A True Story (about Unspun)

Now for a true story:

A little less than a year ago, I got an email from Kathy Cowley (whom I did not know at the time). It was an invitation to submit some poetry for an anthology based on what happened after the fairy tales ended. I don’t know if you’ve missed it, but rewriting fairy tales is kind of my favorite thing. But poetry? We are not the best of friends. So this email was both awesome and devastating at the same time. Exactly the sort of anthology I would jump at! Right at the time when I was looking to write more short fiction! Hooray! But poetry. Despair.

Here’s the embarrassing part: I might have cried. Okay, I did cry. Maybe it was hormonal. Or maybe I already knew how much I wanted to write a story for this collection.

Whatever the reason, I spent maybe the next twenty minutes or so trying to convince myself that my poetry skills weren’t utterly awful and that maybe I could indeed come up with a poem. Alas, I knew that was a lie. So I wrote back that tragically I did not write poetry, but if she needed any short fiction, maybe let me know. Pretty please with a cherry on top? (No, I did not write that part.)

I may have kind of done happy dances around the house when Kathy wrote back that she had accidentally sent me the wrong email. She was actually looking for a short story, not a poem.

The wheels started turning. I came up with an idea that quickly expanded into the novel I’m working on right now (and seriously, I’m so excited about this novel—these characters! if I ever used heart-eye emojis, I would do it here—but that’s beside the point at the moment). So that wouldn’t work for the anthology. Then I came up with a couple other ideas that quickly sputtered out. Then I started writing “Breadcrumbs,” which was originally a lighthearted romance between Gretel and the woodsman from “Snow White.” Ha! Lighthearted romance! Not so much.

As I really began to write into Gretel’s world, I realized her story couldn’t be that light. She was sent (with her brother, of course) into the forest to die of starvation. By her father and stepmother. Then she was held prisoner by a witch who wanted to eat her. And then she killed the witch instead—by pushing her into an oven. Imagine that for a moment. This was not a cheerful tale I was going to write, and no matter how much I wanted Gretel to have a quick, easy romance, she just couldn’t. But she could still have hope.

So I wrote and revised, had to totally rewrite the ending three or four or five hundred times, and finally here we all are, with a shiny new story almost in our hands. I’m looking forward to seeing how it all comes together, and I’m especially excited because I finally got a sneak peek at Ruth Nickle’s artwork in the book. She did the cover, so obviously she’s awesome, but seeing the interior work made my heart so happy. Her little mermaid artwork! Again, I’m not really big on using heart-eye emojis, but I love that piece so much. Her drawings are gorgeous and evocative, and I think they will add a fantastic dimension to the collection.

Stay tuned for my next gushing post in which I introduce you to how much I love Kathy Cowley.

P.S. Pre-order link for the kindle version here! The paperback will be available soon as well.