I decided last minute to participate in this year's NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).
If you are involved as well and want to be "buddies", here's a link to my account:
https://nanowrimo.org/participants/edmund-lloyd-fletcher
Since this wasn't accounted for the Moast Unusual series plans, I decided to go a completely different direction with the story I'm writing.
The idea I chose to go with was:
(And, yes, this is only a work-in-progress cover, so please don't judge my artwork too harshly.)
What if Beauty didn't make it in time, and he had to stay a beast FOREVER!??
If you think about it, the original fairytale is easy. He just has to behave himself long enough to win Beauty's love. How many marriages are like that, where a guy puts on a good front while dating, but then after the wedding he turns out to be somebody else?
Looking at it from another perspective, concerning the whole curse thing, the spell is broken and things are all fine again. Poof! Is that how a good marriage works? What about having to stick it out and work through your problems?
Finally, in the standard tale, we miss out on a lot of deliciously deep emotional turmoil. What about the Beast's self-image? Does he struggle with feelings of inadequacy? How does that manifest itself? Does he push her away? Build up emotional walls? What about jealousy when she talks to somebody who isn't ugly like he is? The list goes on and on.
There are a lot of things to explore.
So, anyway, I thought that this twist made the retelling worth exploring.
As usual, let me know what you think over on the socials.
Live Your Adventure,
-E.L. Fletcher
======================= UPDATE =======================
Pardon my ASCII art there, but I thought you might like to know how it all worked out, so...
Boom.
#NaNoWriMo #NaNoWinner2017
I really liked how it turned out. I'll definitely have to edit it up all purdy and come up with a release plan.
Thanks for all the moral support, folks!
