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Merie

July 19, 2018 at 10:21 AM UTC


Wow. I love it! I must say I wasn’t overly excited about a retelling of this particular fairytale, but half a chapter in, I was hooked. Is Torrens based on Austria(or Austria-Hungary, either way)? I was looking for clues as to which country it represented, but only found that they had happy citizens and loved music. And I automatically associate music with Austria at that time.

Kitty

July 19, 2018 at 08:29 PM UTC


I’m so glad you liked it! I don’t really like the original fairy tale either, so I had lots of fun adjusting it to fit my world, buwahah.

And actually Torrens is going to be based on Britain. You don’t really get to see it’s influence in Princess and the Pea because I was trying to keep it short, but I’ll explore it a lot more in the book about Lis’ and Channing’s son. 😀

Merie

July 23, 2018 at 08:42 AM UTC


Oohhh, now I see. At first I thought it might have been that, but the music part threw me off. 😉

Es Irene

July 13, 2018 at 09:16 PM UTC


I’ve gotta say, I absolutely loved King Albion! From the moment be stepped into the room, I knew I’d like him. Probably the quickest I’ve latched onto a character!

Kitty

July 19, 2018 at 08:40 PM UTC


King Albion was a lot of fun to write, too! (I really love to make quirky/unique parent/mentor characters, as see by Empress Sonya and Grandmother Guri.)

Elizabeth Davis

July 13, 2018 at 02:23 AM UTC


Hello! I’d like to offer some fanart soon – how do I go about it? Thank you, Kitty! 😄

Kitty

July 19, 2018 at 08:42 PM UTC


Hi Elizabeth, sorry in the delayed reply! If you want to send me your fanart (which I would love to feature in the gallery if that’s okay) you can send it to Kmshea(at)kmshea.com (replacing the (at) with @–I’m trying to avoid getting mail bots after me!) If you are okay with me posting it, include what name you would like it to be credited to, as well! 😀 And thanks in advance–I can’t wait to see it!

Elizabeth Davis

July 20, 2018 at 01:23 AM UTC


It’s fine! Alrighty, I’ll do that, and feel absolutely free to feature it there. 😊 It’s my pleasure, Kitty! I can’t wait to see what you think of it!

,
Elizabeth Davis

July 14, 2018 at 06:54 PM UTC


On a Princess and the Pea related topic, I really enjoyed your version! Vorah and Channing were my favourite characters from it. 😄 Someday, as I am an aspiring author, I’d love to have a try at my own retellings!

Kitty

July 19, 2018 at 08:38 PM UTC


Thank you, I’m so glad you liked it! 🙂 And good luck with your own future projects–there’s never enough fairy tale retellings!

Elizabeth Davis

July 20, 2018 at 01:25 AM UTC


You’re welcome! 😄 Thank you very much! Indeed, there can never be too many. 😉

Jasmine

July 12, 2018 at 11:33 PM UTC


I loved reading Princess and the Pea ( also love your Timeless Fairytale Series) and love being introduced to Lis, Vorah, and Channing. I also loved how you interpret the original morals of the fairytales to make readers understand them…..In addition, I was wondering what country did you based Torrens on?

Kitty

July 19, 2018 at 08:46 PM UTC


Hi Jasmine, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Torrens is based on Britain, but you don’t get to see it in the short story. I needed to keep it a novella length, so I couldn’t really show off much of the culture. But! It will be much more obvious in the book about Lis’ and Channing’s son. 😉

The Princess and the Pea: The Moral


Princess and the Pea Moral

The Princess and the Pea was written in 1835 by Hans Christian Andersen. What I did not mention is that at the time of its publication it was about as popular as a lead balloon.


The critics were hostile and disliked the informal, “chatty” tone of the story–and the other two it was published with.


Over the years the story has also been poked apart by readers who point out the irony in the story. The most glaring irony/plot hole, is that a princess who is so tired she can’t sleep because of a pea and it gives her bruises, arrived at the prince’s castle alone, in a rainstorm, with soaked clothes, and had traveled a long distance. A princess who was sensitive enough to feel a pea would never do something so daring and uncomfortable.


As for the moral, some believe Andersen meant the story to be tongue-in-cheek and poke fun at the ridiculous measures aristocracy went through to preserve their bloodlines, others believe Andersen mostly meant for the story to drive home that “sensitivity” is required to be a true noble, not wealth. This is thought because although Andersen mingled with the “upper-crust” he was never accepted as one of them due to his poor birth, and thus he identified with the princess who had no visible wealth or even great beauty. (As a side note: Andersen was not a rich man, and lived off wealthy patrons, which is also why some think he wanted to believe aristocracy was something besides breeding and wealth.)


Regardless of what others say, Andersen himself said he meant for the described “sensitivity” to be emotionally sensitive. meaning the princess was compassionate and would be sensitive to the needs of her people, and that’s what made her a true princess. It’s a worthy moral–and one I tried to communicate in my retelling–but Andersen did a pretty poor job in communicating it. (Though that can be attributed to its length. It’s seriously about ten paragraphs long. In fact, this blog post is about the same length as the story.)


It was actually Andersen’s words–that a true princess was one sensitive to her people’s needs–that sparked the idea for my retelling–but I decided to come after it from a slightly different angle. (I was also inspired by the last few lines of Andersen’s tale, in which he notes that the pea that ruined the princess’ sleep was put in a museum, and it is still there if no one has stolen it. It made me ponder why anyone would ever want to steal such a thing, and so the Pea of Primeorder was born!)

That’s all for today, Champions! Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Friday for our weekly event summary!

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