The Importance of Darkness in Fairytales

I did not intend to write a sequel to Snow Roses. When I finished the book five years ago, I thought Snow and Rose’s story was finished. But stories have a mind of their own. I am only the oracle after all, not the decision maker. Snow and Rose had more to say about their lives and it became my duty to record it.

I often talk about what I call the “story pull”. The gravity of a story that pulls me toward it, insisting that I discover it and write it. I don’t create I just follow, allowing the story to speak through me. When Night Briars first started pulling at me to write it it was merely a concept of two lovers after they became lovers. Too often a story ends once a romance begins but in reality, choosing to live a life together is the beginning of a story, not the end. I wanted to explore the challenges and joys of two people building a life together and the more the idea pulled at me the more it felt like it belonged to Snow and Rose.

One of the reasons Snow Rose’s wanted so badly to be told was that it was high past time we had a fairytale with lesbian princesses. Fairytales are such an integral part of our culture. So much that we often say things like “It was like a fairy tale” or It was fairy tale perfect” or “This isn’t a fairytale.” It’s almost as if “fairytale” meant “perfect”. So why shouldn’t “perfect” include a lesbian love story?

Still, I sometimes wonder if people who talk like that have ever read a fairytale. Even our most cleaned-up, kid-friendly versions of the old…