 Do you like being in the hot seat? The one who is the center of attention?
Honestly, it doesn't usually bother me, but it's a little different when it comes to book club. I have no idea why. Rendersella was the chosen read for this month. And everyone in our book club loves me. And is usually fairly kind as we unpack a book and tell why we did or did not like it. But this was MY book.
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 One of the things the movies added to the classic fairytale stories is the adorable little wild animals who end up helping the princesses. And if you're like me, you love that part. But I needed something a bit more realistic than birds and mice helping my Cinderella character. I honestly wasn't sure how I was going to handle her wild animals.
Then, I remembered what we saw when we were in West Virginia.  So, here's something I never knew I would enjoy--writing "bad guys." When I started writing my fairy tale, I knew it had the EVIL stepmother and stepsister. Well, some retellings soften those characters, but most don't. So, I started down the road of having them be evil in my story too.
And y'all, I actually liked having those "scapegoats" to cause mischief and problems for my character. And to blame. In all my other books, my characters don't really have something like that. So, it was nice to have someone to point a finger at and make the bad guy. That being said, I didn't leave it that way.  When you think of fairy tales, do you think of West Virginia. I'll be honest. Until I went there, I probably wouldn't have either.
My family visited some friends a couple years ago over Spring Break. As you can see in the picture, the trees hadn't even leafed out yet because it was so early in the year. But ... there was still this absolute beauty all around us everywhere we went and looked. West Virginia took my breath away. And inspired my Cinderella retelling. How?  In the original Cinderella tale, she was always dirty because of the housework and sleeping next to the fireplace. But I couldn't picture a modern-day Cinderella doing that. So, what to do?
Well, I don't know how artsy-crafty you are, but I've often commented that when my fingers are covered in paint, it's been a really good day. I almost never work on a project without ending up with something under my fingernails or smeared on the side of my hand. That could be a fun way to make Ella always have something on her fingers too.  How can you have a fairy godmother when there's no magic in the story? Well, you can't, really. But I had a lot of fun making a character who fit the spot anyway. Especially with a name like Fae--which is what the Irish call their faerie folk. ;) You know I love a good play on names.
Fae is the lifelong neighbor of Ella and is full of sass and spunk. She loves Ella like another mother and has been there for her as long as Ella can remember. While Ella relies on her, she also won't let herself fully give in to Fae's wishes to really care for her. Ella thinks she has to make it on her own. That means Fae has to get creative in her care. Which she does, of course.  One of the problems with setting my Cinderella retelling in the "real world" was that I didn't want a real prince. I wasn't going for royalty, but I wanted the guy to "feel" royal.
The first thing I did to achieve this was give him a princely name. Namely, Chaz Prince. Don't you love it? (I had way to much fun with names in this series.) He's the son of Kingsley Prince, owner of the Prince Art Gallery. He's handsome and kind and mostly in love with Ella from the moment that he sees her. Why? Because she avoids him!  What first inspired me to write a Cinderella retelling? Well, it was a mix of things.
Dirty fingers after I did an art project. The beauty of West Virginia, along with all it's handmade crafts and artwork. Coal/charcoal. That's where my idea for Ella Renders came from. Just like the original Cinderella, she's always dirty, but instead of it being due to ashes and soot from the chimney, it's due to her love of drawing, especially with charcoal. Because her daddy worked in the coal business and it makes her feel closer to him.  We're getting so close to the release of Rendersella. Earlier this week, I was finishing up my final read-through. After reading this story so many times, it's hard to catch mistakes because I'm so familiar with what the story says in my head. That can be a problem when you're trying to make a novel as perfect as you can.
That's why I bring in some help. Not a person. I've already had help from other people. Nope. This is when I let my computer read to me.  I've got to admit, I'm sort of tired of the recreation of movies that were already made. You know what I mean. The way certain movie companies are taking all their animated films and making them into "live-action" ones. It wouldn't be so bad if the movies weren't almost exactly the same as the one they're redoing. Only a few have any changes.
But this latest one, when I saw the trailer, I was excited. It looked beautiful, for one. For another, I was neck-deep in doing my own version of a Snow White retelling too. So, how could I not be thrilled to see another version? |
This is a place for me to tell you about what I'm writing, talk about the process or where some of my ideas came from, or even have other authors come in and talk about their books.
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