I’m not sure why, but I decided to set the novel in 1500s Norway and I wanted to build a world to inform readers about what life was like then. At the time, there were no novels I could find based on “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” and I decided I wanted to try to write one-and to put my own spin on the tale. The years passed, and when I was in grad school studying to become a librarian, the first novel I read that was based on a fairy tale was Beauty by Robin McKinley, which gave me some insight into how you can make a layered novel from a relatively short fairy tale. I remember vividly loving the idea of this girl riding on the backs of the winds to get to different lands-she was a true inspiration. She sets out on a journey with a white bear-one of the fiercest predators in the animal kingdom-to save her family. She was so brave, resilient, and honorable-she had a moral compass to her.
I fell in love with “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” a Norwegian story about a heroine who had no name-but who was everything I wished I was. Growing up outside of Chicago, I was a big reader, and I remember finding at the library The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, a collection of stories from many different cultures.
How and when did you come upon this classic Scandinavian tale-and why did it inspire you to write East?
0 kommentar(er)
