Short story contest: Update a fairy tale as crime fiction

Posted by John Kenyon

Perhaps it is a symptom of reading a lot from a book of fairy tales to my two-year-old of late, but I have been thinking of ways to update Aesop, the Brothers Grimm, et al as modern day crime fiction stories. It’s not a stretch: these stories are filled with sinister people committing fiendish acts against innocents.

Seeing how similar challenges across the web have yielded some top-notch fiction, I thought I would issue a challenge of my own:

Write a crime fiction story of between 1,000 and 3,000 words (with some flexibility on either end) that is based on the premise of an actual children’s fairy tale. For example, a story about a predatory thief based on “Little Red Riding Hood.” Post it to your blog or web site, or find someone who will do that for you. Put the link in the comments here. Do so by midnight on Jan. 14, Cinderella, or your coach to (the relative) fame and fortune (of modest web-based attention) will turn back into a pumpkin.

You don’t need to reveal which fairy tale you used as source material. While some will probably be obvious, others may not. Guessing can be part of the fun.

UPDATE: I will judge the stories, selecting first, second and third place stories. In addition, I’ll have a special “most inventive recasting of a fairy tale” award to present. Prizes come for the great and very generous folks at Tyrus Books. The winner will select two of their top-notch short story collections, and the second and third place finishers will each receive one. The special award will receive the mystery PDF book promised by Spinetingler’s Brian Lindenmuth in the comments below.

So, for those without young kids, refresh your memory of some favorite fairy tales, recast the entire thing as a crime fiction story, and get writing!

Filed in contests, crime fiction, Writing 47 comments

47 Comments

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Dec 13, 2010
2:18 pm

#1 Brian Lindenmuth :

I’ll throw in a book (it will be a pdf) to the winner. Just keep me in the loop.

It will be a good one too I promise.

Dec 13, 2010
2:37 pm

#2 nigel bird :

what a great idea. i might well not manage one for this, but love the idea of linking the darkness of fairy tales to short crime-fiction. nice.

Dec 14, 2010
1:37 pm

#3 Kaye George :

This is firmly on my to-do list! Sounds fun! Thanks for doing this and thanks, Brian and others for the book prizes. Cool!

Dec 14, 2010
2:34 pm

#4 sean patrick reardon :

Found out about this through Nigel Bird’s blog. Sounds fun. I’m in. Peace, Sean

Dec 14, 2010
3:37 pm

#5 Jack Bates :

I’m in! Here’s my contribution: The Flying Trunk.

Dec 14, 2010
4:18 pm

#6 Jack Bates :

Here’s the unbroken link,I hope.
http://hardnosedsleuth.blogspot.com/

Dec 14, 2010
4:46 pm

#7 Paul D. Brazill :

Maybe I’ve got something!

Dec 16, 2010
4:22 pm

#8 Nathaniel Lee :

So is it only fairy tales a la Andersen or Grimm, or will myths and fables also work?

Dec 16, 2010
8:41 pm

#9 John Kenyon :

The rules are pretty fast and loose, so I’ll leave it open for fairy tales, myths, fables… I’m more interested in seeing how writers recast these stories in creative ways than worrying about how the source material is classified.

Dec 17, 2010
1:08 pm

#10 Patti Abbott :

To my surprise I am almost done a flash length story. You never know.

Dec 17, 2010
2:48 pm

#11 John Kenyon :

That’s great, Patti! Can’t wait to read it.

Dec 21, 2010
3:04 pm

#12 esha :

I love a challenge so i gotta try this. Must the word limit be a min of 1000 words or can i go a lot lower? E.

Dec 21, 2010
7:40 pm

#13 Marisol Perry :

To my surprise I am almost done a flash length story. You never know.

Dec 21, 2010
8:25 pm

#14 John Kenyon :

Give it a try. I set the word limit as a guideline to ensure I didn’t end up with any novel manuscripts. I look forward to seeing what you create.

Dec 22, 2010
1:23 am

#15 Eric Beetner :

I can’t be the first one to put a story up, can I? Either way here is mine. Hope you like it. I love this idea for a challenge, John. I found so much inspiration I could do a whole book of shorts.

http://ericbeetner.blogspot.com/2010/12/grim-fairy-tale.html

Dec 22, 2010
1:26 am

#16 Eric Beetner :

Sorry, not first. Duh. Just read Jack’s story. Good stuff!

Dec 22, 2010
9:38 am

#17 John Kenyon :

Thanks, Eric and Jack, for taking part. Looking forward to these.

Dec 23, 2010
12:08 pm

#18 eysha :

I guess we are to keep to the fairy story theme/tradition? What i mean is no bad language. I ask as fairy stories don’t use that, but then again nor do i. Am i right? Just asking, lol.

Dec 26, 2010
2:00 pm

#19 John Kenyon :

Nope, take the story where it needs to go. My only guide is that the story should be based on the premise of a fairy tale.

