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@madelyn other then notes and ideas and all that jazz I don’t think I ever got into actually drafting.
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSebThat’s okay. 😉 I wasn’t very clear. The Lost Kingdom of Barmarre was mostly pretty fun; I enjoyed it, and had difficulty putting it down.
Even when it was past midnight…
Anyway,
Yes! It is a good book.
Thank you!
There’s so much potential in losing his gift, which might be a bit of work to figure out, but it will definitely be fun to see where it goes.
Oy! That will be worth seeing. I love it when a gruff character comes to realize they care for some softer person like that.
Ah, yes! Children, especially of the persistently loving kind, can come off shallow. Does he have little quirks? If Rumple’s gruffness comes across as rejection, he must be in some way hurt by it, but how? Does he try to make Rumple, the only father he’s known, love him? Or be somehow proud of him? Is there some place that he likes to think of as his own? Does he ever see that maybe he isn’t as unloved as it might appear/ see past Rumple’s grumps? Why does he look up to him? How/why does he trust him?
(And you don’t have to answer any of those, but hopefully they might help get ideas flowing. They might not fit anything at all, but you know.)
By the way, what an ominous thunder clap. 😉
Yay! I try. 😉 Talking over and building WIPs is absolutely a favorite pastime.
You have listened to fears, child. Come, let me breathe on you... Are you brave again? -Aslan
Sorry I’m so late in replying. Life is nuts.
That sounds AWESOME! I love good farytales and retellings, some of my favorite authors being George MacDonald, C. S. Lewis, Gail Carson Levine, and Hans Christian Andersen. (Or at least some of his stuff)
I would definitely appreciate a retelling of Rumplestiltskin, especially as that story always ended up on the same level as the Goose Girl in my head. I’m not sure why, Rumplestiltskin makes far more sense.
As the Prince sounds like a wonderful character, here’s a few questions;
- About how old is he when the story picks up?
- Is he mildly mischievous?
- Does he look remarkably like any of his relations?
- Does anyone else know he isn’t Rumplestiltskin’s son?
How are you treating magic,if you have it in this world?
I haven’t written any farytale rewrites, so I don’t have much advice on that scale, but I love hearing about other people’s book ideas.
First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
(*cringes* I am very late to the party…)
Ooo… This sounds like it will be a fascinating story!!! Retellings are so fun. XD
I’ve dabbled in retellings a little bit, but as I never finished my project (it was a retelling of The Little Mermaid called Rebel.), I don’t have a whole lot of advice for this particular genre. When it comes to writing in general, though, my advice would be to not fear/avoid drafts and rewrites. Yes, they are painful. Yes, they are boring (sometimes). Yes, there are times I’d rather dig a hole from my house to China during a thunderstorm in February using a toothpick as my only tool than put one more word on my document… BUT, they are SO HELPFUL. Since they take so much time, your story will grow and improve as you grow and improve as a writer. The story will blossom into something you would never have dreamed of in your first draft. (I know from experience. 😉)
Oh, and never be discouraged by your writing. Sometimes when we writers look at our writing or our plots, we just want to hit “delete” a million times and erase every trace of our story from the face of the earth. But writing is a journey. It takes time and practice to learn to write in a way that satisfies our inner critics (Though I’m not sure if it’s possible to fully turn them off… I’ve been writing for five(ish) years now, and my inner editor still complains). So, if your story ever makes you want to cry or quit, DO NOT WORRY. You WILL get there.
Besides, early writing can be kinda fun to look back on… 😉 (My traitor in the first draft of my fantasy WIP could not have been more obvious if he’d worn a sign on his back announcing it… It was so bad…😂)
So, yeah, that’s about it! I’m definitely still on the writing journey and no where near an expert, but I hope this was helpful. 🙂 Congrats on your new story idea!!! Wishing you the best with it. <333
Gotchaaa, it’s still a fun idea though ;P
Yeah, it is a good book! Been a while since I read it 😉
Yesssss, I love those books that keep you up late. Though I don’t love them the next morning when I sleep till 10 and go about half asleep all-day XD
That’s true, there is! Exciting 🙂
Yep, it’ll be a ton of fun. Lately, I’ve loved trying out new kinds of main characters; a grumpy old man is DEFINITELY a first for me ;P
YESSSS thanks for all the questions!!!!!!!! I copied and pasted them in my planning doc to brainstorm on. They’ll be super helpful!!!!! 😀
They will DEFINITELY help get ideas flowing 😉
Nothing like a thunderclap to give a foreboding hint of a coming disaster ;P
Yeah, it’s soooo helpful!!!
