Laura Freeman's Blog, page 24

Lessons I didn’t learn in Sunday School

Lessons I didn’t learn in Sunday School – Tamar

Most Christians are familiar with the most popular stories taught in Sunday School. But as adults, what can we learn from those lessons? As a child I sat in Sunday School class listening to the different stories without realizing the impact on my attitudes and belief, but wasn’t that the point? What we are taught as a child tends to stick with us. Unfortunately, some of those lessons are not healthy. I’m examining some of the teachings to analyze what the motive was behind the story and its impact on our culture.

In the Jewish culture the Promised Land was one of the most important aspects of their lives. They were ordered not to marry anyone of another faith and the land was to be kept within the tribes and families. A woman’s primary purpose was to provide an heir for that inheritance of land and different rules were enforced to make sure she fulfilled this purpose.

In the Story of Ruth, she was able to marry a near kinsman and raise up an heir to her dead husband. This ancient custom was told earlier in Genesis 38: 1-30. It also reveals obligations to fulfill this promise and the dire consequences if they were not.

Judah, the eldest son of Jacob, had three sons. Er is married to Tamar but because he is wicked, the Lord slays him making Tamar a widow without any children. The second son, Onan, marries Tamar as promised by Judah but spills his seed on the ground because the child would inherit Er’s property. The Lord strikes him dead for refusing to raise up an heir to Er. Then his third son, Shelah, grows up but is not given to Tamar as Judah promised.

Failure to keep a promise is important in this story but there is another aspect for women.

Judah’s wife dies, and he travels to join the sheepshearers. Tamar disguises herself as a harlot and Judah sleeps with her without recognizing her. She takes his signet and bracelets and staff as a pledge for payment of a lamb, but she returns home before Judah can redeem them. Three months later, Judah finds out Tamar is pregnant from the other women in his tribe and plans to burn her to death. She shows him his possessions and he acknowledges that she is righteous but he never sleeps with her again. She gives birth to twins.

If Tamar hadn’t taken Judah’s tokens, she could have been burned to death for sex outside of marriage. In Deuteronomy 22 the punishment for being a harlot is stoning to death and in Leviticus 21 the punishment for the daughter of a priest who is a harlot is burning her to death. This was not a quick and merciful death. Think about how many stones it would take to kill you and the pain inflicted until death. And burned alive would be the last choice of death for nearly everyone. You would think with such a harsh punishments, prostitution and sex outside of marriage would have ceased a long ago. There were other rules that treated women unfairly.

If a woman was raped in the city and didn’t cry out, she and the man were stoned to death. If she was in the field and no one heard her, only the man was stoned to death. But if she was a virgin, then the man had to marry her and pay the father fifty shekels.

Ancient punishments should not be the guidelines for modern crimes but they have influenced modern cultures. These laws help to explain the attitude toward rape. If a woman doesn’t fight back, is she guilty of adultery or willing? And what rape victim wants to marry her rapist? The rape victim was often treated like a criminal and how often has a woman’s cries of rape been twisted to make her the manipulator of revenge or “regret sex?”

What should a woman be valued for?

In John 8:11the pharissees and scribes bring a prostitute before Jesus and say she was caught in the act. They quote Leviticus 20:10 which requires both the man and woman be put to death but no man is brought before Jesus. Did he escape or did they let him go?

Already there is a double standard for adultery because the law isn’t imposed equally. They are willing to stone a woman to death but not the man. Jesus tells the crowd, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Is this a reminder not to judge others?

Jesus doodles in the dirt and when he looks up, the crowd is gone. He tells her he doesn’t condemn her and to sin no more. We know she will sin. Everyone does so what does “sin no more” mean? I think it is a second chance to live a righteous life. Her crime wasn’t worthy of death. It matches the teachings of forgiveness.

What do we learn from this? Harsh punishments were created to deter sin but it didn’t work. Most criminals don’t think they will get caught and in today’s world, if someone has money or power, they can get away with crime. I agree that if someone is dangerous to others, they should be put in a prison or hospital, but are there alternative punishments for crimes?

