Music in the Darkness

 

Mbiras as pretty cool-looking. And portable.

 

Hello, reader. When I was writing this story, since it's a Greek myth, I thought it apt to write it about two men in love. It wasn't until I was most of the way through that I remembered the trope of "bury your gays", and well, we all know this story is a tragedy. So, my apologies for the trope. The next fairy tale won't be a tragedy.

Like Water in the Desert

Seems legit.

Salutations, friends! The approach for this retelling of The Perfidious Vizier came to me right away, but there were a few details I had to figure out. One of those details involves an unexpected cameo from some of my characters in A Tale of Two Tricksters. To be clear, I wasn't expecting them, but once I thought of it, there was no going back. Also, for those of you who like names, I took some special care choosing the names of the characters in this story. Enjoy!

Violet and Her Rude Sister

Salutations, readers. I decided to put "Pigling and Her Proud Sister" into the terms of high school. It seemed about right, since there's so much pettiness in this story. Although most of it comes from the stepmother who really should have grown out of that. Enjoy!

Sometimes, your makeup is a magic.

The Deal

Hello again, readers. With this retelling, I struggled a little with how to turn literal poison into something I could put into a modern day context, especially since I didn't want to talk about violence. When I'm in doubt, I always seem to end up with metaphors but, once again, I think it worked. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

The importance of a ball of paper cannot be underestimated.

The Magic Feather

Hello, readers. I was a little stuck on how to turn this fairy tale into a modern story. I decided that the original story went on for too many days, so I squished the time frame down. Let me know what you think!

Crow or human? Who can say?

Maps

Hello, reader! This story got away from me a bit, but since the story it's based on is so long, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I made a few changes to the quests to fit our modern world. I don't know about you, but I'd be annoyed if someone brought me a cow. I don't have the space or time to take care of one, no matter how beautiful it is.

This is another one of Lizzy's stories. It's fun to discover her character and her family like this. I'll just have to be careful that I don't contradict myself with the timeline.

Be careful. Maps don't always take you where you want to go.

 

I Love to Sing

This week, I wrote a modern version of Queen of the Crows. I'm stepping out of what I normally write, so feel free to let me know if I didn't characterize something or someone quite right.

As a note, in the US, there is ASL (American Sign Language), but there is also BASL (Black American Sign Language). It's likely that Kisha would have started out learning ASL and picked up BASL from Tyrese.

Maybe a deaf person can be a singer's favorite person.

The Helpers

Hello, reader. This week, I wrote a modern fairy tale based on Hans Christian Andersen's Snow Queen. I hadn't expected to start writing about the Lapland Woman and the Finland Woman, but that's what happened. I guess I'm too old to identify with the children protagonists anymore. Enjoy!

Sometimes the kindest people live in the most desolate places.

The Runner

 Hello, readers! I'm very proud to say that I won NaNoWriMo again this year! Yes, I wrote 50,000 words in 30 days, or, to be more accurate, 51,112 words in 29 days, but who's counting? It's cool because when I write fantasy stories now, I'm more aware of stories and creatures from other cultures that I learned about because I write this blog. And when you like to rewrite fairy tales and folk tales like I do, that comes in handy.

In any case, it's December, which means that I'm right on track for rewriting a story about a gingerbread man. Although, this might not be a bright and happy tale, since in the original everyone wants to eat him. On the other hand, it's another story involving Lizzy. This time with some of her friends in high school instead of her magical family.

Sometimes, running is the answer.

Consequences

Greetings, readers! This week, I've written a modern retelling of The Beautiful Dancer of Yedo. I ended up focusing on the dancing aspect of Sakura-ko's character, and I just couldn't forget about Silver Wave, possibly because she's the only other character who gets a name. My apologies to people in the industry if I've gotten some of the details wrong.

Also, as a side note, I'm attempting National Novel Writing Month again. Yes, I'm planning to write 50,000 words in the month of November. My novel, A Tale of Two Tricksters, came from a novel I wrote during a previous NaNoWriMo. Maybe the one I'm writing now will end up published as well.

 

Never underestimate a dancer's strength.

Just Breathe

Salutations, reader. This is my modern retelling of The Legend of Knocksheogowna. We all have escapes during the craziness that is 2020. Some people's are just a little more literal than others.

 

If sunsets make you happy, watch a lot of them.

Uncle Gret's Magic Violin

 Hello again, readers. Goodness, but time doesn't seem to flow normally these days. Almost like we're in some sort of fairy tale of our own. Here's hoping for a happily ever after quickly.

