Thursday, June 13, 2013

And Da Winners Are ...

I may have mentioned the fact that I was holding a giveaway yesterday, with two lucky winners of either

The PDF files of Sew, It's a Quest and/or Do You Take This Quest?
Or ...
A Word File containing my NaNo attempt at My Kingdom for a Quest. 

I just pulled names from the hat and they are ....

Miss Melody Muffin
Kiri Liz

Since I happen to know that both of you have read both Sew, and Take, I'll just go ahead and send the two of you each Kingdom. (Unless you do want the PDF of Take, in which case comment below, and I'll send it to you with Kingdom)

And since this would otherwise be a very short post, I've decided that I will talk about Disney Princesses. What I think of each movie, and when and where I'll slide their fairy tale into Bookania.


I agree with Tommy DePaola in my assessment of Snow White. The skimped on the Evil Queen's murder attempts and she got off way too easy of a punishment. And, in actuality, this is not the Snow White I grew up with. I grew up with this one, which follows the original fairy tale much better.

I will tell Snow White's fairy tale in book 17, but she won't go by the name Snow White. This is because I was reading an older Grimm's Fairy Tale and discovered another name for her that I like a lot better, and I don't want her to get mixed up with Snow White and Rose Red. (Did you know that, in the original German, the two Snow Whites have different names?) I was originally going to make her Doranna and Casperl's daughter (which is why Casperl has black hair) but I was plotting around some time ago and discovered that I wanted to give D and C's kids more mathematically-themed names (one of which my mother had considered naming me!) and I found another couple (who will be introduced in book 4) who would give the fairy tale a much better twist. I know who the prince is going to be, and he is related to Robin. That's all I'm going to say.


Cinderella isn't my favorite fairy tale, and in my opinion, Disney did a pretty good job of bringing Cinderella to life, and I consider Cinderella III one of my favorite movie sequels ever done. (I love it when movies experiment with what might have happened if "this" or "that" were different)

Cinderella will be book 6, and you have met her prince and the person who will pose as Fairy Godmother. (While she does have a Fairy Godmother, the FG will not be the person who gets her to the ball) The twists I have planned for this book. I mean, who else would combine Cinderella, The Merchant of Venice, The Odyssey, and Elsie Dinsmore into one book? (And let's not forget to mention the pirates!)


I find the fight over Aurora's dress color amusing ... and I like how Prince Phillip gets to fight against the villainess in this one. However, I don't like the fact that they cut her sleeping sentence short. It only lasted a few hours - if that!

Books 1 and 2. If you don't know how, go buy the books. They're currently on sale for 99 cents each on Kindle, and Sew's paperback price has been lowered.


I have never seen The Little Mermaid all the way through, though I do believe I have seen the whole thing (just not in order). I think they did do a pretty good job (I mean, this is disney, after all. The Little Mermaid's original sad ending just doesn't fit with it's scheme.) but the fact that Ariel is so blatantly rebellious to her father - I just can't put my stamp of approval on that one. 

I know exactly what I want to do with her, but it's so far in the future, it hasn't got a book number, or even a title yet. She won't be a fish-taled mermaid, won't even be able to breath underwater. She'll just be a normal human being who just happens to live in Atlantis. And she will be able to speak, just not in English.

However, if you do want a mermaid, Cayra was inspired by the Little Mermaid, and Jen has been talking about using her mermaids to rewrite it. 


I know that many of my friends adore this one, and I do agree that the fact that she's a bookworm is pretty cool but ... I've never been able to get over the fact that they changed her name from Beauty to Belle ... and the fact that she's an only child. I like her sisters (whose names are Marigold and something that I've forgotten, according to the book I found Casperl's fairy tale in). Gaston is amusing though. He makes a good villain.

Honestly, I don't know what I'm doing with this fairy tale. I think I've settled on the identity of his parents ... but her. I have no idea. (Her name will be Beauty, however, and her sisters will be named Marigold and Dressalinda (Went and looked up the other sister's name.) I do know that, if his parents are the people I think they'll be, he'll have an older sister. And you've met both of the parents already if you've read Take. (And if you've only read Sew, you've heard both of their names.)


