photo stories - denise grunstein

Denise's photographs are a bit like those of Tim Walker.  The
work of both artists is whimsical, bursting with color, often
mysterious.  I also see Lisa Frank here - a grown up Lisa Frank
complete with mist, creepy masks, and wintered death among
the vibrant saturation.  These photographs beg the question:
what is going on here?  How would you answer?

The answer is dreams. Dreaming on and on. Entering the world
of dreams and never coming out. Living in dreams for the rest of
time.  - Haruki Murakami, Sputnik Sweetheart

from unexpected places - beauty photography

We all know the skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair 
as black as ebony.  Appearances are powerful, even the glittering
ways they can be described, and some rise to icon status like that of
Snow White.  Of course, a character's appearance doesn't have to be
described in such a sharp way, but sometimes doing this can serve a
story.  So what amazing things mark your characters, fantastical,
science fiction-style, or human?  Does he or she have silver at the
inner edges of their eyes?  Gold eyelashes?  Ever-puckered lips?

She seemed, in the drenching light, to be made of gold, honey,
cornsilk; bees, drawn to her scent, clung to the fat braid down her
back.  She covered her face with her hands and shook her head
violently.  Drops of gold fell between her fingers.

- Patricia A. McKillup, In the Forests of Serre

By Boris Ovini, Dahse Mag

Vogue Nippon

from unexpected places - fairy tale posters

These are designed by Christian Jackson.  Posters like these 
always challenge me to try it the other way:  If one of these was
an image of a partially peeled orange, what would be the story?
What the pictured element was a heart-shaped patch of blue
plaid fabric?  Or prison bars, two of them painted yellow?  

Christian's thoughts on creativity:  "When I have creative idea it
will nag at me until I give it some attention.  So I express it, then I
move on to something else.  Sometimes it works out in my favor
(like this poster series) and sometimes it's just nonsense.  I take
every idea that I have seriously.  Nothing is too small because, in
my mind, there is no such thing as a small idea, only ones that 
have yet to be fully realized." (Via MyModernMet)

illustration - the well written - catherynne m. valente

I often enjoy fairy tale retellings, especially when a writer completely turns
the story on its head, from an angle of far left field.  "Bones Like Black Sugar"
(Hansel & Gretel years later) by Valente is one of those.  She basically writes
about the phenomenon of victims bonding with their kidnappers through the
medium of fantasy - amazing.  Have a read (link soon to follow) if you haven't
already.  And enjoy some illustrative takes on the tale below.

The moon slashes windows into the black soil, and he sleeps behind me,
sleeps dead and sweat-pooled. My steps grin on the pine needles and I
need no breadcrumbs, never needed breadcrumbs, north into the forest, the
wood, the thicket of breath and branches that pricks my skull hours on hours,
that tangles my lungs in sap and sweet. It is not that I remember where it is,
but my feet have learned no other path than this, this crow-hung track slinking
through the dark. They turn and point with the eagerness of a girl in pigtails,
a girl in braids, a girl with ribbons streaming like oaths behind her.

- Catherynne M. Valente, "Bones Like Black Sugar"

By Heidi Hanninen

By Marie Josee

from the screen - snow white and the huntsman

It's always interesting to read an early version of a film script, and then go to the movie and
see what was changed.

By Nicoletta Ceccoli

Here are just a few changes I noticed from Snow White and the Huntsman,
screenplay by Evan Daugherty:

Script - The Huntsman and Snow have a whole montage where he teaches her how to fight and survive in the dark forest.
Screen -The Huntsman only shows Snow one move, the move that she uses to kill the queen in the end.  Otherwise, we have no explanation for Snow's skills.

Script - The prince is presented as wimpy, whiny, and over protective.
Screen - The prince is a rebel, good with arrows, and loves Snow from afar.

Script - The Huntsman has a long back story about a white wolf (owned by the Queen) killing his wife.  The queen offers the Huntsman revenge on the wolf if he gathers Snow from the dark forest.
Screen - The Huntsman's wife was youth-stolen by the Queen.  The Queen offers to bring her back to life if he gathers Snow, which is an easily exposed lie (exposed too soon if you ask me).

Script - Snow kills the Queen with a shard from the hall of mirrors that the Queen shattered to form her temporary glass army.
Screen - Snow kills the Queen with a knife.  And the fair blood in her veins, I guess.

Some changes were good, some maybe not so good, but finding the differences is always an interesting exercise in critical thinking in storytelling.

illustration - andrea zuill

These are really amazing.  Ripe for inspiring some feisty fairy tale retellings, or a few originals.

Queen of Hearts

Goldilocks

the well written - catherynne m. valente

The world always changes.  Wishes get slimy, and their colors fade, and soon they are just mud, like all the rest of the mud, and not wishes at all, but regrets.  The trouble is, not everyone can tell when they ought to launder their wishes.

- Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

By Julia Filipone Erez

illustration - kim min ji

I can't believe I haven't discovered this illustrator before.  Exquisite renditions of common tales, and  ones that have yet to be told.  Have a look and be inspired.

The Little Prince

Alice in Wonderland

The Wizard of Oz

resources - folktale archive

Here is an archive of folktales.  They're organized by type:  beauties
and beasts, enchanted frogs, hairless men, bride tests, cinderellas, and
more.  It's a great resource if you're writing one of these types of stories
and need some inspiration, or need to know what's out there.

By Scott Gustafson

the well written - gregory maguire

Ranuccio waited until the sound of the girl’s progress had become swallowed 
up in the back-and-forth of wind through leaves.  Now there was the creak of 
an oak limb, now a silence through which a distant stream could be heard to 
murmur.  Now a rush of wind again—and, and—the world had sealed over, 
had healed itself of the girl’s presence, as if she had never lived.  Had even 
forgotten her absence.  Even he, used to hearing a beetle pause and inspect 
itself under a fallen log, was dizzy with the mystery of how fully she had been 
taken away.  What was her name, even?

- Gregory Maguire, Mirror Mirror

By Benjamin Lacombe.

a dreamer's wisdom - albert einstein again

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. 
If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.

- Albert Einstein

the well written - neil gaiman

Speaking of fairy tales, Gaiman did an amazing re-telling of the Snow
White fairy tale called Snow, Glass, Apples.  Absolutely amazing. 
And inspiring.  You can read it here.

By Julie Dillon

illustration - ofra amit

If any of you are trying their hand at rewriting a classic fairy tale, these
illustrations could serve as inspiration.  Amit gives each tale a different
atmosphere, altering perspective and mood, as a great rewrite should do.

illustration - gabriel pacheco

These illustrations have a haunted, melancholy feeling.  It could be a great 

exercise to try to write a paragraph or short story that captures this mood.