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What first gave you the idea to take fairy stories and to retell them in a whole new way?
I have always loved fairy tales and when I was looking around for ideas for a new book it seemed natural that I turn to these stories as an inspiration. At the same time, I wanted to make them new because I find contemporary settings very dynamic and because so many of the themes are very relevant to my life. I had just gone through some difficult things and I didn't want to deal with them directly. It was easier to use a universal story structure as a way to express deeply personal experiences.
How did you choose which fairy tales to retell?
I just started writing using the stories that had the most significance for me and that I remembered best. Then I re-read some others to refresh my memory and to use as source material.
How did you "get to know" the characters of these fairy tales?
I put myself into the character, imagining how I would feel if I were Tiny or if my life were threatened or if I found a lost love. Then I just kept writing and something magical happened. The characters began to take on their own voices, to create their own situations. I can't fully explain it but I think it has to do with freeing up the unconscious mind, not censoring what comes, listening. I also believe that this alchemy attests to the universal potency of the original stories.
What is the most challenging part of being a writer for you?
In the past, it was spending so much time alone -- because even though I enjoy writing, I got somewhat lonely. Now that I have a baby, it is finding the time to write! Also, it can be very exposing and it can hurt to be judged when you express your most personal realities.
We are all told fairy tales as children, but remain fascinated by them even as adults. Why do they wrest their way into our psyche like this?
The elements of love and terror that fill fairy tales are so primal.
What would you say to someone who dismissed fairy stories as 'old-fashioned' or 'childish'?
I almost hate to answer this because I don't feel it necessary to defend stories that have haunted our collective imagination with their passion from childhood through adulthood for centuries.
When you write - particularly in a book such as The Rose and the Beast -- to what extent are you telling a story with all the magic and lyricism that is part of storytelling; and to what extent are you using that story as a metaphor to express a deeper truth or message?
I usually begin with the poetry of the language and by trying to create vivid characters. Later, certain truths are revealed to me and I often go back and work on bringing them out more fully in the story.
In some ways, starting with the fairy tales made my job easier because the truths are already inherent in the original work. I just had to find a way to apply it to my life.
Your language is imbued with the richness of life - not the possessions, the 'want to collect' like the sisters in 'Glass' - but the richness of sense and experience: the 'curtains of dawn', the rose 'open, glowing, pink, white, fragrant ...', the sense of freedom smelled on one's skin. Do you feel this, and is it only people who are alive to this who can touch the 'magic' of possibility?
For me, magic comes out of fully experiencing the sensory world, I believe that love is the ultimate magic wand and love's spirituality can be found in a flower, the sky, a work of art, a baby.
Finally, what are you working on now? Are there more fairy tales to come?
No more fairy tales right now. I just finished a book called
Echo that is a novel told in short stories. I am also developing a series for MTV called
Shadow Grove. And, I'm writing about my daughter whenever I get the chance.
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