Fairy Tale Cliches http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961 MarcyT I am writing a fairy tale and I am trying to collect as many fairy tale cliches as I can. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you! Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:35:19 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1120324 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1120324 Cecilie99 Do ypu mean cliches like things happens 3 times, they lived happy ever after (that's kind a falktales) or do you mean weel known storys like the ugly Duckling or the three little pigs? (I dont know what they are know as in an international plan, but that's what I call them) ? Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:23:07 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1120429 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1120429 MarcyT I meant the first type. I'm trying to combine as many of the cliches as possible into one fractured fairy tale. Opps, I meant to say fractured fairy tale in the original post and must have forgotten. Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:27:17 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1120435 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1120435 Dennis Dunjinman I'd go with getting lost in the woods. What happens in those woods I'd like to know. Do any fairy tales take place outside of forests or castles? Any in swamps or meadows or beaches or other forms of wild land? Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:09:11 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1121045 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1121045 Darkfeather21 Fairy god mothers. And curses. And sleeping princesses. All very cliche. Oh, and the perfect prince who's only job in life is apparently to go find sleeping/captured princesses and wake/free them, then marry them. Prince Charmings a Morman apparently. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:31:21 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1122263 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1122263 Kamboolii There was a huge long thread in here on that once. Someone else was doing the same thing. I'm not sure where that thread is, but it would probably be a lot of use to you. It could have been last year, in which case you'd have to search the archived forums. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:25:23 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1122314 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1122314 Kamboolii Ah, here's a few of them. http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/9694 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/1868 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/4442 Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:30:48 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1122316 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1122316 lasalle202 [quote=Cecilie99] Do ypu mean cliches like things happens 3 times, ... or the three little pigs?[/quote] Or the 3 Billy Goats Gruff or 3 Wishes or Goldilocks and the 3 Bears or the Porrige/Chair/Bed or the "Better to see you with/Better to hear you with/Better to eat you with". Your story has got to have a lot of threes. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:29:13 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1122382 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1122382 kaylainwonderland Don't forget that your prince can't have a name! He simply has to be Prince Charming Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:23:45 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1123001 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1123001 firelight_cinderbrick Every stepmother/father has to be evil, even if the stepchild's parent married them and they were aware of that fact. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:18:00 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1125858 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1125858 firelight_cinderbrick Also, - apparently every prince or princess, unless evil has to have stunning good looks - princesses are always useless - Prince Charming is always perfect - the prince and princess always end up together, and live happily ever after - the hero doesn't die, ever Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:27:07 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1125862 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1125862 lasalle202 [quote=firelight_cinderbrick] Also, - the prince and princess always end up together, and live happily ever after - the hero doesn't die, ever [/quote] only in the Disney-fied version. in the original versions , i'd bet the other outcome Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:35:06 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1125898 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1125898 firelight_cinderbrick whoops, I don't have much experience in fairy tales outside of the old picture books I used to read as a little kid so... Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:42:09 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1126016 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1126016 Dennis Dunjinman Don't work for wishes. Work for yourself and you won't need wishes. That was the message of quite a few fairy tales of Sweden. Either the wish goes unused since you can get what you want in a mundane way, or the rigamarole required to earn it would have easily replaced the need for the wish since you would have already gotten what you wanted by being forced to make it. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:11:11 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1126107 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1126107 firebird_ysa Interestingly, before the Brothers Grimm, a lot of the fairy tales had the mother, not stepmother, being the evil protagonist, but the Grimms felt that it wasn't acceptable to set up a blood relation as a target of that sort of hatred. The Fairy Godmother element didn't really come in until Charles Perrault, who re-wrote a lot of tales for the entertainment of the nobility in the courts of 16th Century-ish France. The Grimms stories often contained stories of mainly pious and religious heroines. Cinderella for the Grimms, for example, prays to God every day as her mother taught her to, and her salvation comes in the form of a tree she planted on her mother's grave. You can read a lot of fairy tales as showing a lot of influence from the old Hagiographies and Passions from the Saints - the women are pious and diligent and most importantly, obedient, whilst remaining virginal and otherwise passive. Often this led to many bad situations - older versions of Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty both include a nice amount of rape, whilst another version of Sleeping Beauty (I think it's that one) includes a flagrant display of attempted cannibalism. I looked at fairy tales as part of my dissertation, so if you've got any questions about the versions from Perrault or the Grimms, or perhaps how they reflected the culture of their times to develop into tropes, feel free to drop me a NaNo Mail! Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:31:10 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1126120 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1126120 lasalle202 the talking fish that gives you three wishes for freeing it takes place on the sea/river/lake/beach (depending upon the telling) theres lots that take place on bridges and rivers - which is necessary for the drowning/attempted drowning the tales collected for Arabian Knights often take place in the deserts Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:41:43 +0000 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1126194 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/fantasy/threads/49961?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1126194