(How to Plot a Plot Twist.)

Nevertheless, fairy tales have endured and evolved to become more palatable and modernized to suit the next generation of eager ears. In fact, some classics have evolved so much that they have been categorized into their own genre, which takes the stories that we know and turns them into something completely different from start to finish. This genre is called “the fractured fairy tale.” 

What Is a Fractured Fairy Tale?

A fractured fairy tale in its simplest form is a story that takes a classic fairy tale and twists it in a way to make it new and fresh. Maybe the change is the setting, like Interstellar Cinderella by Deborah Underwood, which sees Cinderella dreaming of repairing rockets instead of attending balls. Maybe the change is the characters, like The Three Little Pugs by Nina Victor Crittenden, which sees the traditional porky protagonists replaced by a different type of snub-nosed friend.

Or maybe the change is the perspective, like in my debut, Bear and the Three Goldilocks that sees a curious baby bear wandering into the campsite of the Goldilocks family and basically turning the place upside down. Whatever the twist is, it creates an entirely new story that invites readers young and old to see their favorite bedtime tale in a different light.

Fractured fairy tales are not exactly new. They’ve been around for over a century, having really hit a boom in the last 40 years. In the 80s we were treated to The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. The 90s introduced us to Sleeping Ugly by Jane Yolen. In 2000s we had An Undone Fairy Tale by Ian Lendler and the 2010s gave us Honestly, Red Riding Hood was Rotten!, by Trisha Speed Shaskan. Who knows what the 2020s will bring (Bear and the Three Goldilocks maybe?—hint hint—nod nod—wink wink).

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Creating Your Own Fractured Fairy Tale

There is a wealth of marketability in the genre as they are familiar and we all know that familiarity is relatively easier to sell. Like blockbuster sequels (looking at you Jurassic Park), fairy tales with a twist are built on something we already know and love—but reimagined in new and thrilling ways. So, let’s look at how you, a writer with wisdom and cunning and creativity, can create your possibly marketable fractured fairy tale. It’s simple: Think of a classic—any classic and ask the question—What if? 

• What if The Three Billy Goats Gruff was set in a school where the poor troll was just trying to get to his Gobbling 101 class, but was confronted and bullied by three the brutish Gruff brothers?
• What if, instead of the Three Little Pigs, you have the Three Little Sparrows? They all three build their nests out of different materials, but are terrorized by an evil, cunning squirrel.
• What if The Little Mermaid wants to become a human, not to throw herself at the first man she’s ever seen, but to go into the world, have a career, become a CEO or maybe even president. She’d definitely get the Mermaid/Man vote. 

The point is that literally in the last three or four minutes that I’ve sat here, I’ve come up with three different takes on a fairy tale just by looking at the classic and changing some element. Even if it doesn’t lead to getting published, it’s still a fantastic exercise to get the creative juices going or just to practice those writing skills.

Whatever the case may be, it would be super exciting to see a major boom in this clever genre over the next few years. If this article inspires you to be the next in a long line of fractured fairy tale-ists then my time and effort has been well spent. Happy fracturing fellow writers! I’m always cheering for you.

Check out Patrick Horne’s Bear and the Three Goldilocks here:

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In this interview, Ivy discusses how a classic Greek tragedy helped inspire her new feminist horror novel, Ecstasy, her hope for readers, and more.

Name: Ivy Pochoda
Literary agent: Kim Witherspoon
Book title: Ecstasy
Publisher: Putnam
Release date: June 17, 2025
Genre/category: Horror / Suspense / Thriller
Previous titles: Visitation Street, Wonder Valley, These Women, Sing Her Down
Elevator pitch: A feminist-horror reimagining of Euripides’s drama, The Bacchae, set at a luxury resort in Greece.

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What prompted you to write this book?

In high school I began studying classical Greek. During my senior year, we translated The Bacchae in its entirety and the play has stuck with me ever since. When I had the idea to write a short horror novel, the story immediately returned to me as a perfect place to marry the genre to my classical education and my penchant for a feminist angle.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

I wrote Ecstasy rather quickly. It adheres to the structure of the original play quite closely. The idea I came up with at the start was precisely the end result.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

Well, I put to use the miseducation I received during years of late-night partying in Amsterdam! I had no idea if that period of my life would ever be useful in my fiction. And boy—was I both surprised (and relieved) that it did!

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

I hope that they have a wild ride but also pay attention to the important themes of oppression and the prisons we (women) accidently build ourselves.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

FINISH THE BOOK YOU’RE WRITING!!!

The post Ivy Pochoda: On Reimagining Greek Tragedy as a Feminist Horror appeared first on Writer's Digest.

(5 Tips for Giving Your Character Powers.)

