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Guys. I have a question.
When you know that a book is a fairy tale, what do you automatically assume will happen? What direction do you expect the plot to go, what kind of characters do you expect to meet, what plot twists do you expect to happen, etc?
For instance, I always assume there will be a romance.
Also, I wouldn’t mind hearing all the fairy tale cliches you guys can think of (besides the obvious ones, like “Love at First Sight!!!”. I am aware of that one, and it’s stupid.)
And, come to think of it, it wouldn’t be so horrible hearing ANYTHING, in general, that you have to say on the subject of fairy tale retellings. If you have anything to say, that is.
Thankee kindly.
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@ethryndal Hmm…when I think of fairytales what comes to mind is apples, slippers, princesses, magic mirrors, stepmothers and stepsisters, castles, knights, dragons, fairies, elves, dwarfs, trolls, love’s first kiss, sleeping, roses, being betrothed to a guy you don’t want to marry due to the royal marriage customs, swans, frogs, talking furniture, a land cursed to be eternally winter, crowns, frying pans, towers, long golden braid, sandwiches, mice, loyal steed, wild animals that are actually tame, perfect hair, spindle, mermaids, a girl who’s cut off from the world and wants to venture out in the great wide somewhere, and yes I’ve probably watched too many Disney movies.
@Ethryndal ………what she said…
Really though, @mariposa covered pretty much everything that comes to mind for me—castles, damsels in distress, princes…the usual. 🙂 Out of curiosity, why do you ask? Are you writing a fairytale??A dreamer who believes in the impossible...and dragons. (INFJ-T)
@ethryndal You have a great question. I’ve been wondering the same things lately. What I personally expect in a fairytale are knights and castles, princes and princesses, magical objects, enchanted places or things, and fantastical creatures. Probably someone in distress, and cruel stepfamily. Also objects or events occurring in threes, sevens, sixes, and twelves.
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@ethryndal Hmmm…Like Jessi-rae, I think cruel stepfamiy and somebody in distress. Also, I usually guess that there will be something super extravagant. (e.g. Rapunzel’s hair, love at first sight etc.) I kind of figure that at some point in a story, a bad guy will turn good or a good guy bad. I don’t know why. 😉 Princesses or princes being forced to marry is also a big one. XD
@ethryndal The things that came to my mind were…
Sparkles. Lots of sparkles.
Singing. Everybody singing.
A princess with a beautiful crown in a large, elegant castle.
Fairies taking care of the crops, the plants and the animals.
Color, optimism and joy all around.Basically every little girl’s dreams come true
You can pronounce it however you want.
Dragons…..there must be dragonses in the fairytales, yes. And not evil dragonses, no, the nicest dragonses…..
Oh, sorry. *whispers* What were you thinking, brain? You’re going to creep everyone out!
But the dragonses…Stop it!
ENTP, Aether-borg Hero with cape obsession and fascination with swords.
https://forums.theaetherli@ethryndal I love fairytale retelling. Generally, I would think that the protagonist is a princess, and either naive or rebelling so much against the general princess stereotypes it is almost annoying. Arranged marriages, and running away from them. Almost no damsel’s in distress anymore. And MAGIC, though generally the heroine can’t do any. That’s for fairy godmothers.
On a side note, the thing about running away from arranged marriages has always struck me as kind of selfish. I mean, there are situations where the person wouldn’t want to marry the other person. Generally, they are getting married to save their kingdom, and unless you know that the person isn’t a good person, then why not? Isn’t the price of saving hundreds of lives from war or famine worth it, even if it costs you your comfort? I’d love to read a story where someone actually marries someone else, and falls in love after they get married. (I actually have an outline for such a story lying around somewhere, but I want to wait until I am older.)
@Ethryndal I guess I automatically assume that the guy will get the girl (or the girl will get the guy, whatever) so it would be a sort of unique twist to make it that they didn’t end up together in the end.
Personally I love it when fairy tale retellings are done in completely different genres. Like a steampunk beauty and the beast or a sci fi hansel and gretel. I think it just has so many cool twists on the originals.
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@ethryndal tests are a big one. Also magical items, cruel stepmothers/wicked enchantresses. Also grusome endings. People being turned into animals. The kings third son being better than the rest. Plot points that make no sense and great coincidences. Those are some of the things I think of.
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
@ethryndal Fairy tales!! I dearly love a good fairy tale retelling. So without farther ado, my rambling. 😉
First of all, ROMANCE. Probably really silly romance. Totally based off appearances, and probably nearly thwarted by an arranged marriage. *quietly fist-bumps @princessfoo* Let’s see, there’s also talking, or at least tame, animals. Royalty, and a very medieval-feeling setting. Anything with “step” in front of it is evil. Magic that isn’t very clearly defined. The huntsman/huntswoman, who dress all in green, has inhuman skill with a bow and arrow, and is generally grumpy. Until they fall in love, of course. Dresses, balls, feisty princesses, and MORE ROMANCE!! Usually pretty black-and-white, good versus evil, the bad guys are usually evil with a capital E, with no redeeming qualities. Someone, probably the fairy godmother, is has no flaws whatsoever. Ugly = bad, fair = good. The villain is deformed. The evil creatures are all repulsive to look at. The princess, however, is the picture of perfection. *pauses to gasp for breath after long ramble* My two cents became twenty. 😉Blog: https://weridasusual.home.blog/
@daughteroftheking *fistbumps back* Oh, I had forgotten about the beauty thing. That’s pretty annoying. I’ve never read a fairy tale retelling where the the princess wasn’t stunning. (Except the Lunar Chronicles.)
@daughteroftheking “Anything with step in front of it is evil” — Okay, now I want a fairy tale with a) an evil set of stairs, or b) a set of stairs which grumbles about everyone assuming it’s evil (it’s not) because it’s made of steps.
@princessfoo I have a story-in-waiting where the princess goes ahead with the arranged marriage to the prince without any drama about it, because she’s sensible. Oh, now I really want to write it again.
@Ethryndal, dragons and chivalry come to mind. Though not every fairy tale has romance — have you read any of the Andrew Lang Coloured Fairy Books? There’s ones from all over the world in it. You get some from different countries that are pretty similar to each other, and then some very, let’s say, unusual ones.You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation. (Isaiah 12:3)
@princessfoo Hey, yeah. I never thought about that. Good for the Lunar Chronicles, breaking the stereotype.
@northerner I would read that.Blog: https://weridasusual.home.blog/
@northerner Yes! I was thinking stepladder, but that’s close enough to stairs! XD
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