Thread: Your favorite part of stories as a child?

Ok. I've always loved fairy tales. I love to grab my fat volume of Grimm's Fairy Tales for lazy reading, and I am always obsessed with any movie/book/poem that has to do with classic fairy tales or modern reworkings of them. Folk tales from around the world give me infinite fascination. I own every Disney princess movie. I love the children's section of the library and looking at the beautiful artwork in books like Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky or Sleeping Beauty my Malhon F. Craft.

So for my most recent project, I decided to write a "mature" fairy tale. A "once upon a time" sort of story for grown up book lovers who still adore their fairy tales like me. I've taken the plot shell of a simple, classic folk tale as my foundation and plan to completely flesh it out. I want the story to breath/feel like a fairy tale, but read and have the depth of an adult novel (if that makes any bit of sense), but balancing these two tones is something I am still working on.

So will you please be my market research group?! What I would like to know from you all:

1. What did you love about stories/fairy tales when you were little? What about your favorite stories from when you were younger do you remember the most? (most namely the classics/folk tales like Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood... etc. Or of course any of the classics in your country of origin.)

2. If you are an adult who still loves fairy tales, what do you think are the elements that still attract you?

3. What attracts you to the type of stories you read/enjoy the most now? What elements/details make you decide to read a particular story over another?

And anything else you think might help! Even if you really didn't like classics or enjoy fairy tales as a child, I would love to know about your preferences now. Thanks. I am interested in your answers.

- Vee

Most original fairy tales didn't have happy endings, Disney butchered that. My favorite ones didn't have happy endings, they had real endings. The original purpose for them was to teach lessons and enforce social mores so there is a timelessness about them. The teach us something that still applies today. Like the Midas touch. Is greed any less relevant today?

I used to tell The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf to try and get my children to understand lying.

I will read just about anything now. My favorite books have strong kick butt women protagonists. They are smart and strong and don't let societal restrictions keep them down. Which was always my issues with Sleeping Beauty and such. The women were so weak.

I have a well worn copy of the myths and hymns of Inanna. Something about her resonates so deeply with me. I have read that book over and over for 7-8 years tonight. If I had a patron goddess, she would be it. I dream about her descent into the underworld.

Thanks for your answer.

I am the same way about the ending. Though I won't lie and say I don't enjoy the Disney versions, I do love my huge book of Grimm's Fairy tales because of the realness and the original endings. It's not fair for Cinderella to simply send step-mamma and two faced sisters packing. I want the version where the birds peck out their eyes or where they are stuffed in barrels full of nail spikes and rolled down the street.

Something about this makes me feel that all is right in the world again.

1. The pretty princess

2. The pretty princess

3. The pretty princess

Anything else - the pretty princess.

They took me away from reality.
they took me where I was king, and I didn't have to be subject to laws of physics.
Dreams became my hope. denial my guide.

I can recommend a couple if you are researching.
I think the title is Zelle or Maybe Zel. An adaption of Rupunzel
Book of a Thousand Days
Hearts Blood by Juliet Marillier [I think you'd really like this one]
I loved the Neverending Story

My all time favorite 'fairy tale' is The Bridge of Birds
And my all time favorite childhood story is The Magic Paintbrush. My copy has the best pictures ever.
I will come back when I have thought on this more for better explanations.

Oh, and 'Everyone knows what a dragon looks like'. My copy also has fab pics.

I think the thing I like most, is the heroine, or hero, discovering their inherent power, magic and the worlds beyond our own, where it comes from. You know what I mean? Ties with faith in oneself and the power of belief. They are good but simple people, real, complicated, but true of heart, even making mistakes.
I think I'm tired. Having trouble explaining, but ask if you want.

What I liked the most was things that really awed me. I can think of a few examples. One, reading the first LoTR book, when they entered the Mines of Moria. When I first read that, it totally whisked me away to that underground, evil place. The part when he dropped the rocks down the well, and then they heard more knocking come afterwards. . . scared the crap out of me. Of course in the movie they exaggerated that a little bit when the whole corpse with armour fell down the well, clang, clang, clang.

Another, The Mist, by Stephen King (not exactly a fairy story, but fantasy). At the end when that huge giant thing came walking over them, and it was as tall as a mountain and had all those things living in it. I'll always remember that image. Fantasy is my preferred genre and typically all I write.

Also, surreally powerful characters, though done in moderation. I don't want every character to have comic-book powers, but if one or two, especially the bad guys, can be a walking demi-god that can fly or something, I love that. The bad guys having the edge makes tension, which is why the Nazgul get to ride dragons and look totally gangster.