Novel(la?) outline
May. 23rd, 2012 02:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soc_puppetThe one that goes with this.
Posting because of a conversation over at Shakesville, and how "I have been contemplating writing my own Snow White reboot for close to three years now, in which SW is the other kind of fairest and not really conventionally attractive. Also it's a fusion with Snow White and Rose Red, because the same name. And dwarf mining politics. And yes. (And also Red Riding Hood, but I didn't mention that there.)" Posting it here instead of over there because it's hella long and I have doubts about the Disqus comment limit.
[Content Note: Violence against a pregnant woman; assassination and attempts]
Outline
When Rose Red is a good three years old, she witnesses an assassination attempt on her very pregnant mother. The assassins use a freezing spell which ultimately kills the queen, but the palace medics are able to save the baby - Snow White. Traces of the freeze spell linger in SW's body, leaving her extremities near blue, a pattern of ice flower shaped of scars over her body (one going into her eye, giving her a permanent squint), joint pain(? note to self, study long term effects of frostbite), and a lower-than-average core body temperature.
SW grows up short and stout and more than a little mean because a lot of people are assholes, including other kids; she ends up with the nickname "Frostbite" or "Frostbite B*tch" because she doesn't tolerate assholish behavior. She's also a natural sorcerer, and while she has an affinity for ice magic that may be related to the circumstances of her birth, her talent is otherwise entirely natural. RR, meanwhile, is full of anxiety and fears that she won't be a good ruler for the kingdom when she inherits the throne.
At some point, their father remarries. Shortly before the main story begins, the new queen gives birth to her own child, and the king dies not long after. At one of the court functions, SW (and possibly RR?) meets Nathanial Highbear, prince of the Highbear nation (har har har), who will play a bigger part later on. It is after this party that the queen sends RR and SW off with a disguised assassin to be killed in a "hunting accident" in the woods (or something) so she/her new child can inherit the kingdom and advance the political cause/s of her own country of birth.
In the woods, SW and RR figure out what's going on, and SW puts a spell on the assassin to make hir think ze's killed them, plus magically provides whatever proof ze needs. Then, SW and RR get the hell out of dodge. Eventually, with the help of a friendly, red caped woodswoman and her wolf companion, they manage to find someplace safe to stay: a cottage where seven dwarfs keep an above-ground shop to sell their wares (metal- and jewel-works mostly). SW and RR arrange to help keep the shop in exchange for room and board, so all seven of the dwarfs can focus on their craftworks/mining. (At least three, possibly four, of the dwarfs will be women.)
Blah blah, time passes, RR and Redcape spend a lot of time together, eventually getting romantically involved, and SW studies dwarf magic techniques between dealing with customers. I need to do some juggling in here so I can get the talking bear Nathanial Highbear, locked in what is normally a voluntary transformation by someone who thinks he knows too much about something (he does, he just doesn't know what exactly), to stay in the shop with SW and RR. Maybe if I bypass the "winter" thing? Anyway, at some point after he arrives and he and SW start getting to know each other better, someone in the village recognizes RR and/or SW on one of their trips to the market or something and reports back to the queen. Also, when the seven dwarfs are at home, they frequently complain about one of the northern clans getting grumpy and not wanting to respect borders and treaties. (There's issues, since Dwarfs tend to live mostly under various countries and view borders and alliances a bit differently.)
Eventually, someone sneaks a poisoned apple into the goods RR picks up from the market; SW takes a good look at it and manages to recognize dwarf magic, which humans don't normally study, thick on the apple. She knows she can partially negate the spell, but only if she takes on the remainder herself, so she bites the apple and goes into magical suspended animation. With her magical talents, she is still able to communicate with her friends and RR to a limited degree (need to decide the mechanics here) and sends RR and Redcape off to track whoever is responsible for the apple and why they did it. Possibly she also sends NH to investigate what's going down in SW and RR's home kingdom and if it's at all related to the apple thing; if she does, she'll keep in touch magically somehow, because I want to build this romance realistically, okay.
RR and Redcape discover that the clan of dwarfs the seven at the shop have been complaining about have joined forces with the country RR and SW's stepmother is from, and are looking to mine a huge vein of iron (possibly with special properties) from under RR/SW's country without whatever negotiations would normally be involved, and are willing to throw their lot in with the queen and her people to do this. They also discover a critical timing thing for when plans will be set in motion, relay this information to NH and SW who pool it with NH's previously confusing info, and get moving to the palace. SW also sends NH on to the palace while she works on breaking the spell (need to think this through more, whether I want to incorporate the kiss, and if so, how).
