The Different Types of Retellings

The word ‘retelling’ is often used as a blanket term for any rabbit hole you could run off with in a fairytale. But really, there are seven different types of ‘retellings’.

• Retellings

• Reimaginings

• Inspired by

• Origin stories

• Spin-Offs

• “What if” stories

• A mixture of all

#1: Retellings

Retellings tend to follow more closely to the original story. There are “must haves” in retellings. Like, if I read a book that was a ‘Cinderella Retelling’, I’d expect there to be a wicked stepmother figure, a ‘prince charming’ figure, and a ‘glass slipper’ figure. They are must haves in an original story that must be loosely

kept.

#2: Reimaginings

These are very loose. Reimaginings are where the author takes the liberty to reimagine how the story goes. Like Snow White turning vain, and the Wicked Queen turning humble. Kind of like that.

#3: Inspired by

You often can’t even catch these, they’re so subtle. In a medieval novella of mine, I drew from the story of Robin Hood and His Merry Men. I told the basic plot to my sister, then followed it up with a “This is inspired by Robin Hood.” She couldn’t even tell. But that’s not bad! It’s good.

#4: Origin Stories

‘Why did the witch in Rapunzel turn evil?’ These are like a ‘Before the story’—a behind the scenes peek. The origin of a character’s journey.

#5: Spin-Offs

“Wait—the Evil Queen in sleeping beauty is actually her mother?” That would be a spin-off. You take the story and write the “after this.”

#6: What Ifs

“What if Guy Fawkes had a son?” (The question that sparked Fawkes by Nadine Brandes ;)). You take an event/fairytale/classic and add an element to it—a ‘what if’. You take an unsealed loophole and run off with it.

#7: Mixture of All

Little of this… a dash of that… a pinch of these… and voila! A Robin Hood retelling with an element of Cinderella, set in space (inspired by Star Wars), taking place before Little John came, as has a dash of ‘What if Robin Hood was a girl’! Okay, maybe not exactly like that, but you get the point 😉.

I hope this has been helpful (And maybe even story-sparking!).

What is your favorite type of retelling?

Do you know of any books that fall into any of these 7

retelling types?

Tallyho!

Deigan