::mslexia workshops::

The Blank Page #13
a writing workshop with Margaret Wilkinson

THEME: FAIRY TALES

INTRODUCTION

I LOVE fairy tales because I love the mythic, the magical and the domestic. Angela Carter, a true devotee, summed up this idea by describing fairy tales as stories ‘where one king goes to another king to borrow a cup of sugar’. Much of her fiction was inspired by the imagery of these tales.

How can we find inspiration from fairy tales ourselves? One idea is to look at them very closely so that we can focus primarily on the language and imagery they provide. First pick a fairy tale to examine. I’ve chosen ‘The wild swans’ by Hans Christian Andersen, in which a young girl undoes an enchantment, turning her beloved brothers from wild swans back into men by knitting them shirts from stinging nettles. Oh yes, and she cannot speak until she finishes the task. It begins like this:

From ‘The wild swans’ by Hans Christian Andersen

Far hence, in a country whither the swallows fly in our winter-time, there dwelt a King who had eleven sons and one daughter, the beautiful Elise. The eleven brothers (they were princes) went to school with stars on their breasts and swords by their sides; they wrote on golden tablets with diamond pens, and could read either with a book or without one; in short, it was easy to perceive they were princes. Their sister Elise used to sit upon a little glass stool and had a picture- book which had cost the half of a kingdom. Oh! the children were so happy! But happy they were not to remain always.

Their father the King married a very wicked Queen, who was not at all kind to the poor children; they found this out on the first day after the marriage, when there was a grand gala at the palace; for when the children played at receiving company, instead of having as many cakes and sweetmeats as they liked, the Queen gave them only some sand in a little dish, and told them to imagine it was something nice.

Somehow it all sounds very familiar, as if I might have had a version of these experiences myself – and that, I suppose, is what they mean when they call fairy tales archetypal. My own mother in New York once gave me a dish of sand for a tea party and told me to get out of her hair.

EXERCISES

Once you have chosen a story to dissect:

#1
Read it and underline the words and short phrases you find exciting, irritating, inspiring. Here is the list of words and phrases I have underlined in ‘The wild swans’: a streaming white ribbon; creepers; blisters; shirts with long sleeves; hounds; the youngest brother; a burnt piece of paper; a stepmother; a solitary rock; a mat of pliant willow bark; white feathers; a great speechless bird; a palace window; a little glass stool; sand in a dish; a country where swallows fly in winter-time; marriage, mice, iron bars, a saint, a trance and tablets. This list alone inspires me to go on and do some writing. A partial list – marriage, mice, iron bars, a saint, a trance and tablets – is also good and begins to suggest something very distinct to me; a piece of writing wholly unrelated to the story or landscape of ‘The wild swans’.

#2
Now imagine a room that contains four of the items on your list. Write about something that might happen in that room.

#3
The imagery of fairy tales, as far as I’m concerned, is the gold. Try this exercise that creates accidental metaphors. Using your list of interesting words and phrases, fill in the blanks:
My best friend is a streaming white ribbon.
My lover is sand in a dish.
I am a great speechless bird.
I was a little glass stool.
I will be a country where swallows fly in winter-time.
Now explore these images in poetry and prose.

#4
Write about leaving home, or falling in love, or the place where you grew up, using the precise, yet wild, imagery of your chosen fairy tale. You can create a very interesting piece if the central images in your writing are different to the subject matter. For example, you can explore falling in love in poetry or prose not by writing about love, but by writing about birds and feathers; people turning into birds; or birds turning into people.

#5
Write a monologue from the point of view of one of the objects in the fairy tale you’ve chosen. Using ‘The wild swans’, for example, I’d write something from the point of view of a nettle the princess Elise weaves into a shirt for her brothers.

#6
When I step back from ‘The wild swans’ I am intrigued by the major ideas and images of winged and feathered men and a girl who cannot speak. These may be ideas I can develop on their own, or add to something I’m already writing. The main character’s dilemma, how to save her brothers from enchantment, can also provide inspiration for a more contemporary piece.

#7
Think about the landscape of the fairy tale you have chosen. Look through the story for references to place, both interiors and exteriors. The dwelling places in fairy tales are often very interesting. What’s special about these places? In ‘The wild swans’ we have: A bath filled with soft pillows; a forest where Elise touches one of the branches hanging over her and bright insects tumble like falling stars; the cave in which Elise sits on the nettles she has combed into bundles, and the small room the King has hung with green tapestry to resemble Elise’s cave, to mention but a few. Use any of these places as the starting point for a new story.

#8
Fairy tales usually have opponents and helpers. In ‘The wild swans’ the wicked stepmother is the opponent and a mysterious woman carrying a cherry basket is the helper. Write these characters’ stories too.