Liz DeJesus's Blog, page 25

Fairy Tale Friday

This weeks edition of Fairy Tale Friday will be about my absolute favorite princess...Snow White. I think this story has everything, a beautiful princess, loss of parents, evil stepmother (which technically makes her an orphan), dwarves, poisoned apple, jealousy, kiss, and then she comes back from the dead! Seriously. What else does this story need?

Well there are different versions of this story. In some the evil stepmother tries to kill her three times, with ribbons,  a poisoned comb and last but not least the poisoned apple. And then the prince wakes her up but again there are different versions that explain how it happened. The most romantic one is with true loves kiss, and in another version the prince decides to take her casket with him to his castle and in the journey  the casket hits a bump, making the bit of apple move dislodge itself from Snow White's throat and allows her to breathe again. I'd rather go with true love's kiss...it's a lot less creepy. I mean...why would the prince want a dead body? I mean, come on!

LOL

Anyway here's what I've found on wikipedia:

"Snow White" is a German fairy tale known across much of Europe, and is today one of the most famous fairy tales worldwide. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection Grimms' Fairy Tales. It was titled in German: Sneewittchen (in modern orthography Schneewittchen), and numbered as Tale 53. The Grimms completed their final revision of the story in 1854.[1]

The fairy tale features such elements as the magic mirror, the poisoned apple, the glass coffin, and the 7 dwarfs, who were first given individual names in the Broadway play Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs (1912) and then given different names in Walt Disney's 1937 filmSnow White and the 7 Dwarfs. The Grimm story, which is commonly referred to as "Snow White", should not be confused with the story of "Snow White and Rose Red" (in German "Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot"), another fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.[2]

In the Aarne-Thompson folklore classification, tales of this kind are grouped together as type 709, Snow White. Others of this kind include "Bella Venezia", "Myrsina", "Nourie Hadig" and "Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree".[3]

Story

[image error] 1. The Queen asks the magic mirror [image error] 5. The dwarfs warn Snow White [image error] 2. Snow White in the forest [image error] 6. The Queen has poisoned Snow White [image error] 3. The dwarfs find Snow White asleep [image error] 7. The Prince awakes Snow White [image error] 4. The Queen visits Snow White [image error] 8. The Queen arrives at the wedding

At the beginning of the story, a queen sits sewing at an open window during a winter snowfall when she pricks her finger with her needle, causing three drops of blood fall onto the snow on the ebony window frame. Admiring the beauty of the resulting color combination, she says to herself: "Oh, how I wish that I had a daughter that is as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as that wood of the window frame". Soon after, the queen indeed gives birth to a baby girl as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and with hair as black as ebony. They name her Snow White, and not long after, the queen dies.[1][4]

After a year has passed, the King takes a new wife, who is beautiful but also unutterably wicked and vain. The new Queen possesses a Magic Mirror which she asks every morning: "Magic mirror in my hand, who is the fairest in the land?". The mirror always replies: "My Queen, you are the fairest in the land." The Queen is always pleased with that, because the magic mirror never lies. But, when Snow White reaches the age of seven, she becomes as beautiful as the day and even more beautiful than the Queen and when the Queen asks her mirror, it responds: "My Queen, you are the fairest here so true. But Snow White is a thousand times more beautiful than you."[1][4]

This gives the queen a great shock, and she becomes yellow and green with envy, and from that hour her heart turns against Snow White, and with every following day she hates Snow White more and more. Envy and pride, like ill weeds, grow in her heart taller every day, until she has no peace day or night. The Queen orders a Huntsman to take Snow White into the deepest woods to be killed. She demands as proof that Snow White is dead, he returns with her lungs and liver. The huntsman takes Snow White into the forest. After raising his knife, he finds himself unable to kill her as she sobs heavily and begs him: "Oh, dear huntsman, don't kill me! Leave me with my life, I will run into the forest and never come back!". The huntsman leaves her behind alive, convinced that the girl would be eaten by some wild animal. He instead brings the Queen the lungs and liver of a young boar, which is prepared by the cook and eaten by the Queen.[1][4]

