Surprising Myelf
Nothing pleases me more than when a book surprises me.
I must admit, however, that I didn’t expect that to happen with my own book. I mean, I’m the author. I knew where this was headed. I had the main plot and the characters all laid out when I first sat down. But in the process of writing it, my book surprised me.
I set out to write a simple, fairy-tale romance between two princes that turned the tropes of traditional fairy tales on its ear. In other words, I wanted to write a romance that broke all the rules while staying within the “rules.” What I hadn’t thought about--I’m a little ashamed to admit--was what the consequences of this rule-breaking would be for the fairy tale princesses that would normally be wooed by the princes. By bending the rules for the male characters, I set off a ripple effect that changed the rules for my female characters too.
In traditional fairy tales, the princess is locked in a tower, perched on a stack of mattresses, or placed in a glass coffin to wait for a prince to rescue her. This serves two purposes: setting her on a pedestal to be an object of adoration and, sadly, preventing her from taking an active part in her own story. As one princess in my book, Monique, says, “Honey, don’t let those storytellers fool you. This princess life ain’t all it’s hyped up to be.”
But what if the prince she is waiting on breaks these “rules” by falling in love with another prince? What if he doesn’t show up? Suddenly, she can climb down from the tower, or off the mattresses, or out of the coffin and write out her own story. It allows her to abandon the rules and be active in her own tale.
In The Rules of Ever After, I had so much fun writing the six princesses who learn to break the rules too. Set free form the strict confines of typical fairy tales, each princess finds her own distinct path and forges her own story. This wasn’t something I expected when I began. While I’m happy I could write a tale of prince charming meeting his prince charming, I’m especially happy I was able to write six princesses finding out they are pretty darned charming themselves.
I must admit, however, that I didn’t expect that to happen with my own book. I mean, I’m the author. I knew where this was headed. I had the main plot and the characters all laid out when I first sat down. But in the process of writing it, my book surprised me.
I set out to write a simple, fairy-tale romance between two princes that turned the tropes of traditional fairy tales on its ear. In other words, I wanted to write a romance that broke all the rules while staying within the “rules.” What I hadn’t thought about--I’m a little ashamed to admit--was what the consequences of this rule-breaking would be for the fairy tale princesses that would normally be wooed by the princes. By bending the rules for the male characters, I set off a ripple effect that changed the rules for my female characters too.
In traditional fairy tales, the princess is locked in a tower, perched on a stack of mattresses, or placed in a glass coffin to wait for a prince to rescue her. This serves two purposes: setting her on a pedestal to be an object of adoration and, sadly, preventing her from taking an active part in her own story. As one princess in my book, Monique, says, “Honey, don’t let those storytellers fool you. This princess life ain’t all it’s hyped up to be.”
But what if the prince she is waiting on breaks these “rules” by falling in love with another prince? What if he doesn’t show up? Suddenly, she can climb down from the tower, or off the mattresses, or out of the coffin and write out her own story. It allows her to abandon the rules and be active in her own tale.
In The Rules of Ever After, I had so much fun writing the six princesses who learn to break the rules too. Set free form the strict confines of typical fairy tales, each princess finds her own distinct path and forges her own story. This wasn’t something I expected when I began. While I’m happy I could write a tale of prince charming meeting his prince charming, I’m especially happy I was able to write six princesses finding out they are pretty darned charming themselves.
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