We are happy to announce that Saryn Chorney and Amanda Iles—both alum of Karen Heuler’s Writing Modern Fairy Tales course—are going to have their short stories published in Transmundane Press’ upcoming anthology, After Happily Ever After. The anthology is composed of short stories that take a new, modern approach to classic fairy tales and is slated for release this fall.
We spoke with Saryn and Amanda about the stories they submitted and their experiences in CALA’s writing courses. Read the full interview below.
Without giving away too much, what are your stories about?
S.C.: My story is a retelling of Snow White. The main character, Blanca Snowe, is taken in by a fraternity of merry gay men, poisoned at a party with a green apple-flavored lollipop by her father’s widow (in disguise), then saved by a kiss-donor prince — but the pair don’t quite live happily ever after. Snowe and Prince Charming have a strained long-distance relationship, and she partakes in a series of clandestine affairs with other popular fairy tale characters. The prince eventually moves on & remarries another famous princess, with Snowe’s blessing. There’s also a surprise twist ending that I won’t give away! The story is modern and erotic in some ways, but also meant to be funny and surreal.
A.I.: “That Time He Had to Make Decisions” is about the prince and princess from the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale after the “happy ending.” Prince Phillip is really good at defeating evil and really bad at every day life. When the adventure ends he focuses all his attention on Princess Aurora, texting her 46 times a day, planning romantic weekends, throwing balls in the hopes of waltzing all night. Aurora, however, is over it. The story follows them as they try to make their relationship work, despite their different lives and personalities. Phillip strives to temper his enthusiasm while he embarks on the mission Aurora gives him: to figure out what she’s been doing in secret.
How did Writing Modern Fairy Tales impact the development of the stories you submitted to the anthology and your writing in general? Was there any piece of advice that you were given by the instructor or a lesson of hers that really stuck with you?
S.C.: My favorite aspect of the class were the writing prompts. Depending on the fairy tale we were reading that week and/or the discussion that followed in class, Karen would assign written “homework” based around 1 to 2 or 3 different concepts. After reading The 12 Dancing Princesses (one of my childhood favorites), we spoke a lot about the meaning of secret lives — and especially how that concept might relate to girls/young women and puberty. In general, I think the ongoing lesson weaved throughout the class was to look for the “codes” of the society/time period through the stories we were reading, which wasn’t something I’d previously considered about these stories. We also talked about modern movies or TV series, like “Sex and the City” in relation to codes, which was a lively discussion.
A.I.: Writing Modern Fairy Tales reminded me how enjoyable it is to share stories. The class also helped me break out of my comfort zones, especially because the instructor, Karen Heuler, encouraged us to think outside the norm (How would this tale look in modern times? What if gender was swapped? Where do magical transformations happen today? What is your “fence” that separates you from the “forest?”). Reading my classmates’ stories and hearing their interpretations of the tales were both amusing and inspiring. My story for the After the Happily Ever After anthology came out of this class. One homework assignment was the prompt, Sleeping Beauty meets the Ugly Duckling. From there, writing magic happened.
S.C. Karen frequently sent out calls for stories, contests, places to submit our work throughout the class and for a few months after it ended. This will be the first time a fictional work/short story of mine is published. (I did previously have a humor book published.)
A.I.: Karen Heuler sent out a link to the After the Happily Ever After submission page, and I thought, “This is perfect for me!” and then “I need a plot!” In the class, I’d come up with the characters and found Prince Phillip’s voice so fun and easy to write. But I needed to form a coherent story. Submitting to the anthology was such a great opportunity to push myself to develop a story within a deadline.
Are you working on any more stories at the moment?
A.I.: Currently, I’m revising a novel I presented in the Advanced Novel Writing course. After that class, a few of us formed a writer’s group that has been instrumental in my revision process. I can’t emphasize enough how valuable the group’s support and insights have been. Other than that, I’m considering going back to a few stories I wrote for Writing Modern Fairy Tales and Short Story Writing and see if I can find homes for them somewhere.
Sign up for Writing Modern Fairy Tales or another one of our fiction writing courses this fall!