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reflectedeve) wrote2021-02-19 11:40 am
reflectedeve) wrote2021-02-19 11:40 am
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Dear Once Upon A Fic Writer,
First things first! Thank you so much for writing for me. I've just found out about this exchange, and I'm very excited indeed. I've always loved fairy tale retellings and adaptations; even took a college class on them years ago. I'm a big fan of Angela Carter, etc.
My requests mostly approach this as an opportunity to retell the original tales, rather than treating them as canon texts in quite the same way other fanfic might, although in some cases I'm also interested in backstory, expansion, and what happens next (after, or often instead of, Happily Ever After). While in most fandom contexts, I prefer fic that works hard to match the tone/style of canon, that absolutely doesn't apply here; if anything, I think I prefer works that tell (versions of) the stories in their own voice. And please feel free to let go of the moralizing elements. I sure did ask for a bunch of Andersen, here.
Also, one thing I was reminded of while rereading the source material was how disjointed so many of these stories are, with bits and pieces that don't really feel like part of the same story/world stuck together. In many cases, this is probably because they're the product of amalgamated oral traditions from many sources (though I don't know what Andersen's excuse is for "The Snow Queen"). Sometimes these weird little side stories and elements are fun to build on or center in their own right, but I also don't mind if you pare things down. I'm often more interested in the kernal of the story, the main themes or core characters.
Er, sorry, this is a lot of rambling. Anyway, here are some prompts and general thoughts! As a writer, I'm a big fan of prompts, but please don't feel constrained by these. They're here for you to play with if you want them; optional details are optional. And thank you again!
General Likes | DNWs | The Little Mermaid | Bluebeard |
Sleeping Beauty | The Princess and the Pea | The Snow Queen
General Likes
feminist retellings, queer retellings, exploring darker themes (revenge, betrayal), complex motivations, character development, exploration of “evil” female characters (stepmothers, witches, evil fairies, the Snow Queen), trope subversions, parody, pastiche, suggestive or outright smutty interpretations. If you want to do a specific alternate setting/genre for a fairy tale, I’d prefer a focus on fitting the worldbuilding to the themes/story elements of the original (I’m interested in that kind of thing for how well those things fit/translate; not very interested in plopping the story into a new setting or time period just because).
DNWs
heteronormative happy endings, noncon/dubcon with a male aggressor, incest, explicit sex involving characters under 17, biological imperatives/culturally assigned roles (A/B/O, BDSM universe, etc), soulmates, love at first sight (I know these are fairytales, but I’d prefer attraction/interest at first sight and the desire to see where it goes), bestiality (mermaids don't count), vore, belly kinks, bodily fluid/waste kinks, infantilization/age play, detailed mention of medical needles or surgery
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Den lille Havfrue | The Little Mermaid - Hans Christian Andersen
Characters: The Little Mermaid
I'm interested in reading a take on this story in which the mermaid as really … inhuman. Communication problems? Cultural misunderstandings? Unexpected biology? It's fine to take this in a dark direction if you'd like.
Of course, if you take the mermaid’s perspective, it could be the humans who seem strange and alien! It would be interesting to examine human life through the eyes of a different species. And there’s a big difference between listening to secondhand stories, or watching peoples’ daily lives from afar, and interacting with them up close. Feel free to completely reimagine the worldbuilding; instead of losing her tongue/voice, maybe a mermaid’s voice is more like a whale’s, so that she can’t produce human speech?
Does she even look exactly human, even with her tail gone? When the prince finds her washed up on his steps, what does he see?
Expectations at cross purposes, frustration, misunderstandings, and even resulting tragedy could be the result here. (I find something rather creepy about the way the prince treats even the conventionally beautiful, apparently human mermaid in the original tale. If you want to play that up, feel free - and feel free to go the murder route.) Or just a … really different kind of interaction than we see in Anderson’s story. The idea of the mermaid coping with intense culture shock or exploring an alien world doesn’t have to be dark or sad, of course, and I’d be interested in seeing where else you might take it, as well!
If you’d like/if it fits, more on the mermaid’s relationship with her sisters (especially after she leaves the sea) is quite welcome.
