The Brightest Thread Q&A

In honor of Sleeping Beauty being this month’s featured tale at Fairy Tale Central, I’ve snagged a list of questions to answer about my very own Sleeping Beauty retelling! It’s been an age since I shared anything about The Brightest Thread. Seeing as it’s the story carrying the weight of my publishing hopes and dreams (*cough* only partially kidding), this gap simply must be filled!

Not to mention there may be some new faces around here who think I’m talking about throwback Thursdays when I say “TBT.” 😛

So! Here we are: you, me, and TBT. (Oh dear, that rhymes. We’re off to a great start.)

When did you first read or hear Sleeping Beauty, and what drew you to retell it?

I honestly cannot remember the first time I figured out who Sleeping Beauty was. It certainly wasn’t when I watched the Disney movie, because I was already into my teens at that point. Maybe there was some obscure book of fairy tales that I’ve since forgotten?

Wherever the slumbering princess and I became acquainted, I never would’ve thought to retell her tale until the Rooglewood Press contest of 2015.

*blinks*

That was five years ago. Wow.

WOW.

Anyway, yanking myself back from memory lane here. The contest was called Five Magic Spindles, and the idea was that the top five Sleeping Beauty retellings would be published in an anthology together. I had already entered the two contests prior to this one (for Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast), so I wanted to keep my streak going.

I had no idea that I was about to discover what would become my favorite story I’ve ever written. No clue just how magical, groundbreaking, and (at times) hard this venture would be.

What was your favorite element of the original tale, the thing you knew you just HAD to include in your retelling?

I distinctly remember sitting in a Tim Hortons (#Canadian) and puzzling over exactly this question. What elements of Sleeping Beauty were “must-haves” for me?

At the top of my list was the hundred-year sleeping curse. Seems kind of like a “duh, of course” thing, but the thing was, I hated the curse. It sidelined the titular character, for crying out loud! Unless I figured out a new twist on it, I’d have to tell the story from someone else’s perspective, because Sleeping Beauty herself is… well, she’s boring.

And that’s when I thought, “But what if the princess wasn’t truly asleep?”

Cue a realm of dreams both whimsical and dark, a dreamer who wanders in search of someone strong enough to break her curse, and a slew of nightmares breaking out into the real world.

Who was your favorite character in your retelling?

I really, truly love my “golden trio”—Luci, Hadrian, and Aleida—and can’t decide between them! They’re the three pillars holding up the entire story, and we get to slip into each of their perspectives.

In case you haven’t met them yet…

Luci…

also known as Princess Alucinora, is the headstrong heroine in love with dragons and trapped by the fear that she’s both too much and never enough.

Hadrian…

is my gardener prince who’d rather pull weeds than swing a sword, but won’t waste a breath when it comes to defending his people.

Aleida…

is the world’s youngest fairy steward and Luci’s closest friend, responsible for far more weight than she feels capable of bearing.

Was there a character with whom you identified the most?

Personality-wise, I’m the closest to Hadrian! He and I share a sharpened code of ideals and a single-mindedness when in pursuit of a goal. He always strives to do more, sometimes too much so.

But I identify with Luci and Aleida too. Luci’s pride and refusal to be a burden, Aleida’s sense of inferiority—all are pieces of my heart that unintentionally landed on the page and forced me to face… well, myself.

Writing is therapeutic, y’all, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Is there anything from your life that you incorporated into this story: people, places, experiences, circumstances?

Probably dozens of things! Aleida’s woeful small talk skills (haha, it’s me). The vividness of some of my dreams. Etc.

One big thing is gardening! I grew up with a large vegetable garden, and it’s something that still characterizes almost half of my year. The hours we spend as a family planting, lugging watering cans, shelling peas, or canning salsa have taught me a lot about work ethic and appreciating the literal fruits of one’s labor.

But when Hadrian first popped onto the scene, walking out on his ogress stepmother to go tend his own garden, I didn’t even make the connection to my family’s veggies. 😛 Without meaning to, his love of green and growing things sprang from the plot of dirt in my own backyard.

Favorite fairy tale (relation)ship in general?

Beauty and the Beast all the way!

In THIS story, though, my favorite ship is obviously Lucian (Luci + Hadrian). 😉

If this book was a movie or TV series, who would you pick to play (or voice, if animated) the main characters?

I’m usually not great at fan-casting because I don’t know enough actors to perfectly fit the image or vibe of each character, buuut let’s give this a try!

Princess Luci // A younger Alicia Vikander, maybe? But with strawberry blonde hair?

