Invitation: write your own “Cinderella” story!

As with most of the fairy tale princesses, Cinderella is one beautiful and truly resilient character, although with no superpower, unless a fairy godmother counts. Disney’s 2015 Cinderella movie is merely the most recent of the many adaptations of the classic folk tale.

So, why not join us this year (2017) and write your own Cinderella story?

Copy of Theresa Barker's Invitation post
(with a slight change on the 1st paragraph - "Theresa and I")

“Cinderella” collaboration project

Inspired by and retrospectively looking at the many versions of  the folk tale of Cinderella from around the world, my fellow creative blogger and amazing writer (fiction – sci-fi, fantasy and more), Theresa, and I each wrote a new version of Cinderella and posted our story to our blogs in the past couple of weeks.

We then decided we wanted to gather a collection of inventive stories of Cinderella written from a different angle than the traditional folk tale.  We are extending an invitation to  our readers and colleagues in the creative blogging community to join this collaborative project.  Here is our invitation:

Concept

We are two writers/bloggers who have each written our own story based on the folk tale of Cinderella.  Cinderella has been told and re-told in myriad cultures around the world, and we are challenging the blogging/writing community to come up with your own Cinderella-themed tale.  As co-curators, Anne and I will be gathering the stories for a potential opportunity to publish an anthology of selected stories.

Guidelines

We are looking for stories that feature a “Cinderella”-style theme. (See the Wikipedia article, “Cinderella,” for more information.)

• The story must be any of the following:
  1. Short story
  2. Short-short story
  3. Flash fiction
  4. Micro fiction
  5. Poetry (e.g., Tanka, Haiku, Pantoum, Sonnet, free verse, etc.) – new!
• The story can fall under any genre, such as:
  1. Romance
  2. Drama
  3. Comedy
  4. Science fiction
  5. Thriller
  6. Horror
  7. Combination of any of the above
• The story must be based on or have a semblance to the original folk tale story.
• The story can be from any of the characters’ perspectives, such as:
  1. Cinderella
  2. Prince
  3. Fairy godmother
  4. Step-mother
  5. King (father of the Prince)
  6. One of both of the step-sister/s
  7. Lost slipper – New!
• No offensive language (e.g., obscene, racist, etc.); please use minimal profanity and ensure that it is absolutely necessary to the tone of the story (see “Other Considerations” below).
• To be included, ping-back to both Anne’s and Theresa’s posts (see note below).
• Participation automatically allows permission for re-blogging on both Anne’s and Theresa’s blogs. (You retain copyright of your own work.)  This helps share your work with a wider community and extends the reach of your story.
• Possible publication in an anthology form. Depending on the response, we will be exploring putting out the anthology as an e-book, an on-demand book or other independently published book. If so, any net proceeds for selected stories will be shared on a proportional basis among contributors and the co-creators (Anne and Theresa).   A short legal agreement will be drafted to cover rights and income.
• Stories selected for publishing may be edited to remove excessive offensive language, without changing the story or its tone (see “Other Considerations” below).
• Stories must be the original work of the posting blogger; plagiarism will not be tolerated, and will be dealt with by the original authors accordingly.

Other Considerations – Please Read

• All submissions MUST include some reference to the topic (“Cinderella”).
• Please, no erotica, pornography, explicit/graphic sex/violence – e.g., “PG-” to “R-rated” work.
• That said, feel free to experiment! Mix ideas, genres, think big!

SURPRISE US!

We can’t really assure you a standing ovation for your story, especially you won’t see if we do, but you can be sure that we will share your Cinderella story.

Please comment here (below) and on Theresa’s Invitation post the links to your own “Cinderella” stories so we can find them and re-blog your stories.

This can be our path to a rewarding 2017 with respect to our writing, considering that possible anthology… Life does surprise us!

Pingbacks

To pingback to Theresa’s and Anne’s posts, simply copy the following links into your blog post:

https://ithinkisayido.wordpress.com/2016/12/23/city-of-magic/

https://tjbarkerseattle.wordpress.com/2016/12/23/cinderella-a-classic-folk-tale-retold/