Genre tips

#AtoZChallenge: Genres–Fractured Fairy Tales

Posted on by 85 Comments

The A to Z Challenge asks bloggers to post 26 articles on a themed topic. It’s supposed to be every day except Sundays during the month of April but I did this last year, found it way to busy for the likes of me, and decided to post mine ‘about’ once a month. Yes, it’ll take me a couple of years. Sigh.

My topic, like the last two times I did the conventional approach, will be writing genres.

This genre:

Fractured Fairy Tales

Definition

A familiar fairy tale that is given a fun new twist

Tipsa to z

  1. Change a word in the title (such as Little Red Gliding Hood by Tara Glazar).
  2. Insert a new character among the familiar ones.
  3. Change the setting  but keep the same characters and themes.
  4. Change the POV.
  5. Take a character from a beloved fairy tale and put him/her in another story.
  6. Have characters from several popular fairy tales meet.
  7. Always include humor.

Popular Books

  1. The Heroic Climb of Itsy Bitsy Spider by David Novak
  2. Cinder-Elly by Frances Minters
  3. Sleeping Ugly by Jane Yolen
  4. Jack and the Meanstalk by Brian and Rebecca Wildsmith
  5. The True Story of the Three Pigs by Jon Scieszka
  6. Dear Peter Rabbit by Alma Flor Ada

Click for complete list of these 26 genres

Click for a complete list of all genres I’ve written about

More F Genres:

Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy, the Rowe-Delamagente thrillers, and the Man vs. Nature saga. She is also the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, blog webmaster, an Amazon Vine Voice,  a columnist for TeachHUB and NEA Today, and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. Look for her next prehistoric fiction, The Quest for Home, Fall 2019. You can find her tech ed books at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning

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85 thoughts on “#AtoZChallenge: Genres–Fractured Fairy Tales”

  8. We love The True Story of The Three Pigs. Fractured Fairy Tales was a writing contest my sons’ school promoted when they were kids. They had a great time writing their take offs. Many of the stories the kids wrote were so much better than the glum and scary originals.

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  11. Hi Jacqui – I’ve never heard of them … but can see through checking a few comments that a teacher would have a lot of fun with these and their class … sounds a great idea – cheers Hilary

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  14. I was so glad to see that The True Story of the Three Little Pigs made your list, Jacqui. I read that book to my students every year; it was always a hit! That was my introduction to having my 5th-6th-grade students write fractured fairy tales. They loved it!

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  15. I have published over 80 children’s ebooks and paperbacks plus over 50 audiobooks Many of them are fractured fairy tales. Here’s a link to my Amazon author page and books.
    Amazon.com/author/richlinville

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  16. I’ve never liked fractured fairy tales – but I love stories that are based on fairy tales. Go figure! (Actually, I think it’s having the actual characters in the fractured tale. It’s the same for any story where a character by name is redone. Just doesn’t do it for me. So as you can imagine, I’m not a huge fan of fan fiction.)

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  17. For those who know Peter Pan in Neverland, I have written Petrina Pan in Everland for girls to enjoy. A pirate ship of boys in the clouds attack the Wonder Girls, the tribe with a Chieftess, and Patrina. Several climatic twists and turns in the plot make for a wonderfully strange ending. Free on Kindle Unlimited. Here is a link to the ebook and paperback.
    https://amzn.to/2lrxU56

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  18. Fractured Fairy Tale with a surprise ending. A Froggy Prince: His Dream Comes True by Rich Linville
    Free on Kindle Unlimited. Also, available as an ebook,
    Please share, preview, and review.
    The Winking Stork says, “This is a tale that takes place twice upon a time in a magical, enchanted land.” The Winking Stork remarks, “Froggy do you remember now that you were once a human prince who lost his memory?“ Froggy replies, “What are you talking about?” Froggy says, “All I can remember is that I’ve always been a frog who loves to eat flies, sing, and dance” The Stork says, “Let me tell you your story as a prince before you ever became a frog.”
    https://amzn.to/2JM0PcT

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  30. Jacqui,

    Have you watched the TV series “Once Upon A Time”? That’s a great example of fractured fairy tales is it not? I have to admit it took me a bit to feel at ease with the twisted storyline. While I’m not opposed to women being the hero in any movie/TV show, I wish writers would do it so to not take away from a woman’s feminine characteristics. Do they always have to make a gal come off so masculine? Talk about role reversal. Oh well…I won’t rant about that now. 🙂 Good post, my friend!

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  32. I’m beginning to question the books I read. This genre is supposed to be right up my alley and yet, have never read any of those you mentioned. In fact, the only two retellings I can think about is Cinder (Cinderella)by Marissa Mayer and A curse so dark and lonely (beauty and the beast) by Brigid Kemmerer

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  33. I love transformed fairy tales, they’re so clever. I even dabbled in the genre myself, and it’s one of my favourite things to have written. I’d also love to do more, so I’m taking your tips as my cue, they lay out so many possibilities.

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