Fairy Tales in a Flash

1. Fairy Tales in a Flash

2. Quick History of Fairy Tales • The collection of oral tales into formalized books of fairy tales “coincidentally” happened during the era from authors like • Hans Christian Anderson • Charles Perrault • Grimm Brothers • These stories were originally were intended for adult audiences, but were often edited for a wider audience, and often opposed the Materialism of the era. • Many of these stories have been around for hundreds of years

3. We are creatures of story • Whether we are talking about parables, myths, fables, or fairy tales, storytelling has always been at the heart of communicating the truths of life. • During the Victorian Era, storytelling changed dramatically to rely heavily on reason to communicate truth. • Myth • muthos: account through a story • logos: account through reason or proposition • This led to materialism and a distrust of human wonder, imagination, and ultimately transcendence.

4. Modern Day fairy tales • Many of the retellings of fairy tales have kept the shell of the genre (characters, settings, plots) and removed the transcendent aspects of the story. • Post-modernism makes it difficult to answer many of the questions that fairy tales used to grapple with: • What is good? • What is evil? • Can our nature be changed? • Is the world only what I can see?

5. C.S. Lewis • “I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it.”

6. Modern Fairy Tales

7. George MacDonald • “The response to a base imagining should not be to suppress it, but precisely to cultivate and develop it, to make it ‘wise.’ For a wise or ‘right’ imagination is equivalent to the presence of God in us.”

8. What to do? • Fairy tales should challenge our assumptions of identity • Should create wonder and awe in our world • Create holistic readers instead of narcissistic ones

9. The Fox and the grapes • One hot summer's day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. "Just the thing to quench my thirst," quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: "I am sure they are sour."

10. Once, When the World Was Young Introduce the character(s) and setting. Characters can have fun names (often names that are associated with a physical or virtuous trait) and will often have one major flaw or one trait that sets them apart. Develop setting by communicating that your story takes place outside of the world we know (or hidden inside).

11. Wheel of Unfortunate Events Introduce the foil or conflict. Fairy Tales thrive on absolute good and absolute evil, so juxtapose your main character with a foil that represents the opposite virtue. Try out a metaphors that represents a character (sneaky person = fox). Possibly introduce a theme from the Theme Wheel or a quest from the Quest Wheel at this point.

12. Enter the dragon Here is where the conflict really shapes up! Don’t forget that numbers and repetition are important to drive the point home. Also, it’s not a bad idea for the character to look outside him/herself to achieve a goal or overcome a villain (fairy tales are a great venue to validate less recognized virtues like humility or generosity). This is also a great place to remind your character of what is right through the use of some magical creature.

13. About Magic By nature, fairy tales are hostile to analysis. Their beauty is found in the harmony of communicating truth through the use of the fantastic. Fairy tale magic is often used to describe the fantastic without actually giving a scientifically definition (the story of Cinderella would really get stalled out if we had to read about the genetic possibilities of mice mutating into coach drivers). Ultimately, fairy tale magic is of the sort that promotes mystery, encourages wonder, and allows the reader to transcend the insignificant details in order to reach the rich themes of the stories.

14. “Happily Ever After” Don’t be afraid to end on a happy note. Fairy tales are places that offer hope to readers in the face of all danger--this is the great “Eucatastrophe.”

15. Workshop Options Group Individual