DISCUSSION THREAD -- August 75 Word Challenge

[Abernovo]

You managed it after all, Bowler! Hold on, that's a while?

Well done. I liked it. The definition of a inappropriate gift?

 

[Bowler1]

Yes, what can I say, Abernovo you got me.

Being a bloke, 20 minutes is an age!

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

For books e.g. the two(!) Beauty and the Beast retellings by Robin Mckinley, Beauty and Rose Daughter. Or her other re-telling Deerskin, based on the fairy tale Donkeyskin*.
Or a bit less middle-European, East by Edith Pattou or Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George, both based on the same old Norwegian fairy-tale.

All worthy books (although I was disappointed in McKinley's Deerskin because it seemed as though she was writing one story in the first half -- which gave me chills -- and another in the second, and Jessica Day George always seems to adapt a bit too freely for my personal taste) but I doubt we'll convince anyone to read even one novel for research.

And what it will come down to in the end is what the voters think "fairytale fantasy" means.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Well, I have mine in now. It's pretty straight forward but I think I have all the bases covered.

 

[booksforlunch]

All worthy books (although I was disappointed in McKinley's Deerskin because it seemed as though she was writing one story in the first half -- which gave me chills -- and another in the second, and Jessica Day George always seems to adapt a bit too freely for my personal taste) but I doubt we'll convince anyone to read even one novel for research.

And what it will come down to in the end is what the voters think "fairytale fantasy" means.

True. :/

But hey! At least I got to fangirl some stuff.

 

[Mouse]

We're so gonna need to start a 'speed' comp one of these days. Karn, Bowler, I'm looking at you guys!

 

[stormcrow]

Mouse - Thank You for your vote - I'm really pleased you enjoyed it!

Am grinning!

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

But hey! At least I got to fangirl some stuff.

Why not start a thread over in the General Books forum, on novelizations of classic fairy tales? Then some of us can fangirl (and perhaps fanboy) together?

 

[Phoenixthewriter]

Errr, sorry, but stuff like Robin Hood, the King Arthur stories, or the Nibelungen etc are not fairy tales.

It's more like Little Red Riding Hood fighting a dragon.

Robin Hood is Folklore, which is so close to fairytales they are almost one and the same. I'll stand by my comment.

It may be more of a stretch, but I also look at Princess Bride like stuff when I think Fairy Tale. They don't need the fairy's just the atmosphere, and points can be argued until kingdom come about what is truly what.

I won't provide any links, but Robin Hood is a classic in Fairy Tale stories.

 

[Gary Compton]

Karn isn't going to Barbados. Wasn't that a song?

Anyway, Karn, you are such a drama queen. Every month, " I'm getting nothing on this one: I hate the theme: My creative juices have gone on holiday etc, etc..."

And yet, once again, you've delivered a good story.

If it's any consolation, maybe we should open a drama queen club. I would be President and you could be Chairman

 

[David Evil Overlord]

I'm wrestling with two ideas. One is a fairy tale set in space (a re-working of a story I wrote in high school, which was -- to quote Isaac Asimov, "mumblty-mumble years ago"), the other a rather bloodthirsty retelling of a fairy tale that isn't the slightest bit bloodthirsty in any version I've ever heard of.

P.S. @Teresa, thank you -- you've given me a new way to use "fangirl" and "fanboy" in my WIP.

Edit: Bloodthirsty fairy tale won the battle.

 

[Culhwch]

I have to admit, I went more along the folktale route than fairytale, and my story is definitely devoid of fantasy as we traditionally know it - magic and dragons and so on. I'm still happy with it.

Anyway, Karn, you are such a drama queen. Every month, " I'm getting nothing on this one: I hate the theme: My creative juices have gone on holiday etc, etc..."

Perhaps we should institute a new rule from next month - anyone who comes into the Discussion Thread and gripes about the theme, genre, or not having any ideas is banned from entering that month, and they have to write out the definition of 'challenge' a hundred times on the blackboard.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

and they have to write out the definition of 'challenge' a hundred times on the blackboard.

