I came across this while browsing through my fanfiction folder a few nights ago. I'd meant to share this message way back when, but I never got around to it. Likely my debate to share came to a stalemate. Anyhow, without further ado, here's my author ramblings on the writing and development of Sook & The Three Fairies. :D

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

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This little story was inspired by a fanfiction writing contest and the writings of Martin Millar. Then I caught the flu, which kicked the living daylights out of me, and I was unable to finish this story by the contest deadline. After I recovered and was no longer under the influence of over-the-counter cold medicine, and could actually string together a coherent sentence, I went ahead and finished this story. Despite the flu knocking me off my feet for two weeks, it all worked out for the best.

This story was grammatically a challenge. The scene "Sitting in a Dark Alley" narratives were telling what was actively happening in the present. Whereas, all the other narratives were telling events that happened in the past tense. Keeping the correct verb tense required a certain attention to detail. And even now, each re-read I do, I find instances where I mixed my verb tenses.

Other than that, the other major piece of this story was the research. But before I go into that, let me back track to the beginning. I came a cross a thread for a fanfiction writing contest. One of the requirements was that submissions needed to be based on a fairy tale of our choice. For some reason, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came to my mind. I viewed the movie and then began searching feminist perspectives on this fairy tale. The articles I found were thought provoking. I even found a commentary by a famous Mexican feminist author and did some side reading on her life and her writings. On a personal level, what I read was inspiring.

This research led me to want to write an anti-fairy tale or at least an unconventional fairy tale. I knew that Sookie was going to die since this is very anti-fairy tale. The heroine never dies in fairy tales, but in mine she would. I just had to figure out "how" I was going to kill her. However, my next challenge was how to incorporate elements of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs into my story. This was tricky. At this point I began to free write. I got a lot of the story written in a short time. Then I got stuck. The problem was still how to tell the story I wanted to tell, but in an anti sort of way while still incorporating elements of my fairy tale inspiration. Next thing I knew I got sick with the flu.

During my recuperation I read two novellas by Martin Millar and a light bulb went off in my head.

As I mentioned earlier, I had to figure out "how" and "why" Sookie would die. Taking a page from one of Martin Millar's stories set in the middle of a riot that happened in Britain, I began Googling similar events in or around the Denver area. Of the two news articles I found, the riot that happened in Boulder, CO during a Halloween Block Party provided several elements of inspiration for my story. I read every article and youtube video I could get my hands on about this riot that happened back in 2004. It was during this research that "Sook & the Three Fairies" actually became a story.

By this time, I was over the flu and had missed the deadline. This was the best thing that ever happened for the development of this short tale of mine. It freed me from the restraints of the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story. In this freedom I was able to create and weave a very different fairy tale for Sookie about a Fairy King and Queen. Wanting and needing more inspiration for this tale I began reading Irish tales of the Tuatha De Dannan. Fascinating and sometimes very intricate narratives. What I learned from these tales was that it was totally fine to get far fetched, silly, and complex in the creation process (or rather allow myself to indulge in make believe). With this last inspiration, Sookie's fairy tale about a Fairy King and Queen developed into a life of its own.

As I developed and weaved the fairy tale Sookie and at the end Claude was narrating, I think from the start it was not only her way to cope with the harsh realities that were her life, but most importantly it represented Sookie's undying hope for something better. By the time I was wrapping up her fairy tale, a part of me wanted and chose to believe, whether it was true or not, that Sookie did find her happy ever after. That she did finally make it into Faery and that she was reunited with her fairy parents.

On a more somber note, as I wrote this novella, I couldn't help but acknowledge that homeless kids was not something of fiction, but as writing many times does, it touches on some truths. Not by a long shot do I claim to have captured a realistic view of the plight that homeless kids are faced with. My story was and is purely a work of fiction; to be more accurate a work of fanfiction. If by chance my story represented a real person or their story, it was entirely coincidental. I'm not a voice nor by a long shot an expert on the topic of homeless kids.

For real information on homeless kids in the USA, please visit these sites:

StandUp for Kids
National Coalition for the Homeless
Do Something. org