298. How to Write a Fairy Tale Retelling with Kalynn Bayron

Bestselling author Kalynn Bayron discusses fairy tale retellings, how they are different from reimaginings, and what is most important for writers to do before taking them on.

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Visit Kalynn's website:
https://www.kalynnbayron.com/

Grab a copy of her books and leave a review:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B00YUU6Y1A
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18885814

Follow Kalynn on her socials:
https://www.instagram.com/kalynnbayron/
https://www.tiktok.com/@kalynnbayron

Transcript

Jennia: Hello, I'm Jennia D'Lima. Welcome to Writing and Editing, the author-focused podcast that takes a whole person approach to everything related to both writing and editing. Fairy tale retellings have been around almost as long as the stories are based on, but how can you write one that will feel fresh and still capture that original story's essence? Kalynn Bayron is known for creating unique stories based on familiar tales and is here to give us those answers.

Jennia: Well, first, welcome to the show! It is an absolute pleasure to have you here!

Kalynn Bayron: Thank you so much for having me!

Jennia: Would you like to start by telling listeners a little bit about you and what you write?

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah. So I'm Kalynn Bayron. I write young adult and middle grade literature and have a—I focus mostly on fantasy but I love a little bit of horror thrown in the mix. I love a good scary story. I love to write. I went to college for music. I studied opera in college. But now I'm a writer! So yeah, so that's a whole other journey. But I really love what I do. And my goal is always to kind of write stories that speak to that kind of younger version of myself. So that's me in a nutshell.

Jennia: Yeah, I think that's a great thing to do because especially—I think most of us can look back and think, "I really wish this story had been around when I was 10, 12, 14," whatever.

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah.

Jennia: Yeah! Even those stories we pick up as adults, you know, not to drift too far away, but even why we read YA when we're no longer YA, you know.

Kalynn Bayron: Exactly!

Jennia: Yes!

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah, it speaks to, you know, that kind of inner child. Yeah, for sure.

Jennia: Yeah! And filling that gap that you might have had in your own library shelves when you were that age.

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah, yeah.

Jennia: So why do you think that readers love retellings?

Kalynn Bayron: I think there's a few reasons. I think that storytelling is retellling. I have a lot of conversations with other authors who have an idea for a story and then they'll see a book announcement and they'll be like, "Oh, someone else is writing something very similar." And I always tell them, "Don't sweat it, it's okay." We love kind of the same familiar stories over and over again. What we bring to it individually is our own voice. And that is what makes it kind of new and exciting even though we might be telling the same story again. I think readers like sometimes to feel comfortable in a space with retellings, especially that are based on kind of fairy tales. I think there's a lot of room there to have those very familiar signposts that tell us we are in this specific fairy tale But there's so much room there to expand on the lore and the background. And so I just think it's a fun space to write in, and I think readers appreciate that.

Jennia: Yeah, I agree. I mean, you even think about, like, genre expectations and that sort of thing, or we'll have that one reader who will give a low star rating because it wasn't what they expected—

Kalynn Bayron: Mhm (laughs).

Jennia: —But yeah, with the retelling, you really do know going in, or at least ideally you will.

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah, yeah.

Jennia: Which leads to the next question, which is, how identifiable does the original story need to be in your work?

Kalynn Bayron: So this is something that I think there is a lot of room for interpretation here. I write stories sometimes that have very, very familiar signposts, very familiar pieces of those original stories. With Cinderella Is Dead, you know, of course we're talking about Cinderella and we're talking about the fairy godmother, and all of those things are there and present. With other stories like Sleep Like Death, which is a Snow White reimagining, the foundations of that story are there, and they're clear. But the way that I've kind of expanded on that world is much, much different than the original tale or the versions of the original tales. I don't think there's one specific version we can point to that, "That's the original!" But . . .

Jennia: Yes.

Kalynn Bayron: So I think that there—for me, there's a lot of room there [to] play around and kind of make the story your own. I even, with Sleep Like Death, incorporated some other fairy tales into the mix. And so that's always a fun thing to do. It's really something that and I don't really know about until I'm in the story. Until I'm in the drafting part of it. And I'm like, "Okay, do I really—Can I move away from this a little? Or do I need to be closer to those earlier versions?" It's really something that kind of comes up as I'm drafting.

Jennia: Is that something that you just intuitively pick up on, or do you have a method for figuring out if maybe you've gone too far in the other direction?

