Questions and Answers

A retelling is a story told in a new and / or different way, meaning the retold story is based on an already existing and usually well-known base story.

There are many different kinds of retellings. Some are based on legends, myths and fairy tales like Robin Hood or King Arthur with no clearly defined original. Others use a story with a known author, but old enough not to be subject to copyright laws anymore. Examples include William Shakespeare's “Romeo and Juliet”, Jane Austens “Pride and Prejudice” or Sherlock Holmes' adventures by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Many storytellers hold interest in retellings because they offer a base known to many readers, listeners and watchers. At the same time, they allow for creative freedom to change the original story by shifting the perspective, the location or the time where it takes place. This way, new plot threads and beats can be created, but also new conflicts and problems.

For many readers, listeners and watchers on the other hand, retellings offer a certain comfort by being somewhat familiar. Through this familiarity, the ideas and values of the storyteller can be seen more clearly.

That's the thing about ideas. As Mark Twain so aptly said: "There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages."

In my opintion, our experiences, memories, preferences and dislikes combine in our subconscious with the stories we're told by the people around us or by movies, books, plays and other media. The combinations we have the strongest connections to become ideas in our conscious mind. This makes the combinations unique for each person since two or more people hardly ever share the exact same mixture of experiences and media.

If you're looking for a new idea, here are three tipps that have worked for myself as well:

• Read books, watch movies, listen to music, watch plays from as many different genres and styles as comfortable for you. Expand your creative horizon as fas as you can because you never know where your next good idea might come from.
• Let yourself be inspired by a story you really like. Change and twist elements of it until it becomes your own story, with clear and distinct differences to the original work. Please don't plagiarise or write obvious copies, more than enough of them exist already and I'm sure your creativity is better than that.
• Try to be open for all kinds of stories without prejudice. Who knows, your storytelling talent might be especially strong in a genre you've never really interacted with before.

There are various approaches, none of them wrong.

Sometimes, an idea begins with a character growing over time in my mind. Maybe he has a similar family background to me, maybe he has the same dry humour as my best friend. Maybe she is a similar body type as a relative, maybe she has a voice like my favourite singer, maybe she has the big blue eyes of my work colleague.

People rarely live inside a vacuum chamber, therefore, you consciously or subconsciously draw inspiration from your environment. That in itself is nothing bad, real models can make a fictional character more real. Of course, if you put all of a real person into a character in your story, there are legal consequences coming your way. Understandable, because who would like to see themselves portrayed in a book or a movie? Perhaps even as a villain, a mean boss or the bitchy neighbour.

Sometines, an idea starts with a plot or a location instead. This results in certain requirements for the characters going through said plot or living in said location. A high-octane treasure hunt in the middle of nowhere is typically easier for an able-bodied character.

Of course, you can choose to ignore such limitations. That makes telling the story more challenging and complex, but can be its own reward. One of your treasure hunters uses a wheelchair? Hey, maybe this allows him a swift exit through the mine shaft to save the day.

Project "Ewea" contains all my stories based on this thought: known characters and plots, moved across time and space. Or rather, “once upon another time”, which is of course a pun on the familiar fairy tale beginning “once upon a time”. The German translation is “Es war ein andermal” and is the meaning behind the “Ewea” abbreviation.

The project has been running since 2017, I wrote the first story for it in the spring of 2018. Alas, like many first works, it's not fit for the public. But at least I received helpful feedback and was able to improve my writing style and storytelling. I had the opportunity to correct issues I hadn't noticed myself and became braver in terms of plot and characters.

In the beginning, I set several fairy tales into other historical time periods, which was great fun to me. For example, I put Mother Hulda into the Wild West and Rapunzel into Sherwood Forest. But the translation of fairy tales into our modern times became more interesting to me, so most of my stories now take place in the here and now (ish).

In 2024, I started a small experiment series lovingly called “Ewea Extreme” where I write several retellings for the same fairy tale. For 2024, it was Red Riding Hood because it was one of the first stories I ever retold for this project. And since this worked out quite nicely, I repeated this in 2025 with Beauty and the Beast.

Because we spend most of our life as adults and face new challenges every day.

Fairy tales are often meant as narrative warning for children about strangers or bad behaviour, as much is true. But they also tell of courage and cleverness, of kindness and love, of loyalty and hope. And these, I think, we can use at any age.

