For one thing, I didn’t want the big sister to die at the end.
I tried to harness the same spirit of creative restaging when contemplating this retelling. The choices aren’t random, of course there’s always a thread that connects the heart of the story to the chosen settings. She’s set Beauty and the Beast in ancient Persia ( Beast), Cinderella in China ( Bound), and a Bearskin variant in Italy ( The Wager). Among contemporary YA writers I admire, Donna Jo Napoli’s work stands out in this respect. That can take the form of a different character perspective, a fresh source of motivation, or an unusual location for a familiar plot. She’s perfectly free to write her own book.)Īfter all, my favorite fairy tale fiction offers the delicious promise of discovering an old friend in new dress. My younger sister Bethany might have a different view. And not every conflict was the oldest one’s fault! (Ahem-at least that’s my perspective. Yes, sisters could be competitive, but we supported each other, too. That didn’t fit at all with my life experience. I hated the fairy tale convention that older sisters, especially stepsisters, mostly exist as an evil foil to their younger sisters. My version of Charles Perrault’s tale about the kind and unkind girls had been sparked by a long-brewing dissatisfaction. I hauled out the binder of stories to see whether one might have novel potential and Toads jumped out, so to speak. She wondered what else I might be working on. In early 2008, when my second book, Aurelie: A Faerie Tale, was in production, my editor wasn’t too enthused about the next project I had sent her. Which is funny, because Tana and Diribani, my two main characters, spend most of their time barefoot… Anyway, after several rejections, I shelved the anthology and went back to writing novels. The novel started out in 2004 as a short story in a series of shoe-themed retellings, along with Puss in Boots, Cinderella, and The Iron Shoes. My YA novel Toads and Diamonds is coming out in late March, and I’m so excited about this stage of the publication process, when I (finally) get to share it with readers. Thanks, Heidi, for inviting me to contribute to the SurLaLune blog. Tomlinson has previously written The Swan Maiden and Aurelie: A Faerie Tale. I was very excited to learn about this new title since Diamonds and Toads is an all too neglected fairy tale. The following is a post by guest blogger, Heather Tomlinson, author of Toads and Diamonds, which was released a week ago today.
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