Dear Once Upon a Fic Writer,

[reflectedeve]

Hi there, fellow fairy/folk tale enthusiast! I’m delighted that we share an interest in one of these stories, and I’m very much looking forward to your take on any of them!

I come to this exchange with a particular interest in retellings/reinterpretations of, and expansions on, the original tales. And while I tend to prefer fic that works hard to match the tone/style of canon in most other fandom contexts, that absolutely does not apply here; if anything, I think I prefer works that tell (versions of) the stories in their own voice.

(In fact, many of my general likes/DNWs for other exchanges really don’t apply to this one. If you happen upon my pinned post with those, please disregard.)

I have a particular love for queer and feminist retellings, and also stories that lean into the horror elements that are so tightly woven into many traditional fairy tales and more contemporary urban legends alike. (Especially when they do so subtly - I’m much more fond of creeping dread and terrifying events that are never thoroughly explained, than jump scares and on-page mayhem, etc.) Playing up the inhumanity/otherworldliness of beings such as mermaids and fairies is also a favorite tactic. Which isn’t to say I don’t also enjoy a wholesome lady-knight-rescues-trans-princess happily-ever-after sort of scenario. To be clear. ;)

Down below, I’m going to talk a bit about what interests me about each of the tales I’ve chosen, and a few ideas for where you might take things (which you are free to use or disregard as your inspiration takes you). I’m interested in your version of the story, and I very much hope you enjoy telling it. Thank you so much. <3

Likes & DNWs | Belle-Belle | Bluebeard | Fitcher’s Bird | The Little Mermaid | The Snow Queen | The Velvet Ribbon

Likes

feminist retellings

queer retellings

exploring darker themes (revenge, betrayal)

various flavors of the creepy/eerie

complex motivations

character development

devoted and/or complicated sibling relationships

exploration of "evil" female characters (stepmothers, witches, evil fairies, the Snow Queen)

trope subversions

parody, pastiche

suggestive or outright smutty themes

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

overt moralizing

Christianity as a major theme or source of moral positioning

noncon/dubcon with a male aggressor

incest

infantilization

explicit sex involving characters under 16

vore, belly kinks, bodily fluid/waste kinks

soulmates, love at first sight (I know these are fairy tales, but I’d prefer attraction/interest at first sight and the desire to see where it goes)

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Belle-Belle, ou Le Chevalier Fortuné | Belle-Belle, or the Fortunate Knight - Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy
Characters: Belle-Belle, the Queen Dowager, Floride
Source: Belle-Belle, ou Le Chevalier Fortuné

Things I would enjoy leaning into: Crossdressing and gender nonconformity/exploration, sapphic attraction, Fortuné’s party as a sort of community of outsiders/people with "differences" who are set apart from society but come together to build something/achieve great things.

Things I’d enjoy seeing deconstructed, reversed or reinterpreted: The heteronormative, recuperative ending.

I discovered this tale via a Comp Lit class in fairy tales and retellings back in college and found it delightful. Crossdressing heroine stories are always a draw for me in general, especially when other (apparently unsuspecting?) women start crushing on them! I generally enjoy the flavor of D’Aulnoy’s original/remixed fairy tales and wish they got a bit more attention.

Much as I enjoy the story on its own, however, I’m dying to see it explicitly queered up in a variety of ways. I have a few ideas about how one might go about it …

One of my favorite things about the story is that, when Belle-Belle takes on the guise of Fortuné, the text immediately switches pronouns and calls the character “he” until the revelation at the very end. (Even though she “had not renounced her sex with her dress.”) Sometimes, when I think about adapting tales about crossdressing heroines, I like the idea of said character perhaps preferring a male role and maybe even being interpreted as being kind of transmasculine (if not with contemporary language, necessarily), but with this particular hero/ine I’m kind of taken with the idea of genderfluidity, and a character who fits into and enjoys both roles. It would be fascinating if Belle-Belle/Fortuné alternated guises more regularly, charming everyone in various ways.

Then, there are the Queen-Dowager and poor Floride, Fortuné’s foremost female admirers (and tormenters). I have a definite weak spot for young, handsome women and gender-nonconforming folks being hit on, flustered and generally at a disadvantage with slightly older, powerful, femme ladies; to be honest, the Queen’s pursuit of Fortuné actually starts hitting on my kinks a bit, apart from the whole murderous fury part. Playing with both her admiration and her exercise of control over the poor knight, even threatening him with deadly peril and impossible tasks, would be something I’d enjoy. What if the Queen actually sees through the Fortuné “disguise” and is both intrigued by this daring girl(?), and by the possibility of taking advantage of her secret to gain power over her? Or the surprisingly unwed (beautiful, powerful) Queen is confused to find herself attracted to this man, when she hasn’t had any interest in what must have been many past suitors (and might have wanted to avoid marriage and its potential to take away some of her political power), and struggles with her conflicting desires to get close to him - or to push him far far away?