Even if there are few enchanted princesses and princes today and the witches' cottages or magical towers have grown rare in the forests, there are still negative influences on our lives like misfortune, greed and beings with bad intentions. Fairy tales show us ways to deal with these negative influences.

You've probably never been turned into a frog, a bear, a stork or another animal. But you might be familiar with feeling uncomfortable in your own body: too big, too small, too heavy, too thin, too much, not enough. Not strong enough, not pretty enough, simply not enough. In fairy tales, the curse is usually broken when another person falls in love with the cursed person or is motivated do to something due to their love. Sounds nice, but how's that supposed to happen in real life? Well, it's always great if there's someone who accepts you as you are, right? That can banish many gloomy thoughts and self-doubts. And one of the most important people who can love and value you are you yourself.

Social media has brought many interesting developments and connections in its wake, but unfortunately also the constant need to present yourself well in public and to judge others accordingly. Don't get me wrong, I like the internet and its global connectivity. But the internet is rarely there when you stand alone in front of a mirror and drown in a mental crisis due to your looks and it rarely helps you in such situations.

Oh, I do, believe you me, but practise makes perfect. In the same time I'd need to write a book, I can write a dozen short stories. This way, I can try out different themes, styles, translations from ancient to modern, characters etc. and collect feedback – what works, what's accepted, what isn't? Maybe I can't use all of that information for my books, but it shows good indications for general interest. Additionally, putting a whole plot in a short story without losing logic or atmosphere can be hard. You quickly learn to focus on the relevant parts.

Apart from that, sometimes I enjoy reading a collection of short stories, otherwise there wouldn't be so many fairy tale or legend books on my shelves. As much as I love sinking into thick tomes, occasionally, I want to read something more snack-sized, like a one-hour adventure, and this need is perfectly filled by short stories.

Not currently, no. I know from experience that I sometimes struggle with longer or multi-part stories because I literally lose either the plot or the interest in the story.

Since I've been reading several series where the next book is long overdue, I know the frustration of waiting. I don't want to doom my readers to starting a story that might never be finished.

What I can imagine right now are small cameos of characters from other works, given that all stories take place in our world and crossovers could happen.

I've been reading and writing fanfiction for well over twenty years in multiple fandoms at this point, I would be a complete and utter hypocrite to forbid fanfiction based on my works. Indeed, it would be my honour to inspire someone to start writing themselves with one of my stories. Strictly speaking, all of my works could be called fanfiction since retellings are exactly that, stories based on other, well-known stories retold. Have fun and good luck!

Of course, here are the usual limits:

• You can write fanfction, post it online and even print it, but you can't sell it for money or as a commercial service.
• I can't read your fanfiction, I'm sorry, it's probably fantastic. But if I were to accidentally use an idea from your fanfiction for one of my works, this could be the basis for a copyright issue, and neither you nor I want to have to deal with that.

Like so many bookworms, even as a child I felt the desire to tell stories myself and to share them with others, in my case by writing books. So yes, I always wanted to be an author, although my career path lead me into other areas.

Hear me say it loud and clear: Love is love, gender is independent of biological sex and discrimination is always bullshit.

I'm part of the LGBTQIA+ myself since I'm on the asexual as well as the aromantic spectrum, so aroace or a-spec respectively. For me, this means I'm not romantically or sexually attracted to other people. Other asexual and / or aromantic people can feel more or less attraction - as I've said, it's a spectrum. To my knowlege, around 0.5 to 1% of the population identify this way.

Also, I'm cis, my pronouns are she/her.

I was born in the summer of 1987, on an especially hot day, in an old village in Eastern Switzerland. I've always lived in this region and thus remained a “country bumpkin” to this day.

I'd love to, but not at the moment, no, my landlord doesn't allow pets. I had guinea pigs as a child, dear and gentle companions of my earlier days. Today, I might be more inclined towards scales rather than fur, but sadly, no pets withouth moving.

No, I'm unmarried and single because I'm currently not looking for a relationship. Nor for a zucchini (if you know, you know).

No, I don't have children nor do I want them. I already struggle to keep my cacti alive, I don't want to take responsibility for a life that depends entirely on me for years.