(btw I love your signature)
No worries! Better late than never! ;P
Oofda, yeah, life can be quite the whirlwind. Hope things calm down 😉
Nice!! As a side note, what are George Macdonald’s books like? I’ve heard him mentioned before MANY times, so now I’m getting curious 😉
The prince is *almost exactly* 10 when the story starts.
A streak of mischief would not go amiss… and would give me more to work with… *makes note of it* 😉
Come to think of it, I think he does resemble his mother (but not enough for anyone to recognize him).
Hmmmm… that last question is a good one, I’ll have to brainstorm on it.
The only magic *so far* is Rumpel’s ability to spin straw into gold (which he has since lost for a reason yet to be decided 😉 ). Still figuring out how that works, whether he inherited it, was gifted it, etc…
(I plugged your signature into Google Translate 😉 Russian looks and sounds so cool!!!)
~In Christ Alone My Hope Is Found~
Welcome!!!!! Glad to have you 🙂
Yep, it should be fun ;P
YES, that’s so true!!! My biggest struggle (well, one of them) in writing is gradually becoming more and more afraid of my WIP until I can’t even touch it. I dream big, then suddenly get overwhelmed with my vision for the project. So your advice does not go amiss with me! I really needed it XD
However…
*glances at the giant hole in my backyard*
Man, I was ALMOST to China…
Honestly, I don’t know how, but you must be telepathic or something, ’cause what you addressed is EXACTLY what I have issues with XD. So, thank you!!!
And, yessss, I totally get the whole first draft thing. One of my earlier stories had a similar traitor character (I was like 8 or 9, so the whole story was laughable XD).
You were DEFINITELY helpful!!!! Thanks a ton! 😀
And good luck on your own writing journey!!!!!!!!! =)
~In Christ Alone My Hope Is Found~
@madelyn YES definitely let me know!!! I love all things fairy tales XD Good luck!!!
"It's easy to be caught up in stardust and whispers when reality is so dark and loud."
Agh, that makes me so happy!!! So glad I could be helpful. <3333
I know!!! WIPs can feel so overwhelming… I haven’t even gotten beyond daydreaming for my dream project bc I know it’s gonna be big and require a lot of mental maturity I’m not sure I’m ready for yet (Why I do this to myself, I have no idea…) So, yeah, I get it!
(And I definitely feel you… *glances at large hole in own backyard*)
You were extremely helpful!!! 😀
They really can be overwhelming! To be honest, I haven’t written for a week or so now 😬 😱 Life just got crazy!
Oooh, I totally get that. Sometimes a project has to be put off until you’re ready for it.
(hey, how close are you to China? I miscalculated and landed in Australia… again… but the kangaroos are very understanding 😉 )
~In Christ Alone My Hope Is Found~
You and me both, girl!!! I haven’t sat down to write for… oh, a few months now… 😬 Most of my writing happens during spare moments on my phone. If I’m writing on my computer, it’s usually for school. 🙁 Hopefully, that will change here soon. 🙂
So I’m not the only one who’s gotten lost! I’ve ended up in Madagascar several times now… At least the lemurs are cute! 😉
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Hi! So I’m a little late here, but the current novel I’m working on is a retelling of “The Little Mermaid” so I thought I’d hop on and share a bit 🙂 (I’m also in the middle of trying to reason with my mermaid– she’s being stubborn, so taking a break might be helpful lol)
I don’t want to say too much because this book is my baby and I don’t want to a) give too much away or b) put the cart in front of the horse and talk about it way too much before it’s actually done. BUT… It’s a little mermaid retelling that’s set in a coastal kingdom (I’m kind of drawing inspiration from ancient Greece as well as some of the coastal villages in southern Italy). My “mermaid” isn’t actually a mermaid. She’s a siren, I’m going way back into Greek mythology for inspiration. But it’s basically a dual POV alternating in between her perspective and the perspective of the prince. Again, I don’t want to give away too much, but I’m playing around with a couple of the concepts from Anderson’s original tale: the mermaid searching for a “soul,” the backstory of the “sea witch,” and the character of the “prince”. Honestly, he gets NO page time or depth in the original, so there’s a lot to work with. I’m also considering departing from the original and making it not so much of a romance, but we’ll see, cause I’m a sucker for a good love story and I might just give in.
Any advice I’d give you would to, like everyone else said, research your fairy tale well. I’d also suggest going on goodreads or something of that sort and researching what other retellings are out there… you wouldn’t want to put all that effort into something if it’s already been done. But if there is already a retelling that exists that is similar to your story, and you decide to keep writing yours anyway, DON’T READ THE OTHER ONE. Because I’ve done that once with a Cinderella retelling and it ended up being disastrous. My mind went ahead without my permission and ended up plagarizing half the ideas. Ahem. I was also twelve, so that didn’t help things. Needless to say, that retelling reached the dumpster fire before I’d gotten to the 50% mark. But I digress.
