Episode 93: Let's talk about Fairytales

Today, Fable and the Verbivore talk about all things fairy tales.

Fairy tales are defined as “a story, often intended for children, that features fanciful and wondrous characters such as elves, goblins, wizards, and even, but not necessarily, fairies. Fairy tales are often traditional; many were passed down from story-teller to story-teller before being recorded in books.”

Birthed from locally shared folk tales that were passed down by word of mouth through generations, to the Disney movies and inventive modern retellings that we have at our fingertips today, fairy tales are all a part of our lives.

During this episode, we talk about how fairy tales may be stripped down storytelling but they still carry a lot of emotional weight and represent in often fantastical situations things that we can relate to in our own lives. They are also a great writing tool that can be used by taking elements of one of these timeless stories that many of us know and adding a unique setting and asking “what if” in order to create something altogether new but still familiar. Or twisting around the story and changing the perspective or the meaning.

We hope you enjoy listening to this episode! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Notes:

The definition of fairy tale is referenced from: https://literaryterms.net/fairy-tale/

The Verbivore references the archetypes or stock characters present in fairytales. There are many lists of character archetypes based on different perspectives and nuances. Here are links to a coupl:

  • 201 Character Archetypes Writers MUST Have In Their Armoury - https://industrialscripts.com/archetypes-of-characters/

  • 12 Character Archetypes Every Writer Should Already Know - https://blog.reedsy.com/12-common-character-archetypes-every-writer-should-already-know/

In preparation for this conversation, the Verbivore watched some great Ted Talks on Fairytales. Here are a few:

  • Myths, Folklore & Legends: We Still Need Our Fairy Tales | Heidi Shamsuddin | TEDxUniversityofMalaya - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HlBwSYjUPI

  • Why We Absolutely Need Fairy Tales | Jason Link | TEDxYouth@Bend - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXNl6J_vpFc

  • Transforming Our Understanding of Fairy Tales | Anne Duggan | TEDxWayneStateU - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jit32hKZ-BM

The Verbivore mentioned a quote that’s often attributed to Einstein. Below is the quote and here is some additional context: https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2013/12/einsteins-folklore/

  • “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”

Books Mentioned:

Movies Mentioned:

  • Tangled - Directed by Nathan Greno, Byron Howard

  • Ponyo - Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Bethany Stedman