What old rules or customs have influenced your way of thinking about marriage, sex, or relationships? How many of those beliefs were rooted in a religious teachings? Are they logical, fair, and out of love for one another?

The Heiress

The Heiress by Jude Deveraux 1995 Pocket Books

The story takes place in Elizabethan England but actual history plays a minimal role. It could take place at any time, but it allows Jamie Montgomery to be a knight and earl. He has returned home after the death of his father and brother, making him the heir. The estate has been reduced to ruins and a fraction of its size because of neglect. He must support his mentally unstable mother, a blind sister, Berengaria, and a 12-year-old sister, Joby, who is a hellion. Their solution is to use his good looks to woo an heiress that he has been hired to escort to her betrothed.

Axia is the Maidenhead Heiress who has been cloistered behind high walls in a neglected manor with Tode, a misshapen young man and her beautiful poor cousin Frances. She longs for adventure before she is married to a man she does not love and can never give her children. She longs for a family, something she has never known because her father has never visited her in 20 years. Being a tightwad, he refuses offers for her hand and fortune until he could make a better bargain for her with the Bolingbrookes’ family.

When Jamie comes over the wall to find out more about the heiress, he watches Axia painting Frances, who he thinks is the heiress. He tackles Axia and there is chemistry between them, but she is angry he wants to marry for money. Axia sneaks over the wall and “seizes the day” by pretending to be a virgin prostitute named Diana and makes love with Jamie. She forgets her cap, the only item her mother left her.

Axia and Frances agree to switch identities for the journey and for their own reasons. Axia is a person pleaser and helps everyone while Frances is helpless. Jamie’s companions, including Tode, all love Axia and begin proposing marriage to her. Jamie is attracted to Axia but must woo Frances to help his family.

Frances is afraid once they reach the Bolingbrookes’ manor, she will be abandoned and tries to convince Jamie they should elope. She announces their engagement, which angers Axia who is falling for Jamie. Frances is frantic because Jamie has written to Axia’s father asking for the hand of his daughter, Frances and not Axia. This will bring Axia’s father and an army to the Lachlan estate.

Axia plans a fake kidnapping to draw Frances and Jamie away from her father’s wrath but falls asleep. Joby, fearing her brother is falling in love with Axia, and they will lose their home, sends Henry Oliver, who is in love with Berengaria, to kidnaps Jamie’s woman and takes Frances for real. Tode finds out and sends Jamie and Axia on a wild goose chase to protect them.

Spoiler alert: I enoyed the adventures, the playful and humorous back and forth battle between Axia and Jamie and the development of the minor characters, but the ending was not satisfactory. Normally I wouldn’t reveal the ending, but in this case I think writers can learn from this one.

Jamie removes the cap belonging to Diana from is saddlebag and Axia claims it without thinking. She confesses she is Diana and noble Jamie takes her to the church and marries her. Axia who wants Jamie to marry her without knowing about her money, now wonders if he is marrying her out of honor, but several nights together should have made her realize he loves her. He leaves her at his home with his sisters, which Axia wins over, while Jamie goes to Oliver’s home to rescue Frances but is beaten and thrown into the prison. Axia and Jamie’s sisters rescue him and discover Frances has escaped. She’s not as helpless as she pretended.

Axia’s father arrives and instantly recognizes his daughter, whom he hasn’t seen in 20 years and blows their deception. Jamie is outraged Axia lied to him. Her father proves to be the businessman he is and plans to marry her with an heir to her betrothed and has already annulled the marriage to Jamie. He tells her Jamie knew she was the heiress before he married her. He plans to ruin Jamie if she stays. She agrees to go with him if he will secretly help Jamie and his family. Jamie an Axia exchange harsh words that would destroy any budding romance.

Then without any insight into why, Jamie rescues Axia the day of her wedding and takes her off to Scotland where they receive two letters. Frances says she took Axia’s place and married her betrothed. Her father writes a letter saying he locked her up to protect her and chose Jamie as her escort because he was an honorable man but tested him with love versus money. Jamie proved himself by risking all for her and gives her his blessing and her inheritance.  

