fantasy

Samantha Villanueva

A piece of advice many beginning writers receive is “writing what you know.” While this statement can mean topics and situations a writer is familiar with, it can also extend to the types of stories one is familiar with. Someone well-read in the mythologies of ancient or even modern societies will most likely be able to conjure a story with those elements, and the same can be said with a writer who frequently reads fantasy adventure books. Writers, and people in general, are heavily influenced by the stories they consume, whether they know it or not.

Many writers take this advice literally and will reimagine well-known stories for a more modern audience. Three of the most common types of stories constantly filling up bookstores with reimaginations are fairytales, ancient mythology, and history. Each of these categories has engaging narratives, from life lessons to mere entertainment factors. Writers will either make references to these stories in their novels or completely reimagine the framework and characters of the tales to create their own world and story to tell. Reimagining these types of stories is important, as it introduces new audiences to interesting and ancient stories from all different types of cultures. History is important to any society, and old myths, fairytales, and other cultures’ histories are included in that broad spectrum of literature.

This blog post will focus on an example from each category, highlighting which story they derive from and how the writer supplants the reader’s expectations while also using their preset notions of and familiarity with the tales to tell their own stories.

Fairytales: One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

There is certainly no shortage of novels focusing on the reimagining of fairytales in the young adult genre, and Gillig’s is no exception. One Dark Window, the first installment of Gillig’s The Shepard King duology, is a fantasy romance novel following the main character, Elspeth Spindle, on her unlikely adventure to help a gang of highwaymen save their withering Kingdom of Blunder. Full of magic, romance, and mystery, the fairytale element does not go unnoticed.

One of the leading magical elements in the novel is the use of “Providence Cards,” where the wielder can control the power within by touching a the card. Along with the cards, some have the power to control magic without using them, but by order of the kingdom, they are killed upon their infection as children. Elspeth is one of these individuals, and her magic ability is to absorb the cards’ magic, which she accidentally uncovers as a child after secretly holding her uncle’s newly obtained Nightmare Card, and the mysterious creature within the card begins living in her mind. Throughout the novel, Elspeth calls upon the Nightmare to give her superhuman strength and speed to get her out of trouble. However, the downside of using her magic, also known as her “Degeneration,” leads to Elspeth losing herself to the Nightmare.

The relationship between Nightmare and Elspeth is similar to that of the well-known fairytale Beauty and the Beast, but with Beauty becoming the Beast instead. This twist in a well-known fairytale trope allows Gillig to tell her own story and set up a world and a tale that will get the reader interested in the story’s familiarity and then invested in its differences. Instead of the Beauty taming the Beast, Gillig inverses the role, where Elspeth (the Beauty) is turned into the beast because of the Nightmare. By utilizing this familiar tale and inverting it into a new type of fairytale, Gillig creates a new and imaginative fantasy novel that draws the reader in with its creative characters and setting—something so familiar yet interesting to a new type of audience, allowing them also to imagine how classic fairytales can be reimagined in new ways.

Mythology: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

One would be amiss in discussing ancient mythology adapted into modern novels without discussing Greek mythology. As one of the most popular and most studied ancient religions today, Greek mythology and its subsequent plays and epics have been adapted into various types of literature for centuries. This rise in popularity mainly stemmed from Rick Riordan’s critically acclaimed Percy Jackson series, leading many young audiences to research and learn about Greek mythology in the early twenty-first century. While Riordan’s series might be the most well-known modern adaption of ancient Greek mythology—along with Norse, Egyptian, and Roman in subsequent book series—he was certainly not the first.

