Natasha Yim is the author of the fractured fairy tale Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas, as well as numerous other books for children. She was so kind to share her thoughts with us today about her process of writing her fractured fairy tale. She is even offering one winner a signed copy of the book! Details about that at the end. Thank you for sharing your journey, Natasha!
The journey for my picture book Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas began about fifteen (or so) years ago, when I learned about fractured fairy tales at a writing conference. I was intrigued by the idea of rewriting a familiar tale from a different perspective. After checking out some books at the library, I played around with a few fairy tales. But something about the Goldilocks story had always stuck with me. Here was a little girl breaking and entering into the three bears’ home, destroying their stuff and leaving a mess, never to be heard from again. How rude! And what kind of message does this story give kids?
I wanted to rewrite this story with a more compassionate protagonist and satisfying ending. My first few attempts told the story from Papa Bear’s perspective (I believe it was called “Papa Bear’s Good Deed”). The story began from the moment Goldilocks ran away, leaving her hat behind, and followed Papa Bear’s journey to find Goldy and return the hat to her—and all the people he inadvertently frightened along the way (because he was a bear), even though he had set out to do a good deed. It went on for about 2,000 words—not even close to publishable. And it didn’t have the unique angle I was looking for or the resolution that I felt was missing from the original story.
Then, a title and a “what if” question popped into my head. What if Goldilocks wasn’t a little girl with blonde ringlets, but Chinese? I asked my aunt to help me come up with a Chinese name that sounded phonetically similar to Goldilocks and hence, the first seeds of a story called “Go Dil Lok and the Three Chans” began to germinate. But I wanted the book to be about more than just Goldy having a different ethnic background. I wanted the story to also offer some insights to Chinese traditions and culture. So, Go Dil Lok began her fictional life in a skyrise apartment in Hong Kong (where I had spent my adolescent years), preparing to celebrate the biggest and most colorful Chinese festival of the year, Chinese New Year.
In its nine-year route to publication, this story passed through the hands of my writing group multiple times, not to mention five different editors from two publishing houses who have all contributed greatly to shaping the book. This meant changing the name from the hard to pronounce Go Dil Lok to Goldy Luck (“Luck” serving the double purpose of being a Chinese last name as well as mirroring the theme of good luck in the book) and relocating Goldy from an international location to an American one (which one editor felt kids in the US can better relate to.)
In the end, the location wasn’t identified in the book, so that readers could relate to the story from anywhere in the world. In my attempts to give the mundane beds and chairs a modern twist, earlier versions of the book included an aquarium (Goldy smudged the glass), an oriental rug (she spilled fish flakes all over it) and a computer game (Goldy beat Little Chan’s record). And a greatly detailed Chinese New Year parade with lion dancers. I thought it’d make for really fun illustrations, but another editor wisely suggested I simplify the story and revert back to the original three bowls/chairs/bed structure. Still, I wanted a slightly different spin. Enter my uncle’s massage chair and my parents’ Tempur-pedic® electric bed (as a writer, I never know what everyday event or object creeps into a story!). The really fun part was implanting the traditions and rituals of the New Year (receiving “lucky” red envelopes, eating turnip cakes) into the story and thinking up ways to make Goldy’s experiences more culturally relevant (“She felt like stuffing in a pork bun,” “The mattress felt as hard as a week-old almond cookie”).
Finally, illustrator Grace Zong added her fabulous artistic touch and brought Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas to vibrant life. So, how many people did it take to make this children’s book? One writer, five editors, four readers in a writing group, one agent, one illustrator, one publisher, not to mention the cast of people behind the scenes, from the art director to the marketing personnel. Yes, an entire village. Writing may be a solitary endeavor, but publishing is not. I was initially offered a publishing contract with Tricycle Press, which was bought out by Penguin Random House and became one of their imprints. This was short-lived, however, when Penguin Random House decided to shutter the imprint (a week after I signed the contract), and it was back to square one for me. I’m grateful to Charlesbridge Publishing and my editor, Alyssa Mito-Pusey, for taking on this project. Alyssa and I also worked together on my just-released picture book Luna’s Yum Yum Dim Sum (Charlesbridge Publishing, Dec. 2020).
My 3 tips for writing a fractured fairy tale: Find a unique angle to a traditional tale. If you’re from an underrepresented culture, there’s so much you can mine there for adding elements that would introduce kids to something new about a culture or tradition they may not be familiar with. Or find a traditional cultural folk tale and give it an American twist. Rewrite the story from a different character’s point of view, as in Jon Scieszka’s The True Story of the Three Little Pigs from the big, bad wolf’s perspective. Enhance your story with interesting and informative backmatter. It’s a fact - editors, teachers, librarians, and parents LOVE backmatter! Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas included a note about the traditions and rituals of Chinese New Year, information about the Chinese zodiac, and a recipe for turnip cakes.
You can connect with Natasha on:
Twitter: www.twitter.com/natashayim @natashayim
MeWe: https://mewe.com/i/natashayim
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/natashayim.author/ @natashayim.author
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authornatashayim/
PRIZE TIME!
To enter to win a signed copy of Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas, comment on this blog post with your favorite fairy tale! Winner will be chosen on 2/1/21. Good luck writing!