The story should have ended with her father’s arrival instead of with two letters that maker father still the villain. We don’t know if Jamie knew Axia was the heiress. He didn’t act like it and risked his life to rescue Frances from Oliver. This makes her father a liar and a huge manipulator. This soured the story for me because Axia has been strong throughout the story and crumbles in front of her father, whom she has never known. She should have stood by Jamie if she loved him and defied her father.

A writer needs to maintain the personality of a character but Axia becomes a whimpering, obedient daughter when her father appears and threatens Jamie. I think it would have been a better ending if she had demanded to know why he had never visited her and how could he know her. Then he could have said he visited in disguise but could not reveal his identity because she would want to leave with him. It would have shown that father and daughter are alike in disguising their identities and would have shown he did love her.

I also would have Jamie refuse the inheritance. He would accept a modest dowry, which was his right as a husband, but by refusing her fortune, he would prove his love.

I have rewritten the endings of my story several times. I am never happy with the ending in the early drafts and will try several different ones until that “aha” moment when it all fits, makes perfect sense, and satisfies everyone. I suggest other writers try different endings to their stories until they find the one that beats all others.

 More reviews can be found at www.authorfreeman.wordpress.co

Updating Fairytales – Cinderella

Fairytales are popular not only in their original form but in updated or fractured versions. I have long been a fan of Disney but want to look at some of the fairytales and how they can be altered to appeal to the modern audience. This is a good exercise for writers who can take an old idea or story and give it an update to make it an original work of art.

Cinderella stays true to the plot of a romance that others still follow. A poor but kind girl dreams of happiness with a wish her heart makes. She tries to get along with her demanding and cruel stepmother and stepsisters and befriends the animals in the household. Animation requires talking animals but she’s kind to every creature, even the evil Lucifer. The animals repay her by updating her old dress for the ball, which her family tears to shreds.

The heroine’s kindness and patience are contrasted against the cruelty and harsh demands put on her by her relatives. I often wonder why her father didn’t provide for her better. Didn’t he have a lawyer/solicitor to oversee his estate and make sure Cinderella was taken care of?

Like many titled and rich men, the prince must fulfill his obligation of providing an heir to the throne. This is the reason for the ball where he will meet all eligible young ladies. Cinderella meets the man of her dreams and falls in love while dancing. He turns out to be the prince but her stepmother and others try to prevent them from marrying. Yet, true love conquers all.

Disney’s trademark is magic and many writers use magic or the supernatural in their stories. The fairy godmother arrives while Cinderella is in tears and provides the carriage, horses, and a beautiful gown with glass slippers. The magic ends at midnight with a rush by Cinderella to escape. She loses her slipper which sets up the search for the mystery girl. Her stepmother guesses the truth and locks her in her room while her stepsisters try to force the slipper to fit. The animals help her escape and she has the other slipper after her stepmother breaks the one the grand duke has brought.

Most of the different versions follow the same pattern but what where the Grimm brothers writing about? The stepsisters, directed by their mother, want to gain wealth and status by marrying the prince. This was a common goal for women. They had no property of their own and a good marriage was their happily ever after.

In the Grimm version the stepsisters cut off parts of their feet to fit the slipper and bleed out. Gross. Grimm’s stories also have the rich described as ugly and cruel while the poor are kind and hard working. It gave them hope to find love and happiness in an otherwise harsh world. Royalty are given special treatment. They are described as kind (most likely to avoid being thrown in jail) but the prince only sees that Cinderella is beautiful. He can’t even remember what she looks like to identify her after the ball and has to rely on the fit of a slipper. What was he looking at while dancing with her?

Yet, real events have shown that the life of a princess is far from happy. I try to avoid super rich heroes. Who wouldn’t fall in love with someone who is young, handsome, and wealthy? What if he’s spoiled, abusive, and cheats on his wife? Give your hero and heroine good and bad traits with disadvantages to overcome. Go beyond a pretty or handsome face and develop qualities that the reader can identify with.

Disney’s modern romances have focused more on the heroine valuing an education, independence, and family honor instead of finding a prince to save her from her problems. Rushing into love caused problems for Anna in Frozen. That was a nice change from love at first sight. Belle also has to look beyond first impressions and discover the heart of the beast.