There’s that whole inference that the Queen, while technically not the reigning monarch, has what the story considers unseemly amounts of power (and can perhaps overrule her brother). Wouldn’t it be interesting if, instead of Belle-Belle marrying the King, s/he became the King, by marriage, instead?

The story often refers to Fortuné as Floride’s “lover,” referring to the servant’s feelings towards the knight, but it gets me thinking … what if the pair actually formed a relationship, and poor Floride is stuck trying to manipulate her mistress/convince her to give up her pursuit of the “man” who is actually Floride’s secret lady-love?

I also really enjoy Fortuné’s collection of oddly-gifted servants and think something fun could be done with queerness, outsider communities, etc. But it’s a pretty unformed, general sort of notion.

Sorry for the huge ramble … this story has been hanging out in the back of my brain for almost twenty years, so apparently I have a lot of thoughts!

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La Barbe bleue | Bluebeard - Charles Perrault
Characters: Bluebeard's Last Wife, Bluebeard’s Penultimate Wife, Bluebeard's First Wife, Sister Anne
Source: La Barbe bleue

Things I would enjoy leaning into: building dread, horror vibes, cycles of harm (and breaking them).

Things I’d enjoy seeing deconstructed, reversed or reinterpreted: the moral around the evils of feminine curiosity and disobedience, naturally; I’m also not all that interested in seeing the last wife rescued damsel-in-distress style by her fraternal cavalry.

Angela Carter has probably contributed a good deal to my fascination with this story, alongside an increased enjoyment of horror (gothic and otherwise) as I’ve gotten older. Plus, the victim-blaming "moral" and the manipulative, deliberate trap-setting on the part of the eponymous character just make subversion irresistible.

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 be interested in how he spiraled.) 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.

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Fitchers Vogel | Fitcher’s Bird - The Brothers Grimm
Characters: First Sister, Second Sister, Third Sister
Source: Fitchers Vogel

Things I would enjoy leaning into: the third sister’s ingenuity, the bond between the sisters, horror vibes, the sheer weirdness of some story elements (sewing pieces of dismembered girls back together brings them back to life! A girl stuck all over with feathers is a convincing "bird!" using an actual human skull as a window decoy!).

Such a rarity - a fairy tale completely lacking in major themes I’m dying to see deconstructed or omitted! Fitcher’s Bird has it all: a resourceful, determined, clever woman, women rescuing women, strong sibling bonds, creepy horror and turning the tables on a misogynistic antagonist in a delightfully thorough fashion (I’m thinking in particular of the part where he has to carry his former victims home on his back). When it comes to this particular iteration of the Bluebeard tale-type, I just want more, and more developed, versions.

Why are the sorcerer’s wives asked to carry an egg? (I mean, yes, for the bloodstains, but - why an egg specifically?) How could a thematic connection be spun between that and the third sister’s choice to disguise herself as a bird?

Everyone is not only fooled by her disguise, but immediately recognizes her as “Fitcher’s bird.” Does Fitcher have a (presumably rather large) bird? (I love birds, and I usually DNW animal harm in fic, but … you have my permission if you want the sister to harm the sorcerer’s bird in pursuit of her scheme, preferably because it’s a somehow evil bird or a willing helper/sacrifice.)

The idea of her sewing her dismembered sisters back together is also so arrestingly visceral (and it’s fun fairy tale logic: they’ve been reassembled, so now they’re alive). But what about all those other dead women? Time for a bloody sewing party, where each newly reassembled woman starts to help with the rest? Matching parts together, learning about each other? (Who was this asshole targeting, exactly, with his little “test?”)

Taking this in a less silly, more spooky direction would also be more than welcome, as long as the sorcerer is defeated and the sisters are “rescued” in some form or other.

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Den lille Havfrue | The Little Mermaid - Hans Christian Andersen
Characters: The Little Mermaid
Source: Den lille Havfrue

Things I would enjoy leaning into: that sense of trying to cross between two very different worlds, and relevant communication barriers; the little mermaid’s agency; the strength and sacrifice required to remake your whole life (and the dire possibility of failure); sibling bonds and loyalty.

Things I’d enjoy seeing deconstructed, reversed or reinterpreted: infantilizing a disabled person; heteronormative love/marriage as the ultimate goal; punishment/sacrifice as a direct result of "failing" to achieve that goal.

Things I’d rather have omitted altogether: All reference to Christianity, merpeople not having souls, and the mermaid’s purgatorial afterlife.

I had a Disney’s The Little Mermaid poster above my bed for most of my childhood, so I mean. A perennial favorite (the original much more than the 1989 film, nowadays). I wrote three retellings of this story at one point in college; I can’t get enough of it.

