The Fairytale Community's 2016 Retelling Awards [closed]

Nine Retellings Tips

Here are nine tips for writing retellings on Wattpad! Some of the tips we've borrowed from our daughter account, RetellingsUnite .

1. Choose a unique and memorable title

Do you know how many stories are called Beauty and the Beast on Wattpad alone? Way too many. Hundreds, possibly thousands have that exact same title. So when choosing a title for your retelling, instead of focusing on what makes your story similar to those hundreds of others, instead think of titles that makes your story stand out but still have relevancy.

Maybe think of a special plot twist, setting, or character trait that is unique to your story or your main character. Focus on that instead of just naming your story to be yet another retelling with the exact same name as the original.

Also, keep the title at a reasonable length.

It would be difficult to have a cover for a story called "How I went to a ball, lost my favorite shoes, met royalty, got yelled at by my stepmother, and married the prince." Not only would it make it hard to recommend to your readers, you would make your cover designer's job particularly painful. So try to keep the titles brief but effective.

For example here are a list of retellings or stories inspired by classics, fairytales, folk tales, or myths on Wattpad that have unique titles but still manage to hint at what their story is about:

Cinder Falls by _Palen

The Subtle Beauty by AnnHunter82 

I Wish I May by AdelynAnn

Misselthwaite by nicegirlsreadbooks

The Mermaid Hypothesis by  adam_and_jane

2. Memorable Character Names

The same as we said about titles goes for character names. There are hundreds of Cinderella Retellings about girls named Ella, Elle, or some variation of Cinderella and the same goes for almost every other kind of retelling and their main character's name. Even if the original story was about a person with a particular name, that doesn't mean your story has to be about a person of the same name.

Try to pick unique names that go with your characters and their backgrounds/stations in life. You're not going to name an assassin warrior queen something like Buttercup if you want her to be taken seriously right from the get go, but if you do go that route, make sure it makes sense. Is warrior queen Buttercup actually a run away princess who ran from her kingdom when it was attacked? Did she shed her frilly, pink gowns and gain blisters, bruises, and armor? 

Then that's fine. That means your character developed. Just please don't name the main character of your medieval retellings Jessica or Sharpay. Jessicas and Sharpays didn't exist in medieval times.

Now, we're not necessarily saying to pick names that sound like they're straight from a very high fantasy novel or Lord of the Rings (lovely though they may be), just pick something that feels right with your character and is accurate for the setting of your novel. Picking a name also helps the character become yours. Your character won't just be the main character stand in anymore. They'll be their own person.

Examples from wattpad novels with memorable character names:

Iris Gwenneth from Fearless: A Mulan Retelling by squigmo