Frequently originating in the oral tradition, the retelling of these ancient tales has always fascinated authors—and none more so than the stories of Camelot and King Arthur. Writers as diverse as John Steinbeck, Kate Mosse, J.R.R. Tolkien, Meg Cabot, and Bernard Cornwell have all found inspiration in these centuries-old stories that themselves have their roots in a fusion of ancient Celtic folk tales, Graeco-Roman legends, and early British socio-political histories.

What Appealed to Me About the Arthurian Legends

The fact that they have a semi-historical setting—taking place within the so-called “Dark Ages” where even today very little is known about the actual history of Britain, gives an added frisson of possibility, which I think enhances their enduring appeal and explains why, to this day, people are still seeking the Holy Grail.

I have always been fascinated by these stories, but as I have come to know them more intimately, I have become far less interested in the quests and the sorcery, and much more intrigued by the characters that sit at their heart—and with one in particular—Igraine, the mother of Arthur and his two half-siblings Morgan Le Fay and Morgause, Queen of Orkney.

I have become more and more convinced that to understand both the beauty and the tragedy of Camelot, you need to understand the origins of the stories—and for me, these do not begin with a callow youth plucking a sword from a stone, but with a much darker tale of murder and deception, at the heart of which is Uther Pendragon’s rape of Igraine, resulting in both the conception of Arthur and a blood-feud as dark and powerful as any Greek Tragedy.

When I decided that I wanted to retell the stories of Camelot—beginning with the story of Igraine—I immediately realized that choosing to retell an ancient and familiar story provides both challenges and opportunities to a writer. On the one hand, there is a narrative framework which provides you with a welcome structure to work with, but on the other, there are constraints placed upon you because of the established characters and storylines.

An added complication within the Arthurian canon is that there have been many versions of the stories—some of them hundreds of years old—and these versions are frequently inconsistent. I turned this to my advantage by deciding that this gave me the freedom to determine which version was more in sympathy with the story I wanted to tell—whilst still remaining true to my source material.

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4 Tips for Retelling Classic Myths and Legends

This approach has also helped me to come up with my top tips for other writers who may also want to retell or reimagine ancient stories taken from myths and legends:

1. Do your research—Understand the different versions of the story, note down where the differences lie, and think through how these differences impact both your characters and your plot. For example, in some renditions, Igraine dies on giving birth to Arthur, in others she lives on to marry Uther Pendragon and have more children with him, whilst in yet more versions, she is transported by Merlin to the enchanted castle of Carbonek, where she will ultimately be reunited with both Arthur and her daughter Morgan le Fay.
2. Plot your story—Yes, you have a framework to work with, but you also have the freedom to decide which elements of the story are important to you, to build your own narrative so it tells the tale in the way you want to tell it. For example, I decided to create a “behind-the-scenes” focus on the machinations of Merlin and Vivian, who I have portrayed as puppet-masters, responsible for so much of what happens in The Chosen Queen.
3. Get under the skin of your characters—Who are they? What motivates them? How do they feel about each other? Particularly if you are working with established protagonists within a classic story, you need to have considered exactly why they behave as they do. For example, I decided to make my Merlin more a political than religious adviser to Uther Pendragon, with his primary motivation being the unification and security of the Realm, for which he was prepared to do almost anything—including engineering a civil war and aiding and abetting in the deception, rape, and imprisonment of Igraine, a woman he had known since early childhood, and for whom he actually harbors an underlying affection.
4. Be clear about perspective and “twist”—Whose story are you telling? What is their point of view, and what is unique about the version of the tale that you have chosen to tell? I have never read another book in which Igraine is centerstage, in most narratives she is mentioned almost as an afterthought. My intention in writing The Chosen Queen was to redress that balance. I spent many hours mulling on her thoughts, behaviors, and responses, making sure I was seeing each scene from her perspective. This was the primary reason I chose to write the story in the first person, so her voice is being heard throughout.

These are my top four tips for anyone wishing to retell/reimagine an established story, myth or legend, and as with all such suggestions for writers, these can never be more than pointers. There is neither a right or wrong way to write a book, but I hope that sharing my own experiences and learning may help you in your endeavors!

Check out Sam Davey’s The Chosen Queen here:

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In this interview, Julia discusses reimagining Shakespeare’s As You Like It with her new young adult novel, Lovesick Falls, how the ending was a surprise to her, and more.

Name: Julia Drake
Literary agent: Peter Knapp
Book title: Lovesick Falls
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Release date: June 2, 2025
Genre/category: Young adult
Previous titles: The Last True Poets of the Sea
Elevator pitch: Lovesick Falls is a queer adaptation of Shakespeare’s famous comedy As You Like It, narrated by best friends Celia Gilbert and Ros Brinkman during the summer they spend working at a theater festival.

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What prompted you to write this book?

