Retellings that I Would Like To Write Someday.

Final day of the tour - how did it go by this quickly???? Anywho, I'm going to talk about the various fairy tale retellings that I have running around in my head but haven't written yet (at least not in their entirety). And I couldn't put a cap at seven, so you're getting thirteen, since some versions of Sleeping Beauty give her thirteen fairy godmothers.

1. All the Bookania.
Let's just get that one out of the way - my neverending series where I try to pack in all the fairy tales. I've made it through three books. Twenty bajillion left to go.

2. Red as Snow.
This is a retelling of Snow White that I've written about 3,500 words on, and I thiiiiink I'm about a third of the way through it. The book was inspired by the title, because my brain was tired and was messing with the fairy tale. It is, basically, a role reversal between SW and the stepmother. Snow is nearly ten years her stepmother's senior. But the "Prince," Snow's cousin, Charmel, is the true villain of the story. Yup, dreadfully twisted and I'm loving every moment of it.

3. Fair Rosamund.
This would be a historical fantasy. See, I was reading a book about Henry II, and it mentioned a mistress of his named Rosamund ... which happens to be a name belonging to Sleeping Beauty. So, yes, I made connections, and I now want to write a retelling. Someday. I'm not ready to write this story yet - that's how you guys ended up with Poison Kiss.

4. Snowella White
This is a blended retelling of Snow White and Cinderella, leaning closer to Snow White. I haven't quite worked out all of the logistics, but I'm substituting the seven dwarves for seven godmothers.

5. Untitled Rumpelstiltskin Sequel
This story actually dates back to Sew, It's a Quest's original conception, as it was going to be the second book in the "Beyond the Ever After" series that is now the Bookania Quests. Unfortunately, this story no longer fits into the Bookania framework that I have established. But it's well-plotted, about the child that Rumple lost, and is a bit of an allegory. So, fun.

6. Mermaid Footprints.
I have a .... page and a half of this book in my docs files. This is Mynna's story, and if any of you have read The Ankulen, you know that she's the youngest of seven mermaid sisters. As such, you probably already realize that it's a retelling of the Little Mermaid. Except that she leaves the water so she can save her people, not to be with a man, and she just happens to fall in love along the way.

7. The Dancing Princess
This is a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, where it's just one princess, not twelve of them. I haven't worked out all of the details, but she might be rescuing twelve princes. We'll see how it goes.

8. Cayra
This book is kiiiiiinda a sequel to the Little Mermaid. I can't say anything more about that, though.

9. Sing, Aling.
My sci-fi retelling of Peter Pan. Aling is the tinkerbell character, and she's half-fairy and half-elf, and not quite accepted by either society. And then a spaceship crashes on their planet. It's gonna be awesome, and I WILL write it for NaNo, one of these years. Probably next year. Worth of a King is on the agenda for this year.

10. Fairer than Beauty
A self-aware retelling of Beauty and the Beast where the girl assigned to the tale had been hoping for the obscure "Fairer than a Fairy" and then proceeds to try to completely derail the fairy tale in an attempt to get the story that she wanted.

11. Untitled Rapunzel Retelling
This is the idea I was messing with when I thought that the next Rooglewood contest would be Rapunzel. It's twist - instead of living in a tower, Rapunzel is trapped underground. No, I haven't worked out all of the details yet. Why are you asking?

12. Colinda and the Swan's Secret
Probably the loosest sense of a "retelling" on the list, Colinda was inspired by Swan Lake, so I'm going to count it.

13. To Perfect a Fairy Tale.
And, finally, I have the book where all of the fairy tales are messed up, and it's up to a young girl named Anthea to fix all of them. Fun stuff.

On The Blogs Today:
Morgan Elizabeth Huneke - Something About the SSS
Interviews:
Rachel Rossano's Words - Kendra
Dreams and Dragons - Rachel
Reviews:
Girls Living for God’s Glory - Twisted Dreams
Sutori no Hana - Twisted Dreams

Giveaway Time!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

There will also be a prize for the person who leaves the most comments across all of the blog posts for this tour - whoever leaves the most comments gets to read The Seven Drawers, the retelling of Snow White that I just finished for the Rooglewood contest, and Cindy Ellen, the sequel to Rosette Thornbriar. Both stories are finished, so you don't have to worry about cliff hangers. Get commenting.

