This month's topic seems like it was made just for me! I love twisting fairy tales and have looked to them for inspiration for at least two of my books. (While Charmed Memories appears to be based on a well-known fairy tale, it happened by accident as I was working on it. I actually based it on a retelling of The Prince and the Pauper.)
Fairy tales were often used to teach morality and safety lessons to children. Take Little Red Riding Hood for instance. It's a warning about talking to strangers or wandering from home and the safety of parental supervision.
Many of the tales we know that have been made into animated movies have been changed to reflect the social customs of the day. [Spoiler: In Hans Christian Anderson's Little Mermaid, the mermaid doesn't get the prince...she's turned into sea foam.) These changes are often to make the movies more appealing to a wider audience. After all, who wants to see Arielle turn into sea foam? [If you want to read the original, you can find it here. And more of Anderson's works can be found here.]
As an author, the fun with getting inspiration from fairy tales is in how you can switch things up. Most everyone will know the original tale you are basing your story on (take Quest of the Hart- it's based on Sleeping Beauty), unless you choose an obscure or tale from another nation that isn't as well know (which is a great way to get someone to check out those unknown stories!) This give you the opportunity to play with so many things. Should the princess be the damsel in distress or the rescuer? Is the hero actually the hero or the villain? Is the villain actually evil, or just misunderstood? The twists are only limited by your imagination.
So, take your favorite fairy tale and create a new story! Share your favorite fairy tale retelling in the comments below (if you're the author, include a link to your website/buy page/etc.)
#InkRipples is a themed meme hosted by Katie L. Carroll, Kai Strand, and me, Mary Waibel. We post on the first Monday of every month. If you would like to participate compose your own post regarding the theme of the month, include any of the images displayed on the #InkRipples tab above, and link back to our three blogs. Feel free to post whenever you want during the month, but be sure to include #InkRipples when you promote so readers can find you. The idea is that we toss a word or idea into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There is no wrong interpretation.
This year's topics are:
June: Blurbs
July: Heroes/Villains
August: Author Options in Publishing
September: World Building
October: Career vs Hobby
November: Finishing that Book!
December: Goals
