Author's Preface: On Fairytales

Folktales and fairytales dictate that if a young child is to wander into the deep wood; they are going to run into trouble. Most typically with a wolf or an old witch or trolls under bridges or fairy things or tricky mean-spirited shape-shifters to run into on unfortunate times. Only in fairy tales do the children run upon trouble, for in real life these wolves and witches and trolls and faeries and tricksters do not distinguish between child and adult, but enjoy their fortune (and the wanderer’s misfortune) of a tasty little snack. So while our tales give sound advice to children, many adults forget to take heed of it themselves. Therefore here is a tale, not for children, but for adults, who often do not take heed of their own sound advice.

A/N: I am going to talk about the preface and the first chapter here because the chapter is was too long to add on a note.

Basically the book (which has no name at the moment) is about a man who messes up rather badly, breaking all codes of morality, and pays for his mistake. He is selfish, cold and uncharitable: that type of cliche. He finds himself in the middle of the forest (that gets explained, so don't worry) and ends up at Baba Yaga's house. Unlike typical tales for children, everything is 'complicated', much like adult life (in reality, it isn't as complicated as it all seems, everyone just thinks it is). Baba Yaga, instead of cooking him as she normall does, helps him (sort of). The really confusing bit is that he is dead. It's not really his body that enters the house, but his mind in the body of a demon (or imp or something of minor importance that is fairly unpleasant). That's about the gist of it, anyways.

There isn't much for my o say on the preface, but I kept want to write 'tricksy' instead of 'tricky'. But on to the first chapter: I did not mean to create Alice. She just appeared and I was very confused. She sort of took control in the beginning. I was just not going to have a secretary but perhaps police or the inspector. I like her though.

There was a bit of problem with throwing in the fairtale. I didn't know which to do, for one. I needed to introduce the concept of the Baba Yaga but also I didn't want to make it too childish. I suppose that's an oxymoron (or word I can never quite remember). After all, talking things appear right after it. The original fairytale had a dog talking and some other bits that I took the liberty to take out. I also did not want to make it too long. I wanted a simple and page or two long tale. The original version did not have it at all, but Ross (and I) felt I should have one.

The house was a lot different in the beginning, too. Gate and Cat never really changed. The house originally did everything that the fairytales told of: spinning around, chicken legs, screeching, no doors or windows. I felt that the house no longer had a personality any more once I did all that. I decided to scratch out the spinning and to keep a door. Now it is a very bored hut with the mind-set of a chicken.