Kait Nolan – Guest Blog & Giveaway

We’re excited to have Paranormal Romance author, Kait Nolan, here with us at SVR today! She’s celebrating the release of her new YA novel, Red, (which I loved! See my review here). She’s written up a fascinating & funny post on What Constitutes A Fairy Tale. I know that I definitely enjoyed reading it and I’m thinking that you, yes, all you awesome readers out there, will love it too!

Kait’s generously offered up an ebook copy of Red and a MP3 digital download of  End Of Silence by the band, Red!! The cd was one of Kait’s inspirations while writing the novel. One lucky commenter will win both the ebook and the MP3 download. Details for the giveaway will follow Kait’s Guest Blog. 🙂

“Welcome to my lair Kait, you may proceed…”

What makes a fairy tale?

 If you ask the average person, “What makes a fairy tale?” you’re likely to get a flurry of answers involving Once upon a time, damsels in distress, noble princes, magic, and happily ever after.  Certainly this is the formula of tale most of us grew up with for bedtime stories.  But I can think of quite a few fairy tales that don’t fit that description, so it seems like the essential qualities of fairy tales must be something more.

It’s a simple question that ought to have a simple answer.  A quick Google search will tell you otherwise.  Opinions vary widely as to what constitutes a fairy tale vs. a folk tale or a fable.  For my purposes, I’m not interested in making that clear a distinction.  At the root, all of these story types evolved from oral tradition.  Which is why, so often, such stories begin with A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…oh wait, no, that’s not how it goes.  But you know what I mean.  This kind of phrasing sets the mood for the tale and automatically establishes a set of expectations in the reader/watcher/listener.

It’s gonna happen in some time and place removed from our own. There’s a universality to fairy tales.  They’re told in such a way that, even if they’ve taken on regional color with the telling, they could be heard almost anywhere in the world and it would be the same story.  It’s not attached to a real place or time—that’s a characteristic of legends, which is outside the scope of our discussion.

It’s gonna have a Good Guy. Well, most stories do, obviously.  This is our hero, who may be anybody from a prince to a humble farmer.  He may be kind and innocent.  He may be clever.  Or he may go through the story helped by others.  Or maybe he’s not that nice at all and has to learn a lesson over the course of the story. Beast anyone?

Good Guy’s gonna encounter a problem. Said problem might be an actual Bad Guy or it might be situational.  But either way Good Guy has to find a solution to the problem.  It’s important to note that this might not actually be a happy ending.  In the original Hans Christian Andersen version of The Little Mermaid, the prince actually marries somebody else, and if the Little Mermaid wants her voice back, she’s supposed to murder the prince and his new bride.  Yeah, I like the version with Scuttle and Flounder better too. (Side note: She doesn’t do it.)

There’s probably gonna be some kind of magic or enchantment. This seems to be one of the big divides between fairy tales and folk stories.  In folk stories, the hero typically has to rely on his wits.  In fairy tales, magic is kind of a must.  The Little Mermaid makes a bargain with the Sea Witch to get legs.  The spoiled prince is so awful to the hag woman that she turns him into the beast he behaves like.  The beanstalk grows from magic beans.

The story is probably gonna convey some sort of prohibition or consequences for breaking some prohibition. Sleeping Beauty isn’t supposed to touch the spindle on that spinning wheel (which, in the original story, is symbolic of, ahem, something else) or she’ll die (…not in death, but just in sleep, the fateful prophecy will keep…).  As safe sex campaigns go, I’m not sure how effective that one was.  Red Riding Hood (in the familiar version rather than the one I use in my YA paranormal Red) was warned not to talk to strangers.  Her talking to strangers got her grandmother eaten.  And in that version, Grandma doesn’t make it, and the wolf winds up boiled in oil.

The story is probably gonna convey a universal truth. This is one of the biggies, for me.  This is why fairy tales, folk tales, and the like actually last.  They have become archetypal to human culture, and variations of the same stories can be heard all over the world because they spark something in our imaginations and hearts, such that we’re still telling stories that originated hundreds of years ago.  And that, in its own way, is some very powerful magic.

Bio:

Kait Nolan is stuck in an office all day, sometimes juggling all three of her jobs at once with the skill of a trained bear—sometimes with a similar temperament. After hours, she uses her powers for good, creating escapist fiction. The work of this Mississippi native is packed with action, romance, and the kinds of imaginative paranormal creatures you’d want to sweep you off your feet…or eat your boss.  When she’s not working or writing, she’s in her kitchen, heading up a revolution to Retake Homemade from her cooking blog, Pots and Plots.

You can catch up with her at her blog, Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

Her debut YA paranormal, Red, is currently available from Smashwords, Amazon, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Barnes and Noble, and All Romance EBooks.

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Thanks so much Kait. It was a blast having you here with us. 😀

Giveaway Details:

Kait Nolan has been gracious enough to supply a digital copy of her novel Red & a digital MP3 download of the band Red’s CD, End Of Silence to giveaway to one of my readers! Contest is open to Everyone. Kait’s more than likely off globe-trotting in one of her upcoming novels right now, or she could just be at the evil day job, but I believe that she’ll be popping by to respond to comments or questions as she’s able, so feel free to ask her questions as well.

Question: What do you find fascinating about fairy tales? Do you have a chilhood favorite? If you could write a really well written rewrite of one of those fairy tales, which one would you pick?  

For one entry: Please leave a comment with the answer to one or all of the questions.  (+1 entry)

For extra entries:

• Subscribe to my blog, Sidhe Vicious Reviews, through the links at the top right hand side of the blog, and let me know in your comment. Be sure you verify your subscription through the email you’ll receive or it won’t count. (+1 entry)
• If you’re already subscribed, you’ll receive two extra entries, but be sure to let me know in the comments if you’re an old follower. (+2 entries)
• Post a link to this contest on your Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, GoodReads, LibraryThing, or on your blog and send me the link either in the comments or by email and you’ll get an extra entry for each place you add a link to. ( + 1 entry each for  however many links you’ve done)
• Follow me on Twitter, Add me as a friend on FaceBook, GoodReads, MySpace, Chapters Community or LibraryThing. Tell me your user name in the comments. (+ 1 entry each for however many places you’ve followed/friended me)
• Follow Kait Nolan on Twitter  ( +1 entry )
• Contest is open to Everyone and will run through September 20th until 11:59pm. The winners will be posted here on September 21st.
• Please leave your email addy in your comment for me to contact you if you’ve won, but please post it like wilmaflinstone(at)boomshakalaka(dot)com so you don’t get any spam. If I haven’t heard back from the winner in 7 days, a new winner will be drawn from the eligible comments. Winners will be chosen by a random number generator. Good Luck everyone!

Please leave your links in one comment if possible. And yes I know I should get that Rafflecopter everyone’s using, lol.  Thanks!