As a child, I was lucky in that my early education and storytelling experiences included a great deal of folklore, from fairy tales and nursery rhymes to myths and tall tales. When as an adult I began writing my own stories for children, I often found myself drawn to these rich characters and time-tested plots. Ancient tales are some of the ultimate spooky stories.
For example, one of my early short stories for young readers, “The Three Sisters,” published in FACES magazine, was a retelling of an Australian legend involving the Aussies’ famous evil monster, the Bunyip. After visiting the Three Sisters ancient rock formation outside of Sydney and hearing of its legend, I wanted to recreate the story with a bit more modern flair for young readers.
I spent a great deal of time researching the Three Sisters legend and the Dreamtime tales of the Australian Aborigines. I even contacted a native tribal leader to learn their version of the Three Sisters story. However, the Aborigines guard their cultural stories closely within their community, passing them down through the generations primarily by word of mouth. Thus, I could not retell their story. But I could use the popular legend of the Three Sisters. It was a composite of local and European lore created by the early settlers. The legend still made for a magical, creepy tale of evil versus good with a quirky twist at the end.
In light of my experience of using folklore in modern tales, I thought it would be interesting to see how two of my author friends, fellow Sweet Sixteeners, relied on ancient myths in their spooky middle grade novels. Below are their answers to my questions.
Margaret Dilloway
Margaret Dilloway, MOMOTARO, Zander and the Lost Island of Monsters
MOMOTARO, Zander and the Dream Thief Disney Hyperion, 2016 & 2017
1.Were you familiar with the original legend/myth before you even began thinking about a story based on it?
Yes, Momotaro was a story my mother told me when I was growing up!
2. How much research did you do for the story?
I did a lot of research, especially for the second, when I took a trip to Japan. Otherwise I read a lot of books about Japanese mythology, samurai code, and then specifically Japanese monsters.
3. How did you stay true to the folklore?
The original story has Momotaro with three friends, a dog, a pheasant, and a monkey. In my book, the dog is a dog but two humans represent the others with attributes of those animals. And the fact that he fights Oni is also the same.
4. How did you change it? And why?
In my book, Momotaro is a half-Japanese, half-Irish boy living in San Diego. I wanted to have a character who is mixed like me and straddles these different worlds as well as the different worlds of magic and humanness.
5. Based on your experience in writing these MG folklore fantasies, what advice would you give to authors writing folklore adaptations.
Adapt the story to something that feels personal to you.
Sheri A. Larsen
Sheri. A. Larsen, MOTLEY EDUCATION, Leap Books, 2016
1. Were you familiar with the original legend/myth before you even began thinking about a story based on it?
I was slightly familiar with the original legends and myths threading throughout Norse Mythology and the notion of Yggdrasil – the World Tree. I found the World Tree aspect a fascinating concept. It was my youngest son, kiddo #4, who introduced me to the inner workings of this mythology and a few specific legends that surround such characters as Fenrir the giant wolf, Loki, and Thor.
2. How much research did you do for the story?
Hours and hours, but I’m kind of a research junkie so that’s all good. My youngest was extremely knowledgeable about this specific mythology, so I gained lots of information and insight from him. But each chat we had left me hungry for more. I couldn’t help myself. The Norse world is so interesting, primarily for a reason I’ve answered in the next question!
3. How did you stay true to the folklore?
Before I can answer this, let me give you one simple fact about the Norse world: where Greek Mythology overflows with in-depth information, descriptions, characters, tales, and worlds, Norse Mythology does not. That’s the major reason I was so fascinated with it. The more I researched and realized that about 70% of the Norse World was barely developed, the more ideas I conjured on how I could expand on the Nine Worlds within Yggdrasil and their characters. My brain was on fire. Specific to your question, I used references to the more mainstream or better known Norse characters and myths – Loki and Thor – staying true to their natures, but I didn’t use them as part of the story itself.
4. How did you change it? And why?
The world is primarily where I exaggerated or used creative license to develop a new aspect that wasn’t there before. For those who aren’t familiar with Norse Mythology, there are Halls that exist within a few of the Nine Worlds within Yggdrasil – Hall of the Souls, Hall of the Slain, etc… In book I, I used Hall of the Souls, but I created this hall to be a vast display of mankind’s creations and the natural majesty of Midgard (Man’s World – Earth). Of course, there are souls there, too.
I knew from the start that I wanted to find lesser known and lesser developed Norse characters and embellish on their original tales and/or lives. For book II, I’ve used a character that I could only find one sentence of information on. I’ve had a blast developing her. And just a FYI – I’ve made her a villain. 🙂
5. Based on your experience in writing these MG folklore fantasies, what advice would you give to authors writing folklore adaptations.
Most importantly, be true to the story you want to tell. Use the folklore to your advantage, finding elements that are based in truth to further your tale.
Sheri and Margaret both reiterated an important point concerning why folklore endures—it contains an element of truth. I hope you’ll be able to read Margaret and Sheri’s spooky adventure stories. If you’d like to explore other modern folklore adaptations, look for Rick Riordan’s PERCY JACKSON series and Eoin Colfer’s ARTEMUS FOWL series and many more!
Cynthia Reeg is the author of FROM THE GRAVE and INTO THE SHADOWLANDS, middle grade monster adventures. Halloween is her favorite holiday. Check out the spooky jokes on her website: www.cynthiareeg.com.
Spooky Middle Grade 