If your characters choose someone of wealth, let them debate the pros and cons of marrying someone who has power and advantage and how they will deal with it.

A new version of Cinderella has the prince choosing her stepsister and she ends up scrubbing floors at the palace but she uncovers a plot against the prince. Will Cinderella save him? That’s a new twist worth reading. Take something familiar and give the reader a new way to look at the situation and characters.

Ruth

Lessons I didn’t learn in Sunday School – Ruth

Most Christians are familiar with the most popular stories taught in Sunday School. But as adults, what can we learn from those lessons?

The story of Ruth is touted as a love story, but there’s more to it than Boaz and Ruth falling in love and marrying. It’s about inheritance and one of the ways a widow without sons could regain protection and not turn to begging or prostitution. Life was not easy for women and the most important lesson in Ruth is about lasting friendship between women.

Early societies treated women like property. Rich men who wanted to leave their possessions to their son and heir, married a virgin to guarantee the child was his. So virgins of child bearing age were valuable. They competed in the marriage market which has some remnants in debutante balls where young women are presented to society as potential brides. Poor women had a life of hard work ahead of them. Even the daughter of a rich man who was plain, widowed, or could not find a husband, was treated like a servant or sent to a nunnery.

The story of Ruth is told in four chapters. It begins with Elimelech and his wife Naomi and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to Moab because of a famine. Elimelech dies and the two sons take wives, Orpah and Ruth and they lived in Moab for about 10 years. Then the two sons died. Naomi decides to return to Judah where there is now bread. She tells the young women to return to their mothers’ houses and find new husbands because she has no other sons. Orpha leaves but Ruth remains with Naomi.

Ruth gives an oath to Noami: “For whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. They people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.”

Although Naomi is older than Ruth, they pledge to stand by one another no matter what happens as they set out to return to Naomi’s homeland.

Moab is across the Dead Sea from Judah. Moabites originally were descended from Abraham’s brother, Lot, who impregnated his two daughters after his wife’s death – she was turned into a pillar of salt. This is another story to look at some other time. But it shows that everyone in the Middle East is a cousin or relative traced back to Abraham.

Naomi and Ruth return to Bethlehem during barley harvest time where many of her old neighbors recognize Naomi, and she tells them of her troubles. Boaz was a kinsman (most likely a younger brother) of Elimelech and a mighty man of wealth. Ruth volunteers to go to the field. She hopes to find grace in Boaz’s eye which she does. Boaz asked about Ruth and the servant tells him her history with Naomi.

Boaz tells her to gleam only in his fields by his maidens and orders his men not to touch her. He protects her and invites her to eat with him and then orders his men to drop handfuls of the crop for her. All of these actions demonstrate that Boaz is attracted to Ruth and cares about her welfare. It doesn’t say anything about being attracted by her beauty but by her behavior toward Naomi.

Naomi, who remains in Bethlehem and does not go into the fields, listens to what happens each evening and proposes finding security for Ruth. She tells her to wash and dress and go to the threshing floor but not show herself to Boaz. After he lies down, she uncovers his feet and lies down. She says, “spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman.”

She is asking him to marry her and as a near kinsman redeem her dead husband’s inheritance. This was her right as shown in Deuteronomy 25:5:10.

Boaz praises her for not chasing young men which implies that he is older and matches the idea that he is Elimelech’s brother. He tells her there is a closer near kinsman. She stays until morning but leaves before anyone can see her and Boaz gives her six measures of barley. Naomi listens to what Boaz told her and they wait to see the outcome.

Boaz goes to the gate of Bethlehem and waits for the kinsman. He calls 10 elders of the city as witnesses. He tells the near kinsman that Naomi wants to sell a parcel of land which was their brother Elimelech’s plot. This confirms their fraternal relationship. He tells him to redeem it but if he doesn’t want to, Boaz will redeem it. But there is one condition. If he buys the land, he must buy it of Ruth and marry her and raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.

