Today we have a guestpost for you from Maureen McGowan, a Toronto author whose novels Cinderella: Ninja Warrior and Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer start with fairy tales we know, bring them to contemporary times, and twist them up so that Disney wouldn't recognize them. Take it away, Maureen!
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Some readers of Cinderella: Ninja Warrior and Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer assume I was inspired by the choose-your-own-adventure stories from decades past, but I have a confession. Before starting the Twisted Tales series, I’d never read those books and was only marginally aware of their existence.
When I began to explore adding reader interaction to updated fairy tales, I had no idea how to pull it off, but I knew what I didn’t want to do: I didn’t want to include “wrong” paths or unhappy endings.
Fairy tales by their nature promise happy endings—and pretty specific happy endings in some cases—so, I decided that each book in the series should have a single ending. As I started to write, I did look at a few choose-your-own-adventure stories, hoping for hints or clues as to how to structure my books, but I didn’t like the “bad choice—you die!” aspects of some of those “old school” stories.
The way I see things, each day we face choices, and the alternatives aren’t necessarily right or wrong—just different. Smart heroines (and smart readers) will make smart choices, so I wanted to present reasonable alternatives at each decision point without making it obvious which choice was better. Also, a capable heroine—even if she makes a mistake—should be able to face whatever challenges her choices place in her way.
When I decided on the structure, I didn’t realize what a difficult path I was laying out for myself as a writer! My choices created challenges for me—almost as tough as those facing Cinderella in her magic competition, or Lucette when she’s the only one awake and facing vampires in the night.
Because I decided to have alternate paths that loop into common sections, I had to be very careful to ensure the key story elements either: occurred in the common sections; or occurred in different ways but with similar outcomes, in the alternate paths. Confusing. I know.
Cinderella: Ninja Warrior follows a structure of 1 => Choice => 2 or 3 => 4 => Choice => 5 or 6 => Choice => 7 or 8 => 9. In Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer, the second decision point comes earlier so the structure changes slightly, but it was equally hard to keep straight. There were times while writing these books when my head was spinning so badly I didn’t know which end was up!
But beyond the reader interaction, the real fun for me was creating stories that had elements of the traditional fairy tales, but “fixed” some of the problems I saw in the originals.
While I’ve always loved the romantic aspects of traditional fairy tales, I wanted to write stories in which the heroines were strong and capable, and not waiting around for a prince to save them.
For example, it always bothered me that Cinderella had a victim mentality in the original. If life was so bad with her stepmother, why didn’t she leave? I understand that girls in past centuries didn’t have as many choices as we do today, but I wanted to write a story relevant to modern readers. Another thing that bothered me about the original was that the prince falls in love with Cinderella because of her beauty, yet he can’t remember what she looks like the next day—when she’s in rags—without the help of a slipper. That’s not my idea of true love.
In Cinderella: Ninja Warrior, Cinderella’s trapped in her stepmother’s house by a series of black magic spells that she doesn’t have the knowledge or confidence to break, and yet Cinderella’s already plotting her escape when the book begins. During the course of the story she develops her skills and confidence, and then saves herself! In Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer, the heroine, Lucette, isn’t a victim hoping her parents will protect her from the horrible curse put upon her as a baby. She learns to fight and saves not only herself, but her parents and the entire kingdom, as well.
Ultimately I wanted to add more action and adventure to the traditional fairy tales and to create stories that would be inspiring and fun for readers of any age—10 to 100!
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Maureen McGowan has always been making up stories—her mother called it lying, her teachers creative talent—but sidetracked by a persistent practical side, it took her a few years to see the light and channel her energy into writing novels. After pummeling her sensible side into submission, she quit her career in finance and hasn't looked back.
Aside from books and writing, she's passionate about art, dance, films, fine handcrafted objects and shoes. Maureen (and her shoes) go to a lot of movies in Toronto, Canada.
You can visit her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.
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Cinderella: Ninja Warrior
1607102552
9781607102557
Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer
1607102560
9781607102564
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