In a post on Writer Unboxed, Liz Michalski discusses how to retell old stories and make them feel both fresh and familiar. “There’s something inexplicably captivating about diving into a new work and recognizing an old friend beneath its surface,” she writes. “And clearly I’m not the only one who feels that way: Witness the success of stories like Madeline Miller’s Circe and Song of Achilles, Naomi Novik’s refreshed Rumpelstiltskin in Spinning Silver, and Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, a retelling of David Copperfield.”
But there are pitfalls to retelling a familiar story, but readers can be drawn to them. “There’s something comforting about sinking into a story we know well, a story we’ve heard or read so often it is a part of our bones,” Michalski says. “At the same time, retellings also offer us the thrill of something different. There’s a certain enjoyment in thinking we know exactly what will happen, only to be surprised by a twist in the plot or a turn in a character’s development.”
Your job is to bring something new to the story. For Michalski, that means starting with a story she loves and has pondered. “What happened before the story captured on the page to create this particular configuration of events?” she asks. “Where is there space for me to imagine this story from another angle or point of view?”
When you recast a familiar story, you walk a line between maintaining the old and introducing something new. “If you are true to the story’s essence, you can give readers just enough glimpses of the old that they can find their way through the undergrowth of the new,” Michalski writes. Remember, too, that fairytales and myths have been around so long not just because they are entertaining, but because they tell a universal truth. So be aware of your origin story’s center, yes, but don’t be afraid to turn it on its head, blow it up, make it your own.”