The near kinsman can’t redeem it without forfeiting his own inheritance and gives Boaz the right to redeem it. He plucks off his shoe and gives it to his neighbor to seal the deal. Boaz agrees before the elders to buy the land belonging to Naomi’s husband and sons. He also purchases Ruth to be his wife and agrees to raise up the dead upon his inheritance.

Ruth has a son, Obed, and Naomi becomes nurse to it. She is too old to breastfeed as some claim. This is most likely a declaration that she claims the child as her grandson because in the law at that time, he is legally her grandson and heir to the land Boaz purchased from Naomi. The term nurse would imply that she helped Ruth take care of him. This also shows that she lives with Ruth and they continue their pledge to help one another.

I don’t think there are enough stories about women forming strong friendships that last a lifetime and that is why this one is special. Naomi could have sold the land for herself and lived off of the profits but she wanted to find “security” for Ruth and told her how to claim her rights to raise up an heir to her dead husband. 

Laws were passed to transfer a woman’s property, if she had any, to her husband when they married. Anyone who has read a Jane Austen novel knows that if a woman didn’t have a son, she lost the family property to a male relative of her husband.

Why do you think women were not allowed to inherit or own property in some cultures?

Some conservative religions still insist the husband should handle the money and important decisions for the family. How does that affect a woman’s image of herself and her security if her husband dies or divorces her?

Do you have a friendship like Ruth and Naomi? How is that special?

The Beauty Queen Killer

The Beauty Queen Killer by John Creasey 1954 Berkley Medallion

This is your classic murder mystery in London and investigated by Scotland Yard inspectors. It holds up and can serve as an example of writing a crime story.

The story begins with a fight between Betty and her boyfriend, Harold Millsom, who is jealous of her new fame after winning a beauty contest. She is attacked and killed on her way home.

Detective Inspector Warren Turnball is the young, ambitious, and highly conceited new detective who sits at Chief Inspector Roger West’s desk. West is the experienced man paired with the young upstart. This pairing causes tension throughout the story and is a good example of pairing two people who irritate each other or clash in methods.

Also adding to the relationship is the first incident where Millsom is hiding in a church under renovations. Turnball, against orders, goes up the scaffolding, and Roger has no choice but to go up as well. Roger slips but grasps the bar. He is shot by Millsom before he jumps to his death. Turnball pulls Roger to safety. This is another good way to keep a pair together. One is indebted to the other. This was used in “Lethal Weapon” for a newer version of the odd-ball partnership.

Another beauty contest winner is killed, and Millson was already dead before he was thrown off the church tower so they need a new suspect. Roger investigates on his own after Turnball flirts with Regina Howard, another beauty contestant. She works with Derek Talbot and Mark Osborn who are competing for her attention. The third member of the Conway Soap Beauty Contest advertising company is Wilfrid Dickerson, who once courted Regina’s mother. She was disfigured in a skiing accident that claimed the life of Regina’s father.

Another contestant is murdered and someone tries to kill Regina, but Turnball, who has fallen for her, scares the killer off. Trumball thinks the killer will use poison instead of strangling the remaining three girls and poison is sent in chocolates to the women. Roger admires Trumball’s way of analyzing a case, but knows he breaks too many rules.

The story begins to rule out suspects and changes motives for the killing. This is another good technique to use in a murder mystery. The suspects can change because the motive changes.

This is part of a series with Roger West so if you like it, there are more stories to read.

More reviews can be found at www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

Updating Fairytales – Sleeping Beauty

Fairytales – Sleeping Beauty

Fairytales are popular not only in their original form but in updated or fractured versions. I have long been a fan of Disney but want to look at some of the fairytales and how they can be altered to appeal to the modern audience. This is a good exercise for writers who can take an old idea or story and give it an update to make it an original work of art.

Sleeping Beauty is a mess when it comes to a romance. The story is more about the three fairy godmothers and their rivalry with Maleficent than the romance between Prince Phillip and Princess Aurora. The primary genre of a story is determined by the main focus of the story, but this story suffers like Snow White with the heroine spending the climax asleep.

