Writing our story wishlists for obscure fairy tales always feels a little like that first step you take into fresh snow, especially the first snowfall of the season. It’s exhilarating and magical and the scope for imagination is endless.
Grab your coat and follow us down another trail as we discuss retellings for:
THE TWELVE HUNTSMEN
Genres
Arielle
COURT INTRIGUE – I mentioned in our commentary that if The Selection had been more like this tale, I’d have enjoyed it a lot more (no offense to the author). So now, picture, if you will, a nationwide search for eleven girls who look like your princess. You net, oh, forty or so. You whittle that number down to twenty. Then, day by day, you pare it down still further to eleven. Eleven girls who study their princess, who learn to walk and talk like her. But WHY are they being chosen? Is it an elaborate prank? A masquerade a la The Phantom Menace? A new bodyguard protocol? Just why has this search been conducted? And what does it have to do with a revenge mission? That, my dear writers, is for you to tell us. Chop, chop.
CLOCKPUNK – I’m playing Dark Parables: The Final Cinderella right now, which is less clockpunk and more ‘puppet theater with a bit of flavor of clocks’ but I want clockpunk vibes, I want clockpunk aesthetic, I want these girls and clocks and magic and science all mixed together in an elaborate masquerade where the clock rules all…and the clock is running out.
DYSTOPIAN – Imagine if the ‘kingdoms’ in this tale are various rebel factions in a dystopian government. Dad wants his son to marry the daughter of one faction to unite them by marriage. Lo and behold, his son is in love with the daughter of the dictator or whatever the ruler of the dystopian land is. And even though she sympathizes with the rebels, she is not about to let her man marry the rebel princess. No, sirree.
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Christine
EPIC FANTASY – Or, like, ANY type of full on fantasy. I mean, we’ve got twelve epic ladies disguised as huntsman, political intrigue, a TALKING LION, a battle against wits, secrets and ruses and all manner of antics. The potential here is ENDLESS. I’m honestly surprised this one has next to no retellings.
TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES MASHUP – Literally the setup is so perfect. Twelve girls living a secret life? This could so easily be mashed up with 12DP, and I am 100% here for it!
SUPERHERO – The whole idea of the girls disguising themselves absolutely makes me think of a good ol’ superhero hidden identity. Maybe the prince is actually a VILLAIN and the girls disguise themselves as minions to bring him down or…something? I don’t know. But there’s all sorts of fun that could be had with this!
CIRCUS FANTASY – The whole talking lion bit makes me think of a circus. What if the girls have to disguise themselves as circus performers for some reason? The prince could be the evil and/or misguided circus master?? And what if it’s some sort of magical fae circus? Skye Hoffert’s Falling Snow story (found in Rooglewood’s Five Poisoned Apples anthology) got me HOOKED on creepy fae circuses and now I want moooore! I think this fairy tale would be the perfect layout for one!
PIRATE FANTASY – The Twelve Pirates instead of Huntsmen??? Yep, yep. I wants it. Gotta love it when females disguise themselves as pirates and cause all sorts of havoc. XD
MIDDLE-GRADE FANTASY – Because every fairy tale needs a fun little MG retelling, yes? So many bits of this fairy tale are quite humorous and I think would add well to a lighthearted MG take.
SPACE OPERA – Okay but what if the girls didn’t just have a vendetta against one prince, but like an entire GALAXY? Ah, the chaos that could be had.
POLITICAL INTRIGUE – There had to be a reason for the king to tell his son to marry that princess as his dying wish. AND there had to be some repercussions when the prince turned around and sent the princess on her way when he was reunited with his original love. Can you imagine all the political drama that could take place??? I could even see a retelling that is set right after the events of the original fairy tale, following the aftereffects of the prince choosing his first betrothed over the princess his father chose for him. Did the kingdoms go to war? What happened???
HISTORICAL FICTION – If you take out the talking lion (and just made him an adviser or something), this could easily be set in the real world. I’m not sure what time period or setting I’d even want. Maybe an Asian setting, Mulan-style? Okay, yes, that’d be epic!
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Faith
DARK-ISH FANTASY: I’d love to see a traditional fantasy retelling of this that might be a bit darker. Perhaps more of a revenge tale (wriggles eyebrows) where the princess is disguising herself as a huntsman and planning to enact vengeance on her lover for his failings.
WUXIA FANTASY: Cross-dressing heroines are quite common in historical martial arts stories, so I feel this storyline would fit right in!
STEAMPUNK FANTASY: I feel like this could be a fun and strange fantasy world – what with talking lions and disguised huntsmen. Perhaps this could be a more light romp with an extra dose of humor and wit.
