NaNoWriMo 2009: Chapter I
(all of this novel is © Kirstine Heald)
'Once Upon a Time...
...In a Land, far, far away'. We all know this line, and if you don't then I have no idea why you are reading this. It is the line with which the reader is transported to a world filled with magic and mystery, dragons and fairies, where heroes conquer evil and always get the girl. Just this feeling of being taken to another world is one of the reasons that fairy tales are still loved today and what continues to make them so popular with the vivid imaginations of children even in the present day (when you can drag them away from their xboxes and computers)..
This is the line that draws the reader in and makes them follow the events of the story to its conclusion, like a hunter's snare - refusing to let go until those final two words named 'The End' release you from its clutches. It is phrases like that which mark out the boundaries of the fairy tale, marking it out from real life and deeming itself different from normal fantasy and fiction, putting itself under a heading of its own. There are many of these 'stock phrases' embedded in fairy tales, that paint those pretty little pictures that stick in your head like a fly to a spider's web. You want to know why? Because back when paper hadn't been invented yet, it was the best way to keep the chain of story telling going, to pass them through the generations until someone found a better use for all those trees lying about.
It's the reason why some of them tend to sound similar, follow the same plot, have the same characters - because there are only so many variations on a phrase, and there are far more variations on tales than there are on those parts of the dictionary. People remembered these stories because of the phrases that cropped up all the time, not the more complicated bits in between that may have held all the back story, but the simpler versions that were easily narrated. Fairy tales still keep the fantasy and the underlying moral story, but in return sacrifices the depth of a full novel in order to be well remembered. They are fast moving, speeding through a clearly defined set of events and incidents with the urgency of a runaway train. Some would say this is to escape the flatness of the characters, who appear to lack defining characteristics - apart from blond hair, blue eyes and being a damsel in distress - but could this be more because the authors prefer to leave (albeit vast amounts) of space for the reader to create their own pictures of the Ugly Sisters, the Evil Queen or Sleeping Beauty, for example?
Yes, fairy tales are different from myths and legends because there the emphasis lies in the emotions of the characters - tales like the Odyssey and the Iliad are designed to take the reader on an emotional roller-coaster ride with the characters. Fairy tales focus more on the airy-fairy fantasy side - about magic, pixie dust and True Love's kiss. If authors tried to combine the two together, then it wouldn't be a fairytale any more, it would just be another book in the fiction section of a library, not a 'classic' tale of good versus evil, and the triumph of good over said evil.
Fairy tales are designed for children, and are therefore spared complex back-stories and intricate detailing - children don't want to know all about the process of a messy divorce, but simply that the character in question is left in a less than savoury position and really rather upset about it all - think like a child and it makes a whole lot more sense. Fairy tales may be set once upon a time in a world of nowhere in particular, but children don't care that you can't get magic carpets or unicorns on Earth, or that none of these places even exist in this galaxy - the fun lies in imagining that they do. They want to know that somewhere in the deep reaches of space there is a place where princesses are freed from ivory towers - as long as there is glitter, fairies and pretty girls in even prettier dresses, then little girls are happy, and for the boys - swashbuckling pirates and gigantic fire-breathing dragons.
In fairy tales, things don't always make sense - why should mice talk or furniture dance? It doesn't matter! It's just another element that marks it as a fairy tale. People make up words every day for things they just can't explain, because something seems so out of the ordinary there doesn't appear to be a word in the Oxford dictionary for it. Therefore, why not have 'abracadabra' or 'bibbidi bobbidi boo' written into a disney movie? Yes, the words look a bit daft on their own, but put them into the context of a pumpkin being turned into a coach and voila! It's all fine. Even the word 'Fairytale' gives away a weighted anvil style hint that things are not going to make sense. But, you can at least rely on the story pattern to make sense, even if it's contents do not.
Every tale has a beginning, a middle and an end, where the story will explain itself, build up the drama until the pinnacle of the story, and then leave us with the inevitable happy ever after. The beginning sets the scene for us, gives us the characters and the unfortunate situations they've been dumped in, then throughout the contents of the story the action builds, the plot unravels until it comes to its grand finale where the hero saves the day and everyone lives happily ever after. This structure, which echos through all the tales written is what brings us full circle, tidies everything up nicely and leaves no loose ends, no questions, just satisfaction at a good story (unless you're a nosey little git like myself).
There are lots of other 'triads' loitering about in fairy tales, some more subtle than others - the three little pigs, each picked on in a different one of the three sections of the story. There are three fairy godmothers, each giving three wishes to the baby princess...you get my drift. Whether this was intentional or not, this thrice repetition of the important elements of the story has wormed its way into fairy tale lore just as easily as Cinderella's foot slipped into the glass slipper that mysteriously didn't disappear along with the rest of the fairy godmother's gifts. Three is well known as a magic number, so therefore it makes sense that such a powerful motif would be placed in a child's story, to further enhance the impact of the morals embedded in it?
Fairy tales are a simple species, but it's that same simplicity that makes it a fairy tale - including all the things mentioned above, of course - the most remembered stories are those of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, because they are so simple and easy to remember, not complicated and in depth like the Snow Queen. The language is simple, so that everyone can understand it, so that it's one of the first things that little children learn to read. Some of them may not be great works of art, but they reach out to people on a base level and enchant them like the spindle in the tower, and make them pass them on to the next generation, and then onto the next after that. Children remember the lighter fairy tales, but the darker ones then have their own appeal when a person hits their teens, and the Grimm fairy tales and the lack of a happy ending become more alluring.
All of these things make up the basis of a fairy tale, and so for all those people, who upon finishing this, feel the urge to write one of their own, you need: an imaginary world full of magic, heroes and pretty princesses, a few catchy phrases repeated through time to get it to stick in a reader's mind, a couple of things that you can times by three, a dictionary of made-up words and a beginning, middle and end, in that end. Got that down? Good. Oh, and you need to keep it simple. The simpler the better - feel free to describe the prettiness of the princess in her fancy, sparkly, flouncy ballgown, but please don't try to explain the exact make and model of the woodsmans axe - that doesn't matter, as long as its sharp enough to chop off a head. Also, don't get too attached to all your characters, in case some of them have to die in the name of a happy ending - especially a wicked witch. But no gory deaths! Captain Hook may have been eaten by a crocodile, but please spare us the information of what bits the reptile didn't feel like eating. Lastly, don't forget the Happy Ending.