The story begins with the birth of Aurora and the gifts the three fairy godmothers bestow upon her, which include beauty and song. Before the third gift can be given, Maleficent arrives, angry she wasn’t invited, and curses Aurora, saying she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die before midnight on her 16th birthday. The third fairy changes death to deep sleep. The king destroys all the spinning wheels but the fairies, disguised as peasant women, take the foundling into the woods where they put away their magic wands and raise Aurora as Briar Rose. All of this is backstory and should have been revealed in dialogue or flashbacks instead of being shown at the beginning of the story. It slows the story down in print or film.

Nearly 16 years pass. Do the fairies wait until after midnight on her 16th birthday to be safe from the curse? No, they decide to bake a cake and make a dress on the last day of the curse. This is ridiculous but necessary for this plot to proceed. They haven’t learned any skills during the past 16 years because they have to use their wands to bake a cake and sew the dress. 

Maleficent, knowing time is running out, sends her crow out to scout the land. He sees the magic dust from the fairies’ wands and reports to Maleficent.

The second dumbest thing is they return the princess to the castle before midnight while she is still vulnerable to the curse. Maleficent puts Aurora under her spell and she pricks her finger on the spindle of the spinning wheel. The fairies put everyone in the castle into a deep sleep. This is when they learn Prince Phillip was the man Aurora met in the woods and they help him defeat Maleficent.

Maleficent is a witch, mistress of all evil, lives in the forbidden mountain castle, and taunts the prince with the image of him growing old before “true love conquers all.” He shows her Aurora sleeping in the tower with dreams of love and her prince. She turns herself into a dragon before the prince slays her. 

Now the subplot. While picking berries Briar Rose meets Prince Phillip. They don’t know they are betrothed to each other but fall in love. Phillip rides off to break off his engagement to Princess Aurora, and Briar Rose returns to the cottage to tell them she has met her true love. The fairies tell her she is Princess Aurora and must marry a prince she has never met. This is a good plot device for any romance, but it is not developed beyond this. Prince Philip learns Briar Rose is Princess Aurora from Maleficent and with the fairies’ help, rescues her.

In a romance, the romance must be the main plot. This story has it all backwards and suffers for it. How to fix it? Cut out the beginning and start with Briar Rose meeting Phillip. They fall in love, but he has to break off his engagement to Aurora. He goes to the castle and talks with his father about marrying a peasant girl instead of a princess. This theme of class equality could be explored in different ways.

Phillip could insist on meeting Aurora personally to break the engagement or to see if she also has doubts about marrying him. Should the children have a say in their future or will they follow the plans of the fathers, who are both kings? A meeting about marriage gives the fairies a reason to bring Aurora to the castle early.

In addition, Briar Rose must wrestle with the news she is the Princess Aurora and can’t marry the man she met in the woods. She is betrothed to a prince. The focus is on their relationship and how to overcome the obstacles.

The fairies should provide comic relief and cause problems but they shouldn’t solve the problems. What if Aurora doesn’t prick her finger? What if she has to fight Maleficent to free Phillip? List all the possibilities and then pick the m

By Honor Bound

By Honor Bound by Scotney St. James 1989 Avon Books

This historical romance has a unique version of history with Richard III more of a tragic king than the villain Henry VII painted him, but the victor gets to rewrite history to make himself the hero.

The story begins at Nottingham Castle where Marganna Tudor, the illegitimate daughter of Owen Tudor’s daughter, is living with her Aunt Margaret, Lady Stanley, who wants her to spy on King Richard III and find out the location of the late king’s sons, Edward and Richard.

While she is playing the harp, Lord John Rathburn, mistaking her for his mistress, Bronwyn, fondles her and whispers words of love. In retaliation, Marganna sings a bawdy ballad about northsmen, Rath’s homeland, but he joins in, insulting her with his own verses.

He follows her and finds her in the King’s chamber. She has stolen a letter with news of the boys. While dancing he discovers the letter and the king orders Rath to take her to his northern castle and hold her prisoner. Bronwyn and his best friend, Will, accompany them.

Marganna tries to escape several times but Rath’s kisses confuse her. Rath realizes he no longer has any desire for Bronwyn and loves Marganna. When Donal, a Tudor loyal, arrives, Rath won’t allow him to enter. They travel to Rathburn Hall, and she ends up going to Nappa Hall where she meets the young princes. They become friends when she acts out Robin Hood with them.