I had a bit of trouble coming up with a modern version of The Monkey's Fiddle, so I looked back at a story I wrote on this blog awhile back, Family Fun, and I decided that family could use another adventure. So, here we have a story about Uncle Gret. I changed the fairy tale around a bit for this story, but this family takes liberties with their fairy tales.

The everyday magical items are the ones to watch out for.

Memories Baked In

I've been struggling on how to write a modern version of The Little Red Hen without just writing a story about a mother baking some bread. This turned out better than I expected.

 

Lots of work went into that loaf of bread.

Momma always seemed to be baking on the weekends. Or when she could get time at night. We had a bowl in the fridge that she would take yeast out of, or put some flour in. I never realized it was unusual that all of my birthday cakes were homemade. Or that Momma made our bread. The first time I saw sliced bread at a friend's house, I was confused. Where did they get the bag? And what recipe did they use?

As I grew up, Momma taught me to bake as well. I liked the chemistry of it, experimenting with different proportions of ingredients. I had to write everything down, but Momma baked with her heart. She might use a measuring cup to put in ingredients, but she measured them with her intuition. Putting in just a dash more, or a pinch less on instinct.

It wasn't until years later that I realized that most of my memories with Momma were in the kitchen. We did other things, and we spent time with the rest of the family, but my best memories of her were when she had flour on her shirt and a smile on her face. Momma said feeding the people you love was the best thing you could do. So when we held her wake, it seemed only right that I bake. My brother bought everything that I didn't bake.

I took Momma's bowl of yeast home with me that night. Someone had to keep it going. Momma might have died, but her yeast was still there, and every bite of bread I made with it would remind me of her. Maybe she was right. Feeding the people you love was the best thing. Even if you had to do it with what you passed on to those who outlived you.

The day after Momma's wake, I made bread, putting all of my grief and anger into it when I kneaded the dough. Just like she taught me. I let the dough rise, then punched it back down. When it was baking, my whole apartment smelled like my childhood. When it was time, I took the bread out. I cut it and ate it, and it felt like Momma was with me. Her arm around me, telling me that my latest experiment had turned out well as we ate. I closed my eyes and savored it.

Listen When I Speak

Hello again, readers. This week, I wrote a modern version of Phikul Thong. I was having trouble coming up with this story until I realized that, like any good writer, I could make things metaphorical. Enjoy this story about family and curse words.

Now imagine this, metaphorically, coming out of your mouth.

Repercussions

Hello again, dear readers. This week, I wrote a modern version of The King and the Ju Ju Tree, which we looked at last time. This is a heavy one, readers. I wrote it taking place after the traumatic events of the fairy tale, from the point of view of the daughter. There is a panic attack in this story, so if that will upset you, maybe skip this one.

It sucks feeling that scared.

The Boss

I definitely picked a difficult fairy tale to bring into our modern era, but the arbitrary rules of this blog are firm. On one post I analyze a fairy tale, and the next post I write a modern version of it. I scaled down the warfare to office drama, but I ended up keeping the religious aspect of Andersen's original story. I suppose I could have had a boss threaten coffee breaks instead, but this seemed a bit more true to the original.

Never underestimate the importance of a person's desk.

Family Fun

Greetings, reader! I have to admit, this story stumped me for awhile. The original fairy tale has a lot of murder and death in it. It works well for that story, but I didn't have it in me to write a modern day story that followed it too closely. I found myself focusing more on the boy who talked to spirits and the title character, the woman magician. Once I realized that a family reunion in the woods would be the perfect setting for this story, everything else sort of fell into place. I hope you enjoy it! This is one of the few stories I've written that's close to horror. But with magic.

The trees look so inviting in the daytime...

Of Lamps and Rings

Hello, readers. This week, we have my modern version of "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp".
I do want to specify that a florin used to be a coin, and the resonance of naming a greedy character after money was just too good to pass up. Even if the name is a little different.
I hope you enjoy the story!

Doesn't really look like a lamp to me.

Otherwordly

Hello, reader. This story is a little longer than usual, so I'll keep the intro short. It was pretty fun to write the story from two different perspectives. Maybe I'll do that again.

If you could only bring one thing back from a magical land, there are worse things than pearls.

Too Delicate

Hello again, reader. I guess we're all spending a bit more time inside and online these days. This certainly is an interesting time to be analyzing a fairy tale like The Most Delicate One. Don't worry, this modern retelling is set last year, well before this pandemic.

It's no fun to have a cold.