I’ve always felt a little sorry for Celia in As You Like It—she loves her best friend Rosalind so much that she goes into exile for her, whereupon Rosalind immediately starts wooing Orlando. I wanted to reimagine their friendship in a more modern context, and give Celia the space to tell her side of the story.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

It took about two years to go from idea to publication (though it took about three years and another failed project to come up with the idea). The fundamental idea stayed the same throughout the process, but I played around with book’s structure and Ros’s voice before I found the one that fit the best.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

I worked in the wrong direction for a while before I started working on Lovesick Falls, even though my heart wasn’t really in the project. It was a good reminder to trust my gut and listen to myself when it feels like things aren’t—or are—working out.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

The ending of this book was a surprise for me! I had no idea where the story was going, but I’m pleased with where the characters end up—the ending feels true to them and a good conclusion to the story.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

I hope readers will have a lot of fun reading Lovesick Falls—it’s meant to be lighthearted and funny, even as it touches on more serious themes. My hope is readers will laugh and turn the pages quickly, but that the book will stay with them long after they’ve finished.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

Write the book that needs to be written—not the book that you think you should write.

The post Julia Drake: On Trusting Her Gut When Things Aren’t Working appeared first on Writer's Digest.

(The Personal Is Historical.)

When I conceived of the 19th protagonist of my historical novel Forged, I wanted to make her into the sort of vivid character readers expect to find in contemporary fiction. To achieve this, I had to get a grasp of all aspects of her life; the devil, as they say, is in the details.

My first inspiration for Forged came from a history podcast. I heard the story of a Gilded Age female con-artist who swindled banks out of untold millions, and I was surprised that I had never heard of Cassie Chadwick before. She grew up on a farm in Canada, which is where I’m from, and fashioned herself into a fake American heiress, with a mansion like a dragon’s lair, overflowing with jewels, gold, and works of art. She was like a 19th Century Anna Sorokin, but far more successful.

The historical details of Cassie’s life leading up to bank fraud are sketchy; what little I could find revealed a sordid string of petty cons, bilking money from people who could ill afford to lose it, and possibly trafficking vulnerable women. I was repulsed by what I read and had the strong sense that Chadwick was an impulsive psychopath with terrible executive function and hoarding disorder; she was not the sort of person I wanted taking up space in my brain for the length of time it takes me to produce a manuscript.

While real life criminals are not glamorous, her story did make me think of a glittering fictional character, Jay Gatsby. He too grew up on a farm, made his fortune illegally, and crafted a fake persona to fit into the beau monde. Thus, the Gilded Age con artist and Jay Gatsby underwent some sort of alchemy in my imagination, and Kitty Warren, the protagonist of Forged, emerged.

To get a sense of farming life in 19th Century Canada, I relied heavily on Susanna Moodie’s memoir, Roughing it in the Bush. Moodie was a middle-class English writer who emigrated with her husband and child to Canada in 1832; they settled in the backwoods of Ontario. She didn’t enjoy the pioneering life, and when her editor encouraged her to write an “emigrant’s guide,” Moodie recounted the difficulties, including food shortages, illness, blackflies and boorish, annoying neighbors, all with jaunty verve. I also re-read Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace, which was inspired by Moodie’s writing, but that was mostly for fun.

Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence was a great resource for details about New York in the Gilded Age. Wharton wrote the novel after WWI, trying to recapture the aristocratic New York of her childhood, and so it is rich with visual details, particularly of interior design. Her somewhat jaundiced post-war gaze also notes questionable aspects of 19th Century social norms and mores, so readers get both the accuracy of first-hand observation and the analysis of an older writer living in a changed world.

Before New York, Kitty lived in two cities critical to building Gilded Age wealth: Pittsburgh, PA, and Cleveland, OH. Imagining Pittsburgh in its industrial heyday was easier than imagining Cleveland, in part because I used to live in Pittsburgh, but also because many of its neighborhoods and mansions are still standing. The Cleveland Public Library has scanned city maps from the Gilded Age available on its website; I printed these out and assembled them like a giant jigsaw puzzle on my kitchen floor to trace my protagonist’s movements in that city. I pored over old photos of Millionaire’s Row and descriptions of the mansions. I also read Cleveland in the Gilded Age, by Dan Ruminski and Alan Dutka.

While Kitty Warren wasn’t a clone of Cassie Chadwick, I did borrow liberally from details of Chadwick’s life. Like my antihero, Chadwick was a prolific forger, had a sister in Cleveland, snuck into Andrew Carnegie’s mansion, and ended up in jail (more than once, unsurprisingly). The prologue of my novel, in which a customs agent attempts to arrest Kitty for jewel smuggling, is based on a real account of Chadwick’s smuggling, published by a treasury agent in 1908. I’m not sure that T.S. Eliot was right about good authors borrowing, but this lazy author likes to borrow because it’s an easy way to get accurate granular historical details.

Click to continue.