Caught in a storm on their way home, they make love, and she confesses she is illegitimate. She longs for a husband and home of her own. Richard III arrives and tells them Lady Stanley is spreading the rumor that Rath kidnapped Marganna. They are forced to marry. They fight and love. Donal kidnaps her and beats her to reveal the whereabouts of the boys. She thinks she is lying when she tells him Rathburn manor, but when she escapes and tells Rath, he is furious because the boys are there. He only realizes she had no choice when he sees the bruises on her body.

When Henry VII invades Wales, Rath and others take the boys to the coast and safety. Rath leaves to join Richard. Marganna says good-bye to the boys and learns Rath is ill and a prisoner. She goes to Henry VII to beg for his life.

The history plays an integral part of the story, which I deem important in this genre. The facts are easily inserted into the description and dialogue. The romance is well-written, but the reader also will understand English history by the final page.

More book reviews can be found at www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

Updating fairytales – Snow White

Fairytales are popular not only in their original form but in updated or fractured versions. I have long been a fan of Disney but want to look at some of the fairytales and how they can be altered to appeal to the modern audience. This is a good exercise for writers who can take an old idea or story and give it an update to make it an original work of art.

Snow White was Disney’s earliest romantic fairytale with a young Snow White stripped of her princess title and reduced to a scullery maid while her stepmother takes on the role of Queen and its power. She is obsessed with her beauty and has a Magic Mirror that proclaims her the “fairest of all” until Snow White takes the title from her. Then the Queen hires the huntsman to kill her. He takes the heart of a pig to the Queen to trick her. Snow White flees into the forest where she finds shelter in the home of the Seven Dwarves. The Queen, disguised as an old hag, finds Snow White, offers her a poisoned apple and she falls into a deep sleep. The Dwarves chase the Queen into the mountains where lightening strikes a tree and kills her. A prince Snow White met once by the wishing well arrives and kisses her and they ride off to live happily ever after.

In a modern romance, the hero and heroine need equal time on the page with their own point of views. The prince in this story is horribly underdeveloped as a character. A rewrite would require he have more time on the page and have more of a personal involvement in the story than singing a song and kissing the girl at the end.

Some ideas to heat up the tension would be for Snow White to be nearing her twenty-first birthday when she would be declared queen. This point seems to be glossed over. She is the rightful heir if her father was king and her stepmother is only ruling until her maturity. This also creates a limited time before the Queen would have to do something about Snow White which intensifies the tension. The clock is ticking. The prince could disguise himself to be near to protect Snow White and falls in love with her over time instead of instantly. Disney never explains why he rides off and takes more than a year to return. If the prince disguises himself as the huntsman, not only is he privy to the Queen’s plan to kill Snow White, he can thwart it by taking her into the woods to the “abandoned” dwarves’ cottage and promising to return when it is safe.

Snow White can befriend the dwarves, but she needs a more active role in her own rescue. She can’t do that if she eats the apple and falls into a deep sleep. A modern version would have the prince arrive and wake her and they both go after the Queen with the help of the dwarves.

An additional twist would be Snow White fighting the queen for the throne and ruling her own kingdom instead of riding off to the prince’s castle.

If you have a favorite show on television, take the characters and setting and write your own episode. Think about the dialogue, description, and add twists and surprises. It can be fun and help with writing your own stories.
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Lessons I didn’t learn in Sunday School

Like many Christians, I attended Sunday School where teachers shared select stores from the Bible. I thought I knew them but as an adult looking back, there were omissions of facts and focus that are worth examining.

Most people are familiar with the story of Solomon who is confronted by two women who both claim the same baby and ask the king to decide who is the real mother. Solomon shows his wisdom by calling for the baby to be cut in two and each woman given a half. The real mother cries out not to kill the baby and give it to the other woman. Solomon gives the real mother the child.

This lesson was taught to show the wisdom of Solomon. Great, but what is missing? Who are these two women and why are they fighting over a baby? What didn’t our Sunday School teachers tell us?