Authors
Arielle
MORGAN G. FARRIS – I’m not really enchanted by the love story in this tale personally, but I feel like Morgan could make it likable. Plus, after Michael in her Chalam series, I’d like to see what she did with the servant here. Ehehehehe.
MICHELLE PENNINGTON – Not going to lie, I may or may not just want Pennington to write more fantasy in general, but this would be great from her, especially if she did a mermaid twist on it. Or a contemporary teen fantasy version? Oh yes, she’d kill it.
COLLABORATION – Hold on to your hats, fairy tale fans. Just imagine this tale as one of those novella box sets. Twelve different authors. Twelve different POVs (more if you include the prince/servant/etc.) One girl who vows to take back her life. Eleven girls who follow her. And then, SURPRISE! A thirteenth novella, from the lion’s POV (dibs, maaaaybe?). It can be fantasy, it can be Regency, it can be urban fantasy—the possibilities are endless. Just to throw some names into the ring, how about: Brittany Fichter, A.G. Marshall, Kenley Davidson, Shari L. Tapscott, Michelle Pennington, K.M. Shea, Emma Savant, and Melanie Cellier?
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Christine
SKYE HOFFERT – Can I volunteer her to do that circus idea? Because, seriously, I want a creepy, magical circus retelling of ALL the fairy tales from her now!
HEATHER DIXON – I could absolutely see her doing a really epic take on this. And since she already did a Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling, we know she totally excels at balancing large casts.
PATRICIA C. WREDE – I’d be so curious to see what sort of fun, epic spin she’d put on this tale!
JILL WILLIAMSON – She did a fantastic job writing a female character who had to disguise herself as a boy in the Blood of Kings trilogy. I’d LOVE to see what she could do with a whole pile of disguised girls!
KATHERINE S. COLE – Because she is fabulous at balancing big casts AND comes up with the most unique premises.
ARIELLE BAILEY – That space opera idea I mentioned? Hi, yes, Arielle would ROCK IT. Big casts and epic females and battle of the wits? This has Arielle written all over it!
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Faith
ELIZABETH LIM – I think she could do a fabulous new take on this story.
MELANIE CELLIER – She has written quite a lot of fairytales, of which the majority are either well known fairytales or ones close to that. I’d love to see her take on a more obscure tale and what she would do with it.
Pre-Existing Story Worlds
Arielle
Can Patricia C. Wrede write a retelling set in the same world as her MAGICIAN’S WARD? Because that would be SUPERB.
Also the aesthetic of Clara Diane Thompson’s MOON MASTER’S BALL would be great for this tale.
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Christine
THE (FAIRLY) TRUE TALE SERIES by Liesl Shurtliff – Though I’ve only read one in this series so far, I ADORED it. Shurtliff’s humorous little world was a delight, and I’d love to see what she could do with this fairy tale!
THE PRINCESSES OF WESTFALIN WORLD by Jessica Day George – Can you imagine if Rose and all her sisters ended up having to disguise themselves as huntsman for some reason? I WOULD PAY GOOD MONEY FOR THIS.
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Faith
Melanie Cellier’s THE FOUR KINGDOMS world.
Movies/TV
Arielle
The court intrigue version I mentioned? I’d love to see that as a Netflix show, yes please and thank you. Something with a Reign vibe. Mmmhmmm.
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Christine
With all the many characters and politics and lover quarrels and everything else going on, I feel like this would work best in a mini-series or TV series format, where there’s plenty of room to explore all the characters. Maybe a sort of fantasy drama like ABC’s Once Upon a Time? That’d be a lot of fun.
BUT. I certainly wouldn’t say no to a fun animated take as well!
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Faith
I’d like to see a movie adaptation done in a vein similar to perhaps Snow White and the Huntsman. Or even a more comical approach like Mirror, Mirror would be fun!
Are you planning to retell this tale?
Arielle
Oh, yes. There’s a Venetian masquerade version tempting me, a Regency version that may or may not fuel more than an RPG campaign, and NOW CHRISTINE’S THROWING SPACE OPERA MY WAY, which she KNOWS I have a hard time saying no to. Rude.
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Christine
Well, I WASN’T. But now my circus idea is tempting me something fierce…
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Faith
I don’t have any current plans – however I love the talking lion element! That I might have to find a place for in a story in the future. 😀
What kinds of retellings or adaptations of this tale would YOU like to see?
Fairy Tale Central 
Send help! I now want all of theeeese! Especially Regency fantasy (do it, Lody!) and Twelve Dancing Princesses, and Steampunk fantasy! Aaahhhh! Want, want, want. This is all awesome.
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^__^ soooooo many ideas….oh, boy…
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