Thursday, June 1, 2017

Cover Reveal - Five Golden Braids

Well, today's the day folks. The day that the cover is revealed for the fourth and final Rooglewood Five Something Something contest. For those of you who don't know, this contest is run by Anne Elizabeth Stengl, author of the Goldstone Woods.

It's been two years since the last contest, and breaths have been bated in anticipation. My own guess for the final tale was "Rapunzel" with runner-ups being "The Little Mermaid" and "Snow White." These were the three remaining "popular" tales that had a princess at its core, which seemed to be the theme of these contests. "The Little Mermaid" however, has a sad ending, and given Rooglewood's request for happy endings, I figured that they'd steer clear of it, and "Snow White" is a tad similar to "Sleeping Beauty" which they'd already done.

So what is it this year? Well, contrary to what I'm trying to lead you to believe with this post's title ... I was wrong. It isn't Rapunzel. However, the book does have the exact title that I knew they'd pick if they did ever do it. A title speculation that was responsible for my Sleeping Beauty retelling of Poison Kiss, which, unfortunately, wasn't finished in time to enter into the actual contest.

(It is finished now, due for release in August, and I'm looking forward to sharing the lovely cover that I spent last week building sometime later this month. I'm quite proud of it.)


Okay, so now that I have a placeholder image in place to throw all of you off and make you click through ... what is the actual cover you ask?



The cover model/photographer: WYNTER CLARK.
Cover design: JULIA POPOVA

Oh, that's gorgeous. As I said, I didn't expect this tale due to it's similarities to Sleeping Beauty (I actually qualify it under Sleeping Beauty in my own fairy tale classification system. That's a post for another day), but while I'm slightly disappointed that we won't be dealing with Towers in this story ... I will admit that Snow White is ripe for interpretation. I just hope that there won't be too many stories with the "brilliant" idea of mixing the tale with Snow White and Rose Red. (I swear, if I see another hackneyed stitching together of those two stories...).

I actually have already started my entry for this year, thanks to my sister. I initially pulled a blank, but when I told her the Fairy Tale, she said she had a terrible idea. Snow White and the Seven Drawers. (She blames this title on her dyslexia). Where Snow White finds a bureau with seven drawers, and each is a portal into another realm that is based on some motif from the fairy tale. I loved the idea, and have run with it. It's going to be awesome and epic, and I just hope that I can keep it under 20,000 words. Currently, I have retitled it to Blanche and the Seven Drawers, but I may change it to The Eighth Realm, depending on its mood. It was supposed to be whimsy but has been evolving into something much more serious. Hopefully, I'll have it done in time to enter, but if not, well, you'll still see it appear on my own bookshelf.

And I'll probably throw a tower in there just to have some fun. I managed to squeak them into both CinderEddy and Poison Kiss, after all.

So, your thoughts? Are you planning to enter the contest? What do you think of my entry? Which of my titles do you think I should choose?

6 comments:

  1. Oooh, I love your entry idea!!!

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  2. That's awesome XD I can't wait to see what your story looks like :)
    Good luck!
    faith@thompsonhome.net

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  3. QUOTE: " I just hope that there won't be too many stories with the "brilliant" idea of mixing the tale with Snow White and Rose Red. (I swear, if I see another hackneyed stitching together of those two stories...)."

    Wait, WHAT? How...? The two stories are nothing alike! Erkszkg--sputzzplk--I'm sorry, I just--can't even--blew my mind a little.

    I LOVE the drawers/Portals idea! Way to put a fresh new spin on an old story. LoveLoveLOVE!
    (Gah, OK, my brain is in Ditz Mode today. But seriously, Seven Drawers is brilliant! I would totally read that. :-D) I'm casting my vote for The Eighth Realm for the title, myself. So mysterious and intriguing....

    Happy writing, and best wishes with the contest!

    <3
    ~R~

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    1. Weeeeeeeellllllll.... they both have dwarf(s) in them, but that's about it. Seriously, though, I can name four stories /off the top of my head/ that use this combination. But if you go to the original German, the two girls don't even have the same name.

      Oh, and did I mention that my story is a bit of a power struggle between Blanche and her stepmother for the throne? It's going to be awesome.

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  4. My sister (we suspect) is mildly dyslexic too, and she can come up with really good ideas for my writing. She'll be glad to know she's not the only one.

    So far the only idea I've had is one in which the poisoned apple is metaphorical, not a literal apple, and shows up at the very beginning of the story. But that story is also, for the most part, a very sunny and brightly-coloured Mediterranean-feeling story, which I'm not sure works too well with Snow White --- I've always thought of it as being a bit like chocolate cheesecake, dark and rich and to be savoured slowly, the type for a /grand/ sort of retelling. So I'd like to enter, but I'll have to play with ideas a bit more, and see if I can come up with a more obvious similarity to the original. A poisoned apple that's not really a poisoned apple isn't much of a connexion, on its own.

    https://ofdreamsandswords.wordpress.com

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    Replies
    1. Hmmm, well, what are the other motifs of Snow White that you can work in? There's the stepmother, the mirror, the seven dwarfs, the glass coffin...

      Personally, I'd love to see a Mediterranean-themed Snow White. One of my favorite Snow White cartoons is told with Native Americans, so it doesn't have to be set in Medieval Germany.

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Hi! Now that you've read my post, hast thou any opinions that thou wouldst like to share? I'd love to hear them!

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