I’d prefer to leave aside the whole immortal soul/seafoam/Christian morality business.
If you'd rather go a more standard fairy tale/romance route, I'm also always up for queer retellings of this story! (I'd prefer F/F or trans/genderqueer/etc to cis M/M.)
If you choose this route, I’d enjoy a story that diverges from any number of places in the story. Maybe instead of watching a shipwreck and rescuing the prince, she herself gets caught up in the storm and washes up on the beach outside the convent, to be found by the Princess? Does she stay a mermaid, or take on legs? Do she and the princess run away together? Is the princess the one who seeks the help of a witch to become a mermaid, escaping her royal marriage and seeking the beautiful mergirl she once helped nurse back to health? Or to put the divergent point much further along … maybe the princess takes the sisters’ knife and stabs the prince to save the mermaid? There are so many possibilities!
Again, I’d prefer to leave aside the whole immortal soul/seafoam/Christian morality business. (If you wanted to include the bit where the mermaid will die without the prince’s love, that could just be a consequence of the magic that gave her legs?)
[Back To Top]
La Barbe bleue | Bluebeard - Charles Perrault
Characters: Bluebeard's Last Wife, One of Bluebeard's Intermediate Wives, Bluebeard's First Wife
I'd love to read a retelling of this story in which the last wife marries Bluebeard specifically for the sake of exacting revenge for his previous wives. Something expanding on those women's lives and circumstances, and how they each fell into his power/how he's been getting away with it for so long, would also be interesting.
I’ve always tended to assume that he murdered most of his previous wives for the same reason that he was going to kill his last (or rather, with the same excuse), but if that were the case - how did he come to murder his first wife? What started all that? (I don't need this to be anything sympathetic; I'm fine with him being a serial killer or a violent misogynist, but I'd like more info about how he got going.) And how might the last wife be connected/aware of it all?
One way or another, I'd prefer an ending that includes, or foretells, his well-deserved doom, at the hands or machinations of a woman (not just rescuing brothers sweeping in to save their damsel-in-distress sister).
[Back To Top]
La Belle au bois dormant | Sleeping Beauty - Charles Perrault
Characters: Princess, Aged Fairy, Young Fairy
The Princess might be awakened by a kiss, but does that really mean she's stuck marrying a stranger? I'd be more interested in a story where the Princess has been in some way affected or changed by her experience of being asleep (maybe she had partial or occasional awareness, maybe she had curse-inflected dreams, but either way she's not quite as innocent and complacent as she was), and ready to make her own choices.
I'm also very interested in the fairies and would love to see them expanded on. Are the Young Fairy's intentions so noble, and the Aged Fairy's so malevolent? Could they actually be working together to some purpose? I find it a bit suspicious that the Young Fairy could put an entire castle, including the fire in the fireplaces, to sleep, and grow a giant bramble hedge, but couldn’t stop the Aged Fairy’s curse!
What are the other fairies' gifts, and what values do they reflect? I realized after writing this that the gifts are explicitly named, but they could have room for interpretation - and certainly, motives that aren’t immediately apparent. What plans do they have for the new princess? What goals do they have for the kingdom?
From the line "all the Fairies they could find in the whole kingdom (they found seven)," it sounds like fairies aren’t easy to come by and aren’t necessarily volunteering their presence. Very mysterious. I wonder if the princess might seek them out (after waking, or even pre-spindle; it’s not hard to imagine that a clever kid might not find out about the terrible secret destiny her parents are trying to keep from her) to learn more/seek revenge or reparations.
I'm not especially interested in the last part of the story, dealing with her marriage, children and evil mother-in-law, although please feel free to work the ogre-related lore and worldbuilding in if you'd like!
[Back To Top]
Prinsessen paa Ærten | The Princess and the Pea - Hans Christian Andersen
Characters: Princess, Queen
There’s something ... suggestive about the pea test, isn’t there? I'd like to see that explored in some fashion. And I'd like to see this story queered up in some way, as well. (I'd prefer F/F or trans/genderqueer/etc to M/M.)
