A Rapunzel Retelling

This week we’re discussing fairy tales. I do enjoy a good fairy tale and and good retelling. Like Patty mentioned yesterday a lot of the stories that we know have much darker endings than many of us grew up with. So, if I was to do a retelling what genre would I choose?

I have done a loose retelling of Rapunzel with my Jade: Out of the Ashes. I set it in a dystopian like future. I picked that because I wanted it to have a historical feel but didn’t want to worry about not getting the language, clothing, or mannerisms down. So my story was set over a hundred years after electricity had been knocked out of the world. Jade grew up without any modern amenities.

In the original Rapunzel she is locked in a tower by a fairy/witch after her father had agreed to give his unborn child to her in trade for some rapunzel for his wife to eat. Rapunzel is cast out of the tower after Gothel discovers that she has been meeting with the prince and is now pregnant with his child. The prince goes blind and wanders around the wilderness for years until one day he stumbles upon Rapunzel and his twins (which he didn’t know about). The tears from Rapunzel’s eyes cure his blindness. Finally, they’re together.

Jade is very loosely based off of this fairy tale. I had so much fun writing it. I am working on the sequel to it now, as well as some other stories. Jade came about when my daughter asked me to rewrite a fairy tale for her. When I asked her which one Rapunzel was her pick. Originally I had it as a contemporary retelling. Jade was being raised by her grandmother who had stolen her away in the night when her son had been killed in a car accident. She had never liked the child’s mother so she’s paid someone off to say that the baby was killed in the crash as well. Jade was raised on a grand estate hidden away from the world. Tired of not having any friends except for the maid’s daughter she sneaks out of the house. When she is caught her grandmother arranges for her to be sent away to a boarding school out of country. I had gotten to about the half way point in that version then decided that wasn’t the route I wanted to go with the story. As soon as I switched things up and rewrote it in a different genre the story flowed right out!

If I were to rewrite another fairy tale I would probably go with Beauty and the Beast. I’d set it in the same world as Jade but a different country. I really enjoyed creating that world.