After wandering through the forest for days, Snow White discovers a tiny cottage belonging to a group ofSeven Dwarfs. Since no one is at home, she eats some of the tiny meals, drinks some wine and then tests all the beds. Finally the last bed is comfortable enough for her and she falls asleep. When the Seven Dwarfs return home, they immediately become aware that someone sneaked in secretly, because everything in their home is in disorder. During their loud discussion about who sneaked in, they discover the sleeping Snow White. The girl wakes up and explains to them what happened and the Dwarfs take pity on her, saying: "If you will keep house for us, and cook, make beds, wash, sew, and knit, and keep everything clean and orderly, then you can stay with us, and you shall have everything that you want." They warn her to be careful when alone at home and to let no one in when they are away delving in the mountains.[1][4]

Meanwhile, the Queen asks her mirror once again: "Magic Mirror in my hand, who is the fairest in the land?" The mirror replies: "My Queen, you are the fairest here so true. But Snow White beyond the mountains at the seven Dwarfs is a thousand times more beautiful than you."[1] The Queen is horrified to learn that the huntsman has betrayed her and that Snow White is still alive. She keeps thinking about how to get rid of Snow White, then she disguises herself as an old peddler. The Queen then walks to the cottage of the Dwarfs and offers her colourful, silky laced bodices and convinces the girl to take the most beautiful bodice as a present. Then the Queen laces it so tight that Snow White faints, causing the Queen to leave her for dead. But the Dwarfs return just in time and Snow White revives when the Dwarfs loosen the laces.[1][4]

Next morning the Queen consults her mirror anew and the mirror reveals Snow White's survival. Now infuriated, the Queen dresses as a comb seller and convinces Snow White to take a beautiful one as a present. She brushes Snow White's hair with a poisoned comb and the girl faints again, but she is revived by the Dwarfs. And the next morning the mirror tells the Queen, that Snow White is still 'a thousand times more beautiful' than its mistress. Now the Queen nearly has a heart attack in shock and rage. As a third and last try, she secretly consults the darkest magic and makes a poisoned apple, and in the disguise of a farmer's wife, she offers it to Snow White. The girl is, at first, hesitant to accept it, so the Queen cuts the apple in half, eating the white (harmless) part and giving the red (poisoned) part to Snow White. The girl eagerly takes a bite and falls into a state of suspended animation, causing the Queen to triumph. This time, the Dwarfs are unable to revive the girl, because they can't find the source of Snow White's poor health and, assuming that she is dead, they place her in a glass coffin.[1][4]

Time passes, and a Prince traveling through the land sees Snow White. He strides to her coffin, and enchanted by her beauty, instantly falls in love with her. The Dwarfs succumb to his entreaties to let him have the coffin, and as his servants carry the coffin away, they stumble on some roots. The tremor caused by the stumbling causes the piece of poisoned apple to dislodge from Snow White's throat, awakening her. The Prince then declares his love for her, and soon a wedding is planned. The couple invites every Queen and King to come to the wedding party, including Snow White's stepmother. Meanwhile, the Queen, still believing that Snow White is dead, again asks her magical mirror who is the fairest in the land. The mirror says: "You, my Queen, are fair so true. But the young Queen is a thousand times fairer than you."[1][4]

Appalled in disbelief and with her heart full of fear and doubts, the Queen is, at first, hesitant to accept the invitation, but she eventually decides to go. Not knowing that this new queen was indeed her stepdaughter, she arrives at the wedding, and her heart fills with the deepest of dread when she realizes the truth. As a punishment for her attempted murders, a pair of glowing-hot iron shoes are brought forth with tongs and placed before the Queen. She is forced to step into the burning shoes and to dance until she drops dead.[1][4]

Variations [edit]

In their first edition, the Brothers Grimm published the version they had first collected, in which the villain of the piece is Snow White's jealous mother. In a version sent to another folklorist prior to the first edition, additionally, she does not order a servant to take her to the woods, but takes her there herself to gather flowers and abandons her; in the first edition, this task was transferred to a servant.[5] It is believed that the change to a stepmother in later editions was to tone down the story for children.[6]

Disney's variation of Snow White gave the Dwarfs names and included magical, moving trees and a singing Snow White.

Another notable variation is the 2012 feature film Snow White and the Huntsman, directed by Rupert Sanders. In this version of Snow White, Snow White becomes a warrior in order to overthrow the Queen and the Huntsman is presented as her mentor and possible love interest.

Many later versions omit the queen's attempted cannibalism, eating what she believed to be the lungs and liver of Snow White, reference on old Slavic mythology where witch eats hearts of people, like in some versions of this tale.

