Like many of you, I grew up listening to fairy tales. And even more fun for me as a teacher is sharing my love of fairy tales with my kindergartners. In fact, one of our common core literacy standards is to compare and contrast stories. So, I especially like reading the original story to them and then sharing all the fun retellings. For example, we read The Three Little Pigs, and then I share my author friends’ spin on the story: The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz, illustrated by Dan Santat and It’s Not the Three Little Pigs by Josh Funk, illustrated by Edwardian Taylor.

Fairy tales with a twist are often referred to as fractured fairy tales. But I don’t like that description. Fractured means broken, something destroyed. These stories are far from that. Instead, I’m going to refer to them as reimagined. Using one’s imagination, how can you put a twist and make it fresh and new?

In my Storystorm 2022 idea notebook, I scribbled down idea #10 for one of my favorite fairy tales to teach, The Princess and the Pea. I wrote on the page: “The Princess and the Rice.” I ran the idea by my agent in June. She loved it and wanted a draft in the next month! Five months later and many revisions back and forth with my critique groups and agent, it went out on submission. The VERY next day we had a bite. Editor Grace Kendall of Farrar, Strauss, Giroux (FSG), an imprint of Macmillan really liked it because she loved watching Korean dramas. Who knew there would be an editor out there who loved all things Korea and even lived there for a summer?! (Note to writers: you never know what an editor’s interests and experiences are, so submit!!) Grace asked for an R&R (revise & resubmit). Three months later, we had an offer! And the lovely Honee Jang illustrated it. Look for her interview next time.

Here are some ideas to write your own reimagined fairy tale:

    1. Make a list of your favorite fairy tales as a kid.

To jog your memory:
Wikipedia has a running list
Popular fairy tales

   2. Change the setting.

Instead of a Western/European castle setting, I set my princess in olden-day Korea, during the Joseon period (1392-1910). Instead of a castle, it’s a real Korean palace. 

    3. Change an important object in the story.

Instead of a nasty pea (I very much dislike peas), I changed it to a grain of rice, more fitting for my setting. Also, I changed the mattresses the princess sleeps on to blankets because in olden Korea, they slept on the floor using thick blankets. 

    4.Change some characters. Swap some out for others that fit your setting.

In one of my earlier drafts, I had the usual king and queen looking for a princess for their prince. However, to make this story updated for our times, we (critique groups, agent, & editor) deleted the king, gave the princess and queen more agency, and made the prince mellow. I also inserted a mouse, not any mouse, a Korean field mouse which used to be revered in the culture of the day, go figure.

    5. Slightly change the plot to fit the setting.

After doing lots of background research of Joseon princesses, I discovered a princess Jeongson (I changed her spelling to Jeongsoon so Americans will pronounce it correctly). She actually went through a princess challenge to become the next queen for a very old monarch. (I won’t get into that tangent right now.) In olden-day Korea, there really was a competition in which noble girls would apply and flock to the palace. They would compete in etiquette, outward and inner beauty, and wisdom. BINGO! This fit nicely into the standard Princess and the Pea plot. I could just add a sleeping test on 100 blankets for another princess challenge! Do you see how I kept the main plot but changed some of the details? You still want the story to be recognizable.