The story begins in I Kings 3:16

16 Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 One of them said, “Pardon me, my lord. This woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me. 18 The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.

19 “During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. 20 So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. 21 The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.”

22 The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.”

But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king.

23 The king said, “This one says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead,’ while that one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.’”

24 Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king. 25 He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”

26 The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!”

But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”

27 Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”

The two women were prostitutes and lived together in a house together but appear to be strangers. Was this a house where pregnant women went to deliver a baby? It appears that may be the explanation why they are there together near their due dates. Woman A had a baby and three days later Woman B had a child. Both sons. The story emphasizes that the women are alone in the house, which means there were no witnesses to the crime.

Woman B rolled over on her son while sleeping and suffocated the baby. This story took place thousands of years ago but the modern lesson is to place a baby in a crib or its own bed to prevent the suffocation of an infant.

The rest of the story is about truth versus lies. Each woman argues that the living baby is hers and the dead infant belongs to the other woman. From the story we know Woman A is telling the truth but what is Woman’s B’s motive for lying? Why would she take another woman’s baby and claim it was hers?

I’ve come up with three possibilities:

If she was a widow and married in the past, she could claim the baby was her dead husband’s child and demand that his family take care of her and his son.She could use the baby as a reason to beg instead of resorting to prostitution for money.She loved the idea of having a child and wanted a replacement for her dead child.

None of these motives work because she was willing to have the child killed when Solomon calls for a sword to sever the child in two. Even though one of the options could have been a motive initially, it changed and the reason for that change is important.

A new motive arises because Woman B is a liar and has gone big with her lie, telling it to King Solomon. She has falsely called Woman A a liar in order to justify her story. She doesn’t want to be found out as a liar.

This is something that happens in today’s society as well. One person tells the truth and another tells a lie but they cannot admit it is a lie or they lose power over whatever they are struggling for, whether it is a baby, power, or a position. The lie becomes the truth to many.

Solomon’s test of dividing the baby reveals the truth. Woman A gives in to keep the baby alive, but Woman B is willing to have the baby killed. She would rather Woman A not have the child at all than be called a liar and lose social standing or any credibility before others.

We need to be like Solomon and test the claims to discover the truth and then declare the truth. What if Solomon had divided the baby and given each half to the two women? Then the lie would have won and truth would have failed. Woman B would have gained power through her lies and hurt Woman A, making her less likely to declare the truth again. It took Solomon’s declaration of what was the truth to silence the lie.

What lessons or questions do you take from the story?

The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare

The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare by Lilian Jackson Braun 1988 Jove Book

This is a cozy mystery series with “The Cat Who” in the titles. The two Siamese cats are Yum Yum and Koko and are owned by Jim Qwilleran or “Qwill” a former journalist who inherited millions and lives in the garage next to a mansion-museum.

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This is a cozy mystery before they were officially known by that title. A cozy has a small town. This one is near the Canadian border and expecting a harsh snowfall. The story focuses on the quaint residents of the town. All the murders are “off stage” as well as any sex.

The cats keep knocking copies of Shakespeare off the shelf to indicate trouble, but Qwill thinks they’re just being troublesome. The reader is introduced to the housekeeper, Mrs. Cobb who is dating a mechanic named Hackpole. They plan to marry in the museum. Qwill is dating the librarian, Polly Duncan.

A series of events keep introducing new characters. He takes Junior, the son of Senior, the owner of a small local paper, to the big town for a retirement party of a former journalist. Senior drives off the bridge on his way home from his newspaper job and dies in a fiery crash.

Qwill begins interviewing the old people about the history of the town for the museum, and old deaths are brought to light. When the printing press is burned to the ground, Senior’s widow plans to sell everything right away and auction off their collection of antiques. This sends warning bells off in Qwill’s head.

Qwill’s rich friend comes to town to buy up Senior’s properties before the XYZ Development Company can but then dies in a deer-car accident with Senior’s widow.

Braun throws some twist and turns, a mysterious stranger, and a fire at the museum into the story, but I expected more complexity to the plot. The events are evenly paced, but the killer is an obvious choice.

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