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Heidi Rivera

Professor Thames

ENC 1102: Composition II

21 February 2021

Formal Research Proposal: Writing Fiction, as Viewed through the Creation and Retelling of

Fairy Tales

Statement of Significance

When it comes to writing a story, there are countless factors that can influence the process of

writing and the eventual outcome. If these factors can be understood more clearly, it might help

writers become more prepared to create their own stories. A good way to study this topic might

be through the analysis of fairy tale retellings, which demonstrate several similarities despite

containing each author’s individual approach to a single storyline. This analysis could offer a

unique perspective on writing. It would take a subject that is familiar to many people and see

how it could apply to the field of writing fiction as a whole. Since there is not much

disagreement surrounding this topic, it would for the most part be a continuation of existing

research. I have chosen this topic for study because I find it intriguing. As someone who is

pursuing a degree in Creative Writing, understanding the concept of writing and the processes

behind it is fascinating to me and it is something that will help me in the future as I write my

own stories.

Review of Literature

The study of fairy tales is not a relatively new concept. However, there has been an increase in

the popularity of literary retellings in recent years as the genre of young adult fiction has gained
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recognition, which has in turn caused more research to be produced on the subject of writing

effective retellings of classic tales. Because of how common and familiar they are to a wide

variety of readers, retellings are a medium through which writing can be studied very clearly.

This is due in part to the shared qualities among them, such as consistent plot points and

characters, but also because of the impact that they have had upon readers throughout the

centuries. As stated by Terri Windling, “Fairy tales speak...in language both poetic and plain...of

danger, struggle, calamity. And also of healing journeys, self-transformation, deliverance, and

grace” (37). In her article, Windling considers how stories such as these influenced her journey

as a writer. Meanwhile, in their research, Dora L. Bailey and Philip Ginnetti examine how

teaching children how to write their own fairy tale adaptations can assist them in writing original

stories in the future. The writers whose work I intend to include in my research offer several

widely different perspectives upon this subject, though they all seem to agree that there are a few

key factors that have a noticeable effect upon writing. These factors are very distinct among fairy

tales retellings and thus can be identified more plainly than in other sources. First, an author’s

background and personal history might play a significant part in their storytelling, although

depending on the amount of information that is available about a certain author, this is not

something that can always be easily researched and determined. Next, the audience of a

particular story affects the tone in which it might be told. For example, since they are aimed

primarily at children, Disney adaptations of fairy tales tend to be much more lighthearted than

their original, more sinister counterparts. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the passage of

time has had a profound effect upon storytelling techniques over time. This is something that is

discussed by both Susan Redington Bobby and Susanna Barsotti, the latter of which explains that

“the fairy tale remains as text structure, as narration of the mankind history, as synthesis and
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metaphor of the need for dreams, utopia, and yet it changes when it comes into contact with

societies and cultures” (76). In a similar way, Tracey Mollet and Felicia Steele reflect on the

contexts behind retellings - “there are no ‘original’ values inherent in these fairy tales, because

they stem from a long-standing oral and literary tradition in which tales have been retold and

rewritten and hence constantly transformed over time,” writes Mollet (111). Despite this, most of

the research surrounding this topic seems to focus mainly on the literary aspect of the stories and

what this means for existing stories rather than taking into consideration how understanding this

genre could help writers create new stories. Therefore, I plan to research the actual writing of

stories such as these. My question is: By studying the genre of fairy tales and their retellings,

what can be learned about the construction and process of writing fiction? The research I conduct

will attempt to understand this concept more fully by looking at various examples of the

retellings of a single fairy tale from throughout time. I will then use this information to come up

with an idea of what aspects of the writing of these examples have made them stories that are

effective within their respective genres.

Methodology

In order to answer my research question, I plan to focus on several examples of retellings of the

fairy tale “Snow White.” I have chosen this fairy tale because it is one that many people are

familiar with and that includes several of the characteristics that are most commonly featured

among fairy tales. In addition, it is seen as a classic tale, partially because of its status as the first

feature-length animated film produced by Walt Disney. As such, one of the sources that I will

examine is the 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs itself. The rest of my sources,

however, will be literary. One of these is the original fairy tale as written by the Grimm brothers;
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the other two are retellings in the form of books that have been released within the past couple of

decades. Both of these novels are continuations of a series. Gail Carson Levine’s Fairest is a

spinoff of the novel Ella Enchanted. Marissa Meyer’s novel Winter, on the other hand, is the

final book in the Lunar Chronicles series. Keeping in mind the factors that affect fairy tale

retellings which were pointed out in my secondary sources, I will make comparisons between the

writing of these four sources in order to answer my research question.

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Appendices

Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. “Snow White.” Folk & Fairy Tales, edited by Martin

Hallett and Barbara Karasek, Broadview Press, 2009, pp. 147-153.

Levine, Gail Carson. Fairest. HarperCollins, 2006.

Meyer, Marissa. Winter. Feiwel and Friends, 2015.

Sears, Ted, et al, writers. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Directed by David Hand, et al,

R.K.O. Radio Pictures, Inc., 1937.

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Works Cited

Barsotti, Susanna. “The Fairy Tale: Recent Interpretations, Female Characters and Contemporary

Rewriting. Considerations about an ‘Irresistible’ Genre.” Ricerche Di Pedagogia e

Didattica, vol. 10, no. 2, July 2015, pp. 69-80. EBSCOhost, doi: 10.6092/issn.1970-

2221/5356.

Mollet, Tracey. “’With a Smile and a Song…’: Walt Disney and the Birth of the American Fairy

Tale.” Marvels & Tales, vol. 27, no. 1, April 2013, pp. 109-124. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=edsglr&AN=edsglr.A326351809&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Windling, Terri. “Into the Woods: A Writer’s Journey through Fairy Tales and Fantasy.” Journal

of the Fantastic in the Arts, vol. 28, no. 1, Jan. 2017, pp. 33-45. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.26390192&site=eds-live&scope=site.