I'm interested in reading a take on this story in which the mermaid is 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 look completely 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 tragedy could be the result here. (The prince’s treatment of even the conventionally attractive mermaid in the original tale, the over-the-top ableism of it, really creeps me out, and there are things you could draw on there?) 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!

More on the mermaid’s relationship with her sisters (especially after she leaves the sea) would also be welcome. (I’ve always loved the conspiratorial, murderous flavor of their last-ditch attempt to help their sister save herself! I wonder how that could be expanded.)

If you'd rather go a more standard fairy tale/romance route, I'm always up for queer retellings of this story! Whether straight-up F/F, or playing around with what gender even means when you’re an oddly humanoid creature of the deep.

What if, instead of watching a shipwreck and rescuing the prince, the mermaid 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!

I’d love to see more of the sea witch, also. Playing around with the idea of payment and what forms it takes, the reasons for and mechanisms of her magic working the way it does … her own motivations and opinions … all very definitely of interest.

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Snedronningen | The Snow Queen - Hans Christian Andersen
Characters: Snow Queen, Gerda, Robber Girl
Source: Snedronningen

Things I would enjoy leaning into: Gerda’s determination and resilience; the intriguing possibilities of the Snow Queen’s nature and kingdom; the Snow Queen’s seductiveness (in whatever sense you want to interpret that); the Robber Girl’s possessive, somewhat suggestive interest in Gerda.

Things I’d enjoy seeing deconstructed, reversed or reinterpreted: The positioning of logic and mathematics as evil/unfeeling, cast in opposition to human connection and emotion (not to mention morality and religious values). Also, the original story meanders a lot, and I’d prefer to pare things down to a tighter focus on the characters I’ve requested.

Things I’d rather have omitted altogether: Any reference to Christianity or the Christ Child.

I’ve requested three characters for this one, but it is absolutely fine by me if you don’t wind up using/focusing on all of them! Anyway, on to some thoughts.

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?)

What if Gerda, and not Kay, had gone with the Snow Queen? How would that play out differently? And who is the Snow Queen, anyway? How did she come to rule, and why does she know neither rest nor peace? She’s the titular antagonist, but she doesn’t even rate a final confrontation - she's barely in the story once it gets going, 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 enjoy a reworking of the climactic scene 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.)

When it comes to the Robber Girl, I’ve always been fascinated by the dynamic between her and Gerda (since well before I knew what homoerotic subtext was). One of the things that draws me to it is that, well, even interpreted as attraction, it’s not the nicest thing. The Robber Girl is capricious, possessive and controlling, used to having her own way. In the original, Gerda essentially manages to benefit from her whims. I’d love to see a more balanced and deeper exploration of the dynamic, where intrepid, determined Gerda has to figure out how to manage their interactions to best advantage … whether by besting her in a battle of wills or taking a more strategic, manipulative tack.

Don’t get me wrong - I’d love a shippy take on that pair, including something where they stick together or wind up coming back together. But in a story about that, I’m most interested in something where it takes work, interpersonally, and isn’t totally fluffy. Power struggles and character flaws, yes please.

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The Velvet Ribbon (Folk Tale)
Characters: The Woman, The Husband
Source: The Velvet Ribbon (Version #2)

Things I would enjoy leaning into: creeping unease; consequences (especially for failing to respect another person’s autonomy); the general mystery around the nature of the woman (how/whether she’s alive at all, etc) - which I don’t especially want to have solved, to be honest.

I first encountered this story (alongside other famous stories, like the phantom hitchhiker) in Alvin Schwartz’s much-loved childhood classic, In A Dark, Dark Room, and always found it especially fascinating. A few months back, I randomly discovered that the story had a confused and complicated history; said to derive from a French story circa the Revolution (which makes some sense, given the beheading theme), its origins are murky. The earliest written versions are works by Washington Irving and Alexandre Dumas, from the early/mid 1800s, although the more contemporary takes tend to be a lot more pared-down and lacking a lot of specific detail, like an urban legend.

I don’t have a great many specific ideas about this one, to be honest; it’s just such a compelling setup, and one that I’d greatly enjoy reading any number of takes on and retellings of! I’m not especially interested in anything that wants to get too specific in re: explaining the velvet ribbon itself, but anything from a simple retelling that breathes a bit more personality and development into the stock characters and draws out the atmospherics … to a more classic ghost story sort of twist, where the suitor/fiance/husband learns the true circumstances of her history/death only after the climactic revelation, making it clear that when they were together (at least at the end), she could not possibly have still been alive (which was, broadly, Dumas’s angle) … all are fun.

Alongside the chills factor, a good deal of the pleasure of the story, for me, is based on an asshole dude getting his comeuppance for not respecting his partner’s wishes, bodily autonomy, etc. So that’s something I’d certainly enjoy your take on, as well.

Above all, I guess … I’ve read Irving, Dumas, and Schwartz’s takes on this delightfully creepy story, as well as the versions at the linked source. I’d love to read yours!

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