Jan 2, 2011
10:42 pm

#20 Joyce Juzwik :

I’m having a tough time deciding on the fairy tale (have a couple of ideas), but I’ll come up with something. I’m really looking forward to being a part of this challenge.

Jan 4, 2011
3:43 pm

#21 nigel bird :

http://nigelpbird.blogspot.com/p/sing-song-of-sixpence.html

hi. at last my pie is baked. it’s nursery rhyme based, so i hope it counts. if it doesn’t, i enjoyed putting it together.

thanks for doing this, John. i’ve tweeted and facebooked to try and draw some traffic this way. fingers crossed.

and Happy New Year to all involved.

Jan 4, 2011
3:55 pm

#22 Jane Hammons :

Sounds like fun! I’ll check back for the reading even if I don’t get around to writing one. But I’m going to try!

Jan 5, 2011
2:09 pm

#23 John Kenyon :

Thanks, Nigel! That’s three entries so far, with many folks likely to file in the next 10 days, so get writing everyone!

Jan 5, 2011
7:54 pm

#24 R. L. Kelstrom :

Primo idea! I’m in. I’ll get a story up early next week.

Jan 12, 2011
10:59 am

#25 Eirik Gumeny :

http://egumeny.blogspot.com/p/mary.html

Opted for a nursery rhyme, rather than a fairy tale. Hope that’s all right.

Jan 12, 2011
1:58 pm

#26 Kaye George :

Here’s mine! At
http://travelswithkaye.blogspot.com/2011/01/winging-to-fairy-tale-land.html

Thanks for the challenge. This was fun to do.

Jan 12, 2011
2:19 pm

#27 John Kenyon :

Great, Kaye. Thanks for submitting!

Jan 12, 2011
10:35 pm

#28 Blu Gilliand :

Fantastic idea – I had a lot of fun whipping something up for this! Hope you all enjoy it: http://blugilliand.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/han-and-greta/

Jan 13, 2011
10:35 am

#29 sean patrick reardon :

This was fun. Finally finished. I hope it is worthy. Here’s the link:
http://seanpatrickreardon.blogspot.com/2011/01/divided-we-stand-fairytale-challenge.html

Jan 14, 2011
2:53 am

#30 R. L. Kelstrom :

Great challenge idea. Nothing I like better than fractured fairy tales. Check out my story, Candy House, on my blog http://wisdom of zipper.blogspot.com Cheers, R. L. Kelstrom

Jan 14, 2011
2:57 am

#31 R. L. Kelstrom :

R. L. again, somehow I ended up with spaces on my address http:///wisdomofzipper.blogspot.com

Jan 14, 2011
7:24 am

#32 sandra seamans :

My entry is up here http://sandraseamans.blogspot.com/2010/01/fairy-tale-crime.html

Thanks for the contest, John, I really enjoyed the challenge!

Jan 14, 2011
9:43 am

#33 Loren Eaton :

My entry, “King Flounder: A Monologue,” is up here.

Jan 14, 2011
1:55 pm

#34 BV Lawson :

Thanks for the challenge prompt, John! Love these things. Here’s a link to my entry:

http://bvlawson.com/html/life_is_a_fairy_tale.html

Jan 14, 2011
2:38 pm

#35 sandra seamans :

Nigel told me the link wasn’t working and oops, I’m still writing 2010. Here’s the correct link. http://sandraseamans.blogspot.com/2011/01/fairy-tale-crime.html

Jan 14, 2011
3:21 pm

#36 Patti Abbott :

Here it is. http://pattinase.blogspot.com/2011/01/joseph-and-justine.html

Jan 14, 2011
3:21 pm

#37 Patti Abbott :

Make that Joseph and Justine. Yikes.

Jan 14, 2011
9:00 pm

#38 Evan Lewis :

Hey John. My entry, “Skyler Hobbs and the Magic Solution,” just went up. It’s dated tomorrow, but it’s up now. Really!

http://davycrockettsalmanack.blogspot.com/2011/01/fairy-tale-flash-skyler-hobbs-and-magic.html

Jan 14, 2011
10:52 pm

#39 Seana Graham :

I hope this is in under the wire. Thanks for the great idea.

http://seana-storydump.blogspot.com/

Jan 14, 2011
10:55 pm

#40 Absolutely*Kate :

John, this challenge is the best thing since Boris and Natasha warmed up the Cold War on Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Hope you gritty crime greats enjoy “YOU DIRTY RATS” http://at-the-bijou.blogspot.com/2011/01/you-dirty-rats.html — playing now over AT THE BIJOU, a down and dirty duo by Absolutely*Kate and Harry B Sanderford. (Special thanks to Sean Patrick Reardon for leaving the door open to follow him into new shadowy delights. Glad to see Eric, gutsy Joyce and of course Paul here — I plugged the whole slew of your crew to eyeball everyone’s gusty crimetales.)

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