What Do We Want From Retellings? Part 2

Ad: Titles with an asterisk (*) were gifted to me by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review.

Today, I am back to continue with my What Do We Want From Retellings? discussion, after quite a long wait. If you haven't yet read it, do check out What Do We Want From Retellings? Part 2, where I discussed what I want from straight retellings and reimaginings. Today, I'll be talking about prequels and sequels, different POVs, and thematic retellings.

Prequels and Sequels

Prequel and sequel retellings are stories set before or after the original story. Prequels, obviously, generally show us an author's idea of what may have led to the events of the original story, and from what I've seen, more often than not, they tend to be from the perspective of the villians, giving us their origin story - I'll talk more about these when I discuss different POVs. And prequels show what might happen after the original story, continuing it on to see what could happen next. There has been quite a slew sequels published recently in the UK when it comes to children's classics, like Five Children on the Western Front by Kate Saunders and Four Children and It by Jacqueline Wilson, sequels to Five Children and It by E. Nesbit, and Return to the Secret Garden by Holly Webb, a sequel to The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, among others, but generally for younger readers.

Continue reading What Do We Want From Retellings? Part 2

What Do We Want From Retellings? Part 1

Inspired by Julia Ember's Once Upon a Retelling interview for her latest novel, The Navigator's Touch, I wanted to discuss today what we want from retellings. But firstly, lets talk about why we're drawn to retellings in the first place.

For me, it's the idea of authors taking a story we know, maybe a story we love, and creating something original. It's the familiar with the new. How an author can rework or expand on a known story and give you something full of surprises, twists, and elements that will make you think or look at the story or the characters in a different way. I know where the story is going, but I don't know how it will get there there.

And that's how I think of original stories and retellings; as a journey. The original story goes from A to Z, with landmarks B, C, D, etc. - specific well known elements that make up the story - along the way. The original story takes the straightest route, but the retelling takes a longer, more winding route; still hitting all the landmarks, but taking you a different way.

Continue reading What Do We Want From Retellings? Part 1