Thread: Doing stories about Fariy Folklore

i wandering if it is possible to do stories on Fariy folklore you know when faries were dangerous and not nice and they were human size and i am planning to bring it into the modern era. i have read a lot of books on the subject and i am going to do a story where my vampire character Mary encounter one but would people understand the folk lore of how faries used to be now days when you think of faries you think of good little beings with wings but that is not how they started i think they got there start as Tutha De Deaan in Irish folklore but please let me know before i get started on that story.

It depends on what cultural reference you're wanting to draw from. Faeries exist in folklore from all over the world. However, it looks like you're wanting to go with the Irish/Celtic fae particularly?

In Irish folklore, there is a "book" called the book of Invasions that tells the "history" of Ireland's founding. The Tuatha (pronounced too-wah-ah) Dé Danaan were the fifth group to invade (on or around May 1st) and conquer Ireland, and their name can mean "the People of Danu". Eventually they were taken over (through a series of several battles and years) and were led by The Dagda into the sídhe mounds where the idea of faery mounds, and the fae could be drawn from.

I know Wikipedia isn't the best source of information, but it may help you get started. Here's the entry on the Tuatha Dé Danaan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatha_Dé_Danann.

So, again, it just depends on what you're looking for and what kind of faery your Mary will encounter. Even if she were, to say, encounter a merrow (a creature that is similar to a selkie, but aslo could be a cousin to mer-people), the merrow may hide his true self behind glamour and magic, appearing as a handsome human-esque male, when really he has webbed feet and hands, a double slit for a nose, large, large eyes, and the skintone similar to the inside of an avacado.

It would be up to you to decide if Mary can see through the glamour or not, or if she could sense that the human-looking person isn't exactly human.

I have read quite a few YA books that had urbanized faeries trooping around. There is the Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr and the edgier elfpunk-ish series by Holly Black that includes Ironside, and two other books. The fae in these books are "human sized" and aren't very nice. An even more adult (read gratuitous sex) view of faeries can found in the Meredith Gentry books by Laurell K. Hamilton, and also in one of her Anita Blake books-Bloody Bones. In the movie Hellboy 2, the antagonist, Nuada, is a faery as well and unleashes an earth god on the city in his strive for power.

If you have anymore questions, please ask. I love Celtic mythology and have a TON of information on faery lore, including modern day references for making contact with the fae.

(Please excuse this double post.)

Check out the fairies in Labyrinth (one of Jim Henson's many genius works), they're nasty little buggers. As for actual advice, rather than just inspiration, it seems Moon has a better grounding than I can offer.

Don't worry about other people not understanding the folklore, or think they're only going to be thinking of "good little beings with wings." If you writing a biography on Tinker Bell, you may worry a bit. But the way the character is introduced, perceived, actions... that's all yours to create, or duplicate from the Tuatha Dé Danaan. I thought Moon's Hellboy II antagonist was a great example. It's your story. Peg your target audience and write.

Tripp Dakota

My grandfather many times cautioned me against writing about any such subject as this. He was an atheist, didn't believe in ghosts or spirits or any of that sort, but was always cautious about doing that which might anger the Little People. 'All that's real are they and us,' he told me more then once, ' and they've no love for us'.

I agree with Tripp. Unless the mythological history of the fae are important, then I wouldn't worry about it. Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series doesn't really go into where faeries came from, but alludes that faeries and Faery (the land) have been around forever and can be found anywhere. Whereas, Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series talks about how the fae were driven out of Ireland and how they have made the US their base of operation.

A similar theme, however, in these two stories is the idea of Courts. Melissa Marr speaks of "seasonal" courts, where Hamilton refers to the Seelie and Unseelie courts. In the movie, The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns (a made-for-tv movie), the Leprechauns fall into the role of Trooping faeries, which include brownies, dullaghans, oak-sídhe, etc. The other fae, the winged fae, would be more or less a High Court sort of bunch that are in charge of the seasons. The movie also touches on Solitary fae, like a changeling (more of an elemental/salamander than a changeling), the Grand Banshee (bean sídhe), trolls, and a butter spirit.

The idea of faery courts is pretty common and may also help develop the kind of faery Mary gets involved with. Unless it's not really important, and thus the faery could just be, "Hey, I'm a faery. Let's make a deal."

ok i am also going to introduce a character at the end of the story who will playing a big part in my stories about faries which will take place in the same continuity as Mary's story now i have also heard that Faries have a weakness aganist Iron can you tell me why is of all things their weakness is Iron.

