One upon a time….

I have a new novella out this week, a scifi take on Cinderella. So naturally I’ve been thinking quite a bit about fairy tales. I am, very obviously, not the first person to rework Cinderella. In fact, versions of the story were recorded two thousand years ago. And although most English-speakers are familiar with versions originally published in French and German, there were also similar tales throughout Asia and the Middle East.

And the same is true for many other fairy tales—which I think I could more properly call folklore. Sleeping Beauty (aka Briar Rose), Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Snow White… people have been telling and retelling these stories for hundreds of years.

Why are they so popular? I think in part it’s because the themes tend to be universal. The triumph of good over evil. The desire to rise from poverty to comfort. The hardships of family life. The value of characteristics such as cleverness, kindness, and loyalty. The power of love. These themes speak to us regardless of time or culture.

The familiarity of fairy tales is part of what draws us to new versions; it’s like visiting a favorite old vacation spot. But these stories also allow authors a huge amount of leeway to play with their basic structure, to create something fresh out of familiar materials. For example, I know of at least three different takes on Snow White that Neil Gaiman has written, each unique in point of view and tone. Not only can authors move the stories to new times and new places, they can also shift them into different genres. I’ve written a couple of scifi takes, but we can also do horror or fantasy or mystery or romance or contemporary… or whatever our heart desires.

And the best thing of all is that however much we play with these stories, nobody can justly accuse of stealing. Folklore is, by its nature, flexible and mutable. It is nobody’s possession but belongs to everyone.

Please share some of your favorite fairy tale adaptations. Are there fairy tales that you’d love to see reworked into new shapes?

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Kim Fielding is the bestselling author of numerous m/m romance novels, novellas, and short stories. Like Kim herself, her work is eclectic, spanning genres such as contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, and historical. Her stories are set in alternate worlds, in 15th century Bosnia, in modern-day Oregon. Her heroes are hipster architect werewolves, housekeepers, maimed giants, and conflicted graduate students. They’re usually flawed, they often encounter terrible obstacles, but they always find love.

After having migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States, Kim calls the boring part of California home. She lives there with her family and her day job as a university professor, but escapes as often as possible via car, train, plane, or boat. This may explain why her characters often seem to be in transit as well. She dreams of traveling and writing full-time.

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