Ways to Meet a Beast

a fairy tale multiverse

Hi, friends. You know one, thing that I love about writing stories is how they often start with a simple question.

What if the unassuming human had her own magic, and struck a bargain with the fey?

What if the woman without a choice actually escaped an abusive marriage?

What if the girl had had a mother figure to teach her about gardening?

These are some of the questions that led me to write stories and poems, all of which are inspired by Beauty and the Beast.

which one are you today? I’m the Beast.

One of the fun things I love about writing fairy tale retellings is how little you actually need to change about a story to make it your own.

Of course, we carefully avoid copyright infringement wherever applicable.

What’s even more fun? Two people could ask the same question of the same fairy tale and still create totally different retellings. Every book is just a story retold. There is nothing new under the sun. That can be freeing!

Or a little sad, if you’re an Enneagram 4 like me and sometimes get bogged down in needing to be unique.

Cue Let it Go.

But really? This can be so freeing as a writer. I spent so many years on my first B&B retelling because–well, for a lot of reasons, but one of them was that I kept encountering similarities between my story and others’. I would get discouraged and give up. You don’t have to let the same problem bog down your writing joy.

This is a huge part of the inspiration behind my upcoming email course, Twice Told. I wanted to explore the similarities and differences between three lesser-known Beauty and the Beast tales and let the imagination run wild with ideas. I also wanted to create a writing course that would take these comparisons and give you a dependable framework for writing your own fairy tale retelling.

So jump into the fairy tale multiverse with me. Have fun. Make it a skunk cabbage instead of a rose, or challenge why Beauty’s goodness is equated with her looks. Write a short story that changes one little thing, or start an epic six part novel series. There are so many possibilities!

Sign ups close on April 11th. The price will not change between now and then, but it is available on a sliding scale.

Another favorite thing about retellings? You can take that multiverse energy and create multiple versions of the same story. This is what propelled me to write my short story for paid subscribers, Ways to Meet a Beast.

I’ve shared it before, but now paid subscribers can access it below as a gorgeous PDF download. It’s way prettier than a black-and-white ebook and I had so much fun making it!

Ways to Meet a Beast will also be included in Twice Told.

If you have questions about the course, you can always shoot me an email.