THE SAME, ONLY DIFFERENT
by Cathy Yardley

Does anybody else watch the show TOP CHEF? It's one of my guiltiest pleasures. One of my favorite challenges is when they give the chefs "traditional" dishes--fried chicken, pork & beans, whatever--and have them reinvent a classic in a new style. It forces them to become wildly creative with something that's ordinary. The limitation is what creates the innovation.

I've always loved fairy tales. (I saw Disney's BEAUTY & THE BEAST twenty eight times. In the theater. Swear to God.) As much fun as the animated movies are, I especially love the original versions. They're deliciously dark, gothic, sexy, scary, surprising.

I knew I wanted to "reinvent" these classics: put them in modern day, but still touch on the recognizable elements. That's how I came up with CRAVE: THE SEDUCTION OF SNOW WHITE. Everyone knows the stories: that's the challenge. How do you do something the same, but make it totally fresh, relevant, riveting, and hot?

I had no idea what a blast answering that question was going to be. This book is the first in a trilogy of "reinvented" fairy tales. I have had the most fun of my life writing them. The next two are RAVISH: THE AWAKENING OF SLEEPING BEAUTY and ENSLAVE: THE TAMING OF THE BEAST. (You can imagine how much I'm looking forward to that one, especially!)

So, I'm posing the question to you: what's your favorite fairy tale, myth, legend? And what authors have written the most enjoyable and fresh interpretations of that story?

4 Comments:

Blogger Kathryn S said:

My favorite is Beauty and the Beast too, Cathy! I love the darkness of that one. And the great songs. lol.

BTW, I absolutely love the cover of CRAVE.

12:43 PM  

Blogger Kristina Wright said:

Cathy! I just bought CRAVE yesterday and blogged about it this afternoon! Cannot wait to read it!

I love the darker fairytales that harken back to the Grimm Brothers. I think my favorite is Rapunzel-- held captive in a tower, all that long, silky hair, trysts with her lover... yum!

3:39 PM  

Blogger Cathy Yardley said:

Kathryn -- LOL. The songs were great, weren't they? And it's still funny... I love the Beast! And thanks for the compliment on the cover. I was so lucky to get that. I adore it.

Kristina -- Mmmm, Rapunzel! I'm going to turn in a proposal for that one next (plus the Little Mermaid and Cinderella.) And thanks for mentioning my book on your blog. Apples DO seem to be popular these days, don't they? ;)

Cathy

4:25 PM  

Blogger Fedora said:

Ooh, these sound really good, Cathy! Another vote for Beauty and the Beast here--I liked Amy Fetzer's take on it in Taming the Beast. What an eye-catching cover on Crave!

8:44 PM  

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