A writing teacher once complained to me that her students’ characters are like cameras with feet. Visual detail is of course critical for communicating what a character is experiencing, but other senses matter too, smell in particular. The olfactory nerve is wired directly to the limbic system in the brain, which controls emotion, so smell and emotion are closely linked. When Kitty is feeling threatened, afraid, or in love, she is aware of the smells around her, and there are websites to answer almost every question about what those scents would be in the late 19th Century. Did you know that there were mountains of horse manure in vacant lots in New York? I didn’t either. I learned how garbage was handled (not well), that men wore Florida Water, and that most people bathed about once a week. The past was smelly.

Forged is a loose Great Gatsby retelling; the first two thirds take place before the start of Fitzgerald’s novel, and the last third maps onto some of the events in the book. Gatsby is a character with some unattractive traits, but it is his romantic ideals and doomed love for Daisy that define him in the popular imagination. Taking this fairy dust from a beloved text and sprinkling it on my protagonist, Kitty, whose scheming is much more central to her story than Jay Gatsby’s, confers her with borrowed respectability and maybe even admirability. Allusions to a famous work of fiction is a sort of cheat code for building a complex character. If it causes some rethinking about said famous work, that’s fun too.

I said at the outset that my goal was to make Kitty the sort of vivid character readers expect to find in contemporary novels and also that the real life woman who inspired me was too awful for me to want to write about. These two statements may seem contradictory, but I don’t believe that a distinctive, believable character in fiction has to be given every aspect of a real human. I think it’s okay to leave out some of the boring and bad bits; Kitty would have a lot to talk about in therapy, but that can stay in the background so we can enjoy her exploits. She is still a pretty interesting lady, and I hope you’ll get to meet her one day.

Check out Danielle Teller’s Forged here:

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In this interview, Kelsey discusses how her idea to retell The Little Mermaid led to her debut YA fantasy novel, Voice of the Ocean, her advice for other writers, and more.

Name: Kelsey Impicciche
Literary agent: Mark Gottlieb
Book title: Voice of the Ocean
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Release date: April 22, 2025
Genre/category: YA Fantasy
Elevator pitch: From popular content creator Kelsey Impicciche, Voice of the Ocean follows a daring young siren who defies her people to save a human prince, unearthing ancient magic and igniting a dangerous romance amidst treacherous waters. This book is a swashbuckling retelling of the classic Little Mermaid for lovers of Pirates of the Caribbean, found family, forbidden love, and softer female main characters.

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What prompted you to write this book?

When toying with the idea of writing a Little Mermaid retelling, the idea struck me while sitting on my couch: What if the mermaids were sirens? And what if the little siren, while on a quest to kill the prince she saved, ended up on a ship full of pirates? After that, I took my dog on a walk and details began to take shape in my head from there.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

I began writing Voice of the Ocean in 2020, and it is being released in 2025. So, the journey took five years in total. Many things about the book changed, from the tense of the story to characters and scenes being changed and removed, but the central idea of a retelling where the mermaid was a siren sent to kill the human prince always remained the same!

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

There were plenty of surprises! This is my debut book, so I’m learning everything about the publishing process for the first time. I was surprised that it took so long to publish a book. Voice of the Ocean was acquired in October of 2023 and releases in the spring of 2025! In content creation, which is where my background is from, turnaround is very quick. But I learned there is a lot to do before a book can be released.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

While writing this book, I learned a lot about my writing process and what worked best for me. Outlining before writing helps me to write so I don’t get stuck, but what surprised me most was how even with an outline, the book could take so many twists and turns!

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

I hope readers will see a part of themselves in Celeste and her story. She’s a deeply emotional character who struggles with feeling as though she should be “stronger” and “in control” of herself and her emotions. It’s something I dealt with a lot growing up, and I didn’t see a lot of books with characters like that who I could relate to in that way.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

One piece of advice I would share with writers would be to use social media to connect with the community of writers and readers. Writing can be so isolating, and I cannot overstate how much my community has encouraged and helped me to keep going. Plus, you never know who’s watching! I met my literary Agent through TikTok!

The post Kelsey Impicciche: On Using Social Media to Build Community appeared first on Writer's Digest.

(2 Things Writers Should Know About the Future of the Novel.)

If there’s one thing I’ve spent a lot of my early 20s reading, it’s fairytale retellings. So when I decided to pivot genres and start writing fairytale retellings of my own, not only was I familiar with the rules of the genre—I was ready to break them and create stories that differentiated my work in the marketplace.

Ever since then, I’ve been intentionally combining two existing fairytales into one, per duology. My first series where I did this (Kingdom of Sirens and Monsters) is a dual retelling of Snow White and The Little Mermaid, incorporating elements of both stories to weave a both familiar and completely unknown storyline.

The end result has launched my bestselling series to date, with nothing but positive reviews, and a fanbase that just keeps on getting bigger. People love the creativity of how the fairytales are combined. And in my upcoming duology, Blood Magic (which combines Rapunzel with Sleeping Beauty) I’ve repeated the process by blending two fairytales into an engaging mystery with a shocking twist that seamlessly incorporates both stories.

