Guest Post: Fairy Tale Retellings

By Rachel Schieffelbein

Thank you so much for having me on your blog today! J I’m really excited to be here!

In books, movie, and TV, fairy tale retellings have become very popular. I’m going to talk a bit about why I think that is.

Personally, I love fairy tales. I love the romance, the magic, and the villains. Fairy tales have the best villains. Larger than life and filled with evil intentions. Although, along with all these retellings I think we’re also seeing an increase in relatable, redeemable villains.

Once Upon a Time is a perfect example of this. Regina, the evil queen, Rumplestiltzkin, and Hook are all bad guys that we’ve come to care about on the show and whom I think we all want a happy ending for. We're shown what their motives are, and we feel for them.

In Don’t Fall I wanted Anya’s step-mother to be a character who, while you won’t agree with her, you will hopefully at least somewhat understand in the end why she is the way she is. And I certainly hope she’s redeemable.

Perhaps one of the reasons fairy tale retellings are coming into fashion, after vampires, dystopians, and tragic contemporaries, is that we’re looking for happy endings. We want to see our heroes and heroines have enemies they can beat. And perhaps see those enemies reach a better place as well.

Fairy tales are a way to escape reality. And we often see our heroines escaping  humble beginnings, and near impossible situations, to win their happily ever after. And if there’s magic and true love along the way, all the better.

Fairy tales have been around forever, and always will be. There’s a reason these stories are able to touch readers generation after generation.

I think Neil said it best:

There will be more from Rachel on the 7th July as she takes part #5Questions.
Until then check out my review for her Rapunzel retelling Don't Fall.