A Princess must be . . . (Princess Quotes part 2)

"But that's impossible, how could I marry a Prince, I'd have to be a . . . "
"A Princess, and you are, dear."
 Sleeping Beauty

I decided to continue our wonderful discussion about being a Princess. In Part 1 we discussed what it means to be a princess, how she is expected to act, and what she symbolizes in the fairy tale, goodness, salvation or truth. A Princess is all those things, but she is also just a young girl, trying to grow up and understand the world.


a dress like this jellyfish

I recently watched a show called Princess Jellyfish. You may remember I nominated the cast for a Gooseyness Award. While the show is set in modern day, there a Princess theme throughout it. The main character is a girl named Tsukimi who, as a child, believed "All girls can be beautiful Princesses when they grow up" and once her mother promised she would make Tsukimi's dress when she got married, a beautiful lacy white dress like the jellyfish pictured on the right, a fluttery dress that a Princess might wear. Her mother was always reminded of Princesses when she looked at jellyfish. Perhaps this explains Tsukimi's obsession with drawing them.

However, now that Tsukimi is older, she finds reality is very different, her childhood dreams have fluttered away. Her mother passed away when she was little, and she realizes ". . . I have some bad news. I'm not sure where I went wrong, but somewhere along the line, instead of becoming a Princess. I ended up a freak. Mom, I couldn't manage to become a beautiful Princess."

The show follows Tsukimi as she learns about love, as she discovers she may not be such a freak after all, and perhaps she can make that beautiful Princess Jellyfish dress just as her mother wanted, just like she has always dreamed. Don't give up on your dreams Tsukimi! You can do it!

What does a princess dreams about? Does she dream of an ordinary life, where she is not a royal princess? (I'd be curious to know if anyone has ever made a gender reversed Prince and the Pauper. Come to think of it, I've never actually read the original, I'll have to put that on my classical reading list.) Or does a Princess not dream at all, does she put those kind of dreams aside in order to serve her family, and her kingdom? Or, maybe she  is like Princess Jasmine who, when faced with marriage, shouts, "Then maybe I don't want to be a Princess anymore." Or perhaps like Princess Fiona, "I want what any Princess wants - to live happily every after . . . with the ogre I married."

I'm curious to know what Ange dreams about, I don't think she dreamed much, not seriously. I do think she dreamed about falling in love, and these dreams are crushed in the beginning when her mother tells her she is betrothed and must marry a man she has never met before. Terrwyn, what does Mirth dream about?

How many girls dream about being a Princess? In a more recent Disney movie, the Princess and the Frog, young Charlotte declares, "I would do it. I would kiss a frog. I would kiss a hundred frogs if I could marry a Prince and be a Princess."

I've been collecting Princess quotes for a while, so many interesting ones. There are so many more out there, but this next one is my favorite:

"Are you a Princess? I said and she said I'm much more than a Princess, but you don't have a name for it yet here on earth." Brian Andreas

That's right, we are so much more than just a Princess. We are sisters, we are friends, we are lovers, we are dreamers. We are magic makers. Ange and Mirth have so much to discover, their adventure has just begun. It will not be all roses and cupcakes, they will encounter ruffians and scoundrels, badly written poetry, curses that will make them cry and geese that will insult them and bit them. But that's life, it comes with some good and some bad and that's what makes it so interesting.

This is how my brain works (yes I know it's weird)

After I posted Letter 7 something about it bothered me, but I couldn't put my finger on it. What was it? The poems, I realized, the poems were sticking out too much and ruining it. I decided to change it, so I striped the poems from the interior of the letter and just put them on the bottom.

It's a temporary solution. I have no idea what do with with them.

First, let me share with you my thoughts while I was revising Letter 7, they went as follows:

Today Success. And tomorrow?

Dear friends,

May I present for your reading pleasure --wait a minute . . . . what - what happened to letter # 7?? click here

Oh no, its been completely, and entirely taken over by poetry. When did that happen? Oh my. And it's so distracting. Heaven help us, for Lackcroft and Roe have officially arrived. I hope their scribbling all over the letter doesn't take away from the pleasure of reading Ange's latest misadventures. (And that glaring white background! Really miss webartist, can't you at least make the background tranparent? ...stoney silence --Apparently not.)

Well, enjoy.

The Fairy Tale Conspiracy Begins

I've been neglecting the blog lately, but I have a good excuse, really I do.

Tada: Letter 5, in which our heroine is in a pickle, she meets some mysterious commentators and uncovers a terrible evil plot by a hideous fat man.

I have to say conspiracies are really hard to write. I have such respect for any author who writes about a conspiracy. I've been working on this for a week, this letter was my worst so far. I was almost tempted to just post it and get your opinion, but by that point it was such a huge mess. So I did my best to fix it. It still needs works.

And, you'll notice there is something very important missing. This is the only letter that I didn't write down the messengers.

Terrwyn, do you still have the original letter and envelope for this one? It would be soooo helpful if you did and I don't have to recreate it. This is the envelope where Lackcroft and Roe make their first appearance. (heaven help us.)

Reposting Letter 3

"What are men to rocks and mountains?"
Jane Austin, Pride and Prejudice

I said I would fix the third letter and here it is. Letter 3, one more time.

I've rearranged some of the events a little; drastically cut some scenes. You were right the fitting scene was too long. Of course, I also cut down Falada's scene too, but it felt like I was getting too long winded. How long is this letter? Too long?

I tried to keep the descriptions suited to Ange's perspective. She's very attuned to her wisp, where they are, and what they are doing; as well as to sound. She overhears rumors, or the bells chiming.

Also I used a "devise" to lead into my longer scenes, and since I used it twice in this letter I wonder if that's OK. It's the following phrases:  "I shall explain what happened." and "I know you'd appreciate hearing about her, so I shall do my best to describe her." Next time I'll try to be more original, think of something else clever to say.

Let me know what you think.

Where do the ideas come from?

"I think most people have more ideas in their heads than they think they do. Its just that those of us in the fantastic fields - either we don't listen to our own filters, or we have a much high ridiculousness threshold."
   Interview with China Mieville, NY Times July 23rd, 2010

I've finally posted the 3rd letter from Ange. Yay! Go Ange!

It's not the most exciting action packed letter, but it does some important set-up stuff for later. I realized I went into this story assuming whoever reads it would know the fairy tale. That said, I've found the fairy tales on-line:

It's fascinating to read the different versions. So, I've got two for you:

From Andrew Lang's The Blue Book: The Goose Girl and from Andrew Lang's The Red Book:  The Golden Goose

Another source is available at SurLaLune Fairy Tales. Here's the main website: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/. SurLaLune has an extensive site all about fairy tales. They have annotated versions of the stories, as well as all the hundreds of retellings available from children books, novels and live action movies and cartoons. I remember reading the Goose Girl on SurLaLune when I was first beginning to write Goosey, to help get some ideas about how to proceed.

Mostly I think my ideas come from the same part of my brain that forms dreams.

So, here's Letter #3 for your critques, comments, questions, etc.
Happy dreaming. I mean reading.