So, ready to break some writing rules? Here’s how I take the rules of what makes a fairytale retelling excellent and break them to create retellings that are distinctly different, but still tick all the right boxes.

1) Embrace the familiar and swap concepts to create the unexpected

The most important rule of writing a fairytale retelling is that it needs to be similar enough with the original, public domain work to create a sense of comfort and familiarity, yet unique enough to offer an unexpected twist that gives the story a fresh breath of air.

Many popular retellings to date (such as A Court of Mist and Fury, by Sarah J. Maas—a Hades and Persephone retelling; Cinder, by Marissa Meyer—a Cinderella retelling; and A Curse so Dark and Lonely, by Brigid Kemmerer—a Beauty and the Beast retelling) have similar and recognizable brushstrokes to the original work. These could be a play on character names, familiar key events that occur, or character relationships that mirror the original fairytale.

When I go to create the unique twist, I often do it by swapping character roles or key events across each fairytale and exploring alternative realities that could happen.

For example, in Kingdom of Sirens and Monsters, my protagonist takes on the role of the Little Mermaid persona, and ends up falling for the Huntsman persona from Snow White. My villain of the series, who takes on the Evil Queen persona, also has ties to my Sea Witch persona, which takes some events from The Little Mermaid and re-imagines them with Snow White characters.

It can be incredibly fun to combine character roles and see how different character arcs and storylines may play out differently with an expanded set of key events and rules to weave into the overall story. In some ways, it often feels like writing a crossover story.

Check out Pagan Alexandria’s Kingdom of Sirens and Monsters here:

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2) Don’t be afraid to combine different concepts across stories

A really easy way to make a retelling fresh and different is to take an existing concept and combine it with the other fairytale’s source material.

For example, in Kingdom of Sirens and Monsters, the story starts off on an island, but when the protagonist escapes the Evil Queen (aka: runs from the Huntsman and comes across the Seven Dwarves) she’s in a forest. So, to tie in The Little Mermaid with the events of Snow White, I made the ‘forest’ the entire Undersea—a new world set underwater.

This is a really clever way to combine two fairytales at once; it essentially allows you to see the story of Snow White unfold through the lens of a Little Mermaid setting, which helps engrain the feeling of experiencing both fairytales at the same time. I do this in all my duologies by ensuring that there’s something linking one fairytale to the other, even if it’s just a character dynamic I can flip, a part of the setting I can swap, or a piece of the magic system I can re-imagine.

3) Take the source material and use it to expand your world-building and magic systems

The third thing I have a lot of fun with is taking a known concept from a fairytale and incorporating it into the magic systems of my stories.

This allows you to go beyond the original fairytale and create an entirely new and fresh world for your readers to enjoy (and for you to have fun writing within!) while still planting seeds of familiarity along the way.

The best example is in my upcoming duology, Blood Magic, where my protagonist does not dream, but instead enters an ‘alternate dimension’ when she sleeps. This plays into the concept and integration of Sleeping Beauty, as my protagonist has the power to put certain individuals into an endless sleep in the real world—which transports them into her alternate dimension until they are awakened again (or at least, that’s the shorter, spoiler free explanation).

The reason I love this approach is that you don’t risk straying so far from the source material that it’s no longer a retelling, but you also don’t feel confined to the existing world rules. You can essentially reinvent known concepts to play out in brand new ways, while ensuring readers still have that familiar “ah, I get it!” moment.

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4) Map out your major plot points and cherry pick your key events

Something I have done with all of my books, regardless of whether it’s a fairytale retelling or not, is get clear on my ‘major plot points’ throughout the book writing process. This provides a framework to guide me from A to B, even if I’m pantsing a lot of what comes in between.

So, this could be stuff like ‘the princess gets kidnapped by a dragon’ or ‘the prince and the princess realize they have feelings for each other.’ I’ll have anywhere from three to five major events in my initial roadmap that determine the overall direction and intention of the story I’m telling.

Then, when it comes to combining two fairytales into one, you don’t have to try and include the whole of each fairytale into the plot line. You can design a completely unique story using just some of the key events from each fairytale as your guide.

When I was mapping out Kingdom of Sirens and Monsters, my story starts with my protagonist escaping the Evil Queen and entering the forest (aka: The Undersea), then shifts loosely into the events of The Little Mermaid as she explores the concept of never being able to return to land if she can’t break the Huntsman’s curse. In the end, we find our way back to Snow White, where she frees her sister from the sleeping death.

Additionally, in Blood Magic, the story incorporates more Sleeping Beauty elements at the beginning, then gradually reveals more brushstrokes to Rapunzel as we approach the major plot twist of the book.

In conclusion

Breaking the rules of writing can be a lot of fun, but it also requires you to know what already works within your genre.

When you know this, you’re able to identify the line that both differentiates you, but also helps you write for the market and hit on the reader’s core desires for that type of story.