So the prince travels all around the world, meets many princesses, and decides none of them are good enough--excuse me, “real.” This sounds like an excuse to me. Maybe he doesn’t really want to get married? And the pea test is apparently all his mother’s idea; do their ideas about what makes a “real” princess actually line up? I’m also curious about the queen’s motivation; is she desperate to get her son married, and if so, why? (Does she want to get her hands on a princess, herself? Ahem.)
And then there’s this “real” princess who mysteriously shows up at a palace all by herself with no protection from the elements. This seems awfully fishy!
I’d love a story that plays with the pea test being … euphemistic in some way. I might prefer a playfully suggestive story to full-on on-screen smut, although please go with your inspiration.
(I didn’t request the prince, but would absolutely be open to a story where he turns out to be a princess himself (who has been raised or maybe just presented as a prince for heir reasons), or trans, or gay; either very cautious about his bride choice because of one of the former, or not interested because of the latter. Marriages of convenience could be a thing!)
[Back To Top]
Snedronningen | The Snow Queen - Hans Christian Andersen
Characters: Snow Queen, Gerda
What if Gerda, and not Kay, had gone with the Snow Queen? How would that play out? And who is the Snow Queen, anyway? How did she come to rule, and why does she know neither rest nor peace? For the titular character, she's barely in the story, and I'm dying to know more.
The story sees Gerda as powerful because she’s innocent and pure, but I’ve always loved how determined and intrepid she is. I’d love a story where she matches wits with the Snow Queen more directly, whether it’s to rescue her honorary brother, or on her own/some other account.
(I’m happy to have Kay included if you want, but would very much prefer that their relationship stay platonic/sibling-esque.)
The Snow Queen’s kisses render Kay unable to feel the cold, but which would kill him if he received more than two … while Gerda’s kisses bring the bloom back to his cheeks and the shine back to his eyes. How would the Snow Queen fare against kisses that warm and thaw? (Is she actually made of ice, and would they be her doom? Is she something else, maybe enchanted herself?)
Also, there are some odd values in this story (apart from the explicitly Christian references to the Christ Child, which I’d prefer to just ignore) which cast logic, mathematics and related activities/ways of thinking as evil and unfeeling. I’d be interested in seeing that challenged.
[Back To Top]
My requests mostly approach this as an opportunity to retell the original tales, rather than treating them as canon texts in quite the same way other fanfic might, although in some cases I'm also interested in backstory, expansion, and what happens next (after, or often instead of, Happily Ever After). While in most fandom contexts, I prefer fic that works hard to match the tone/style of canon, that absolutely doesn't apply here; if anything, I think I prefer works that tell (versions of) the stories in their own voice. And please feel free to let go of the moralizing elements. I sure did ask for a bunch of Andersen, here.
Also, one thing I was reminded of while rereading the source material was how disjointed so many of these stories are, with bits and pieces that don't really feel like part of the same story/world stuck together. In many cases, this is probably because they're the product of amalgamated oral traditions from many sources (though I don't know what Andersen's excuse is for "The Snow Queen"). Sometimes these weird little side stories and elements are fun to build on or center in their own right, but I also don't mind if you pare things down. I'm often more interested in the kernal of the story, the main themes or core characters.
Er, sorry, this is a lot of rambling. Anyway, here are some prompts and general thoughts! As a writer, I'm a big fan of prompts, but please don't feel constrained by these. They're here for you to play with if you want them; optional details are optional. And thank you again!
Sleeping Beauty | The Princess and the Pea | The Snow Queen
General Likes
feminist retellings, queer retellings, exploring darker themes (revenge, betrayal), complex motivations, character development, exploration of “evil” female characters (stepmothers, witches, evil fairies, the Snow Queen), trope subversions, parody, pastiche, suggestive or outright smutty interpretations. If you want to do a specific alternate setting/genre for a fairy tale, I’d prefer a focus on fitting the worldbuilding to the themes/story elements of the original (I’m interested in that kind of thing for how well those things fit/translate; not very interested in plopping the story into a new setting or time period just because).