Snow White by =ProdigyBombay on deviantART


"Real Life" Snow White by ~JirkaVinse on deviantART


Snow White by ~bomgirl on deviantART

Shattered Frost

Bianca sees Snow White in a dream. Except there's no blood on the sword. :)




Innocence by *LadyAdler on deviantART



19903 / 50000 words. 40% done!

School visit

So on Wednesday I went back to high school. LOL Although, not really. I went to visit the book group to talk to them about writing, publishing and creativity in general.I honestly went thinking that it was going to be a small, intimate thing. Maybe 10 student....15 tops. Boy oh boy, was I in for a surprise. They had a whole room with chairs, snacks, drinks, lots and lots of chairs. Sigh. I could feel the panic attack coming. But luckily the librarian was very sweet and gave me a minute to compose myself.

Have I mentioned that I don't do public speaking all that well? I mean...who puts an introverted author in front of a group of teenagers?! LOL But it went very well. The whole thing started at 10:15AM. There were three different groups of kids and they each got roughly 30 minutes to speak to me and ask me questions. I started talking about how I got started writing, and how I learned about the publishing industry. I was able to bring my old copy of the Writer's Market book and left it at the library for the students to peruse at their leisure. I also left three different magazines The Writer, Writer's Digest and Writing Basics.

The first group was the most chatty. There were at least 13-14 kids and they asked a lot of really good questions. Here are some of the really good questions and my answer.

1. Do I make a living as an author?

No, I'm a stay at home mom. I write for fun. But it's one of those hobbies that if you're lucky will pay off in the long run.

2. Did I go to college?

I did but I wasn't paying attention to class. So I decided to focus all of my attention on writing because I didn't want to waste my money and time pursuing something I wasn't passionate about.

3. What's a query letter? (Valid question because some kids know next to nothing about the publishing industry)

A query letter is like a letter of introduction to an agent or a publisher. You use that letter to tell them what your book is about and what you've published in the past.

4. I'm not a writer, but I want to become an illustrator someday. Are there jobs for artists?

Yes! You can be an illustrator. Pick up a copy of the Writer's Market book, there are different versions of it and there is one called Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market.

5. Where do your characters come from? Do you use real people?

My characters come from completely random places. I rarely use real people though. I'll occasionally use little snippets of conversations here and there if they're really funny and I'll put it in my book. But my characters are mostly made up.

6. Student: How did you do it?

Me: Do what?

Student: Get everything in the book to make sense? *She had just finished reading The Jackets*

I think about how life is. While you're here in school living your life, there are a million other things happening at the exact same time...just in different places. Let's say you're here talking to me, but somewhere else your mom is at home doing...whatever. We're all connected in one way or another and that's what I tried to do with The Jackets. Does that make sense to you?

Student: Nodded and smiled. *she got it* ;)

7. Do you use any of your real life experiences in your book?

Yes.

8. You mentioned you started writing in your journal. Do you use any of your journal entries in your book?

Yes. That was actually my first book Note to Self. I used my hot mess of a dating life and turned into a crappy book that is now out of print...you're welcome. :)

Anyway those are some of the little nuggets I can remember at the moment. I'll update it if I can remember anything else. I didn't get a chance to take too many pictures (the librarian took some and I'll post them here later), but here's one I took with my cellphone.



How cute is that?!

Oh and I forgot to mention that the first group was approx. 14 students. Then the second group was 5-6 kids and the third and final group was a whopping 20-25 students. So yeah. It was awesome and scary in a good way.

The Jackets

This is the music video that inspired me to write the short story 'Yellow' which is featured in my book The Jackets.



This is why I love music. :) It's a wonderful tool for writing. At least for me.

Fairy Tale Friday

This week's edition of Fairy Tale Friday will be about Bluebeard.



I read that story a long, long time ago in my favorite Charles Perrault book and it was terrifying...at least to me. Now that I'm much older I wonder if this was the story of a serial killer who's story got so mixed up that people didn't know if it was actually true or if it was in fact a fairy tale. You know what I mean?

