Not all those who wander…

When I was about eight, I watched Alice in Wonderland over and over again. I loved the chatty and catty flower garden. I memorized all the Cheshire Cat's lines. I hated the ending. I didn't want Alice to back to her old life. I hoped she would learn to navigate the ins and outs of …

Miss Plot?

For those who don’t know, I love Star Trek. While I’m iffy on the original series, I’ve seen the original cast movies more times than I can count. I watched them after discovering my first love, Star Trek: The Next Generation. My love affair continued through Deep Space Nine, Voyager and even Enterprise (although don’t …

Suspend belief

I spend a lot time on this blog criticizing fairy tales (as only someone who really loves them can), but there is one thing that I truly love about fairy tales--the ability for fairy tale characters to believe in the extraordinary. Cinderella just ran with it when her mother's grave started granting her wishes. The …

Living a Fairy Tale Trope

It’s a familiar trope in fairy tales. Cinderella had her father’s estate. Snow White and Sleeping Beauty both had a cottage in the woods. Rapunzel had her tower with no doors. Belle had the Beast’s castle. In fairy tales, princesses tend to find themselves in isolation. It’s not unusual. These stories were written in a …

Simple Kindness is Golden

Ever get the feeling that rudeness in on the rise? I know it's not a new idea, but that doesn't mean it bears ignoring. Just like anything that requires correcting, it should be revisited. In fairy tales princesses and women who will be princesses are always praised for their quiet accommodation and politeness, which I …

Fairy Justice

Imagine if you will Rapunzel still wandering the swamp with her twins in tow and the prince elsewhere, still blind and searching for his love. Imagine the maiden in Rumpelstiltskin handing over her baby to the fairy who demanded her as payment. Imagine the Woodsman never happened by Grannie’s house and Red Riding Hood still …

January with Thumbelina

January is a quiet, broody month. The end of the holiday season is as sudden as the beginning of it. The weather is unpredictable and rarely appreciated. And the new year has a sense of urgency to be different or at least better than the last. It’s all exhausting! I think about Thumbelina hiding out …

Believing your own hype–like a tailor

Being a writer is hard. I know everyone says that, but it's like parenting--you don't know how hard it's going to be until you're in the trenches, slogging through it all. It turns out writing and rewriting (and rewriting, and rewriting...) is actually the easy part. Especially if you hold to the rule that you …

Formula: The Sequel or Comfort Mind Food

Last week I wrote about Hallmark Movies and their tendency to be formulaic. And I don’t think formula's are always a bad thing. But there was a time when my literary snobbery got in the way of a good time. As a teenager I flirted with a certain author’s romance stories that would be considered …

Hallmark Movie Drinking Game ©

The worst kept secret in fairy tales is that they conform to a formula. There’s something comforting in that, if a bit predictable. A modern-day equivalent is a Hallmark movie. They are predictable and comfortable, like worn-in shoes. Not great, not bad—just a pleasant way to spend an afternoon (or a holiday season). A bit …