DNWs
heteronormative happy endings, noncon/dubcon with a male aggressor, incest, explicit sex involving characters under 17, biological imperatives/culturally assigned roles (A/B/O, BDSM universe, etc), soulmates, love at first sight (I know these are fairytales, but I’d prefer attraction/interest at first sight and the desire to see where it goes), bestiality (mermaids don't count), vore, belly kinks, bodily fluid/waste kinks, infantilization/age play, detailed mention of medical needles or surgery
[Back To Top]
Den lille Havfrue | The Little Mermaid - Hans Christian Andersen
Characters: The Little Mermaid
I'm interested in reading a take on this story in which the mermaid as really … inhuman. Communication problems? Cultural misunderstandings? Unexpected biology? It's fine to take this in a dark direction if you'd like.
Of course, if you take the mermaid’s perspective, it could be the humans who seem strange and alien! It would be interesting to examine human life through the eyes of a different species. And there’s a big difference between listening to secondhand stories, or watching peoples’ daily lives from afar, and interacting with them up close. Feel free to completely reimagine the worldbuilding; instead of losing her tongue/voice, maybe a mermaid’s voice is more like a whale’s, so that she can’t produce human speech?
Does she even look exactly human, even with her tail gone? When the prince finds her washed up on his steps, what does he see?
Expectations at cross purposes, frustration, misunderstandings, and even resulting tragedy could be the result here. (I find something rather creepy about the way the prince treats even the conventionally beautiful, apparently human mermaid in the original tale. If you want to play that up, feel free - and feel free to go the murder route.) Or just a … really different kind of interaction than we see in Anderson’s story. The idea of the mermaid coping with intense culture shock or exploring an alien world doesn’t have to be dark or sad, of course, and I’d be interested in seeing where else you might take it, as well!
If you’d like/if it fits, more on the mermaid’s relationship with her sisters (especially after she leaves the sea) is quite welcome.
I’d prefer to leave aside the whole immortal soul/seafoam/Christian morality business.
If you'd rather go a more standard fairy tale/romance route, I'm also always up for queer retellings of this story! (I'd prefer F/F or trans/genderqueer/etc to cis M/M.)
If you choose this route, I’d enjoy a story that diverges from any number of places in the story. Maybe instead of watching a shipwreck and rescuing the prince, she herself gets caught up in the storm and washes up on the beach outside the convent, to be found by the Princess? Does she stay a mermaid, or take on legs? Do she and the princess run away together? Is the princess the one who seeks the help of a witch to become a mermaid, escaping her royal marriage and seeking the beautiful mergirl she once helped nurse back to health? Or to put the divergent point much further along … maybe the princess takes the sisters’ knife and stabs the prince to save the mermaid? There are so many possibilities!
Again, I’d prefer to leave aside the whole immortal soul/seafoam/Christian morality business. (If you wanted to include the bit where the mermaid will die without the prince’s love, that could just be a consequence of the magic that gave her legs?)
[Back To Top]
La Barbe bleue | Bluebeard - Charles Perrault
Characters: Bluebeard's Last Wife, One of Bluebeard's Intermediate Wives, Bluebeard's First Wife
I'd love to read a retelling of this story in which the last wife marries Bluebeard specifically for the sake of exacting revenge for his previous wives. Something expanding on those women's lives and circumstances, and how they each fell into his power/how he's been getting away with it for so long, would also be interesting.
I’ve always tended to assume that he murdered most of his previous wives for the same reason that he was going to kill his last (or rather, with the same excuse), but if that were the case - how did he come to murder his first wife? What started all that? (I don't need this to be anything sympathetic; I'm fine with him being a serial killer or a violent misogynist, but I'd like more info about how he got going.) And how might the last wife be connected/aware of it all?
One way or another, I'd prefer an ending that includes, or foretells, his well-deserved doom, at the hands or machinations of a woman (not just rescuing brothers sweeping in to save their damsel-in-distress sister).
