Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Publication News: "A Forest of Bones"

 
Back in November, I blogged about my short story Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling, “A Forest of Bones”. Since then I’ve rewritten it at least four times, and went from liking it to loving it to hating it and back to liking it again. This story put me through the wringer, and I’m so happy to be able to say that it’s finally been published!


Quail Bell Magazine publishes both “real” and “unreal” stories. Some seriously talented writers have been featured on their website, so be sure to check it out.


I’ve already talked a bit about the inspirations behind “A Forest of Bones”--visually, it was very much inspired by Kay Nielsen’s illustrations and the whole baroque/rococo-type look. Starting out, I didn’t have a specific image or sentence in mind, just a feel--I wanted something pale, pretty, flowery, but also dark and spindly. The story really took off when I came up with the last sentence and the naming scheme. Each princess is named after a specific virtue, so you begin with Mild and end with Noble. I knew that Mild would be the main character, and I knew that neither she nor her love interest, the soldier, would be especially young or beautiful.


Here is the music I listened to while editing, and here is the Pinterest board. You can read the full story here.

6 comments:

  1. That was so chilling and eerie and utterly fairy-tale ish. Wow. Amazing work!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much! I tried for a dark fairy tale-type vibe, so it's nice to know that came through. :) I'm glad you enjoyed it--that means a lot. Have a wonderful day!

      Delete
  2. Congratulations on the publication!! Quail Bell is a lovely magazine and all the kudos for getting featured in it. Loved the short story!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you!!! It still feels a little surreal; I've admired other writers' work in there for such a long time.

      Delete
  3. Congrats on the publication! I just went to read the story, and may I say WOW. I was really impressed with the writing style... kind of overwhelming. I'm glad how you sorted out the ending, though... The soldier was a good person in the end, and so was Mild, and I appreciate that. *claps appreciatively*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh gosh, thank you so much! The ending was really tricky to get right, and I went through drafts and drafts of it. Same goes for the rest of the story, but I really wanted it to end on the right note. Thanks for reading, and I'm so glad you enjoyed it!!!

      Delete