Dianne Hartsock and Little Match Girl
The second interview in my Once Upon a Rainbow series is with Dianne Hartsock.
Dianne’s story ‘Little Match Girl’ is a retelling of classic fairy tale ‘The Little Match Girl’ by Andersen. This story was one of my personal favourites from the anthology and had me rooting for Christian and Dani from the start.
Little Match Girl Blurb
Falling in love with the Little Match Girl was easy, but now Christian is determined to help Dani find his family, even if doing so means he might lose him forever.
Christian can’t help himself. He’s fallen in love with the sweet, sometimes effeminate guy who’s been coming into the sandwich shop for the past several months. But Dani is also the Little Match Girl, the ragged queer selling candles on the street corner Christian’s been avoiding all year, going so far as to cross the street to avoid walking by him. Ashamed, he wonders if Dani can ever forgive him.
Losing his mother to cancer, Dani has spent the last year in a haze of grief and loneliness, selling Mother’s candles like they always had, giving himself to any man who can pay, saving him from having to go home to his father’s brutality. Desperate for a place to belong, he sets out with Christian to find his mother’s family. Christian helps, wanting Dani to be happy, though the cost might be losing his sweet lover forever.
Anyway, here's the interview. I'm in bold and Dianne is in italics.
Hi! How's it going?
I’m doing great! Thanks for inviting me to your blog today, and thanks everyone for stopping in. I’m a floral designer by day, so the holidays are always a super busy time for me, where I can never get all the writing done that I’d like. But it’s always nice to take a break and chat with my friends about books, especially an anthology like this one full of so many terrific stories.
The big theme for this anthology is fairy tales, were you a fan as a child? Do you think that fairy tales have a special place in people’s hearts?
I grew up watching ‘The Wonderful World of Disney’ on TV, so fairy tales were an integral part of my childhood. I loved the fantasy and magic and drama of each story. It was a way to escape for an hour or two into a world of beauty and vibrant color and song, where a happy ending was always guaranteed. I think fairy tales have a special place with people for this reason, especially adults, where we’re not always promised the happily ever after. And also, it’s the good memories associated with either watching or having someone read fairy tales to us as children that cause that warm spot in our hearts that make them important to us.
Just wanted to say great choice of fairy tale, certainly not one of the more common ones. What made you decide to base your story on this?
Hans Christian Andersen’s stories have always been favorites of mine. So much drama! I stumbled upon The Little Match Girl while looking for a fairy tale to make my own. I’d never read this one before. It’s heartbreaking. Beautifully written. Such pathos. I needed to try to capture that feeling in my own version, but of course add the happy ending. I can’t write a story without one. I decided to set my love story in the present, with my gender fluid hero raised in poverty, finding a lover able to see past that to his beautiful soul.
What is your favourite fairy tale and why?
Grimm’s Beauty and the Beast. I had the story read to me before watching the Disney version. So romantic! I remember hurting for the beast’s loneliness and pain and kept hoping he’d find happiness. Even young as I was, I loved the tragic hero and the beautiful girl who fell in love with him, even though he was a beast. And of course having him transform into a handsome prince was the icing on the cake! I still love a good angsty romance!
If you could be in a fairy tale which one would you chose? Would you be a hero or a villain?
Cinderella! Not the evil step mother/sisters part, but having a fairy godmother, the beautiful gown and glittering party and having the prince fall in love and take me away to a blissful life. Pure fantasy, of course! I believe we each have to make our own happiness. But also, if we’re going to dream, why not make it the best fantasy we can create?
And our final question; a quick sales pitch! Why should we read Little Match Girl?
Because Dani is such a sweetheart! (Just adding that I totally agree!) I fell a little bit in love with him myself. Shy, effeminate, but with a core of strength that helps him survive on the streets when there’s no one in the whole world who cares whether he lives or dies. And Christian, his crush, who sees through his ragged appearance to his beautiful soul and falls in love with the pretty Little Match Girl. This story might make your heart ache at times, but will leave you with a smile and warm spot in your heart by the ending.
Dianne can be found:
Twitter: @diannehartsock
Facebook: Dianne Hartsock, Author
Goodreads: Dianne Hartsock
Website: https://diannehartsock.wordpress.com/
Please note that Riza Curtis cannot be held responsible for the contents of external sites.
