
Theme
Take a look at the themes in your favorite fairy tales? Which ones seem to speak to you? Maybe it’s the spiritual transformation of Beast, the patience of Cinderella, or Briar Rose’s journey of self-discovery. Figure out what you want readers to take away from your retelling and go from there.
Focus on characterization
In a classic fairy tale, the focus is on the plot and the moral of the story and the characters themselves can be a little flat. A retelling can allow you delve deeper into characterization. You can figure out their motivations, their passions, everything that makes your character tick. When you rewrite a fairy tale, the character can become yours, so the sky is the limit. Will you keep their traits the same or change them completely for an even better twist? For instance, making Little Red a hunter relentlessly pursuing the poor Wolf, who really isn’t so big and bad after all.
Build your world
Another great aspect of a retelling is worldbuilding. Like with characterization, will you keep the world the same, but make it richer and more detailed? Or will you completely change the world, and make it something entirely new and different? The wonderful thing about fantasy is there are no limits to what you can do!
I hope all these tips help you create your own fairy tale retelling! We look forward to seeing your submission in our retelling short fiction contest too! Check out social platforms for details and join our Discord to get writer support and awesome book recommendations to help you out on your writer’s journey!