My Next Project - "Fairy Tales"

Y'all might be thinking, "She's a nut; she's really in her fifth childhood. Fairy tales?" This idea started with a class assignment in my last CR class. The prompt was to write a fairy tale with ideas from a popular one but fictionalize. Well I sat down that night about 10 p.m. because you already know I get my energy at night. I wrote until half past midnight and stopped because I got this strange cold feeling on my neck. You know that chill that something/someone is watching you? Alright I got that feeling after describing the witch in Rapunzel! I closed the story quickly with Rapunzel poisoning the witch and beating her at her own game. I fell asleep, feeling triumphantly.

I submitted the story to my professor; she LOVED it. She loved the Southwest flavor of my "fairy tale." I wrote the way I normally write, with a drop of Spanish here, and descripitions of the Mexican-American culture, the way I know and see it. I trust my CR professor's opinion not because of her education and her Ph.D's but because she's a writer as well. She deals with New York, and she handles my writing like a "professional" editor, giving me both positive and negatie feedback. I overdid with adjectives; I had like three adjectivals in one sentences followed by verbals and gerund phrases. Yep, that much! I've been editing that story, and I'm almost finished. To sum things up, my professor suggested I write a whole series of these fairy tales because of my Latin flavor and my talent for description and writing.

I pushed this idea to the back of my mind. When I push an idea to the back of my mind, I let it rest. I tuck it nicely in bed with the soft velour blanket and let it rest. I wake it up again whenever I feel like it. I don't ever dispose of an idea. It will haunt me in the dark interiors of my mind. It will pop up, screaming and yelling, "how dare you forget me and write romance?" Something will trigger it or I'll just think and there it is, shining brightly, exposed, wanting to be told. I am going to pick up again with that. This project of fairy tales.

I always loved fairy tales as a child. I read them over and over until the time I was in junior high. I checked out books from the library on fairy tales of different cultures. I like fairy tales, ok? Why not write these modernized versions with a Southwest flavor? You know, just for entertainment. Porque no. Rudolfo Anaya wrote something similar to Arabian Nights. I like that author a great deal because of the magic realism in his work. I am thinking that I could write this series of fairy tales...You know, work on it, time and time again.

I'm amazed at the confidence I'm building as a writer, expanding my vision and writing about different things. These CR courses have helped me, but just living as helped me. I'm walking around and talking to people and the stories are budding in my brain. I'm thinking how I want to write all these stories with realistic people of all different walks of life. I am gonna start with these fairy tales and keep jotting down these ideas as they come to me. I love blogging. It's a wonderful way to let my ideas out for the world to see and maybe get a few comments, just let these ideas out. It's like a cool breath of fresh air. ahhhhh.