Miller’s novel The Song of Achilles explores the lives of Greek heroes Achilles and Patroclus and their relationship before and during the Trojan War, revealing sides and emotions not seen in Homer’s Iliad. The novel, written from Patroclus’s point of view, follows the young men from when they met as children and how their relationship blossoms, along with their time in the Trojan War and their personal experiences in the deadly war. The novel draws upon its source material, Homer’s Iliad, by including prominent characters (Agamemnon, Odysseus, Menelaus, Ajax, Lesser Ajax, Helen of Troy, Paris, Hector) and the conflicts established in the epic, such as how Achilles’s mother, the ocean nymph Thetis, prophecies this demise on the battlefield, his anger toward Agamemnon for stealing Briseis away from him and refusing to return to the battlefield, Patroclus dressing as Achilles which leads to Hector killing him, and many more. Miller also includes surrounding and lesser-known mythology not included or elaborated on in the epic but found elsewhere in the culture, such as Achilles posing as a woman by his goddess mother to avoid him going off to war and Patroclus’s past as an exiled prince.

Using these multitudes of sources, Miller creates and reimagines these well-known Greek heroes, establishing a better timeline of events not seen in the original epic story and adding depth to these prominent characters in an ancient and well-studied text. Miller uses established canon for the characters while making them her own to create a story that encapsulates the energy and emotions of Homer’s epic and creates her own engaging narrative.

History: Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Described as “Pacific Rim meets the Handmaid’s Tale” by its author, Iron Widow reimagines the history of China’s only female emperor, Wu Zetian, as a futuristic sci-fi world. Despite taking many creative liberties for the novel, Zhao uses well-known historical facts about the time and era, such as the strict patriarchy and treatment of women, and many historical figures. Zhao uses and reimagines Wu Zetian’s story of climbing the ranks from the emperor’s concubine to becoming the first and only female emperor as a way to tell her own story.

Iron Widow follows the fictionalized version of Wu Zetian, a peasant girl who her parents send off to become a concubine pilot for giant transforming robots called Chrysalises. This is a job where many girls die because the psychic connection between them and male pilots, which requires them to pilot the robots together, draws on their qi, the life force that flows through every living thing, and the connection is so strong it breaks the girls’ minds, making them dependent on the male pilots’ qi. However, Zetian isn’t taking this job because it will help protect her family from the mecha aliens that roam beyond the Great Wall, or for the money they will receive as compensation in case of her death, or because it is her responsibility as a woman in Huaxia. Zetian takes the job to assassinate the star male pilot who killed her sister. Like her historical counterpart, Wu Zetian is ruthless and focused on gaining power by any means necessary.

The historical Wu Zetian operated in the same way. Through manipulation and murder, Zetian achieved the grand title of China’s first and only female emperor. Through her rule, Wu Zetian implemented many of the country’s beneficial laws and changes, some of which have survived into the modern day. Zhao uses their knowledge of their country’s history to shape their story’s narrative, showing how the fictional Zetian has the same motivations and desires as her historical inspiration, leading to both of characters’ rises to royalty in their respective yet similar worlds. By drawing upon this historical tale close to their heritage, Zhao creates a new way for readers to become interested in Ancient Chinese history while creating an interesting and engaging story that captures and tells a lesser-known historical event in a new light.

The Importance of Reimaginings

Humans are natural storytellers. Throughout history, people have told stories to entertain and instruct, with almost the same meanings drawn from vastly different cultures worldwide. Storytelling is a universal language that can span across genres and inspires writers to reimagine age-old tales into something new for a new generation of people. While some novels directly draw upon well-known stories, as in the case of Miller and Zhao, many are unintentional inspirations or parallels to familiar stories, such as with Gillig. No matter the case, all stories share a common thread, and reimaginings are part of the human condition, as no matter their place in time, stories can be relevant outside of their original setting. Writers can adapt the meanings from these old tales for modern audiences, allowing their original purpose to instruct and delight to exist for new generations of humans, who will also want to share these stories with future generations.

Works Cited

• “Iron Widow (Iron Widow, #1).” Goodreads, Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/book/show/52459864-iron-widow.
• Gillig, Rachel. One Dark Window. Orbit, 2022.
• Miller, Madeline. The Song of Achilles. Ecco Press, 2011.
• “One Dark Window (the Shepherd King, #1).” Goodreads, Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/book/show/58340706-one-dark-window.
• Zhao, Xiran Jay. Iron Widow. Penguin Teen, 2021.