Guest Blog: Shanna Swendson
May. 16th, 2008 04:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alanajoliBack in 2005, I had the opportunity to go out to Los Angeles to see the premiere of Serenity in the land of glamor and fabulousness. Being neither particularly glamorous or fabulous, the event was in some ways overwhelming. But the best part about going was getting to hang out with the friends I already knew (first reader Arielle was the one who got me a ticket), friends I'd only met before at conventions (the whole Margaret Weis Productions team was there, and the lovely Renae Chambers was showing off her back-of-the-neck Serenity logo tattoo, which impressed upon me how much those folks were devoted to the cause), and friends I was meeting for the first time. Arielle's friend, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
waywardbound, introduced me to a pal of his who had recently released her first book. That was the first time I met Shanna Swendson (shanna_s)--and without that meeting I don't know if I ever would have discovered her wonderful books. So, officially--thanks waywardbound!
Shanna is now on the fourth book of her Katie Chandler series, and the adventures just keep getting better. Don't Hex with Texas is already getting great reviews all over the web, and the sales are reflecting the true appeal that comes from mixing fairy tales with modern life. Shanna was kind enough to write a guest blog on how she uses elements from fairy tales to hit home with modern readers. Thanks Shanna!
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I've often thought that fairy tale characters have it easy. Okay, so they do often end up persecuted by wicked stepparents or endangered by giants, but they also have opportunities the rest of us don't get. We don't have fairy godmothers to show up and make things better, and kissing frogs never really turns them into handsome princes. I have often wondered what would happen if you took some of those fairy tale conventions and put them into the modern world, and I get to play with that concept in my series of modern-day fairy tale novels.
For instance, that frog-kissing thing. I don't know how many times I've heard that saying about how you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince. I do know that it's what people always seem to say to me to console me after a bad date or relationship break-up or to encourage me to accept a blind date I'm lukewarm about. But what if it really were true that you might meet a prince if you were willing to kiss a few frogs along the way? In a New York where magic works, you might find magical people picking up real frogs in the park instead of picking up figurative frogs in singles bars. At least if a real frog doesn't turn out to be a prince, you don't have to worry about him getting the wrong idea and turning into a stalker. It is interesting to note that in the original frog prince/king fairy tales, the princess doesn't just kiss the frog and get a prince. Usually she has to go through some humiliation first, like letting him eat from her plate in public, allowing him to sleep on her pillow and sometimes even marrying the frog before he clues her in to the fact that he's a prince. That certainly parallels modern dating. Then there's the version where the princess throws the frog against the wall before she learns he's a prince. I'm not sure what message there is in that, but I'll admit that I've been on dates where that sounded like a good way of dealing with the situation.
I don't know how many times I've uttered the lament, "What I really need is a fairy godmother!" Dating would be so much easier if I had someone to help me get into the right situation to meet Prince Charming. Then again, when I think of the various would-be fairy godmothers in my life and all the really, really awful blind dates I've been on -- the ones where, when I meet the men who are supposedly perfect for me, I can't help but wonder what my friends really think about me -- it's probably best that none of them have magical powers. It's bad enough when they have telephones and e-mail that allow them to meddle. So, I inflicted a magical fairy godmother on my heroine to see what would happen if one of those inept but well-meaning matchmakers did have magical powers to interfere in her love life.
Fairy tales and folklore have a lot of other topics that are fun to play with in the modern world. Cinderella knew long before Manolo Blahnik that the right pair of shoes really can change your life. Ogres and trolls are bad enough when they just impede your progress through the enchanted forest or stop you at a bridge, but what if one is your boss? Does spending time as an enchanted frog result in post-traumatic stress? Is that bum begging for coins really a powerful enchanter in disguise who might one day turn up to help you in your hour of need? And isn't a skyscraper just another kind of beanstalk?
waywardbound, introduced me to a pal of his who had recently released her first book. That was the first time I met Shanna Swendson (shanna_s)--and without that meeting I don't know if I ever would have discovered her wonderful books. So, officially--thanks waywardbound!Shanna is now on the fourth book of her Katie Chandler series, and the adventures just keep getting better. Don't Hex with Texas is already getting great reviews all over the web, and the sales are reflecting the true appeal that comes from mixing fairy tales with modern life. Shanna was kind enough to write a guest blog on how she uses elements from fairy tales to hit home with modern readers. Thanks Shanna!
--
I've often thought that fairy tale characters have it easy. Okay, so they do often end up persecuted by wicked stepparents or endangered by giants, but they also have opportunities the rest of us don't get. We don't have fairy godmothers to show up and make things better, and kissing frogs never really turns them into handsome princes. I have often wondered what would happen if you took some of those fairy tale conventions and put them into the modern world, and I get to play with that concept in my series of modern-day fairy tale novels.
For instance, that frog-kissing thing. I don't know how many times I've heard that saying about how you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince. I do know that it's what people always seem to say to me to console me after a bad date or relationship break-up or to encourage me to accept a blind date I'm lukewarm about. But what if it really were true that you might meet a prince if you were willing to kiss a few frogs along the way? In a New York where magic works, you might find magical people picking up real frogs in the park instead of picking up figurative frogs in singles bars. At least if a real frog doesn't turn out to be a prince, you don't have to worry about him getting the wrong idea and turning into a stalker. It is interesting to note that in the original frog prince/king fairy tales, the princess doesn't just kiss the frog and get a prince. Usually she has to go through some humiliation first, like letting him eat from her plate in public, allowing him to sleep on her pillow and sometimes even marrying the frog before he clues her in to the fact that he's a prince. That certainly parallels modern dating. Then there's the version where the princess throws the frog against the wall before she learns he's a prince. I'm not sure what message there is in that, but I'll admit that I've been on dates where that sounded like a good way of dealing with the situation.
I don't know how many times I've uttered the lament, "What I really need is a fairy godmother!" Dating would be so much easier if I had someone to help me get into the right situation to meet Prince Charming. Then again, when I think of the various would-be fairy godmothers in my life and all the really, really awful blind dates I've been on -- the ones where, when I meet the men who are supposedly perfect for me, I can't help but wonder what my friends really think about me -- it's probably best that none of them have magical powers. It's bad enough when they have telephones and e-mail that allow them to meddle. So, I inflicted a magical fairy godmother on my heroine to see what would happen if one of those inept but well-meaning matchmakers did have magical powers to interfere in her love life.
Fairy tales and folklore have a lot of other topics that are fun to play with in the modern world. Cinderella knew long before Manolo Blahnik that the right pair of shoes really can change your life. Ogres and trolls are bad enough when they just impede your progress through the enchanted forest or stop you at a bridge, but what if one is your boss? Does spending time as an enchanted frog result in post-traumatic stress? Is that bum begging for coins really a powerful enchanter in disguise who might one day turn up to help you in your hour of need? And isn't a skyscraper just another kind of beanstalk?