I know what readers are looking for in a fairytale retelling because before I ever wrote retellings, I was an avid reader of them. I knew what I enjoyed about them, as well as what let me down. This also shed a light on what I wanted to see done differently… and then I went out and did it.

Knowing the rules before I broke them allowed me to carve out a niche for myself, giving me room to explore and experiment with concepts in my writing, while also incorporating all the elements of a retelling that tick the box.

I knew readers expected familiarity, but also didn’t want to essentially re-read the same story they could find in the public domain. As such, the blend and balance between familiar and new is key to a retelling’s success—and when you combine two fairytales, it’s nearly impossible to predict how a known story might pan out since all the expectations are re-imagined.

So my final advice? Know your genre… and don’t be afraid to find a new edge within it. Think outside the box, try something different, and follow the ideas that spark and light you up most.

Then go and break some writing rules!

Check out Pagan Alexandria’s Blood Magic here:

Bookshop | Amazon

The post Pushing the Boundaries to Redefine Retellings appeared first on Writer's Digest.

In this interview, A. J. discusses the challenges of paying homage to one of America’s first modern fairy tales in her new fantasy novel, Toto, her advice for other writers, and more.

Name: A. J. Hackwith
Literary agent: Caitlin McDonald of Donald Maass Literary Agency
Book title: Toto
Publisher: Ace Books Fantasy
Release date: November 12, 2024
Genre/category: Fantasy
Previous titles: The Library of the Unwritten, The Archive of the Forgotten, The God of Lost Words
Elevator pitch: The true hero of the story, Dorothy’s little dog Toto, tells readers what really happened in Oz, in an updated twist on the classic for modern readers. Good dogs stay in Kansas, bad dogs go to Oz.

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What prompted you to write this book?

The Wizard of Oz is arguably the first modern American fairy tale, and Dorothy one of the first prototypes for the army of empowered, female YA protagonists we have today. And growing up as a rural girl in Nebraska—one hop north of Dorothy’s Kansas—it’s no surprise then that I was desperately obsessed with the story. I always wanted to find the rainbow, yellow brick road, or magic slippers that would take me somewhere else.

I always wanted to pay homage to Oz, and as a lifelong dog lover, it felt natural that Toto’s perspective was the way into a whole new view of the classic story.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

I had the luck of very strong hook coupled with a well-known tale. It was easy to get people intrigued with “Wizard of Oz but from sarcastic, skeptical Toto POV.” The real challenge was taking that pitch and building a story that threaded the needle of being both unique and refreshing, and also staying true to the emotional heart of the characters.

The places the book changed the most was in finding the places where Toto was doing something other than following Dorothy—giving him an agency that drives the adventure in ways that are unexpected but would still make sense with the plot. I took advantage of some big moments (Dorothy’s imprisonment by the witch) and also created some new ones to allow Toto to do his thing.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

This was my first retelling or twist on a well-known tale. It’s been a fun and challenging experience researching all the various tellings of the Oz stories over time. Of course, we could only directly borrow from those currently in the public domain, but I strove to pay emotional homage to all the visions of Oz that readers might hold dear.

And there are so many! There’s something about the Wizard of Oz series that invites every generation to make it their own. Everyone has “their” Oz story. Whether it’s the classic book, the musical, the animated series, or the 70’s The Wiz, I wanted my twist to allow everyone to have that familiarity of coming home.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

The surprises that I discover organically while writing a book almost always deal with character relationships. You can plan out a plot, but in my experience, it’s not until you are putting words on a page that you slowly slip into a character’s heart and learn what they really feel and do.

I knew from the outset that Toto’s evolving relationship with Dorothy, his person, would be important. At the beginning of the book, Toto is smarting from being “sold out” by the Gales when he almost gets taken away. He’s lost his trust in people. He tries to be a “bad dog,” a lone wolf. But it’s his bond with Dorothy that keeps him anchored, and resists any of his efforts to distance himself.

That conflict took surprising depths as I wrote it, and it really became a love letter to the thousands of years of emotional bond and dedication humans and dogs have.

There was one more twist: While I was drafting this book, I learned that my own little dog, a chihuahua named Mochi, was diagnosed with a rather severe form of cancer. I was agonized at the idea of writing this book about the spirit of little dogs while losing my own. I have lost my share of dogs over the years, and I know the heartache of wishing I could have loved them longer. In the resolution of the book, there’s a moment between Dorothy and Toto that reflects what I always wished could have been communicated between a dog and their human before those ends.

Toto, of course, survives the book. And in a happy twist: Mochi the chihuahua is still here too. I suppose the real lesson is never underestimate the fortitude of little dogs.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

Authors always have so many hopes for their books! I hope new readers will discover the joy and wonder of Oz in a way that speaks to them, if previous retellings didn’t feel welcoming to them. I hope Oz fans will thrill at the alchemy of old and new and recognize the love I have for the source. I hope animal lovers will appreciate Toto’s voice as the narrator. I hope fantasy lovers will enjoy the escape into a world that is both familiar and vividly surprising.