And, as a reminder, any comments that you leave on my blog this month and next will count towards a drawing for a full set of my books, with the all-new covers.

Oh, and free books!
Sew, It's a Quest (Permafree): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/731321
Woodcutter Quince (Free August 8-12): https://www.amazon.com/Woodcutter-Quince-Bookania-Short-Stories-ebook/dp/B00OYGVHP8/

Thank you to everyone who came by and took part in the blog tour - contest and giveaway winners will be announced Monday.

The Story of Notebooks Continued

A couple weeks ago I came to you with a collection of notebooks that I had purchased but wasn't sure what I wanted to write in them. You guys offered your suggestions based on my WIP list, and here are the results.

Blue went to Cayra, natrually. I haven't started writing it, but I'm looking forward to it.

I know that no one actually voted for this story, but it's been wanting me to write it. That blue stripe is supposed to represent a river. Rivers are an important part of the book.

With only one exception, everyone voted for pink to be To Perfect a Fairy Tale. To tell the truth, I've been a bit hesitant about this story, not being exactly sure where I'm going with it ... but I had a nice long conversation with my mom the other night, and now I'm REALLY excited to get this book written.

Wait, you don't remember there being a green? Well, I found some more of these notebooks at a different walmart the other day, so I picked up a few more. Unfortunately, I accidentally got wide ruled, but I'll live with it. Green went to the entire trilogy, because I don't see the books being very long. Haven't started writing them, though.

Ever since Kathryn submitted her version of this book's first chapter, I've been very excited to get back into Jessica's summer. I'm really pleased with how this cover came out. 

Fun fact: Because this notebook was too dark for permanent markers to show up on, this one is done in nail polish.

Why the wings in this picture? Well, you'll understand it once you read it. 

Also, nobody tried their hand at the treasure hunt, so nobody gets to read Woodcutter Quince. Oh, I guess it's just as well, since I've realized that there is a portion that I need to completely rewrite. One of Doranna's scenes. She needs more than internal monologue. I know what I'm going to do with it, but haven't gotten around to it. Maybe tomorrow.

And, I set up a which character are you quiz for The Ankulen on Buzzfeed. Go try it out and let me know who you get!

I plan to do a Bookania Princess one next ...

Rockwall Castle - Chapter 1

My cover Concept based on this picture

And since I made my sister offer up some of her writing, I thought I'd offer up some of mine. This is from Cayra the only one of my Mikada stories other than Infiltration, which has already been featured, to have earned a first chapter. It actually only has two chapters, introductions for the two main characters, because I really wasn't sure where I wanted to go next with the story. I had an ending for it, but until then ... nothing. However, now that I know that it's part of the Mikada series, I can pull a few strings.

Also, I used the original title for the title of this post. I'm not sure why.

Chapter 1

Cayra Princess

Alinda knew almost every twist and turn in Rockwall Castle’s many passages. She knew, almost as well, every twist and turn in its court intrigue. And she was tired of it.

It wasn’t as though she wasn’t grateful that the three princesses had agreed to finish her training after their mother had died, but she personally would have preferred a castle that had had a queen. It used to have a queen, Queen Ilana, but she had disappeared mysteriously many years before.

She would miss this place once she reached her sixteenth birthday in a few months, but she would not miss Princess Atrina’s repeated attempts to assassinate her. Princess Rebicca and Princess Nessica were nice, but Atrina was downright awful.

As Alinda swam into her room, it appeared as though there were six of her. Her room was called the mirror room, and for good reason, every wall in the room was a highly polished mirror.

Alinda was a pretty Cayra princess, with thick dark brown hair streaked with emerald green, that was currently twisted up to prevent tangles. Her eyes were emerald green, too, as was her tail, although the fin part at the end was a few shades lighter. Right now, she was wearing a long, mint green dress. On her head was a gold and seashell tiara, and around her neck were two long strings, one of pearls, and one of emeralds.