Kalynn Bayron: The first draft is me telling myself the story, essentially. I'm not really worried about what it looks like or who might see it. That first draft is really just for me. And there comes a point in that draft where I can just kind of feel that I'm too far afield, especially if I know that the book is going to be marketed as a retelling. Versus kind of a reimagining or an expansion on an existing world. Those things are kind of different in my mind. So there comes a point where I kind of feel that I've gone too far. And if that's the case, I have to kind of reassess if that fits with what I'm trying to do with this story. If it works for the story and it works for me, I think it's fine. But sometimes I need to bring things a little closer to home. For example, in My Dear Henry, which is the Jekyll and Hyde remix, it had to be very close to the original for me and the story that I was writing. I really needed it a have the kind of same plot points as the original novella. But, like I said, it's such a fun process to kind of get into and figure out what works and what doesn't.

Jennia: Would you mind describing how you differentiate retellings from reimaginings?

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah. So I think a retelling hits the same kind of plot point. So with Cinderella, there are a lot of Cinderella retellings where we have kind of poor, unfortunate girl, servant girl, and a very mean kind of step family, and we have a Prince Charming who comes in to save the day, and then we ride off into the sunset. And the details in there can be expanded on, but those are the kind of familiar places in the story, those plot points. And so I think retellings do a really good job of hitting on those specific plot points. I think with a reimagining, there's a little more freedom to leave out some of those plot points, to change them, to think of them in different ways, or to leave them out completely. I just think there's a little more flexibility with the storytelling in a reimagining.

Jennia: Oh for sure. Because you can even, I think, like, Cinderella is Dead, you know, it's after. Well, obviously. Read the title (laughs).

Kalynn Bayron: Right, right. And an example that I bring up all the time is Wicked. Wicked is not necessarily a—It's not a Wizard of Oz retelling, but it is a reimagining of the events of the Wizard of Oz. And then we get into this whole other thing about, you know, other people and other systems and magic systems and plot points, and it's this whole other story. So . . . But it's very much connected to that original kind of story. So, yeah.

Jennia: Do you study some of the original versions at all when you're going through and maybe making a list of those plot points or seeing where they hit as far as, you know, like, the percentage marks?

Kalynn Bayron: I do. I keep track of certain things. I definitely go back and research as many versions of a story as I can find if I'm doing—Especially a fairy tale. There are so many versions of Cinderella, of Snow White. So I will go and read as many of them as I can get my hands on, just to see what the commonalities are. There are also huge differences. There are things that get left out of these kind of Disney-fied versions of those stories—

Jennia: Yes!

Kalynn Bayron: —And I find that there is an endless amount of research material for those specific points because those fairy tales can be very gruesome and that gets completely left out. So I love the fact that when I'm going back and I'm, like, "Oh." In Snow White, you know, the queen suffers a very different fate and that is highly disturbing. So (laughs), you know—and of course I'm a horror fan and a scary story fan, so I'm, like, "I can definitely use that and pull that into this story somehow."

Jennia: That almost sounds, too, then like genre is going to dictate a little bit what you include, what you don't include. So how do you filter through that, even?

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah, so—Like I said, there are a lot of those very kind of gruesome, almost horror elements. And I do this talk sometimes about horror in YA and middle grade, and I bring up the example of these stories, "Once upon a time" being used to kind of teach young people, children, lessons about morality and religion and, you know, things like that, by using these kind of scare tactics. And so bringing those horror elements in sometimes can be kind of a tool. I look at it as almost a tool to really write a very dark fantasy a very, almost a horror story of a fantasy. Which we're in this kind of, like romantasy, like, genre-blending—

Jennia: That we are! (laughs)

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah! And this—So it works, it works really well. And I love romantasy, but I also love, like, horror fantasy. Which is something that I think I've kind of unknowingly been participating in for many years. Yeah, so kind of looking at genre and looking at speculative elements and just trying to see what fits and what works. But I love genre-blending, so it's fun for me.

Jennia: Do you decide ahead of time which story to work on? Or does a character or something else come to you first?

Kalynn Bayron: So when I'm kind of starting out with a new story, for me it's very much setting first. You know, you ask this question to 10 writers and you might get 10 different answers.

Jennia: Yes (laughs).