They really messed with Aladdin's plot, but I can mostly forgive them because it was originally a very sprawling plot (Yes, I've read the original.) They changed the princess's name, too ... but I suppose Badr al Buldar isn't very romantic now that I think about it.

At the moment, I don't know what I'm doing with Aladdin at all. Not a clue, not a guess. 


(Yes, I'm skipping Pocahontas)

They messed with Mulan's plot a bit, and they added a few cruder jokes that I don't quite appreciate, but over all, it's fairly good. 

I'm thinking of Making Mulan Push's cousin or other such relation. If so, you'll possibly meet her in book 7. I'll also make her history much more like the original Chinese Legend.


I haven't seen the Princess and the Frog, nor do I plan to. I don't care much for modernizations, nor do I approve of the voodoo. However, it does have an interesting twist.

Book 21, and since there are three versions of this fairy tale that I really like, I'm using all three and making them a set of siblings who were all cursed to be frogs. (Two boys and a girl.) You've met their mother if you've read Sew, and their father if you've also read Take. I'm really looking forward to writing this one. (And the ending has been written already, actually.)


There are few movies that I have seen five times and still wouldn't mind a sixth. Tangled departs radically from the original, but somehow I don't mind it as much as some of the others. It works and it is hilarious. 

Book 5. Anyone who has read Sew, should be able to guess how. I follow the original fairy tale much better though. 



And next year they're coming out with Frozen, which will be based on The Snow Queen. From what I've read about it, it looks like it's going to have some very interesting twists.

Book 7. Yes, the one that'll star Push au Kim. I think I'll leave you guessing when it comes to my genius plot.

6 comments:

  1. Ah!! Thank you, Kendra! I shall very much look forward to reading what you send!!! :D

    BTW, I don't know if I ever officially told you, but I really love how you twist up the fairy tales. What you did to Sleeping Beauty (falling in love with the prince and still managing the 100 year sleep) was brilliant. Let me just say, I'm really glad you're not stopping with a trilogy, because I am super-duper excited to see what you're going to do with the rest of the fairy tales. Specifically some of those you mentioned here. :)

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  2. Thank you very much Kendra!!! I'm eager to read Kingdom.

    I would like the PDF of Take, thank you.

    Ooooh, your take on Cinderella sounds cool!

    I think I'm going to like your version of The Little Mermaid.

    Aladdin has always been one of my favorite Disney movies. I adore the original tale and I've toyed with the idea of a rewrite a few times. I don't know if it will ever happen....

    Mulan is a great story. Making her Push's cousin would be neat!

    Now I'm going to cudgel my brains to remember/figure out who the frog princes/princess's parents are.

    I'm definitely looking forward to these!

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  3. HURRAY to them both!!!! And happy late birthday to Robin and Robert!!

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  4. Wow, Kendra! 21 books? That's a lot! :)
    And now I want to know do you outline or are you a discovery-writer?

    ~Robyn Hoode

    P.S.- I bought Do You Take This Quest. I like the Arthurian legend in it and I have guesses about the old man and the sword in the column. :)

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    Replies
    1. 21 books until I get to the Frog Prince. The Little Mermaid is likely to be at least book 30. Yes, I know it's a lot, but there are a LOT of fairy tales out there.

      I'm about half and half. I like to plot out my series, but individual books, I usually know how the end, and have played through at least half of the scenes in my head, but I don't do outlines. (The closest I've done are summaries and a chapter list for The Ankulen's second draft.

      I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to guess away!

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    2. It is a lot, but I'm impressed.

      I'm mostly a discovery-writer. If I get an idea for something for my WIP, I write it down. I've only done minor outlining beyond this. Outlines are just too consticting for me. When I have written a list of scenes and in what order I wanted, I deviated from it. But I didn't make that list before I started the book.

      ~Robyn

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Hi! Now that you've read my post, hast thou any opinions that thou wouldst like to share? I'd love to hear them!

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