Because Bluebeard is one of those stories that you're not 100% sure whether or not it ought to be considered a fairy tale. But anyway this is what I found on wikipedia:

"Bluebeard" (French: La Barbe bleue) is a French literary folktale, the most famous surviving version of which was written by Charles Perrault and first published by Barbin in Paris in January 1697 in Histoires ou Contes du temps passé. The tale tells the story of a violent nobleman in the habit of murdering his wives and the attempts of one wife to avoid the fate of her predecessors. Gilles de Rais, a 15th-century aristocrat and prolific serial killer, has been suggested as the source for the character of Bluebeard, as has Conomor the Accursed, an early Breton king. "The White Dove", "Mister Fox" and "Fitcher's Bird" are tales similar to "Bluebeard".

Plot summary Bluebeard is a wealthy aristocrat, feared and shunned because of his ugly, blue beard. He has been married several times, but no one knows what became of his wives. He is therefore avoided by the local girls. When Bluebeard visits one of his neighbours and asks to marry one of her two daughters, the girls are terrified, and each tries to pass him on to the other. Eventually he talks the younger daughter into visiting him, and after hosting a wonderful banquet, he persuades her to marry him. After the ceremony she goes to live with him in his château.

Very shortly after, Bluebeard announces that he must leave the country for a while; he gives all the keys of the château to his new wife, telling her they open the doors to rooms which contain his treasures. He tells her to use the keys freely, and enjoy herself whilst he is away. However, he also gives her the key to one small room beneath the castle, stressing to her that she must not enter this room under any circumstances. She vows she will never enter the room. He then goes away and leaves the house in her hands. Immediately she is overcome with the desire to see what the forbidden room holds, and despite warnings from her visiting sister, Anne, the girl abandons her guests during a house party, and takes the key to the room.

The wife immediately discovers the room's horrible secret: its floor is awash with blood, and the murdered bodies of her husband's former wives hang from hooks on the walls. Horrified, she drops the key into the pool of blood. She flees the room, but the blood staining the key will not wash off. She reveals her murderous husband's secret to her sister Anne, and both plan to flee the castle the next day. But Bluebeard returns home unexpectedly the next morning, and, noticing the blood on the key, immediately knows his wife has broken her vow. In a blind rage he threatens to behead her on the spot, but she implores him to give her a quarter of an hour to say her prayers. He consents, so she locks herself in the highest tower with Anne. While Bluebeard, sword in hand, tries to break down the door, the sisters wait for their two brothers to arrive. At the last moment, as Bluebeard is about to deliver the fatal blow, the brothers break into the castle, and as he attempts to flee, they kill him. He leaves no heirs but his wife, who inherits all his great fortune. She uses part of it for a dowry to marry off her sister, another part for her brothers' captains' commissions, and the rest to marry a worthy gentleman who makes her forget her horrible encounter with Bluebeard.

_________________

I'm actually going to use this story in Shattered Frost. Bluebeard is going to be the catalyst for Bianca's latest adventure and its safe to say that he is a very, very, very dangerous man. We also get to learn what happened to his wives.

It should be interesting. :) 


Bluebeard by *littlecrow on deviantART

Shattered Frost

The invitation by *hogret on deviantART


Bluebeard by ~JulijaJan on deviantART




19620 / 50000 words. 39% done!

Fairy Tale Friday

On today's edition of Fairy Tale Friday I'm going to talk about Rapunzel. There are a few versions of this story but my favorite is (surprise, surprise) the Brothers Grimm version. I remember watching Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theater a long, long time ago and I loved that version for some reason. Although I was horrified over the fact that the prince had fallen off the tower and been blinded by the thorns, I was still fascinated over how Rapunzel had healed him with her tears at the end of the story.


Rapunzel by ~chill07 on deviantART

I was always sad with the beginning of the story. I always thought about how lonely she must've been all alone in that tower with no one to talk to for all those years.


Rapunzel by *LadyAdler on deviantART


Here's what I found on wikipedia.

"Rapunzel" (/rəˈpʌnzəl/; German pronunciation: [ʁaˈpʊnt͡səl]) is a German fairy tale in the collection assembled by the Brothers Grimm, and first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales.[1] The Grimm Brothers' story is an adaptation of the fairy tale Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force originally published in 1698.[2] Its plot has been used and parodied in various media and its best known line ("Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair") is an idiom of popular culture.

In the Aarne–Thompson classification system for folktales it is type 310, "The Maiden in The Tower".[3]

Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book.[4] Other versions of the tale also appear in A Book of Witches by Ruth Manning-Sanders and in Paul O. Zelinsky's 1998 Caldecott Medal-winning picture book, Rapunzel and the Disney movie Tangled.