Second, a lot of the old fairy tales don’t have very clear character development on some of the minor characters (or even some of the main characters). You could use that and pick a lesser-known character and make them really pop (for instance, the mermaid’s sisters in the original– I’m having a blast developing their family dynamic in my retelling, as well as giving them a more crucial role in the overall plot). Just remember– you don’t have to stick to the original story. These tales are public domain, so you can take them and make them as close to the original, or as far from it, as you want. Heck, there’s a novel going around about a Cyborg Cinderella (Cinder by Marissa Meyer, and to whoever said that they wouldn’t read the rest because of the new characters– can’t remember who wrote that and I’m too lazy to look lol– the other three books were SO GOOD and the character development was SO MUCH BETTER. By the end of the series, I was more excited about the new characters than Cinder and Kai). So don’t worry about straying off the beaten path, or getting too far from the original, and just have fun with it!
Finally, and I’m only saying this because you’re talking about writers block and digging to China lol. Print out a copy of the original fairy tale and write/type down EVERYTHING you want to use from it. Use crazy highlighters or a fun notebook, whatever floats your boat. Then write a summary, as vague or as detailed as you like, of what you want YOUR book to look like and make sure that everything you want to use from the original ends up in there. I did this in the beginning with mine, and though I’ve gone and reworked so much of my own additions, the original material I pulled has always remained the same. What’s nice is that you basically have the bones for your story written before you begin, and knowing how the course of the original tale parallels with your own really helps keep on track.
Looking forward to hearing how your retelling goes! Blessings.
I feel ya!! It’s hard to make time for writing, especially when other time-consuming things outrank it in priority (spiritual life, relationships, school, health, etc.).
Yesss, it’s so hard to navigate! For some reason or another, Google Maps will not cooperate with me once I get about 50 or so feet underground. After that, I just follow gut instinct. Hence, my frequent visits to Australia.
Girl, you should totally bring a lemur back next time. Although I just Googled it… and apparently they make terrible pets and are only legal in some states XD
~In Christ Alone My Hope Is Found~
@e-p-writes
Hey-o!
For one, thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to reply here (better late than never!) and giving so much advice!
Your retelling sounds prettttty awesome! I’m excited just hearing about it! I love the different approaches that you’re taking to the different characters. And, personally, I like the idea of removing the romance part of it because it frees up so much space for fresh ideas/twists! And tying in Greek culture??!! SO COOL. That’s honestly been one of my favorite parts of this whole retelling thing–retelling the culture/world as well as the story.
(That totally does not imply that I’ve roughly rearranged the Western Hemisphere, thoroughly researched the German occupation of the Channel Islands during WW2 as a setting for the second book, pretty much used German words for everything, and have an extra-large sheet of paper on my desk to create a detailed map of a reimagined Germany)
(Yeah, no, that’s totally what I’m doing)
SPEAKING of which, this is a little off-topic, but I was looking at your introduction post from a while back (’cause I haven’t seen you around here, and I love new people 😊) and you mentioned that you’ve traveled a lot. Have you ever been to Germany?
Yessss, I’m really loving researching the fairy tale! Mmm, I hadn’t thought of checking Goodreads for retellings, so that’s a good idea!! And YES I feel ya with the whole plagiarizing thing. I once read a book with a myriad of fairytales mashed together (including Rumpelstiltskin). I was THIS CLOSE to copying something from there before I realized it had already been done *facepalm*
Again, very good points about bringing the minor characters to the spotlight! I think it’s time I did a little delving into the miller and his daughter… *rubs hands*
I like the system you suggested there! Might have to give that a try too 😉
Thanks again for all your amazing help!!!!!!!!! 😀
~In Christ Alone My Hope Is Found~
Exactly! I’m hoping to be able to work my writing into this next school year. It would be a whole lot easier to stay in touch with my stories if I was required to and earned high school credits off of it. XD
Hahaha, I feel you!!! Apple maps is the same way, unfortunately. I guess Madagascar isn’t the worst place to end up, though. *shrugs*
(Joking aside, wouldn’t a lemur be the most adorable pet?? I mean, I’m not crazy enough to actually try to get one, but they’re so incredibly CUTE and fluffy, I kinda want one. XD)
Haha, good idea!! How are you going to get high school credit for writing?
Yesss, isn’t it strange how these GPSs don’t work underground?? Must be a design flaw. But, I agree, ending up in Madagascar or Australia isn’t the worst scenario. I haven’t ended up in the ocean yet, so that’s something to be thankful for *shrug*
That’s true!! Honestly, I can’t think of lemurs without thinking of Zoboomafoo… a staple of my childhood… did you ever watch it? I think it was on PBS Kids.
~In Christ Alone My Hope Is Found~
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