Kalynn Bayron: And so it's (laughs). So for me, the setting is really something that I think about first. I think about the world. For Cinderella is Dead, for example, I just thought about, like, what kind of world might exist if Cinderella was real? How would that affect people who live in a kingdom where you are expected to kind of find a prince or a, you know, and kind of ride off into the sunset? And how would that affect people who maybe don't fit into these boxes that society has kind of created for us? So those questions kind of come first to me, and I think about the overall world. And then I think about who would be the best kind of character to take us through that specific world. And it has to be someone who is kind of opposite . . . For me, it kind of has to be someone who's opposite of these kinds of societal expectations that come up in this world. So the setting for me is first, and then characters kind of come into it. And then throughout the writing process, things change (laughs). They change so much. And sometimes, to my horror, I'm, like—I get halfway through and I'm, like, "I need to be telling a different story. This isn't quite the right direction." So writing is a process of discovery for me always. And I've learned to kind of

Jennia: Which is probably a good thing. You know, we hear that all the time. You know, "My characters have just changed the plot" or, "Why are you not cooperating?"

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah.

Jennia: Have you ever had to have some large-level changes, that you're comfortable with sharing, where a character hasn't maybe followed the path that you had previously laid out for them?

Kalynn Bayron: I think probably the best example is with my debut, with Cinderella Is Dead. I had Sophia as the main character. And I, in—Constance, there's the love interest. But Constance in the first draft was a grandmother-figure. That first draft, it had a different tone. It had a much more kind of motherly—

Jennia: Mmm.

Kalynn Bayron: —kind of vibe to it. There was not really a romance that was center to the plot. And I got to the end and I felt like we were missing something. We were missing—because Cinderella is one of those stories where it's about finding someone or someone finding you. But I was trying to do it in a different way, and it just didn't really work. So I scrapped that whole first draft and started over. And the only thing I kept was the name, Constance. And as I kind of redid that draft and made it into basically what it is now. So there's lots of things that come up, and it's so frustrating when you get to the end of a draft and you realize (both laugh)—

Jennia: Yes!

Kalynn Bayron: —that something is off and you have to absolutely do the work to go back and fix it. And sometimes that requires an entire rewrite. So that's frustrating, but it's worth it because I know that I couldn't just put out a story that doesn't kind of sit right with me. So I have to—You have to put in the work.

Jennia: Do you use early readers at all? Maybe just, like, alpha readers in your own household or your close circle of friends? And do you ever let them identify or try to identify which story something is based on?

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah. So as I've kind of moved along in this publishing journey, that circle of people who are allowed to kind of look at those earlier drafts have gotten smaller and smaller and smaller. And because I write for young readers—I have four kids of my own, and they have become kind of the first sounding board for—they're readers. They love storytelling. And they don't necessarily care about my feelings (Jennia laughs). You know, they're—

Jennia: That's true!

Kalynn Bayron: —you know, so . . . So they'll read things, and I'm, like, "Tell me what you think of this. Tell me what this reminds you of. Tell me, you know, if you were to read this, what kinds of things would you wish weren't there or what you want more of?" Like, just give me all the feedback. And so, I think they've been really, really helpful in kind of helping me to establish what works and what doesn't for young people. Because as a very grown woman myself, I—you know, if I'm writing for young people, it's important for me to be in community with young people so that I can figure out what works and what doesn't.

Jennia: Yeah. One of my authors works at a high school, and she writes a lot of YA fiction. And so sometimes I have to do a little query like, "Wait, are kids saying this?" (laughs)

Kalynn Bayron: Right.

Jennia: —And they are, it's just me.

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah (laughs).

Jennia: Well, can you describe the difference between a close retelling and a loose retelling? And then do you have a preference?

Kalynn Bayron: A close retelling. So for me, just as an example, in kind of my own work, I think Jekyll and Hyde was a very close retelling. Even though I changed kind of the identities of the main characters, the plot structure is very, very similar to the original novella. And then I think for more of a loose kind of retelling, I think Poison Heart is a good example of that. Because that book was hugely inspired by The Secret Garden. I love the novel and I love the film version. The 1993—I'm very, I'm showing my age. But the 1993 version—

Jennia: I'm right there with you, so go ahead.

Kalynn Bayron: —Yes, yes. So even though if you go into that story, I don't know that, you know, you can't—I don't think you can call it a Secret Garden retelling, but it is very kind of loosely based on that. So I think I'm taking certain elements from The Secret Garden and incorporating that into a wholly new story that doesn't really call back to those characters, but maybe something in the setting, something in the kind of atmosphere of the story itself is very reminiscent of that. And I think there's value in both. I love a story that is kind of loosely based on something else, where I can recognize that there are things from this other piece of media that I really love.

Jennia: Yeah.