Rapunzel's story has striking similarities to the 10th century AD Persian tale of Rudāba, included in the epic poem

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair, so that I may climb the golden stair".

One day, a prince rides through the forest and hears Rapunzel singing from the tower. Entranced by her ethereal voice, he searches for the girl and discovers the tower, but is naturally unable to enter. He returns often, listening to her beautiful singing, and one day sees Dame Gothel visit, and thus learns how to gain access to Rapunzel. When Dame Gothel is gone, he bids Rapunzel let her hair down. When she does so, he climbs up, makes her acquaintance, and eventually asks her to marry him. Rapunzel agrees.Upon hearing these words, Rapunzel would wrap her long, fair hair around a hook beside the window, dropping it down to the enchantress, who would then climb up the hair to Rapunzel's tower room. (A variation on the story also has the enchantress imbued with the power of flight and/or levitation and the young girl unaware of her hair's length.)

Together they plan a means of escape, wherein he will come each night (thus avoiding the enchantress who visited her by day), and bring her silk, which Rapunzel will gradually weave into a ladder. Before the plan can come to fruition, however, Rapunzel foolishly gives the prince away. In the first edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales, Rapunzel innocently says that her dress is getting tight around her belly (indicating pregnancy); in the second edition, she asks the witch (in a moment of forgetfulness) why it is easier for her to draw up the prince than her.[8] In anger, Dame Gothel cuts short Rapunzel's braided hair and casts her out into the wilderness to fend for herself. When the prince calls that night, the enchantress lets the severed braids down to haul him up. To his horror, he finds himself staring at the witch instead of Rapunzel, who is nowhere to be found. When she tells him in anger that he will never see Rapunzel again, he leaps from the tower in despair and is blinded by the thorns below. In another version, the witch pushes him and he falls on the thorns, thus becoming blind.

For months, he wanders through the wastelands of the country and eventually comes to the wilderness where Rapunzel now lives with the twins she has given birth to, a boy and a girl. One day, as Rapunzel sings while she fetches water, the prince hears Rapunzel's voice again, and they are reunited. When they fall into each other's arms, her tears immediately restore his sight. The prince leads her and their children to his kingdom, where they live happily ever after.

In some versions of the story, Rapunzel's hair magically grows long and beautiful again, once the prince touched them.

In another version of the story, the story ends with the revelation that the witch had untied Rapunzel's braid after the prince leapt from the tower, and the braid slipped from her hands and landed far below, leaving her trapped in the tower.

Shattered Frost

So I started working on Shattered Frost again. I always have so much fun diving back into Bianca's head and working on her story. :) Had to cut about 1k words from the manuscript so it's a much shorter word count now than it was last time. But I've made a tiny bit of progress which is always nice.

I also found this online the other day. Safe to say that I want each one in the series. Seriously. :D I WANTZ THEM ALL.


Here's the link.

Anyway back to my original post. :) Here's the word count for Shattered Frost.





modern snow white cosplay pt 3 by ~ItsyBitsyshutterbug on deviantART


18854 / 50000 words. 38% done!

Summer Writing Challenge

Reposting this on behalf of my good friend JM Reinbold.

The Written Remains Writers Guild Summer Writing Challenge is coming up in July! You write 250 words a day for 31 days! That's 7,750 words -- a whole short story or a couple chapters in a novel. Blog posts. Journals. Articles. And as always you can write as much as you want each day, but commit to no less than 250 words per day.

The Summer Writing Challenge takes place on-line through the 250 Plus Group for Writers on Facebook.

June is a great time to start planning your projects!



For more information check out the 250 Plus Facebook Group for Writers!

Skills required

So on Friday May 17th and the 22nd I'll be at a local high school to talk to the teens about writing. On the 17th it'll be for a Job Fair and while I'm there I have to talk to them about skills and requirements needed to be a writer.

I texted my best friend ladytairngire and this is what we came up with.

1. Must have own pen and paper. Computer is a plus.
2. Must know speak good and stuff <-- written improperly on purpose. ;)
3. Must stare off into space.
4.Drink lots of coffee.
5. Chocolate is a must.
6. Must endure bouts of crying and crippling self doubt.
7. Be fluent in social media.
8. Children optional.