Eventually everyone makes it to the palace in order to stop whatever huge terrible thing the queen is planning, SW and RR return to their political places, the curse on NH is broken so he can shift forms freely again, happily ever after, the end.
There's still several other things I need to decide in addition to wherever I left notes in the outline: how old everyone is going to be, how old the target audience is, what skin color everyone is going to have because I don't want everyone to be white but need to figure out about other countries and stuff, what SW and RR's names are actually going to be, who eventually does end up ruling the country, more details of Dwarf politics, etc. I am fairly certain that RR/SW's family line has some elvish/fae ancestry, which is one of the reasons their country has been so reluctant to let that iron vein get tapped, but there's still more to be decided there.
I've also got a bunch of stuff planned about Redcape's family and circumstances (the whole rebooted Red Ridinghood event took place in her childhood, and I'm pretty sure she lost a limb to the incident), and may look for an opportunity for RR to meet them.
Posting because of a conversation over at Shakesville, and how "I have been contemplating writing my own Snow White reboot for close to three years now, in which SW is the other kind of fairest and not really conventionally attractive. Also it's a fusion with Snow White and Rose Red, because the same name. And dwarf mining politics. And yes. (And also Red Riding Hood, but I didn't mention that there.)" Posting it here instead of over there because it's hella long and I have doubts about the Disqus comment limit.
[Content Note: Violence against a pregnant woman; assassination and attempts]
Outline
When Rose Red is a good three years old, she witnesses an assassination attempt on her very pregnant mother. The assassins use a freezing spell which ultimately kills the queen, but the palace medics are able to save the baby - Snow White. Traces of the freeze spell linger in SW's body, leaving her extremities near blue, a pattern of ice flower shaped of scars over her body (one going into her eye, giving her a permanent squint), joint pain(? note to self, study long term effects of frostbite), and a lower-than-average core body temperature.
SW grows up short and stout and more than a little mean because a lot of people are assholes, including other kids; she ends up with the nickname "Frostbite" or "Frostbite B*tch" because she doesn't tolerate assholish behavior. She's also a natural sorcerer, and while she has an affinity for ice magic that may be related to the circumstances of her birth, her talent is otherwise entirely natural. RR, meanwhile, is full of anxiety and fears that she won't be a good ruler for the kingdom when she inherits the throne.
At some point, their father remarries. Shortly before the main story begins, the new queen gives birth to her own child, and the king dies not long after. At one of the court functions, SW (and possibly RR?) meets Nathanial Highbear, prince of the Highbear nation (har har har), who will play a bigger part later on. It is after this party that the queen sends RR and SW off with a disguised assassin to be killed in a "hunting accident" in the woods (or something) so she/her new child can inherit the kingdom and advance the political cause/s of her own country of birth.
In the woods, SW and RR figure out what's going on, and SW puts a spell on the assassin to make hir think ze's killed them, plus magically provides whatever proof ze needs. Then, SW and RR get the hell out of dodge. Eventually, with the help of a friendly, red caped woodswoman and her wolf companion, they manage to find someplace safe to stay: a cottage where seven dwarfs keep an above-ground shop to sell their wares (metal- and jewel-works mostly). SW and RR arrange to help keep the shop in exchange for room and board, so all seven of the dwarfs can focus on their craftworks/mining. (At least three, possibly four, of the dwarfs will be women.)
Blah blah, time passes, RR and Redcape spend a lot of time together, eventually getting romantically involved, and SW studies dwarf magic techniques between dealing with customers. I need to do some juggling in here so I can get the talking bear Nathanial Highbear, locked in what is normally a voluntary transformation by someone who thinks he knows too much about something (he does, he just doesn't know what exactly), to stay in the shop with SW and RR. Maybe if I bypass the "winter" thing? Anyway, at some point after he arrives and he and SW start getting to know each other better, someone in the village recognizes RR and/or SW on one of their trips to the market or something and reports back to the queen. Also, when the seven dwarfs are at home, they frequently complain about one of the northern clans getting grumpy and not wanting to respect borders and treaties. (There's issues, since Dwarfs tend to live mostly under various countries and view borders and alliances a bit differently.)
