"Once Upon a Time..."
is a phrase most of us have been familiar with since our childhood. Fairy tales are part of our culture as well as our historical heritage, they allow us insight into the lives of people who walked this earth long before us, opening a window into past times.
What if they could also be a mirror of our present?
The idea of basing a story on a fairy tale, of retelling the familiar plot beats in a new look, has been fascinating to me for many years. How much can I change a fairy tale before it's no longer recognisable? How to reframe wolves, dwarfs and witches in a world where cars and smartphones exist. Well, let's find out together.
One Upon Another Time – Project Ewea
This project, which has been active for several years now, is based on a simple thought: Given that fairy tales usually don't contain specific locations (since that would make them legends) and can take place pretty much everywhere, they really could be set in any location, right? And strictly speaking also in any time if the characters are interpreted more symbolically.
Therefore, one could tell fairy tales set in interesting times and places. How would fairy tale characters fare in the Wild West, in ancient Rome, or today? Believe me, I had a lot of fun thinking of slightly crazy combinations and even writing down some of them.
A few short stories later, I realised that the demand for modern retellings is bigger than for those set in earlier times. Hence, I mostly put my focus as author of fairy tale retellings on transporting known characters into our everyday world and trying to figure out how much this transportation changes the original fairy tales.
Currently in Progress
Heart of the Forest
What happens when Rapunzel sneaks out of her tower to become Robin Hood?
I thought of this question several years ago and wrote a short story about it. But I'm not quite happy with it yet and keep working on bigger and smaller editing rounds.
Questions
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About the Author
My name is Léonie Kessler and I write modern fairy tale retellings for adults.