Formula: The Sequel or Comfort Mind Food

Last week I wrote about Hallmark Movies and their tendency to be formulaic. And I don’t think formula's are always a bad thing. But there was a time when my literary snobbery got in the way of a good time.As a teenager I flirted with a certain author’s romance stories that would be considered formulaic—perfect miniseries material. I knew the heroine inevitably lost her money, title, etc. and for three nights she’d be put through the wringer with at least three marriages, a manor house destroyed and end with one of her wayward children returning to the fold just in time to see her mother’s business venture take off.But I wouldn’t read the books. I considered them predictable and banal, but I didn’t mind them being made-for-tv catnip. Fifteen-year-old me would act above reading it, but thirty-eight-year-old me would paraphrase James Carville and yell, “It’s a story, stupid. Just embrace it.”All stories have a formula—its’ how we get comfortable with the insane amount of drama and danger we convince ourselves is okay to enjoy instead of worrying that we may be sociopaths. Except when we like the formula, we call is a writer’s “distinctive voice”. When we don’t like it, we say it’s predictable. I have a few authors that I read because I know exactly what to expect from their books. They’re my comfort food for the mind. #ComfortMindFoodDo you think the Grimm Brothers sat around worrying that the stories they’d collected had more than a few that sounded eerily similar? No and we still read and adapt those stories to this day. My point being today’s formulaic story could be tomorrow’s classic.

Fairy Tale Book Club--The Goose Girl, or how to be a princess without really trying

Welcome to the first posting of the FTBC. And today we'll start with The Goose Girl.Fairy tales are something we keep discovering. I know I am. Sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised when I read a new story. This was not one of those times.The Goose Girl, one of the many stories from the brothers Grimm, is about a much-loved princess who is sent to a far-off land to wed a prince. She’s send with a servant, who decides she doesn’t want to be a servant anymore and refuses to help the princess in any way. By the time they reach the prince’s castle, the princess is a disheveled mess. What’s more, the servant says she’s the princess. She has the real princess sent to be a servant and for good measure makes sure the real princess’ horse has his head lopped off because it can talk and will likely spill the beans.So the real princess becomes a goose girl, helping the goose boy herd geese in the fields. She never says a word even though the goose boy tries to touch her hair, the horse still speaks (it’s head it mounted over an entranceway), and she’s generally miserable. The king finally notices and long story short (I know, too late) everything is fixed ala Gilbert and Sullivan.Forgetting for a moment that the real princess is sent off to meet her new prince with just a servant and a talking horse for company, this story is truly disturbing. The moral of the story is to stay meek and silent and then good things will come to you. The servant, who wanted more for herself is obviously the villain (equicide aside) because she speaks up. I’ll admit there is a time for silence, but this story borders on martyrdom. A chilling thing to teach a girl.But this blog is about finding insight in generally arcane stories for a modern reader. I want to say, if you’re ever in a jam make sure you have a talking horse, but I imagine horses are judgmental and who needs the running commentary on a long ride? No, I think the best thing we can take away from this story is a cautionary tale. If you don’t speak up, you may end up in situations best avoided. We can’t all have kings and horses watching our backs!So what do you think?Remember, comments will automatically enter you in the Smuggler's Path contest.Here are the rules:

1.  The comment has to be about the story, The Goose Girl.
2. Fill out the form. Pick your book format preference.
3.  Each comment will add your name to my hat for a better chance to win a free copy of A Smuggler's Path. Three winner will be chosen.
4. The contest ends July 23, 2018 at midnight ET.

[contact-form][contact-field label="Name" type="name" required="1" /][contact-field label="Email" type="email" required="1" /][contact-field label="Website" type="url" /][contact-field label="Comment" type="textarea" required="1" /][contact-field label="Format" type="radio" options="paperback,mobi,epub" /][/contact-form]Next Month's FTBC reading: The Fairy by Charles Perrault

At the Crossroads of Fairy Tale and Folklore

According to my outdated (read: paper copy!) Webster's Dictionary the definition of fairy tale is a story about fairies, magic deeds, etc., while folklore is defined as the traditional beliefs, legends, etc. of a culture. So does that mean all fairy tales and folklore have in common is etc.? What's etcetera anyway in this case? I like to think that the etc. in a fairy tale are the traditional beliefs and legends and the etc. in folklore are the fairies and magical deeds. Which means they're the same, right? Well, now I suppose I have to address the 800-pound gorilla. That gorilla is called culture.Does culture determine whether a story is a fairy tale or folklore? Does that imply that anything that doesn't originate from Northern Europe (from where most popular fairy tales come) is folklore? Moreover does that imply that Northern Europe doesn't have a culture? Neither should be the case. Fairy tales started out as folklore which became so popular that they transcended culture. That means that all folklore, despite culture, can grow to fairy tale status. All they need is a little push in the direction of popularity.One of the barriers to wider appeal for many folk tales is language. Would we love Grimm's Fairy Tales or the stories of Hans Christian Andersen so much if someone hadn't decided to translate them? We should invite more cultures to the party. Right now the subject of diversity is really hot with writers, especially YA/MG writers of which I am one. It's kind of a minefield of emotions, political correctness, and common sense that everyone has to wade through. As a parent, I want to make sure that my daughter sees herself reflected in the books she reads and the shows and movies she watches. As a writer, I want to insert my reality into my writing (even though I write mostly YA fantasy). But as a bona-fide member of the person of color club, not to mention being part of the largest minority--womankind--I feel as though I shouldn't have to bang the drum too loudly because it's worse than preaching to the choir. Instead of asking for change, I'm going to make change (I know there's some funny cashier joke that I should make, but I can't think of one--any suggestions?). For my own edification and hopefully for your enjoyment, I want to explore folklore that begs to be more popular, starting with my own.