Garza has an interesting comment, and I can say that he's about right. Either way, do some research before you start writing, and I'm sure it'll be great.

i am researching i have cheacked out three books about faries, but i like to know more why did faries get down-sized and desantizied in the modern age like in the victorean period faries were small now i know in Arthurian lore the Lady of the Lake and Morgan La Fey were considered Faries and were human size now when did the small faries come in?

Well, a quick search on Google rendered this result about iron used in folk lore: Iron in folklore - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Iron as a weapon/repellant against the supernatural is pretty common. It has even been used as a means to keep a vampire rising from the coffin if driven through the abdomen (or sometimes back if the corpse was turned over), per some Eastern European traditions.

You should really hit up your local library for research. Perhaps find books on Celtic mythology, as well as classical writers like WB Yeats or Lady Gregory. Sometimes books on druidism can be helpful, or pre-Christian accounts of paganism. If I remember the title correctly, there was a book called at my local library that you could see is at yours called An A to Z Who's Who of the Celtic World, or something similar to that.

To help you get started, I'll list the books that I currently own on the subject of faeries. These are what I reference when I need an answer right away and can't get to the library or can't find what I'm looking for online.

-Fairies: Real Encounters with Little People-Janet Bord, 1997

-Myths and Legends of the Middle Ages-H.A. Guerber, reprinted 1993

-Enchantment of the Faerie Realm-Ted Andrews, 2006

-Women in Celtic Myth-Moyra Caldecott, 1988/1992

-Faeries of the Celtic Lands-Nigel Suckling, 2007

-The Fairy Bible: The Definitive Guide to the World of Fairies-Teresa Moorey, 2008

-The Field Guide to Irish Fairies-Bob Curran, 1997

-The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fairies-Anna Franklin, 2002 (I reference this one. A lot.)

I also have the before mentioned Marr books, as well as a couple of Froudian books that are cute and sometimes inspirational.

Lore on little people varies a bit, but no matter what culture you base yourself on it seems to be similar. The social structure is basically feudal, they don't interact directly with humans but demand a level of respect and possibly the occasional offering or gift.

When angered they resort to mischief of varying degrees and when they really want to hurt you it's often done by influencing nature(sick cattle, drought, dead crops, even rotting the floorboards in your house) or in the most extreme cases, kidnapping, and after that it's all speculation what happens to you.

In Mayan territories there has been a long history of children being kidnapped by a sort of little people who live under ground. These children emerge decades later as shamans, visit their families to assure them that all is well, and then go about their work as shamans, following the will of the spirit world.

From gnomes to faeries and other little people, there seem to be many connections and many similarities. As Garza said, I wouldn't want to go about angering any of them, however I do believe that a writer should feel free to tell stories. Perhaps you should read up on them to inspire yourself, but since any information about them is probably myth, it wouldn't be to accurate anyway.

My advice is to design the faerie that best fits your story and add a disclaimer on page 1, apologizing for any material in the book that may be considered offensive to them or their fellow little people. That may sound like a joke but I'm actually not kidding. If you've lived anywhere near a large or old forest you develop a "better safe then sorry" attitude with these things.

Cheers

It might serve to call them something other than 'fairy'. Make up a name.

There are some comments in here that suggest not angering them, which could be one reason for the advice. But I'd avoid the word more because of the wide variety of concepts that people have on the little beings. Each person is going to compare their own thoughts on what a fairy is, to what you've got on paper. They'll think you did things wrong, or right, or think it could be done better another way, like X person did.

Create your own being and you avoid all this hassle. And people are more likely to take the thing at face value.

well with the story about Mary encountering one, i am going to introduce a character that is part of that universe and since they are a dying race which is a theme in the later folklore tales and there are few fairy men i have created a warrior class of fairy loyal to the queen but some what hostile to mortals they wear blue armor and they are women who job it is to keep any mortal who has enter the Fairyland and tries to take their secerets from escaping at any cost and are body guards to the royality. the story which Mary encounters a fairy will be a two parter. tell what you think of the warrior class fairies

First off it depends on where you want to place them, from tribal faeries to high-fantasy medieval imperialist faeries.
What you describe sounds closer to a glorious and large(or once large) monarchy.

I'd prefer the word cast rather than class if you must, but maybe that's just my taste. Anyway, any monarchy should always have the royal guard. Perhaps just call them what they are, palace guards or maybe "the queens finest"(bonus points to anyone who remembers what movie features tiny soldiers being called that). Either way, some sort of elite guard doesn't seem strange in a situation where the race is faced with a threat. Who they are and how they look is up to you.