Young Writers Society

I'm writing a fairy tale (at least it falls into that category).
I was wondering what do you think of when you hear 'fairy tale'? And what are some common traits of Fairy Tales?
(other then the typical damsels in distress or creatures of fantasy, etc...)

Also I'm having a slight problem with the plot.
Here's the summary:
These two siblings (a boy and a girl) go to a manor, where they find an entrance to another world. They discover that they have a long lost sister who is trapped by this evil overlord and his Queen/Sorceress. The girl is the only one who can save her sister (according to a prophecy) so she has to find her way through a maze.
(this is VERY simplified by the way so it might not make much sense...)

My questions and problems are:
- Why would the evil overlord and the Queen/Sorceress take the sister? / What would they want with her?

- Should the siblings be forced to go to the manor or should they just happen to come across it?
-- (Early versions of this tale have it where the siblings go to live with their grandfather and the most recent version has it where they are running away, their car breaks down and the closest shelter is the manor)

- What should the boy do? (he really has no purpose except for being there for the main character)

That's it for now! Thanks for any help you can give me,
- Stevie

I was wondering what do you think of when you hear 'fairy tale'? And what are some common traits of Fairy Tales?

I think Brother's Grimm. Which is, haha, rather grim. From the summary of your story, I'm not sure it is a fairy tale so much as fantasy. ^_^ But, as you wish! I would think of happy endings with fairy tales, although with the brothers, they weren't always happy...

These two siblings (a boy and a girl) go to a manor, where they find an entrance to another world. They discover that they have a long lost sister who is trapped by this evil overlord and his Queen/Sorceress. The girl is the only one who can save her sister (according to a prophecy) so she has to find her way through a maze.

This sounds pretty interesting, although the first part makes me think of The Lion, the Witch and the wardrobe so you may want to be careful with that. ^_~

- Why would the evil overlord and the Queen/Sorceress take the sister? / What would they want with her?

Perhaps they want her to marry their son? That would be something you do not usually see. Let's say that they have a son, and he wants to marry the prettiest girl he sees, and he thinks that it is her so then they kidnap her?

should the siblings be forced to go to the manor or should they just happen to come across it?

This is quite like LWW...I'm not sure what you could do. I dare say kill their parents and send them to their grandfathers, but I think that is what happened in LWW?

- What should the boy do?

how is it that he does nothing! He is support for his sister and the side kick to her plan to save their sister. ^_^ Make it a team effort, perhaps?

This does sound really interesting... I hope this helped!

Thanks!

I think Brother's Grimm. Which is, haha, rather grim. From the summary of your story, I'm not sure it is a fairy tale so much as fantasy. ^_^ But, as you wish! I would think of happy endings with fairy tales, although with the brothers, they weren't always happy...

Yeah the Brother's Grimm were kinda grim. haha... It's mostly fantasy but I'm pulling a lot of Fairy Tale elements into it so instead of being like Lord of the Rings and complex, it's going to be kinda simple.

This sounds pretty interesting, although the first part makes me think of The Lion, the Witch and the wardrobe so you may want to be careful with that. ^_~

That is part of where that idea comes from... but kids finding things (even magical worlds) in old houses isn't a uncommon thing. There are a few I know of but I can't think of their titles at the moment...

Perhaps they want her to marry their son? That would be something you do not usually see. Let's say that they have a son, and he wants to marry the prettiest girl he sees, and he thinks that it is her so then they kidnap her?

That's a pretty good idea actually... I'm not sure it would work with the rest of the plot but I'll keep it in mind.

This is quite like LWW...I'm not sure what you could do. I dare say kill their parents and send them to their grandfathers, but I think that is what happened in LWW?

Actually the kids in LWW were sent to this old man's manor because of the war.

how is it that he does nothing! He is support for his sister and the side kick to her plan to save their sister. ^_^ Make it a team effort, perhaps?

Haha... Team effort might work, but there's a lot of scenes where I want the girl to be alone... Maybe they get seperated?

Thanks for your help! You really got me thinking, especially of ways to make the beginning a little less like LWW. (which was part of my insperation but I don't want people other than me to compare my book with LWW)

In one of my soapboxes I wrote about fairy tales, you might find some of it useful.

Cal's Soapbox #5

Ta,
Cal.

Fairytale is, I think, an antiquated term. What used to be called a fairytale is now called fantasy, for whatever reason, so when I think "fairytale," I think of those stories that we all know as such, and never about anything that's even remotely new.
As for the story itself, I'm of the opinion that you should take a more mature route than expected with this, because, let's be honest, this sort of thing is done to death (and then stuffed and kept in the living room on the sofa so it looks like its still alive). You can't decide how they end up at this manor? Maybe they were breaking in. Why does the evil guy want their sister? Perhaps he's going to sacrifice her to some terrible Lovecraftian horror, and it only like the way that particular family tastes? And about that brother, who you want to keep yet don't want around (seems like there's a simple solution there...)? He probably went missing because he got eaten by a giant lobster person right when they first got there, or more likely he ran off with some Evil Overlord-certified hooker.
Of course, you could always ignore everything I said and have the girl be kidnapped because she has magical powers that the evil side wants to control, and have the brother be crippled somehow and therefor useless for adventuring, or just busy doing some other noble quest (they split up to accomplish twice the heroism in half the time).

A fairy tale is, in most cases, a fantasy that follows certain conventions. Those conventions do come out of sources like what the Grimm's published, and what the author of the original The Little Murmaid (whose name I can't think of right now) and have recognizable archetypes, like the Evil Witch and the Good Witch. But consider the movie, Cinderella Man. That is a fairy tale because of its structure, not its genre. So is Everafter, that movie with Drew Barrymore.

Sure, fair tales rarely have anything new, but that isn't the point. The point of a fairy tale is to take what is familiar to us and give it your individual personality. Remember, Shakespeare never wrote an original story in his life, but nobody cared. They all still loved the plays.

- Why would the evil overlord and the Queen/Sorceress take the sister? / What would they want with her?

Hmm. Well, it depends on how clich'e you're willing to go. As someone else suggested, they could need her to marry the sorceresses son. But, if she's been gone for like...ten years, or since she was little or something, that might not make a TON of sense. It depends on how recently she was taken. So then...if not that, then maybe they need her to fulfill a prophecy, or they need to STOP her from fulfilling a prophecy. Or...yeah, that's all I can think of right now.

- What should the boy do? (he really has no purpose except for being there for the main character)

Hmm. Well, what if they get separated when they're transported into the other world, or just when they're in it, and they both have their own separate purposes? The sister's purpose is to save the other sister, and the brother's purpose could be...I don't know. Maybe he meets some girl from that world who's on the run and...yeah. You could go from there. And then once the sister is saved, the three of them can kick butt.

Or...something. I dunno. Maybe it'll help get ideas flowing? Hope it helps.