Hello everybody.
I am currently writing a retelling of Sleeping Beauty and as I plan the story, I am finding myself at a loss as to how to handle Sleeping Beauty's parents in my version of the tale. (Note: Sleeping Beauty will be abbreviated as "SB" from now on because laziness)
In several of the original/classic versions of the story, SB's parents play a significant role because after their baby girl is cursed to prick her finger, they have all of the things on which she could prick her finger (spinning wheel, piece of flax, etc) destroyed. However, they become pretty useless after that:
In "Sun, Moon, and Talia" by Giambattista Basile, Talia's father falls into despair after his daughter falls asleep, so he puts her in one of his country manors and abandons her there. He is never mentioned in the story again.
In "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" by Charles Perrault, the king put his daughter in bed, then the good fairy who made it so that SB would fall asleep for 100 years instead of dying decided to only put those servants and animals who were in SB's bedchamber to sleep with her, so by the time 100 years had passed, the girls parents had died of old age and the rest of the story went on without them.
In "Little Briar-Rose" by the Grimm brothers, much the same things happened as in Perrault's version, except the good fairy put the whole kingdom to sleep, king and queen included. But the only time they are mentioned after that is when it is mentioned that they woke up along with everyone else. Then SB and her prince got married. The end.
Of course, Disney's original version is very similar to the Grimm version, except the parents (at least the king, anyway) have a little extra screen time because they not only ban spinning wheels, they also send SB to live with the fairy women and we get to hear King Stephan and Prince Phillip's father discuss the marriage plans. In "Maleficent" Stephan pretty much does the same things, except he also gives Maleficent a scarring back-story and then goes insane.
I notice that SB's mother is pretty much nothing but a plate of grits in all of these versions, but that's another discussion entirely.
The thing about my version of Sleeping Beauty it that A) I'm trying to keep the story under 20,000 words, so I have to pick and choose what story elements I spend time and wordage on, and B) SB is not cursed at birth in my version. She doesn't get cursed until she's a least 18, if not a little older, and as far as I have it planned right now, she is also aware that she has been cursed, so I really see no need for her parents to have all pointy objects of a specific variety to b be destroyed, because I think she's old enough to either try to avoid the dangerous object or to make the decree herself, if a decree was made at all.
Also, my version is (so far) much more about the developing relationship between SB and her prince, than it is about anything else. They meet and befriend each other as young children, they lose contact for a long while, then they meet again when SB is 18 and her pransome hince is 21. I have no intention of detailing the years in between.
Because of this, I'm really struggling to find any purpose for her parents to be mentioned much in the story at all. There is really nothing for them to do other than birth and raise her, almost none of which happens "on screen". In fact, I'm *this* close to just killing her parents off when she's young and having her be raised and groomed to become queen by her nurse and other staff alone, just so I can have two less people to worry about. On one hand, I'm worried that doing something like that wouldn't be the best way to handle the situation. On the other hand, I don't know what else to do, short of just not mentioning her parents at all, but I personally don't like it when stories do that and I don't want to do it myself.
What do you all think? Would it be okay for me to just kill off her parents so I don't have to spend wordage on characters who don't do anything, or do you have any other suggestions?
Does it bother you when the parents are not mentioned or dead?
I am currently writing a retelling of Sleeping Beauty and as I plan the story, I am finding myself at a loss as to how to handle Sleeping Beauty's parents in my version of the tale. (Note: Sleeping Beauty will be abbreviated as "SB" from now on because laziness)
In several of the original/classic versions of the story, SB's parents play a significant role because after their baby girl is cursed to prick her finger, they have all of the things on which she could prick her finger (spinning wheel, piece of flax, etc) destroyed. However, they become pretty useless after that:
In "Sun, Moon, and Talia" by Giambattista Basile, Talia's father falls into despair after his daughter falls asleep, so he puts her in one of his country manors and abandons her there. He is never mentioned in the story again.
In "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood" by Charles Perrault, the king put his daughter in bed, then the good fairy who made it so that SB would fall asleep for 100 years instead of dying decided to only put those servants and animals who were in SB's bedchamber to sleep with her, so by the time 100 years had passed, the girls parents had died of old age and the rest of the story went on without them.
In "Little Briar-Rose" by the Grimm brothers, much the same things happened as in Perrault's version, except the good fairy put the whole kingdom to sleep, king and queen included. But the only time they are mentioned after that is when it is mentioned that they woke up along with everyone else. Then SB and her prince got married. The end.
Of course, Disney's original version is very similar to the Grimm version, except the parents (at least the king, anyway) have a little extra screen time because they not only ban spinning wheels, they also send SB to live with the fairy women and we get to hear King Stephan and Prince Phillip's father discuss the marriage plans. In "Maleficent" Stephan pretty much does the same things, except he also gives Maleficent a scarring back-story and then goes insane.
I notice that SB's mother is pretty much nothing but a plate of grits in all of these versions, but that's another discussion entirely.
The thing about my version of Sleeping Beauty it that A) I'm trying to keep the story under 20,000 words, so I have to pick and choose what story elements I spend time and wordage on, and B) SB is not cursed at birth in my version. She doesn't get cursed until she's a least 18, if not a little older, and as far as I have it planned right now, she is also aware that she has been cursed, so I really see no need for her parents to have all pointy objects of a specific variety to b be destroyed, because I think she's old enough to either try to avoid the dangerous object or to make the decree herself, if a decree was made at all.
Also, my version is (so far) much more about the developing relationship between SB and her prince, than it is about anything else. They meet and befriend each other as young children, they lose contact for a long while, then they meet again when SB is 18 and her pransome hince is 21. I have no intention of detailing the years in between.
Because of this, I'm really struggling to find any purpose for her parents to be mentioned much in the story at all. There is really nothing for them to do other than birth and raise her, almost none of which happens "on screen". In fact, I'm *this* close to just killing her parents off when she's young and having her be raised and groomed to become queen by her nurse and other staff alone, just so I can have two less people to worry about. On one hand, I'm worried that doing something like that wouldn't be the best way to handle the situation. On the other hand, I don't know what else to do, short of just not mentioning her parents at all, but I personally don't like it when stories do that and I don't want to do it myself.
What do you all think? Would it be okay for me to just kill off her parents so I don't have to spend wordage on characters who don't do anything, or do you have any other suggestions?
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