Like many of you, I grew up listening to fairy tales. And even more fun for me as a teacher is sharing my love of fairy tales with my kindergartners. In fact, one of our common core literacy standards is to compare and contrast stories. So, I especially like reading the original story to them and then sharing all the fun retellings. For example, we read The Three Little Pigs, and then I share my author friends’ spin on the story: The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz, illustrated by Dan Santat and It’s Not the Three Little Pigs by Josh Funk, illustrated by Edwardian Taylor.
Fairy tales with a twist are often referred to as fractured
fairy tales. But I don’t like that description. Fractured means broken,
something destroyed. These stories are far from that. Instead, I’m going to
refer to them as reimagined. Using one’s imagination, how can you put a twist
and make it fresh and new?
In my Storystorm 2022 idea notebook, I scribbled down idea #10 for
one of my favorite fairy tales to teach, The Princess and the Pea. I
wrote on the page: “The Princess and the Rice.” I ran the idea by my agent in June. She loved it and wanted a draft in the next month! Five months later and
many revisions back and forth with my critique groups and agent, it went out on
submission. The VERY next day we had a bite. Editor Grace Kendall of Farrar,
Strauss, Giroux (FSG), an imprint of Macmillan really liked it because she
loved watching Korean dramas. Who knew there would be an editor out there who
loved all things Korea and even lived there for a summer?! (Note to writers:
you never know what an editor’s interests and experiences are, so submit!!)
Grace asked for an R&R (revise & resubmit). Three months later, we had
an offer! And the lovely Honee Jang illustrated it. Look for her interview next time.
Here are some ideas to write your own reimagined fairy tale:
1.
Make a list of your favorite fairy tales
as a kid.
To jog your memory:
Wikipedia has a
running list
Popular
fairy tales
2. Change the setting.
Instead of a Western/European castle setting, I set my princess in olden-day Korea, during the Joseon period (1392-1910). Instead of a castle, it’s a real Korean palace.
3.
Change an important object in the story.
Instead of a nasty pea (I very much dislike peas), I changed it to a grain of rice, more fitting for my setting. Also, I changed the mattresses the princess sleeps on to blankets because in olden Korea, they slept on the floor using thick blankets.
4.Change some characters. Swap some out for
others that fit your setting.
In one of my earlier drafts, I had the usual king and queen looking for a princess for their prince. However, to make this story updated for our times, we (critique groups, agent, & editor) deleted the king, gave the princess and queen more agency, and made the prince mellow. I also inserted a mouse, not any mouse, a Korean field mouse which used to be revered in the culture of the day, go figure.
5.
Slightly change the plot to fit the
setting.
After doing lots of background research of Joseon princesses, I discovered a princess Jeongson (I changed her spelling to Jeongsoon so Americans will pronounce it correctly). She actually went through a princess challenge to become the next queen for a very old monarch. (I won’t get into that tangent right now.) In olden-day Korea, there really was a competition in which noble girls would apply and flock to the palace. They would compete in etiquette, outward and inner beauty, and wisdom. BINGO! This fit nicely into the standard Princess and the Pea plot. I could just add a sleeping test on 100 blankets for another princess challenge! Do you see how I kept the main plot but changed some of the details? You still want the story to be recognizable.
6.
Add humor.
Everyone loves to laugh, from the child to the adult reading the story. Humor lightens a heavy message in a plot. And fairy tales can be heavy emotionally. Classic fairy tales have good versus evil—the wolf, the witch, an evil stepmother, etc… Children process these concepts and apply them to their own problems. So, adding in humor to lighten a scene adds to the loveable qualities of these stories! In my story, my characters fumble and tumble! Literally.
7.
Add layers to the story—emotional,
cultural, thematic.
In my story, Jeongsoon, who has a heart as gentle as jade, wants to become a princess so she can help feed the hungry people in her village. But she’s a little clumsy. However, she stays true to herself to win the vote of the queen. Obviously, there are also cultural Korean details in the story. There’s also a theme of identity. The author’s note alludes to this. Growing up, I nor my daughter, had books or movies with Korean princesses. Disney princess movies had white princesses at the time. And to this day, there isn’t a Disney Korean princess. Maybe someday! So, I want readers, especially Asian kids, to see themselves in this story. There’s another theme—what does it take to become a princess? Certainly, it can’t be based on looks. What does inner beauty look like?
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| My daughter--Princess Anna |
8.
Add entry points or selling points for
marketing.
I recently learned of this term “entry points” from my wonderful agent. This term refers to all the ways the marketing team could market your book. The more the merrier and hopefully more sales! For example, The Princess and the Grain of Rice could be marketed as a princess book. Just having “princess” in the title is high concept, IMO. It’s also marketed as a fairy tale, which teachers and librarians will love. It’s also a diverse story, especially in Asian books. It could be marketed as historical fiction because it shows the Joseon era of Korea. I just looked on Amazon. They even have it marked in the “children’s values” section. As I referred to earlier, what does inner beauty look like?
9.
Add an author’s note and backmatter if
needed.
If you use a real setting and time in history like I did, you’ll want to write back matter on the real places and people mentioned in the story. Plus, to my surprise, my editor even added a photo of my family at the princess’s gravesite. *Note, when we lived in Korea, we would go to these huge cemeteries because of their beauty and serenity, the green GRASS that was hard to find in an overcrowded Korea, and the openness of nature. Little did I know I would someday be writing about the very princess-turned-queen on whose ground my children played on!
10.Add
a catchy title that alludes to the original.
The Princess and the Grain of Rice it is!
And the title alone sold the idea to my agent.
And there you have it! My 10 ideas for
writing a reimagined fairy tale. What are your favorite fairy tales? Share in
the comments! And if you have more tips, add yours!
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| Author Tina Cho with her young kids at a Korean palace in Seoul 2012 |
Tina Cho is a kindergarten teacher and author of many books including Rice from Heaven, The Ocean Calls, (4 starred reviews JLG, Freeman Honor Award), God’s Little Oceanographer, the forthcoming The Princess & the Grain of Rice (Feb. 10th), and The Kimchi Fridge (Oct. 6th). Her graphic novel, The Other Side of Tomorrow received five starred reviews, a JLG Gold Standard Selection, SLJ Best Graphic Novels List 2024, Kirkus Best Middle Grade 2024, Freeman Book Honor Award from NCTAsia, SCBWI Golden Kite Award, state lists, etc…
You can visit her website at www.tinamcho.com
The Princess & the Grain of Rice is available!
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