#the only subtle retelling example i can think of is Ella Enchanted or Fairest

[prosebushpatch]

still reeling from the one agent saying they want "subtle" fairy tale retellings like Cinder, and idk if we're thinking about the same Cinder there are literally quotes from the og fairy tale before the corresponding chapters?????? so you know exactly where we are in the plot??????

#rose and rambles #i will probably delete this one later but like?????????? #like?????????????????????? #i would not describe that one as subtle #it is different and imaginative because it takes place in a sci-fi dystopian future BUT IT IS LITERALLY #A CINDERELLA STORY?!?! AND DOES NOT LET YOU FORGET IT FOR ONE MOMENT???? #im pretty sure it has the quotes from the fairy tale i might be misremembering but the Cress one does for sure #like the chemical makeup is just full on the fairy tales i feel like if you want subtle it would have to be like #less obvious that it's a retelling? like just echoes of the key moments or imagery #but Cinder by Marissa Meyer is so fully cinderella even in the different genre #im going to be so stupidly bitter about this BUT IM RIGHT #whats also funny is the agent could be talking about a different cinder idk #she diDN'T PUT THE AUTHOR but the one by Marissa Meyer is popular and the only one i know at the top of my head #subtle #that was not the word you were looking for i think #just to be clear i love cinder and the lunar chronicles so so so so much #but THEY ARE WHOLE-HEARTEDLY FAIRY TALES #EMBRACE IT????? PLEASE????? #the only subtle retelling example i can think of is Ella Enchanted or Fairest #both by Gail Carson Levine. More so Fairest because it's like one specific moment where the apple comes in that you're like oooooooooooh #this is snow white #but Ella Enchanted is more like Cinderella i think it would be hard to not see the parallels #Cinderella is hard because you just need a mean stepmom and two stepsister and that's an instant give away #but Ella Enchanted has its own Vibes that it comes off as its own thing ya know ya know?