Dianne’s story ‘Little Match Girl’ is a retelling of classic fairy tale ‘The Little Match Girl’ by Andersen. This story was one of my personal favourites from the anthology and had me rooting for Christian and Dani from the start.
Little Match Girl Blurb
Falling in love with the Little Match Girl was easy, but now Christian is determined to help Dani find his family, even if doing so means he might lose him forever.
Christian can’t help himself. He’s fallen in love with the sweet, sometimes effeminate guy who’s been coming into the sandwich shop for the past several months. But Dani is also the Little Match Girl, the ragged queer selling candles on the street corner Christian’s been avoiding all year, going so far as to cross the street to avoid walking by him. Ashamed, he wonders if Dani can ever forgive him.
Losing his mother to cancer, Dani has spent the last year in a haze of grief and loneliness, selling Mother’s candles like they always had, giving himself to any man who can pay, saving him from having to go home to his father’s brutality. Desperate for a place to belong, he sets out with Christian to find his mother’s family. Christian helps, wanting Dani to be happy, though the cost might be losing his sweet lover forever.
Anyway, here's the interview. I'm in bold and Dianne is in italics.
Hi! How's it going?
I’m doing great! Thanks for inviting me to your blog today, and thanks everyone for stopping in. I’m a floral designer by day, so the holidays are always a super busy time for me, where I can never get all the writing done that I’d like. But it’s always nice to take a break and chat with my friends about books, especially an anthology like this one full of so many terrific stories.
The big theme for this anthology is fairy tales, were you a fan as a child? Do you think that fairy tales have a special place in people’s hearts?
I grew up watching ‘The Wonderful World of Disney’ on TV, so fairy tales were an integral part of my childhood. I loved the fantasy and magic and drama of each story. It was a way to escape for an hour or two into a world of beauty and vibrant color and song, where a happy ending was always guaranteed. I think fairy tales have a special place with people for this reason, especially adults, where we’re not always promised the happily ever after. And also, it’s the good memories associated with either watching or having someone read fairy tales to us as children that cause that warm spot in our hearts that make them important to us.
Just wanted to say great choice of fairy tale, certainly not one of the more common ones. What made you decide to base your story on this?
Hans Christian Andersen’s stories have always been favorites of mine. So much drama! I stumbled upon The Little Match Girl while looking for a fairy tale to make my own. I’d never read this one before. It’s heartbreaking. Beautifully written. Such pathos. I needed to try to capture that feeling in my own version, but of course add the happy ending. I can’t write a story without one. I decided to set my love story in the present, with my gender fluid hero raised in poverty, finding a lover able to see past that to his beautiful soul.
What is your favourite fairy tale and why?
Grimm’s Beauty and the Beast. I had the story read to me before watching the Disney version. So romantic! I remember hurting for the beast’s loneliness and pain and kept hoping he’d find happiness. Even young as I was, I loved the tragic hero and the beautiful girl who fell in love with him, even though he was a beast. And of course having him transform into a handsome prince was the icing on the cake! I still love a good angsty romance!
If you could be in a fairy tale which one would you chose? Would you be a hero or a villain?
Cinderella! Not the evil step mother/sisters part, but having a fairy godmother, the beautiful gown and glittering party and having the prince fall in love and take me away to a blissful life. Pure fantasy, of course! I believe we each have to make our own happiness. But also, if we’re going to dream, why not make it the best fantasy we can create?
And our final question; a quick sales pitch! Why should we read Little Match Girl?
Because Dani is such a sweetheart! (Just adding that I totally agree!) I fell a little bit in love with him myself. Shy, effeminate, but with a core of strength that helps him survive on the streets when there’s no one in the whole world who cares whether he lives or dies. And Christian, his crush, who sees through his ragged appearance to his beautiful soul and falls in love with the pretty Little Match Girl. This story might make your heart ache at times, but will leave you with a smile and warm spot in your heart by the ending.
Dianne can be found:
Twitter: @diannehartsock
Facebook: Dianne Hartsock, Author
Goodreads: Dianne Hartsock
Website: https://diannehartsock.wordpress.com/
Please note that Riza Curtis cannot be held responsible for the contents of external sites.
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