She settled into a large, mother-of-pearl chair, and pulled a book off the shelf. It was entitled, “Legends of the Eamals,” and was Alinda’s absolute favorite book on the shelf.

She was fascinated with Eamals, the strange creatures who lived on land, who unlike the Cayra, walked around on legs that were the same color as the rest of their body. She wondered how they could breath air instead of water, as Cayra did. She knew that if Cayra took a special pill, they would be able to breath air for short periods of time, but how did the Eamals breath air?

Personally, Alinda had never been able breath air, even though she was a princess of considerable rank, a crown princess whose only bar from the throne was the fact that she was still a month and a half from her sixteenth birthday. She had had one pill once, but had almost died as an effect. Her brother had been the same way, and she had never heard of her father trying to breathe air, although her mother, when she was alive, had had no problem with the air-breathing pill.

She guessed that her father was unable to tolerate it as well, and that was why he had never tried, and why she and Aaroon, her brother, had never been able to tolerate it. Still, she thought unfair that it was she, a girl fascinated by the Eamals, who couldn’t breathe air.

“Boo!” said a voice, causing Alinda to jump a bit. She glanced in the mirror in front of her to see that Ashla, the eldest daughter of Princess Rebicca, had swum into the room.

“Yes, Ashla?” she asked.

“You jumped!” Ashla exclaimed, “I got you to jump!”

“What are you doing in my room?” she asked, rolling her eyes.

“‘Legends of the Eamals,’” read Ashla, noticing the title of Alinda’s book, “You shouldn’t read that, you know. Eamals are what killed Aunt Ilana.”

“No one knows that for sure,” said Alinda with a sigh, “all anyone knows is that Queen Ilana is gone. We don’t even know if she is dead.”

“Aunt Atrina says she is,” said Ashla.

“Do you always believe everything Atrina tells you?” Alinda asked, raising an eyebrow at Ashla’s image in the mirror opposite them. Ashla has blond hair, streaked with pink. Her eyes were Kelly green. Her tail shimmered prettily with both pink and green.

“Well,” said Ashla, “In this Mother and Aunt Nessica agree with Atrina, and you know how rare that is.”

“But they don’t know for sure,” said Alinda, “Now, what are you doing in my room?” Although she was only visiting, Alinda’s rank was higher than Ashla, as Ashla was not only a whole year to young to be queen, but she had a mother and aunt who were ahead of her in the order of ascension. Then there was the fact that the crown of Rockwall Castle was missing, and had been ever since Queen Ilana disappeared.

“I came to ask if you would like to explore,” said Ashla, “Will you?”

“Maybe later,” said Alinda, “I’m reading, and you insulted me.”

“I did?” said Ashla, giving Alinda an innocent look, “Very well. I’ll go explore by myself.” She swam out of the room.

Alinda gave her head a toss as she returned to her book. Usually she jumped at an opportunity to explore, but not right now. She was reading, another pass time she didn’t often have opportunity to indulge in. Not that she was able to indulge in much exploration either, but it happened far more often than her reading time.

She closed her eyes and tried to picture what the Eamals might look like, with their legs the same color as the rest of them, and their drab, one-colored hair. They sounded so funny.

She wished she could take the pill and be able to go on land and see them for herself. It was said that they built floating land that they could use to cross the water. It was said that it was on one of these that Queen Ilana saw the Eamals that stole her heart and caused her death.

Disappearance, Alinda reminded herself. The queen had merely disappeared. It had to be true, since the queen had taken the ancient crown with her, and it was only with it that her successor could be crowned. That was Cayra custom. Every castle had its crown, and it was always with it that the queens were crowned. To be crowned without it was a serious breach of custom that would never be done. It was said that Princess Atrina wanted to do so, but her sisters consistently forbade it. It would never be done. It was better for a castle to crumble into ruin than to have its queen be crowned by anything other than the ancient crown.

That was why there was no queen in this castle.