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Beauty and the beast: a Shattered Rose or a Captured Heart?

Emma Parfitt — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 13:43:00 +0000

I’ve been asked by some inquisitive readers why my novella Shattered Roses tells Rose’s fragmented story. And why this old lady’s story is told through the eyes of 16-year-old Megan?

To answer this question requires talking about the writing process. It can be so much fun to explore new ways of writing — essentially to see if they work. I’m happy with the final effect. Perhaps you’ve read Shattered Roses and disagree. The story came to me in scenes, skipping about with each blink of my eye. I was writing something, but I didn’t know what. I was channelling some confusing emotions at the time, and it was fighting its way out of me. I’d also been thinking about time and whether it was a straight line, a ball of string, or more of a Jeremy Bearimy Timeline (A Good Place reference).

Scene writing

We place structure and meaning on our lives, but who’s to say that our daily lives aren’t more fluid and mysterious … From these initial scenes I began to imagine Rose in a nursing home telling her version of Beauty and the Beast. One of my favourite fairy tales as a child, and, incidentally, (my mum being a carer) I also grew up around nursing homes. It’s not a setting I come across much when reading. Yet one I know by its smell and by its touch.

So far I only had the middle of my story. Megan became my start as she attends an interview for a Saturday job. At first, Megan featured infrequently. I added her only to frame Rose’s story, to force it into a more munchable narrative. One with hints of Scheherazade, here and there. I soon realised that the book was more about Megan’s story. While it is also an uncovering of Rose’s relationship with “the beast”. I began to focus more on revealing Megan’s life to her. The mysteries of her own life she couldn’t see. At an age where we struggle to find our place in the world.

Structure

I also stuck to a novella format to leave gaps purposefully in the story. Yes, I know, I know, sorry! I did it for you, inquisitive reader, to fill, or ponder over, the information I left out. In this way, the book requires a smidge of work on the reader’s imagination. I mean, since you’ll be imaging the whole thing anyway … see what I mean? You can draw your own conclusions about the boundaries between reality and fiction. I know that I would choose to believe in magic every time.

I hope you understand these intentions, for whatever English Crit. Lit. says author intentions aren’t dead. It’s up to you if you wish to carry a fragment of Megan and Rose’s story into your lives… such is the magic of storytelling.

Storytelling?

Oh, yes, storytelling, a theme I’ll return to in the book following A Friendship of Thistles (my current project).

There’s much I could say about storytelling outside my book Young people, learning & storytelling, instead, I’ll leave you with an invitation (if I may). To dip your toes into Shattered Roses to explore the tip of the iceberg of numerous retellings of Beauty and the Beast. A story which captures our hearts time and time again.

Buy Shattered Roses via ebook or print.

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New publication: Seascape

Emma Parfitt — Tue, 21 Feb 2017 16:13:00 +0000

I am happy to announce the forthcoming publication of a book inspired by my storytelling research. The title Seascape comes from a play on the words ‘sea’ and ‘landscape’. Seascape is the title of one of the stories in the book. I had the idea for it walking the coast line of Cornwall. In particular along the areas connected to Gyllyngvase Beach, Falmouth. Those familiar with these areas will get a lot of the references to Cornish myths and landscape underlying the story.

An old monolithic stone arch at Gyllyndune Gardens (Parfitt, 2012)

Why write a book inspired by research? I had intended the writing to become part of my doctoral thesis. Yet before you think how boring (too late I suppose), the writing did not fit the academic work so I dropped that idea early on. Without using the writing as part of the research process which I did not wish to do at that point I created a book of stories instead. The stories I finally selected are interspersed with quotes from the young people in my research (with their names and details changed to protect their identity).

I invite you to follow me into a world of fairy tales where the lines between fiction and reality blur, and melt and burst into flames. A selkie leaves the sea for the first time to go to university; three young boys find a genie in a can of Irn Bru; two friends think they see a firebird in an old housing estate; a boy discovers that people are not always who they seem to be; a man is spirited away by a snake charmer into a dark maze; goblins crawl through mirrors; an unwilling princess is “saved” from a tower; and Rapunzel is kidnapped by an automaton. A series of eight original short stories to amuse and entertain.

Seascape is available to pre-order here (release date March 26th).

Book cover designed by Manuel Aguilera x

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Raven’s Heart

Emma Parfitt — Sat, 20 Jun 2015 14:06:00 +0000

The plot: A woman asks a raven to fetch a piece of her lover’s heart.

Last month I republished my ebook Temptation & Mozzarella. This month I would like to share a link to a PDF file of the story Raven’s Heart. This is a story I created but did not know where or how to showcase. It is an experimental digitalised fairy tale of a sort. A mixture of strange graphics to play with the boundaries of reader interaction and text/pictures. I used formatting available through Microsoft Word to edit the pictures I had drawn.

My inspiration for the piece is at the end of the document. If you enjoyed the story and would like to make a donation this can be made to my Paypal account. I would be happy to answer any questions.

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