Retellings: Why do it?

by | May 7, 2013 | Writing

Jill Williamson is a chocolate loving, daydreaming, creator of kingdoms. She writes weird books for teens in lots of weird genres like, fantasy (Blood of Kings trilogy), science fiction (Replication), and dystopian (The Safe Lands trilogy). Find Jill on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or on her author website.


FIRST! Steph and I are going to be at the One Year Adventure Novel conference. We’d like to talk to those of you who are planning to go. If that’s you, please email me at jill@jillwilliamson.com to let me know. Thanks!

Since I talked about high concept ideas and story types last week, today I wanted to focus on one very popular type of story. The retelling. This is when you take the plot structure from a well-known story and use that to tell your own tale or to tell a different version of the same one.

The biggest examples of this type of story are fairy tales and superhero stories. They’ve been around for a long time and people are still telling the same stories. Every year there are new books and movies based off these story models. They’re very popular in the YA genres but tend to be less obvious in adult genres.

So why do people rewrite stories?

Because readers love them. They’re familiar tales. They bring about nostalgia. Some authors find it fun and challenging to tell them from a different angle. To use a familiar plot with a new point of view character, or to write a familiar point of view character in a new plot.


So how to do it? Here are some ideas to get you started.

1. Read the original. If you’re reading one of the Grimm stories, you may be surprised how dark they are. If you’re reading comic books, you may be shocked just how much there is to read.

2.  Make sure you understand the original story. Most classic fairy tales were cautionary stories that made a lot more sense to people during the time they were written than they do to us today. It’s fascinating to study them, though, and understand them fully. If you’re writing a retelling or a more contemporary story, you still want to know the story well so that you don’t upset die-hard fans.

3. Read, read, read as many retellings of the story as you can. It’s important to know what’s been done so that you can do something unique. You can’t know that just from reading descriptions on Amazon.com. Dive into your story and see what’s out there already.
4. Take notes. As you study the original and the retellings, be thinking. Is there a character or plot point that intrigues you? Was there a question left unexplored? Write down what you think as you’re reading so you won’t forget when ideas come to you.

5. Write a history of life before the original story and a future telling of life after it. Does this exercise spark any ideas or where you could take your story?

6. Decide. Your retelling must be a solid story on its own. How do you want to come at the story? Which characters will stay? Which will be cut? Do you want people to know it’s a retelling or not? Will you tell a parallel of the original in a fantastic setting like Cinder? Or take a minor character and branch off like in Wicked? Which elements of the original story must remain in order to please fans?

So, what do you like about retellings? Why do you read or watch a similar story again and again, knowing the basic plot? Let me know in the comments.