Writing with Fairy Tales: Inspiration for Any Genre

Eastern Ontario Writers’ Festival

Saturday, September 19 | 11:00 AM | Casselman Public Library

Fairy tales are found in some of your favourite literature, whether you know it or not!

In this workshop, fairy tale scholar and author Tish Black will introduce participants to fairy tales and how they have been used in literature of all kinds. There are more ways to interpret fairy and folk tales than you may think: “Cinderella” is not just about how to entice a prince with dainty feet.

From short stories to novels and even memoirs, fairy tales can be a writer’s inspiration, provide story structure, and use familiar motifs to connect readers to the material. Fairy-tale-influenced writing can be any genre.

Participants will use what they learn in a writing exercise. Given a familiar fairy tale and a story alteration as a prompt, you’ll write or plan your own fairy-tale-inspired story. The workshop will wrap up with time to share what you wrote and learned.

Whether you’re fairy-tale-loving or just fairy-tale-curious, you’ll leave this workshop with some unexpected inspiration!

Write a Fairy Tale Retelling Workshop

This workshop begins with an introduction to fairy tales and fairy tale retellings. Participants will apply what they learn with storytelling games before the main writing exercise. Given a fairy tale and a prompt, participants will write their own fairy tale retelling, using what they learned. At the end of the workshop, participants may share some of their writing and ideas.

Sign up for my email list to be informed when it is available.