Prince Hadrian // Brenton Thwaites! Just lighten his hair color and voila. (And I swear I didn’t pick him because he’s Prince Philip in Maleficent. It was actually his role in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales that made me think, “Hey, he looks like Hadrian!”)

Aleida (fairy steward of Iror) // I don’t know who this person is, but her picture is 100% Aleida to me. Hopefully she can act, haha.

Vyntyri (fairy steward of Contalabutte Island) // Jaime Murray looks the part, but I haven’t seen her in anything besides Once Upon a Time so it’s hard to say…

King Cedric (Luci’s father) // Sean Bean! Again the hair’s not quite right (Cedric has greying blonde hair), but eh, pretty close.

Queen Riar (Luci’s mother) // Joanna Whalley is very close to how I picture her.

Reverie (fairy steward of Bauglind) // Maaaybe Caylee Cowan?

King Aldwin (Hadrian’s father) // Charles Dance is technically too old, BUT Aldwin is sick and aging prematurely, so that would actually work.

Kronna // I have NO idea who I’d cast for her. She’s half-ogress, so just picture a feminine and more human-looking version of Azog from The Hobbit movies! 😛

Chief Rook // If there was a cross between Jason Momoa and Lee Pace… that would be perfect. As it is, this is the closest I could find to my mental image of him.

Honorable mention: Michelle Pfieffer would do a beautiful job playing Queen Ela, Hadrian’s deceased mother. She’s also a bit too old for the role, but makeup or CGI can do wonders.

Favorite and least favorite parts of this story to write?

My favorite favorite FAVORITE thing to write has been the dream realm! There are no limits to the crazy, wild, illogical, eerie things that can happen there. It’s the perfect blend of symbolism, nonsense, and terror, lending me PLENTY of emotional fodder to play with.

My least favorite has been trying to nail the beginning. I’ve rewritten it at least five or six times, coming at it from different angles, adding and subtracting different elements… and I’ve finally circled back around to my original version, haha.

What music did you listen to while writing this story? Do the main characters have theme songs? If you don’t write to music, what music do you think best represents this story?

I have TWO Spotify playlists I listen to while working on The Brightest Thread: one is an instrumental collection my brother Josiah created for this story, and the other is my own hodgepodge of songs that inspired me throughout the writing and editing process.

I’ll link a few of my favorites to YouTube…

A Thousand Years by Christina Perri // This one fits Luci and Hadrian’s relationship almost to a T. 😭 And Piano Guys has a wonderful instrumental rendition too! “I have died everyday waiting for you…”

Flight of the Silverbird by Two Steps From Hell // It’s the BEST musical representation of the entire story. I can’t listen to it without thinking of TBT.

Never Without You by ATB feat. Sean Ryan // This one also matches Luci and Hadrian’s relationship beautifully. “I’m headed for the night / It’s another time of day down here / You open your eyes, I’ll still be here…”

Bad Liar by Imagine Dragons // And this is yet another one for Lucian! “Now you know / That I’m a bad liar, bad liar / Now you know, you’re free to go (go)…”

Is The Brightest Thread a standalone or part of a series? If a series, can you tell us a little bit about the other books in the series and what tales they retell?

It’s a standalone, but I have ideas for future retellings all set in the same world, just different places and times in history. Think C.J. Redwine’s Ravenspire series or Anne Elisabeth Stengl’s Tales of Goldstone Wood.

Speaking of which…

What can you tell us about other fairy-tale retellings you’ve written or you’re hoping to write in the future?

Well, well, well, WHERE DO I START? I’ve got a few pots on the backburner. I don’t know what order in which I’ll write/revamp these, but here’s what’s in the works…

Mirrors Never Lie // A Snow White retelling set prior to TBT and much, much further north. This is a novella I wrote a few years ago, but I plan to expand it into a novel just like I did for TBT.

The Glass Girl // Another novella, this one a retelling of Cinderella and in need of heavy revisions. It’s set many years after TBT… in some unspecified part of the world that I haven’t fully figured out yet.

Blood Rose // Aaaand here we have a third novella to expand, inspired by Beauty and the Beast this time. The original isn’t set in the TBT world at all, but it has some major problems that a nice dose of magic would fix. So one day I’ll repurpose the best story elements from Blood Rose and create something new!

Untitled Rapunzel // I have ideas! Nothing written yet, but let’s just say there’s a good reason Rapunzel is locked in a tower, and Mother Gothel may be more heroic than you’d expect.

And I’ll probably write others eventually! Who knows what’ll happen?

Eeep, thanks so much for coming to my Q&A! Do YOU have any other questions I didn’t cover? What are some of your fav fairytale retellings?