[Back To Top]
La Belle au bois dormant | Sleeping Beauty - Charles Perrault
Characters: Princess, Aged Fairy, Young Fairy
The Princess might be awakened by a kiss, but does that really mean she's stuck marrying a stranger? I'd be more interested in a story where the Princess has been in some way affected or changed by her experience of being asleep (maybe she had partial or occasional awareness, maybe she had curse-inflected dreams, but either way she's not quite as innocent and complacent as she was), and ready to make her own choices.
I'm also very interested in the fairies and would love to see them expanded on. Are the Young Fairy's intentions so noble, and the Aged Fairy's so malevolent? Could they actually be working together to some purpose? I find it a bit suspicious that the Young Fairy could put an entire castle, including the fire in the fireplaces, to sleep, and grow a giant bramble hedge, but couldn’t stop the Aged Fairy’s curse!
What are the other fairies' gifts, and what values do they reflect? I realized after writing this that the gifts are explicitly named, but they could have room for interpretation - and certainly, motives that aren’t immediately apparent. What plans do they have for the new princess? What goals do they have for the kingdom?
From the line "all the Fairies they could find in the whole kingdom (they found seven)," it sounds like fairies aren’t easy to come by and aren’t necessarily volunteering their presence. Very mysterious. I wonder if the princess might seek them out (after waking, or even pre-spindle; it’s not hard to imagine that a clever kid might not find out about the terrible secret destiny her parents are trying to keep from her) to learn more/seek revenge or reparations.
I'm not especially interested in the last part of the story, dealing with her marriage, children and evil mother-in-law, although please feel free to work the ogre-related lore and worldbuilding in if you'd like!
[Back To Top]
Prinsessen paa Ærten | The Princess and the Pea - Hans Christian Andersen
Characters: Princess, Queen
There’s something ... suggestive about the pea test, isn’t there? I'd like to see that explored in some fashion. And I'd like to see this story queered up in some way, as well. (I'd prefer F/F or trans/genderqueer/etc to M/M.)
So the prince travels all around the world, meets many princesses, and decides none of them are good enough--excuse me, “real.” This sounds like an excuse to me. Maybe he doesn’t really want to get married? And the pea test is apparently all his mother’s idea; do their ideas about what makes a “real” princess actually line up? I’m also curious about the queen’s motivation; is she desperate to get her son married, and if so, why? (Does she want to get her hands on a princess, herself? Ahem.)
And then there’s this “real” princess who mysteriously shows up at a palace all by herself with no protection from the elements. This seems awfully fishy!
I’d love a story that plays with the pea test being … euphemistic in some way. I might prefer a playfully suggestive story to full-on on-screen smut, although please go with your inspiration.
(I didn’t request the prince, but would absolutely be open to a story where he turns out to be a princess himself (who has been raised or maybe just presented as a prince for heir reasons), or trans, or gay; either very cautious about his bride choice because of one of the former, or not interested because of the latter. Marriages of convenience could be a thing!)
[Back To Top]
Snedronningen | The Snow Queen - Hans Christian Andersen
Characters: Snow Queen, Gerda
What if Gerda, and not Kay, had gone with the Snow Queen? How would that play out? And who is the Snow Queen, anyway? How did she come to rule, and why does she know neither rest nor peace? For the titular character, she's barely in the story, and I'm dying to know more.
The story sees Gerda as powerful because she’s innocent and pure, but I’ve always loved how determined and intrepid she is. I’d love a story where she matches wits with the Snow Queen more directly, whether it’s to rescue her honorary brother, or on her own/some other account.
(I’m happy to have Kay included if you want, but would very much prefer that their relationship stay platonic/sibling-esque.)
The Snow Queen’s kisses render Kay unable to feel the cold, but which would kill him if he received more than two … while Gerda’s kisses bring the bloom back to his cheeks and the shine back to his eyes. How would the Snow Queen fare against kisses that warm and thaw? (Is she actually made of ice, and would they be her doom? Is she something else, maybe enchanted herself?)
Also, there are some odd values in this story (apart from the explicitly Christian references to the Christ Child, which I’d prefer to just ignore) which cast logic, mathematics and related activities/ways of thinking as evil and unfeeling. I’d be interested in seeing that challenged.
[Back To Top]