Mostly I hope that it does what good books have always done for me: transport you to a different place for a while, and stay with you long after, lingering in characters and feelings that you can return to in dark times.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

Your story is new because you are telling it. New writers often get discouraged because they stumble across some book or media that “beat them” to a particular trope, theme, or idea. They get discouraged that they shouldn’t keep pursuing their idea because it’s “taken” or already been done. As if there is a creative quota on the number of “X” stories allowed in the world. I hope retellings like Toto can tell you that this is nonsense.

Every story is old, and every story is new again. Your story is unique because you are telling it the way only you can. Comparison is the death of any writer, so don’t shy away from where others have tread instead: Write the most ridiculous, most you story that you can. The things you notice, the things you love, the story you wanted to read, the feelings you thought only you felt. No one else can write that story for you.

It’s always worth it.

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(4 Tips for Writing a Modern Retelling.)

I read through that book, cover to cover, several times. Within were gods and monsters, tricksters and heroes, and adventures with every turn of a page. I went on to read other books of mythology. The Mabinogion, in particular, ended up being particularly formative for my writing. But I still fondly remember that first book of mythology. I must have lost it in a move at some point, because I have no idea where it ended up.

However, I never lost my fascination with myths and legends. And, considering the state of the publishing market, the average reader hasn’t either. You can find mythology-inspired fiction on nearly every bookshelf, whether it’s romance or fantasy or science fiction or literary fiction. We’ve been retelling the same tales, putting our own spin on them, for thousands of years. Several of my young adult books are inspired by Welsh folklore, and over the years, I’ve learned a few ways to use myths and legends in my writing.

DEFINE YOUR NARRATIVE

I believe the reason myths remain a popular narrative is because there is a universal element to them. The protagonists are often larger than life—they might be half-god, trying to escape a prophecy, or building a giant horse to ransack a city. But at the heart of every myth are human qualities: desire, fear, anger, and regret. 

By distilling a myth down to those core emotions, writers can get at the most relatable elements of a story. Do you want to tell a story about finding one’s place in the world? About tragedy and regret? Or perhaps a great journey? Dig into what makes a myth so well-liked, and you can improve the relatability of your own writing.

LOOK BEYOND RETELLINGS

In Welsh mythology, the Cauldron of Rebirth is a magical cauldron that does exactly what it advertises: raises the dead. The risen dead could not speak, but they were a deadly army. I remember reading this tale when I was young, and my first thought was, “So they’re zombies, right?” 

Years later, when I began outlining a Welsh-inspired tale of an undead uprising (The Bone Houses), I remembered that cauldron. It was the perfect plot point: a magical item that could kick off all of the events of the story. By borrowing ingredients from a famous Welsh myth, I deepened my connection to the folklore-inspired world.

Taking inspiration from myths and legends does not limit you to a simple retelling. You can use settings, plot points, or characters from mythology and include them in anything from a modern literary short story to a zombie horror novel. Lore, by Alexandra Bracken, Blood Scion, by Deborah Falaye, and the Percy Jackson series, by Rick Riordan, are wonderful examples of authors using elements from mythology for modern stories. Your only limit is your own creativity!

FIND THE HUMAN ELEMENT

Do you have a favorite myth? Think of it, right now. I’ll give you a moment.

Now, what did you think of? Perhaps it was Persephone or Loki or Medusa. But you’ll notice one thing about this list: It’s about the characters involved. Great myths stay with people because we get invested in the characters. Whether they’re a hero or a villain, triumphant or tragic, it’s always about the people. Readers want characters who are memorable and relatable.

At first glance, mythological heroes seem removed from us mere mortals. After all, what could we have in common with demi-gods and magic and prophecies? Quite a lot, actually. 

Every mythological figure is driven by something: love, ambition, revenge, desire, hunger, loss, or loneliness. All of those emotions are incredibly human. Whether you are writing from the perspective of a famous mythological figure or creating your own character, determining their motivation will make them compelling to your readers.

FLIP THE PERSPECTIVE

Not all stories have to be about the heroes! If someone mentions The Odyssey, Beowulf, or Norse mythology, you probably first think of Odysseus, Beowulf, and Thor. But you are not limited to writing about the leading characters. By looking outside of the myth’s main characters, you can discover whole new stories. Circe, by Madeline Miller, Grendel, by John Gardner, and The Witch’s Heart, by Genevieve Gornichec, are all great examples of taking those respective myths and flipping them on their head.

In my book The Drowned Woods, I pulled inspiration from the Welsh myth of Cantre’r Gwaelod—a lost sunken kingdom off the western coast of Wales. There are several variations on the tale, but many of them mentioned that a young woman was responsible for the kingdom being drowned. Either through carelessness or malice, she sank the kingdom. But I wondered what the story would be like if it were told from her viewpoint. Would she still be a villainous figure? Or would she prove to be sympathetic?

