Today, we welcome to our blog, Amie Borst and Bethanie Borst, a mother and daughter writing team whose new
novel, CINDERSKELLA, has just hit the bookstores. This unique retelling of a
popular fairy tale will be enjoyed by middle-grade readers all the way up to
adults.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book,
finding chuckles and twists that were not only entertaining, but surprising.
If read aloud, this novel would be as delightful to the reader as those being
read to. The illustrations by Rachael Caringella fit the voice of the
writing perfectly. All in all, a thoroughly delightful book.
How did such an
original story become the novel we can now enjoy? That was the question we
posed this writing team.
* * * * * * * * * *
Bethanie came up with the idea for Cinderskella – the tale
of a skeleton Cinderella—when she was nine and bored in school. My daughter has
never been a “girly-girl” so creating a fairy tale without a princess, and with
something darker instead, seemed natural. In fact, while most parents would
have worried about their children telling twisted tales of skeletons and
corpses, I didn’t question it at all. I grabbed her arm and said, “Let’s write
it!”
Although we had the bones (no pun intended) of the story—it
had to fit the basic Cinderella tale: girl with wicked step-mother has to do
chores in order to go to the ball—we didn’t have a lot else to go on.
So what do you do when you have a great concept but no idea
of how to flesh it out? (Pun intended!)
Well, you plot, you develop characters and you find ways to
fit them into the framework of your story. And sometimes you just write. The
characters will tell you the story as you go.
We knew that the Cinderella in our story (Cindy) would be
younger than most versions of the tale, mostly because Bethanie was so young at
the time. We wanted to appeal to her
peers. As we started writing, the voice felt
so perfect for the middle-grade audience. I’d received input once from an
editor who suggested turning Cinderskella into a Young Adult novel with a much
older Cindy. Although it would have been very marketable, it felt so
wrong. The character we’d created was so
true to life it would have been forced if we’d changed her age.
The next thing we had to unravel was how Cindy got this
curse. In most Cinderella stories it’s the step-mother who is wicked, but we
wanted this story to be unconventional, so our idea was to have Cinderella’s
mother be the evil one. Of course, it turns out she’s not so wicked after
all. But nothing said we couldn’t
deceive the reader a bit!
It wasn’t until I passed the manuscript through my critique
group, and they made some fantastic comments, that I realized there was
something missing. The skeleton curse had to serve a purpose! In the original
version it simply served to show the reader how wicked Cindy’s mom was, but it
wasn’t working. Bethanie had suggested that the curse should allow Cindy to
visit her mom in the Underworld, but I shot the idea down, thinking it was too
convoluted. Turns out she was right, because it was the same suggestion my critique
partners had made! Now I tend to keep my
mouth shut and just let her do all the plotting!
Once we had all of those things in place, the novel just
seemed to take on a life of its own.
Characters were born, twists were weaved into the tale and Cinderskella
became something we could only dream—a published book!
* * * * * * * * * *
Cindy is just a
normal eleven and three-quarter year-old. At least until she wakes up one night
and finds out she’s dead. Well, she isn't technically dead—she just doesn't
have any hair . . . or a nose . . . or skin. Yep—all bones, no body.
Human by day and
skeleton by night, Cindy is definitely cursed. And because her mother recently
died, Cindy has no one to turn to except a father who’s now scared of her and
an evil stepmother who makes her do the housecleaning with a toothbrush. To
make matters worse, the Spring Fling dance is approaching, and Ethan, the
cutest boy in sixth grade, doesn’t seem to know Cindy exists. Of course, Cindy
doesn’t think letting Ethan find out she’s part skeleton is the best way to
introduce herself.
While facing such
perils as pickled pig’s feet, a wacky fortune teller, and a few quick trips to
the Underworld, Cindy’s determined to break the curse—even for a single night.
You can purchase
Cinderskella at:
Amazon http://amzn.to/1b2yDLA
Barnes & Noble http://bit.ly/177L6hM
Books-A-Million http://bit.ly/17Kuueo
Add it to your
to-read shelf on Goodreads! http://bit.ly/1b4XRal
Now to meet this great writing team!
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Amie Borst is a PAL member of SCBWI. She still believes in
unicorns, uses glitter whenever possible and accessorizes in pink. She enjoys
eating chocolate while writing and keeps a well-stocked stash hidden away from
her family. A native New Yorker she currently resides in Northern Virginia with
her husband, three children and a cute dog named Lily. She wishes she had a
hot-pink elevator with carnival lights to travel the world. But for now, her
minivan will have to do.
Bethanie Borst is a spunky 13-year-old who is an avid archer
with Olympic dreams, enjoys the outdoors, loves reading and is quick to make
lasting friendships. When she is not writing, she swings on a star.
You can follow Amie and Bethanie on facebook at www.facebook.com/AmieAndBethanieBorst
You can find Amie at her blog www.amieborst.com, twitter, www.twitter.com/AmieBorst and
pinterest www.pinterest.com/AmieBorst
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