O is for Once Upon A Time...

Isn't it interesting that almost all fairy tales start out his way? "Once upon a time..." and from there the story starts.  With just those 4 little words you know you're in for an exciting tale, and yet you don't know what tale it will be.  Are you about to hear the story of Snow White?  or Hansel and Gretel?  The Frog Prince?


All this thinking on novels and fairy tales and labyrinths in previous posts have started some creative musings.  Then today I read an article about a Hollywood resurgence in fairy tales and the plethora of movies we'll be seeing in the coming years.  Not your ordinary run of the mill fairy tales, but re-imagined ones.  Granted they're the same old tales, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, and surprisingly The Wizard of Oz.  They've taken the characters and put a new spin on the story.

While many people think this is a very bad idea (who messes with a classic?!) one should bear in mind that it's been done before.  Quite successfully too.  Gregory Maquire re-imagined The Wizard of Oz  to produce Wicked and look at how well that turned out?  He's worked on other tales too, like Cinderella and Snow White.

       

So I'm thinking, wouldn't it be neat to redo a fairy tale?  I would think it a bit easier than writing an entirely original book...you already know the characters and have a basic plot outlined.  It could be a nice little side project to tackle when writer's block is keeping you from other writings.  I for one would love to write a story where elements of all the tales converge, or perhaps have a character that comes in contact with all those characters at some point.  And of course it will have to begin with "Once upon a time..."