Five Tales that Should Totally Be Retold

In honor of the start of National Novel Writing Month, which is a national Internet creative writing project that encourages writers to write a 50,000 word novel in the 30 day span of November. To inspire potential novelists I am going to give you some possible novel ideas.

1. The Glass Coffin – Brothers Grimm

This is a story about a tailor who finds a maiden trapped in a glass coffin with the help of a stag. It turns out that the maiden is a count’s daughter who was trapped in the coffin by a magician whom she declined to marry.

The Glass Coffin is kind of like a big mash up of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White that could totally be told with a modern twist. Perhaps a dystopian action adventure?

2. Thumbelina - Hans Christian Andersen

The story is about an old woman who is given a seed that grows a flower out of which comes a tiny girl the size of her thumb. One night the girl is taken away from her mother by a toad looking for a wife for her son. She escapes but cannot live on her own. The little girl is taken in by a mouse who then tries to marry the girl off to her neighbor a mole. The girl is able to escape with the help of a little bird she helped recover from an injury and is in love with her. The girl finally meets a flower fairy prince whom she likes and marries.

This is a story that is told on occasion to little children or may be shown as an animated film. Thumbelina’s crazy adventure could totally become a romantic comedy set in a city or even a high school.

3. Snow White and Rose Red – Grimm Brothers

This is the story of two sisters, the outgoing Rose Red and the quiet Snow White. A bear comes to their cottage in the middle of the winter asking for shelter from the cold. At first the girls are frightened, but they let the bear stay with them. The bear comes back every night for the rest of the winter. In the summer the bear says he must go guard his treasure from a wicked dwarf. The girls encounter the nasty dwarf many times over the summer and rescue him from peril each time. The bear kills the dwarf and becomes a prince once again. The prince marries Snow White and his brother marries Rose Red.

This story could totally become something like a realistic fiction about generosity and unexpected rewards.

4. Toads and Diamonds – Charles Perrault

This story is about an old woman with two daughters. The older daughter is proud and cruel like her mother and therefore favored. One day when the younger daughter was drawing water from the well an old crone asked for a drink of water. Being a kind girl she gave the crone some water. The crone turned out to be a fairy who blesses the girl to have gems and flowers come out of her mouth when she spoke. The old woman sends her elder daughter out to get the same blessing, but there is not a crone at the well. The fairy took the shape of a princess whom the elder daughter was very rude to and therefore cursed with toads and snakes to come out of her mouth whenever she speaks. Furious the old woman drives her younger daughter out of the house. The younger girl meets a prince in the woods and he decides to marry her.

All the magic in this story makes it a little hard to adapt to modern times. Although it could become a story set in an alternate history where magic and science coexist.

5. The Water of Life – Grimm Brothers

This story is a bit of a doozy so I am going to give a ridiculously simplified synopsis and if you are interested you can read the entire story. A dying king had three sons who were told they needed the water of life to save their father. The first two were too haughty to get help from the dwarf, but the last was kind and got help. While getting the water the son freed a princess who promised to marry him if he came back to her within the year. While on his way home the young prince saved three kingdoms from famine and war with items he had gotten while retrieving the water. He also gets the dwarf to release his brothers who repay him by switching his water for salt water. The youngest is sentenced to death, but proves to his father that he is valiant by returning with the princess and treasure form the kingdoms he saved.

This is a pretty big story to tackle. I could become a great sci-fi thriller with a little elbow grease.

I hope this has inspired some of you. Its not too late to sign up and start writing you fairy tale retelling!

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