I wouldn't want to ban them for the month, but I quite like that last part.

Making it a rule that they don't get to use copy/paste on their virtual blackboard!

 

[booksforlunch]

Robin Hood is Folklore, which is so close to fairytales they are almost one and the same. I'll stand by my comment.

It may be more of a stretch, but I also look at Princess Bride like stuff when I think Fairy Tale. They don't need the fairy's just the atmosphere, and points can be argued until kingdom come about what is truly what.

I won't provide any links, but Robin Hood is a classic in Fairy Tale stories.

The problem with that "almost one and the same" is the "almost". Especially since there is pretty much an "official consensus" as to the difference between fairy tales and legends. And while some people do indeed classify Robin Hood as a fairy tale (in my experience generally in the realm of children's and youth literature), when you look at the narrative mechanics, it becomes starkly apparant that it has little semblence to actual fairy tales.
I know that this sounds rather pedantic (oh, let's face it, it is) but I love fairy tales so much that I don't just read them, but read about them.

Fairy tales are moralistic tales praising virtues and shunning vices with little to no link to our "real" world. And they are incredibly unspecific. That's why they are not only old, often with origins shrouded in mystery, but also why you can find so many variations of the same type of tales all over the world.
Fairy tales play "somewhere". Literally. The only actual places I can recall ever being named right now are Bremen (hometown pride!) and Hamlin.
More often then not, fairy tales don't even bother with names. Because the protagonists are not characters in their own right, but means to an end, namely showcasing "correct" or "incorrect" behaviour. For that, all you need is "the princess", "the stepmother", "the king" or "the prince".

Legends, on the other hand, are more like a pearl: there's this more or less large piece of real history coated in a nice, thick skin of narrative. It makes them distinctly specific.
We know today that the Nibelungen contain bits and pieces of the history of the Burgundians nestled inbetween all that stuff about dragon blood and dwarf gold, and we can even tell whereabouts they must have lived. We know there were crucades, and a King Richard with a brother named John, we know where we can find Nothingham and the Sherwood Forest. There's a reason people sit down and read historic sources to find out if there was a "real" Robin Hood and no one does the same to find out where the "real" gingerbread house could have stood.
Legends are also more complex and therefore require characters. You and I can probably recite the names of all key players in the Robin Hood stories, which we couldn't if it were a fairy tale. Those don't need Brother Tuck, they just need The Monk.
Legends cannot be easily transplanted like fairy tales because they are tightly bound to the actual locality whose history they reflect.

tl;dr Fairy tales and legends are similar, but there are important differences. As they are to myths, or sagas. And I think to know and pay attentions to these differences is important and useful, especially to aspiring writers. Because to know why different types of stories behave the way they do is to hone ones sense for the structure and form of one's own writing.


/exhausted and deeply sorry for the essay

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

I don't have a blackboard.


Actually, originally I was thinking on the Jethro Tull song "Pussy Willow" for this, but I wound up putting up what I did. I realized that even if it were allowed to post credited chunks of song it would take up far too much valuable word count to do so.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I don't have a blackboard.

One could be provided.

And chalk. You'd need at least a box of chalk.

I'm sure there's a Toys R Us website where we could pick up the virtual chalk.

 

[Gary Compton]

I don't have a blackboard.


Actually, originally I was thinking on the Jethro Tull song "Pussy Willow" for this, but I wound up putting up what I did. I realized that even if it were allowed to post credited chunks of song it would take up far too much valuable word count to do so.

I have some blackboard paint, so I'll make you one - naught little Karn. Go and stand in the corner.

**Tries to gloss over the fact it was GC who started the moaning in the first place**

Coughs...

 

[r_j_dando]

Interesting challenge, that one! I had the last line set since lunchtime yesterday, but was struggling to get the rest into the word count. Think it works now! (Hope so - I am a 'write now, post now' writer...if I didn't, I'd second-guess it all until someone else wrote a similar piece, and then I'd be stuck!)

 

[stormcrow]

Right - that's me up!

 

[StilLearning]

I like it!