Worderella Writes

Fairy-tale Inspired Books

I haven’t read some of these books in ten years, but for some reason they still haunt me. Here are my favorite fairy-tale inspired books (in no particular order)! I had to cap it at thirteen otherwise the list might never end. Though, there is a shortage of good fairy tale retellings, for some reason… I wonder why that is? Are there any really good ones I should know about that aren’t on this list?

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Choose the Bolder

“When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of action you should take–choose the bolder.”
- Ezra Pound

This month, you’re doing what many think is the impossible: you’re writing a novel-length book in thirty days.

Fifty-thousand words in thirty days.

Are you insane?

Yes, yes you are, and I love that about you.

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In the Midst of Living

“My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living.”
- Anaïs Nin, French Writer

First, I need to say that last week the lovely Evangeline at Edwardian Promenade awarded the I Love This Blog to me, and I have to spread the love around. See the end of this post for the award, and my nominations. <3

This week’s exercise is to take a look around you. So often do we writers get lost in the act of writing, that we forget we are supposed to be writing about life. Who are these characters that we spend our every waking moments with? How can we possibly know who they are, and how to make them distinct, if all we do is sit around our houses dreaming about them?

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Everything is Ready

“If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.”
- Ivan Turgenev

When someone finds out I’m a writer, I inevitably hear about how they have a couple stories of their own lurking in their head, or three novels half-started, etc. Which I applaud, because I’m always happy to hear about fellow writers doing their best to write.

Rarely have I ever heard a story where they finished the work.

Sometimes this is because they’ve lost interest. Sometimes they cite the dreaded Writer’s Block. Sometimes they just don’t know how to begin.

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Because We Must

I run great risk of failing. It may be that I shall encounter ruin
where I look for reputation and a career of honor. The chances are
perhaps more in favour of ruin than of success. But, whatever may be
the chances, I shall go on as long as any means of carrying on the
fight are at my disposal.

– Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) English Novelist

I love this quote. As creative persons (a.k.a. writers), we continually run the risk of failing, and failing miserably.

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“Going to” not “Want to”

A guest post from a new writing accomplice, Zoe Winters. She writes to encourage you to find your dream and follow through, using the television show The Biggest Loser as a classic example. So read on, and tell us your dreams!

One of my heroes is Ali Vincent. If you don’t know who this is, she was the winner of the last season of “The Biggest Loser,” a weight loss reality show. Midway through the season she was eliminated, though the show planned to bring back a couple of contestants from home who earned it.

In the elimination room right after she was eliminated she said: “I am going to be the next biggest loser.” And she said it with such conviction, that though most of us thought she was loopy, we believed her a little bit. She became the underdog. When she was brought back on the show, she became a favorite for the win.

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Guest Post: Stay the Course

A guest post from my friend Graham Carter, a reporter and editor from across the pond. He writes to answer the cries of us writers who have let our doubts get the better of us, and not a moment too soon. So read on, and feel inspired!

Let’s talk drumming.

Yes, I know this is supposed to be all about writing, but there is an analogy here that I think all writers should be aware of, so stick with it (pun intended).

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Book: Paperback Writer

Paul James Watson is your typical midlist paperback novelist. He lives a typical middle class life with a devoted wife, loving children, and a cabin in the woods of Montana. His life is a little too “perfect, flat, routine, unimpressive,” and his spiritual life is about the same. Thus, Watson turns to his writing to bring the spark back, by indulging in his character, Toby McKenna, a sort of James Bond/Indiana Jones persona. As Watson writes his next novel, McKenna begins to take over, and soon the lines of reality and fiction blur to the point that Watson “may well be lost.”

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Book: Bright Arrows by Grace Livingston Hill

Bright Arrows by Grace Livingston Hill is one of her many “feel good” inspirational romances. I first read Hill in seventh grade, after being told that Out of the Storm (originally written under her pseudonym Marcia Macdonald) was a “Worderella book.” Hill’s plots are simple yet elegant, if slightly dated because she was writing at the turn of the century until her death in 1947. All of her books have a definite message: all paths lead to God. Whether you agree with that or not, and whether you can get past the often-quaint plots, Hill is a pretty good read.

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