Colorful Characters
Her father barreled in, the door slamming shut behind.
Tessa groaned. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and sat up. She looked at her father, who seemed ready to burst with news. "There's a plague running through the kingdom."
"Nonsense," Tessa said, reaching for her spectacles on the side of the bed. She smoothed her golden-brown hair with her palms and placed the spectacles just at the bridge of her nose. She blinked. "The kingdom doesn't get plague."
"No, no, this is true!" He insisted.
"And I tell you it's not," she insisted back.
"The Derlingwitherses have gone mad."
Tessa snorted. She climbed out of her bed and pulled on her night robes. She moved toward her dressing area, and her father dutifully turned his back to her as she changed behind the screen. "Silvia's family was never exactly right in the head to begin with. So this is nothing new."
Fairy Tale Roles
Besides the story itself, character creation is probably the most important when writing a fairy tale. Or, well, any story actually. What good is a story without characters to propel the plot?
Fairy tales have different set of characters that are usually prevalent in the story. These tales don’t necessarily have to have them all, and they certainly don’t need fairies either. A Russian scholar by the name of Vladimir Propp has actually broken each fairy tale character trait down to the following seven categories:
The Hero is the story’s protagonist, usually the one who battles evils, breaks curses, and marries the beautiful damsel in distress. Most of these heroes are predominantly male due to the idea of the passive princess. There are few females who do try, though, but while the princes have a remotely mediocre time going about it (all they have to do is slay the offendor to save the world), the females have to overcome their troubles and save the day to boot—they’re usually called suffering heroines, the poor dears.
The Villain is clearly the big, bad guy who attempts to rule the world, terrorize the countryside, and destroy the unassuming hero—in a nutshell. In most tales, the villain usually gets what is coming to him/her: Snow White’s stepmother was forced to dance on coal-hot shoes until her death, and the wicked magician oppressing Aladdin is stabbed to the heart. No rest for the wicked, it seems.
The Donor is usually present to aid the Hero by giving him magical items. These items can be magical rings, sparkly clothing, or even transfigured pumpkins. Cinderella’s fairy godmother provides the works on the poor cinder-girl, even the famous glass slippers most well-known in the stories. Another good example of this is J. K. Rowling’s own fairy tale creation: “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot.” In the story, a dying father leaves behind a magical pot to his son (granted, it also doubles up as an antagonist until the very end of the story).
Fairy tales have different set of characters that are usually prevalent in the story. These tales don’t necessarily have to have them all, and they certainly don’t need fairies either. A Russian scholar by the name of Vladimir Propp has actually broken each fairy tale character trait down to the following seven categories:
The Hero is the story’s protagonist, usually the one who battles evils, breaks curses, and marries the beautiful damsel in distress. Most of these heroes are predominantly male due to the idea of the passive princess. There are few females who do try, though, but while the princes have a remotely mediocre time going about it (all they have to do is slay the offendor to save the world), the females have to overcome their troubles and save the day to boot—they’re usually called suffering heroines, the poor dears.
The Villain is clearly the big, bad guy who attempts to rule the world, terrorize the countryside, and destroy the unassuming hero—in a nutshell. In most tales, the villain usually gets what is coming to him/her: Snow White’s stepmother was forced to dance on coal-hot shoes until her death, and the wicked magician oppressing Aladdin is stabbed to the heart. No rest for the wicked, it seems.
The Donor is usually present to aid the Hero by giving him magical items. These items can be magical rings, sparkly clothing, or even transfigured pumpkins. Cinderella’s fairy godmother provides the works on the poor cinder-girl, even the famous glass slippers most well-known in the stories. Another good example of this is J. K. Rowling’s own fairy tale creation: “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot.” In the story, a dying father leaves behind a magical pot to his son (granted, it also doubles up as an antagonist until the very end of the story).
The Helper can also be a Donor, and directly helps the Hero. These Helpers can be in the form of magical creatures, talking animals, and other wronged humans. In some versions, a carpenter saves Little Red and her grandmother from the wolf. Puss in Boots helps the Hero throughout his adventures, even winning him the hand of a princess. Rumpelstiltskin, while the antagonist later in the story with the same namesake, also aids the suffering girl by spinning the straw into gold.
The Princess and Father combination is usually the typical goal for most Heroes. There is a king who promises the hand of his daughter for the Hero who accomplishes his task. Many a prince have undertaken glass mountains, mysterious princess disappearances, and wicked curses just to win the hand of a beautiful woman. There are kings who want to cure their daughters of such disabilities that Hero failure results in erm, heavy punishment, perhaps even death (hey, I didn’t say being a Hero was going to be easy).
The Dispatcher is someone that sends the hero off on a quest, sometimes even leaving them messages and helpful hints. These dispatchers usually overlap with various other characters. Sometimes even the damsel in distress lets the Hero know what exactly needs to be done. Dispatchers can be antagonists sending Heroes off with a deal (the Little Mermaid strikes a deal with her dispatcher), or dying fathers sending their sons off for glory, fame, and all that jazz.
The Anti-Hero or the False Hero attempts to take the credit for whatever the actual Hero does. Sometimes these False Heroes are the antagonists themselves. Other times they’re just greedy people wanting all the glory. Ali Baba’s brother was the latter; he wanted his money’s worth and snuck into the thieves’ cave to get more treasure—a decision that shortened his life, literally. Usually, the Hero gets recognition by the end of the tale, so the False Hero will just have to suck it up and have his own adventures--provided he's still alive at the end of the story.
Characters can play only one specific role, or multiple depending on the story. But without them, the fairy tale falls flat.
The Princess and Father combination is usually the typical goal for most Heroes. There is a king who promises the hand of his daughter for the Hero who accomplishes his task. Many a prince have undertaken glass mountains, mysterious princess disappearances, and wicked curses just to win the hand of a beautiful woman. There are kings who want to cure their daughters of such disabilities that Hero failure results in erm, heavy punishment, perhaps even death (hey, I didn’t say being a Hero was going to be easy).
The Dispatcher is someone that sends the hero off on a quest, sometimes even leaving them messages and helpful hints. These dispatchers usually overlap with various other characters. Sometimes even the damsel in distress lets the Hero know what exactly needs to be done. Dispatchers can be antagonists sending Heroes off with a deal (the Little Mermaid strikes a deal with her dispatcher), or dying fathers sending their sons off for glory, fame, and all that jazz.
The Anti-Hero or the False Hero attempts to take the credit for whatever the actual Hero does. Sometimes these False Heroes are the antagonists themselves. Other times they’re just greedy people wanting all the glory. Ali Baba’s brother was the latter; he wanted his money’s worth and snuck into the thieves’ cave to get more treasure—a decision that shortened his life, literally. Usually, the Hero gets recognition by the end of the tale, so the False Hero will just have to suck it up and have his own adventures--provided he's still alive at the end of the story.
Characters can play only one specific role, or multiple depending on the story. But without them, the fairy tale falls flat.
On to Assignment 2!