Kalynn Bayron: But it allows it a be its own thing. And I really enjoy that. I enjoy writing it and I enjoy reading it.

Jennia: I do too. Where it's almost like a discovery where you aren't really certain. And then you hit a certain point in the book and you think, "Oh my gosh, this is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet." Or, you know, The Secret Garden. And it just—

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah.

Jennia: —hits you. And it almost feels like you're involved in it. Like, you got to find this for yourself because it wasn't just blatantly obvious.

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah!

Jennia: Well, do you have any suggestions for writers on how to avoid sticking too close to that original narrative so that their story does feel new?

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah, I think that anytime you're sitting down and you know that you're going to write a retelling . . . Like I was kind of saying, I go back and I read all of those original or earlier versions of the stories, but I think sometimes you have to kind of put a little bit of distance between yourself and those stories just so that you're not taking on too much of those previous tales. But, you know, with the retelling, you know that there are going to be things that are familiar that readers recognize, that you, yourself, recognize. But you have to also find a way to find your own voice within the story. And that's with anything you write, really. Right? I wrote three novels before Cinderella is Dead, and I was really trying to sound like someone else. I was really trying to sound like other writers that I really loved. And it just didn't work because that wasn't my voice. That wasn't my kind of author voice. And so it's really important to kind of find that within yourself.

Jennia: And then do you have any tips on even identifying what those familiar elements are? So what if someone were to pick an element that might not be as major of a part as another element? Does that matter? Or can they pick and choose? Or do they need to pick a certain few?

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah, no, I think you can pick and choose. I think—And I think that's one of the things about finding your own narrative voice is kind of, like, what parts of this story speak to me, and how do I then reinterpret those for a reading audience? Or even just for yourself. Because I know a lot of time, for for a lot of authors, that first draft is for ourselves. I always encourage writers to write short stories. I think that that is one kind of tool that I've leaned on a lot to kind of improve my craft and also to really figure out in a pretty short number of words, what is unique about your voice. And so I encourage writers to do that often because that's who you are. That's who you're presenting to your reading audience, no matter what kind of story you're telling.

Jennia: I think that's fantastic advice, because I do think a lot of authors, too, when they are writing a short story, again, they know that's probably more for themselve. Or writing just for the joy of writing, not necessarily because they're going to turn around and try and shop it around and query it.

Kalynn Bayron: Right, right, right. You have an opportunity to really just write something that is authentically yours and your own voice. So, yeah, for sure.

Jennia: It takes a lot of pressure off too. Because it's not, "Oh, I dedicated how many hours of my life to this? So I'd like to see something come of it," versus, "I wrote this, you know, in a week. And it was just a fun little project to help me figure out maybe even how to do a certain POV or something."

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah, exactly. It's a wonderful tool.

Jennia: So now I want to know, did any of your books find their genesis from a short story?

Kalynn Bayron: Oh my gosh. So, let's see. So Cinderella is Dead actually came from a . . . I just wrote—I found—I had a notebook. I keep tons of notes, story ideas, you know, plot bunnies, things like that. And I was going through, and I had written just a sentence. It just said, "Cinderella is dead and the nation is in mourning." That's all it said. And and I don't remember why I even wrote that down. I must have seen something or heard something. And then I wrote that down, and then I left it alone and forgot about it. But then in the beginning of 2016, I was, like, "I really want to write a story, fairy tale, something like that. So let me see what I already have." I came back across that, and I was like, "Okay, this is it." So I think there, there's such a benefit to just never throwing anything away when you've written it down. Like, cut scenes, notes (Jennia laughs). Just find—You know, I have a huge, like, a mess over here in this corner of my office where it's just notebooks and sticky notes. There's so many things to kind of pull from. I never want to get rid of any of it. But there are stories that I've written that have inspired me to write longer stories, where maybe those stories don't necessarily transfer into the story itself. But I wrote a story for a literary magazine called "Baby Brother" several years ago, and it was so haunting. I think it's probably one of the best works of short fiction that I've done in my career. I couldn't stop thinking about it after I wrote it and it was published in that magazine. And then I was, like, "I need to write more horror. I need to write more scary stories that have this kind of haunting, lingering effect." So I think that those short stories have the potential to kind of spark more inspiration.

Jennia: Well, and sort of like you just said, even genre-hopping, you know, that's a whole other thing. Because there are going to be different tropes and expectations if you move from one to the other. Yeah, getting to sort of figure that all out through short story form.

