(no subject)
This is the beginning of my new project. Enjoy and review, but bear in mind it's a draft.
Antithesis
This is not a tale about a wicked stepmother and an abused child. This story does not involve magic mirrors or charming princes or getting your heart’s desire. I don’t want to hear the words ‘once upon a time’ and if anyone mentions ‘happily ever after’ I shall scream. This is a dark telling. There is no good versus evil; no one is going to save the world, or the girl for that matter. This is a truth about people, and there is nothing more frightening than humanity. My heroine is not going to be your best friend, your mentor or your guide, she’s just as fucked up as you are. She’s selfish and angry and utterly without wisdom or ‘unconscious grace’, and your parents would hate her.
Did you ever read a bedtime story and feel pissed off because you didn’t think the crowning achievement of your life should be a wedding? Did you ever want the wicked witch to win? Or want the princess to be seduced by the villain, or villainess? I did. So I wrote my own fairytale, and I wrote it my way.
Real people don’t get happy endings, or find that falling in love magically fixes everything. Anyone who believes that should not have picked this up, and they certainly shouldn’t read any further. Go back to Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella, you’re not welcome here. Slink away, that’s right.
*****
So, the story I want to tell you is about a girl, she’s just an ordinary girl so don’t get excited. She doesn’t have any hidden magical powers or a bond with animals; she isn’t the fairest girl in the land and although she has a stepmother, they get on really well, there’s no hint of wickedness or neglect in this household. Her father isn’t cruel or stupid, and doesn’t have a taste for gambling away all their money. He hasn’t made any pact with fairies or godmothers or ogres, and he doesn’t have any desire to lock his daughter up in a tower. In fact, her father is intelligent and kind and owns a large company, so they’re definitely not poor. Her step-mother Liz is funny and understanding and youthful, she takes Alice (That’s our heroine’s name by the way, do try to keep up.) shopping for clothes and lets her wear a little make-up.
All in all, this little family is pretty harmonious. Alice’s dad goes away on business a lot, but he always has so this doesn’t bother her. And she adores Liz, after twelve years of a succession of nice but vapid nannies, she is grateful for a woman who is actively interested in her and who is happy to drive her to school and take her riding at the weekends.
So, what goes wrong? Well that’s what I’m going to tell you.
Pay attention boys and girls, this here is a teaching tale, which means you might learn something. Though only if you’re willing to suspend your notions of teenage romance and open your senses to lust and envy and selfishness. I warn you, this is not ‘The Princess Diaries’ or Louise Rennison, I’m going to tell you about real things. Real feelings and motivations and real consequences.
Open the damn book.
*****
What do you think?
Antithesis
This is not a tale about a wicked stepmother and an abused child. This story does not involve magic mirrors or charming princes or getting your heart’s desire. I don’t want to hear the words ‘once upon a time’ and if anyone mentions ‘happily ever after’ I shall scream. This is a dark telling. There is no good versus evil; no one is going to save the world, or the girl for that matter. This is a truth about people, and there is nothing more frightening than humanity. My heroine is not going to be your best friend, your mentor or your guide, she’s just as fucked up as you are. She’s selfish and angry and utterly without wisdom or ‘unconscious grace’, and your parents would hate her.
Did you ever read a bedtime story and feel pissed off because you didn’t think the crowning achievement of your life should be a wedding? Did you ever want the wicked witch to win? Or want the princess to be seduced by the villain, or villainess? I did. So I wrote my own fairytale, and I wrote it my way.
Real people don’t get happy endings, or find that falling in love magically fixes everything. Anyone who believes that should not have picked this up, and they certainly shouldn’t read any further. Go back to Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella, you’re not welcome here. Slink away, that’s right.
*****
So, the story I want to tell you is about a girl, she’s just an ordinary girl so don’t get excited. She doesn’t have any hidden magical powers or a bond with animals; she isn’t the fairest girl in the land and although she has a stepmother, they get on really well, there’s no hint of wickedness or neglect in this household. Her father isn’t cruel or stupid, and doesn’t have a taste for gambling away all their money. He hasn’t made any pact with fairies or godmothers or ogres, and he doesn’t have any desire to lock his daughter up in a tower. In fact, her father is intelligent and kind and owns a large company, so they’re definitely not poor. Her step-mother Liz is funny and understanding and youthful, she takes Alice (That’s our heroine’s name by the way, do try to keep up.) shopping for clothes and lets her wear a little make-up.
All in all, this little family is pretty harmonious. Alice’s dad goes away on business a lot, but he always has so this doesn’t bother her. And she adores Liz, after twelve years of a succession of nice but vapid nannies, she is grateful for a woman who is actively interested in her and who is happy to drive her to school and take her riding at the weekends.
So, what goes wrong? Well that’s what I’m going to tell you.
Pay attention boys and girls, this here is a teaching tale, which means you might learn something. Though only if you’re willing to suspend your notions of teenage romance and open your senses to lust and envy and selfishness. I warn you, this is not ‘The Princess Diaries’ or Louise Rennison, I’m going to tell you about real things. Real feelings and motivations and real consequences.
Open the damn book.
*****
What do you think?