HAVE FUN!

Many myths are deeply serious and carry heavy themes. Others… are not. One of my favorite tidbits of Welsh folklore is that corgis were believed to be steeds, spies, and messengers for the fairies. That inspired me to write Trefor, a magic-sniffing dog in The Drowned Woods. He proved to be an invaluable part of that book—and a fan favorite character.

Not all myths have to be serious! Sometimes they can be silly or funny. Look for tales and myths that amuse or intrigue you, and then play with them! Seek out the stories that entertain you. If you’re having fun, odds are that your readers will be having fun, too. 

Check out Emily Lloyd-Jones’ The Wild Huntress here:

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In this interview, Dawn discusses the process of reimagining a classic with her new gothic novel, The Madness, her hope for readers, and more.

Name: Dawn Kurtagich
Literary agent: Victoria Marini of The Highline Literary Collective
Book title: The Madness
Publisher: Graydon House Books
Release date: August 27, 2024
Genre/category: Thriller-Suspense / Women’s Fiction / Psychological Thriller / Horror
Previous titles: The Dead House, And the Trees Crept In, Teeth in the Mist, Blood on the Wind
Elevator pitch: After a frantic email from her childhood best friend, Mina is forced to return to her Welsh hometown to confront the demons she left behind—and a new threat waiting in the shadows.

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What prompted you to write this book?

In 2019, I was approached by Alloy Entertainment to write a modern reimagining of a classic novel. Having previously read Dracula and been left deeply unsatisfied by the lack of agency and sidelining of the female characters, it seemed a great opportunity to explore the female side of the story. This coincided with significant real-world developments—the long-overdue prosecution of Epstein, Weinstein, and other notorious predators of women.

Setting the novel in Wales was an obvious and conscious choice on my part, since it is where I live, and it is an ancient, deeply gothic country: the perfect setting for a modern gothic novel. There is something truly atmospheric about North Wales, something medieval and mystical. It’s in the castles, the roads, the appellations, the history, the folklore. I wanted to tap into the beautiful coexistence of contrast—one of my favorite things about Wales is how a priest and a witch can speak the same language. Where Christian imagery and pagan symbolism live side-by-side, where you can see a green man and a cross in a church, side by side. This history of pagan-Christian crossover is very old, and there have been many historians who have written about it far more eloquently than I. I recommend The Rural Poor in Eighteenth Century Wales by David W. Howell if you’re interested in some of this history.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

The initial concept took some time to hone. I wrote several versions across a variety of genres, from straight horror to several adjacent genres, until finally arriving at the definitive story. To make it my own, I wove into it some of my passions: Welsh folklore, witchcraft, secret societies, and, in general, women’s voices and stories.

The process ended up being much longer than I had anticipated. It took more than three years from conception to the manuscript being taken up by a publisher.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

Absolutely. This project was collaborative in a way I’ve never experienced before. The creative energy in the room during plotting and editorial calls was palpable, intense. To have that kind of support at your fingertips, while also being able to go away and make the work wholly my own, was an entirely new experience. Writing is usually solitary, but this project had so many passionate champions from the get-go that I felt like part of a family. At the same time, I had to learn to compromise for the betterment of the narrative, to rein myself in (“Dawn, you can’t chop his head off with a bread knife!”), and to let my work be read before it was polished (that was new and challenging).

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

The biggest surprise for me was how difficult a simple question could be—why now?—and how to choose from the multitude of possible answers that kept coming. In the end, the answer was made abundantly clear by the aforementioned events.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

They will get a densely atmospheric, Gothic story set in wet, brooding North Wales. The version of North Wales that some tourists who come here for its outstanding natural beauty don’t see—because it’s the North Wales of the winter months, when it’s awash in browns and greys, when it is plumbeous, overcast and frequently stormy, flogged by constant rain and skies that know no blue, because they are either a dark grey or black. But readers will also get an exciting story where an unusual cast of women—an OCD-ridden psychologist, a batty witch, a kooky hacker, and a Sapphic copper, each with their own demons—team up to fight the obscure and labyrinthine forces of powerful predators, secret societies, and ancient folklore and legends. A Scooby gang for the girls.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

A lot can be said for being stubborn! This is a tough, but beautiful business. Perfect your craft and don’t give up. Love it more than anything. Believe—foolishly, hopefully, endlessly, passionately. You only lose if you stop trying. I was once asked, after many years and many a rejection, why I didn’t just stop trying. My reply was fervent and fevered: “I will never quit. If I have to write 99 novels and do it until I’m 100 years old—I will do that. I will never quit.” Keep your eyes on your own page and ink your pen. One foot in front of the other. One word before the next. Stories are built one character at a time. You’ve got this.

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