Eventually, someone sneaks a poisoned apple into the goods RR picks up from the market; SW takes a good look at it and manages to recognize dwarf magic, which humans don't normally study, thick on the apple. She knows she can partially negate the spell, but only if she takes on the remainder herself, so she bites the apple and goes into magical suspended animation. With her magical talents, she is still able to communicate with her friends and RR to a limited degree (need to decide the mechanics here) and sends RR and Redcape off to track whoever is responsible for the apple and why they did it. Possibly she also sends NH to investigate what's going down in SW and RR's home kingdom and if it's at all related to the apple thing; if she does, she'll keep in touch magically somehow, because I want to build this romance realistically, okay.
RR and Redcape discover that the clan of dwarfs the seven at the shop have been complaining about have joined forces with the country RR and SW's stepmother is from, and are looking to mine a huge vein of iron (possibly with special properties) from under RR/SW's country without whatever negotiations would normally be involved, and are willing to throw their lot in with the queen and her people to do this. They also discover a critical timing thing for when plans will be set in motion, relay this information to NH and SW who pool it with NH's previously confusing info, and get moving to the palace. SW also sends NH on to the palace while she works on breaking the spell (need to think this through more, whether I want to incorporate the kiss, and if so, how).
Eventually everyone makes it to the palace in order to stop whatever huge terrible thing the queen is planning, SW and RR return to their political places, the curse on NH is broken so he can shift forms freely again, happily ever after, the end.
There's still several other things I need to decide in addition to wherever I left notes in the outline: how old everyone is going to be, how old the target audience is, what skin color everyone is going to have because I don't want everyone to be white but need to figure out about other countries and stuff, what SW and RR's names are actually going to be, who eventually does end up ruling the country, more details of Dwarf politics, etc. I am fairly certain that RR/SW's family line has some elvish/fae ancestry, which is one of the reasons their country has been so reluctant to let that iron vein get tapped, but there's still more to be decided there.
I've also got a bunch of stuff planned about Redcape's family and circumstances (the whole rebooted Red Ridinghood event took place in her childhood, and I'm pretty sure she lost a limb to the incident), and may look for an opportunity for RR to meet them.
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no subject
Date: 2012-05-25 08:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-26 05:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-26 11:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-05 12:58 pm (UTC)That sounds really good! I'd love to read it (and I have beta'd before :^)
no subject
Date: 2012-06-08 06:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-15 12:35 am (UTC)The Caroline Stahl version (The Ungrateful Dwarf) sounds even better as the hetero romance element isn't present at all, letting the girls remain mistresses of their own life, and does not employ the notion of a woman needing a man to be complete, or of marriage being the best reward women can receive.
However, I don't mean to dismiss the Grimm's version either. A role subversion that just struck me in that version is that the men end up being the prizes at the end of the quest while usually it's a beautiful woman. So satisfying to think about.
Also, I love that it doesn't have the usual fairy tale element of pitting women against each other. Female bonding? Yes, please!
And I just wanted to tell you that reading your outline has made me rethink my own outline for a story I'm working on. Maybe I would stop getting stuck if I added more details to the outline. ;)
So, to cut my blabbering short, thank you for introducing me to a fabulous tale and giving me all sorts of ideas about stories. Your outline feels like the start of a complex, richly detailed story and I would love to read it!
no subject
Date: 2012-06-15 12:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-16 03:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-17 05:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-16 03:59 am (UTC)Yeah, I had a bit of a double-take at the name the first time myself. It really is interesting how different the two stories are and that they still ended up sharing a main character name between them.
May I just say that all of your thoughtful analysis of fairy tale stuff is way awesome? Because it totally is. It's giving me some new elements to think about here, though I don't know if they're anything I'll address in this particular story.
And here is me being flattered beyond belief. *Kermit!flail* I am unworthy! And so delighted to have provided you with inspiration/more thinky-ness, oh gosh!
(You are also invited to be a beta/pre-reader, BTW! In case you're interested :) It'll still probably take me a while to finish the story, but the invitation is totes open.)
no subject
Date: 2012-06-17 05:01 am (UTC)And thanks for the invitation! I'd love to beta read for you. :)