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah. I cannot speak highly enough of writing short fiction, or you write nonfiction. Whatever, you know, whatever works for you.

Jennia: I almost feel like we should change our title a little bit. "Why You Should Write Short Stories First."

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah. Yeah (both laugh).

Jennia: Well, going back to those elements of stories or the original stories, familiar and unfamiliar, do you think it's ever harder for the author to maybe not necessarily convince the readers that this is a retelling, but sell them on it and show them why this is an element from that story where they might not have picked up on it originally?

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah, I think especially when you're doing kind of a loose retelling or a loose reimagining of something, that those—that can be harder to do. But I think that readers are much more willing to kind of take on a story that isn't a beat-for-beat retelling if they're invested. I think no matter what we write, but especially when it pertains to retellings and reimaginings, readers need to be invested.

Jennia: Mhm.

Kalynn Bayron: —They might come to the story because it's a Cinderella reimagining or a Snow White reimagining, but if they're not invested in your characters or the world or the stakes, it doesn't matter. And so I think the character work, the world building, all of those things play a part in drawing the reader in. I think readers are willing to take a chance, they're willing to stick with you through plot points that maybe aren't as identifiable if they're invested in your work. So we can't just lean on the fact that it's a Cinderella retelling and that people who love Cinderella will find it and love it. We have to kind of look at those elements that come specifically from us. Our character building, our world building, our plotting, our pacing. All of those things come into play. But I trust readers to stick with it if it's more loosely based on something, if I feel like I've done the work of getting them invested early on. And not too much relying on the sellability (both laugh) of a Cinderella story or a Snow White story, because people love those things, but they want to feel invested in your characters, specifically.

Jennia: Mhm. Do you think there are any types of changes to the original story that will best help yours stand out as something that's unique?

Kalynn Bayron: I think that, for me, it's really about . . . With your main characters in a retelling, they may share the same names or kind of identities as those earlier versions. Your main character may be Cinderella, or your main character might be Henry Jekyll. But making those characters your own, it can feel very personal.

Jennia: Mmm.

Kalynn Bayron: And I think it should. I think you should be looking at those characters. I think we should be looking at those characters as, you know, how can we make them fully formed people with thoughts, and fears, and hopes, and dreams? And they really have to feel like, "Oh, this is not just Cinderella and her pumpkin's gonna turn into a carriage and she's going to ride off into the sunset." Like, those are plot points. But that's not really telling me anything about who Cinderella is as a person, or what she wants, or what she needs. So giving your characters agency is the biggest thing that you can do, is the best thing you can do for those characters in a retelling.

Jennia: Yeah, that's an excellent point, too, because if you look at a lot of the originals—and again, you know, we know there are various originals—there's not really much of an emotional journey, usually. It's really is just a, "This happened, this happened, this happened, this happened. The end."

Kalynn Bayron: Right, right! And it's one of those things where I think it's another reason we go back to retellings because we want that. We want to know more about these characters and what they're feeling, what they're thinking. And those earlier versions of these stories are such a snapshot of a very specific point in this story. And I find that the most interesting pieces are what happened before and what happened after.

Jennia: Mhm.

Kalynn Bayron: And so if we can kind of zoom in, or maybe even zoom out, on those stories, we get a whole 'nother point of access to these familiar tales.

Jennia: Yeah, well said. Well, do you have any upcoming projects or events that you're allowed to share?

Kalynn Bayron: So I have another—I have a middle grade coming out. Comes out October 8th (look at that date—grab a copy now!), the third book in the Vanquishers series. It's called, The Vanquishers Rise at the Wrecking Crew. It is my ode to vampire stories because I love a good vampire story. It's for middle-grade audiences, so not too scary. Maybe a little scary. Then next year I have another YA horror coming out. I can't really give too many details about that, but that'll be out next year. I'm very, very excited about it. I think it's one of the most kind of emotional, terrifying stories I've ever had the pleasure to write (both laugh) so . . . So I'm really looking forward to that.

Jennia: It's all very exciting. Well, and thank you again. This has been fantastic!

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah, thank you so much for having me! This has been great.

Jennia: I kind of want to throw in "fangtastic" now that I know that you're writing a vampire story.

Kalynn Bayron: Yeah (both laugh). Yeah.

Jennia: Well, thank you for listening and be sure to check out the show notes for additional information. And please join me next week when Rachel Rosen will be here to tell us what you should know before working with a cover designer, and why your cover can help you stand out in an already crowded market. Thanks again!