I've had some excellent questions about the contest (thanks Sasha)! I will post clarifications as I think of them.
But here are a few very important ones:
The story does not have to be set in any specific time period.
The characters do not need to be royal, or have certain names.
Many, many details can and should be uniquely yours.
The bare bones, basic structure of the story should remain intact in the retelling.
Elements that I will be looking for in each story:
A lovely baby girl is born to well off and doting parents.
Magic, both for good and evil must be involved at her christening or dedication ceremony or celebration-of-birth party. I mean the fairy-tale kind of magic.
The parents must have rules trying to circumvent the terrible fate that is awaiting the adored daughter.
Those efforts must fail.
Heroine must fall into a death-like sleep, but remain lovely.
Young, intrepid hero must eventually find her and awaken her.
A wedding with the prediction of a positive (not necessarily happily ever after) future made clear.
Everything else is up to the writer. That means every other detail.
I would suggest taking a little trip through some variants of the story, of which there are many -- not because I want you to replicate them. But they will spark your imagination, and remind you that taking liberties with fairy tales is part of the whole process of appreciating and understanding them.
By the way, I am the only judge. My qualifications are that I teach about fairy tales at a university. I also teach writing at IUSB. And I just wanted to hold a contest and reward someone with something lovely (the prize).
Friday, June 19, 2009
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