Every February 26, people around the world celebrate Tell A Fairy Tale Day.
The celebration of this event is as simple and direct as the name of the holiday: They tell a fairy tale – by finding one that’s been written down by someone else in a book published long ago, and reading it word for word.
In preparation for Tell A Fairy Tale Day 2020, we’re challenging you to think bigger, and tell a fairy tale in your own words. We are putting together a new book of fairy tales, an anthology of material written by people like you.
There are already plenty of collections of fairy tales, of course. Here’s the twist: While traditional fairy tales tell stories that take place long ago and far away, we’re looking for a new kind of fairy tale, one that addresses the struggles of the here and now.
We invite you to contribute to this book, and submit a story to be included in Fairy Tales for a Digital Age.
Requirements:
Write a short story in the style of a fairy tale, but with content that addresses the struggles people are going through in our own time, as we face the challenges posed by digital technology.
The setting may be in the present, the past, or the future. It can address the issues of the human encounter with digital technology in a literal manner, or metaphorically. So, an acceptable story could be a science fiction allegory about life with robots in the 24th century, a tale about a fool and his iPhone in the present day, or a story about a djinn trapped in a lamp set a thousand years ago.
Whether digital technology is literally included in the story or not, your tale should make some commentary on human use of digital technology. So, for example. J.K. Rowling could contribute a new short story about the Mirror of Erised, without ever mentioning a computer, bot, or smartphone, because the Mirror of Erised makes a good metaphor for an obsessive attachment to a digital screen.
For each story we choose to include in the book, we’ll also include a short summary afterwards, exploring the issues raised by the work. You can write your own author’s summary, if you like, allow us to write our own, or work with us to craft one.
We shouldn’t have to say this, but it’s important that your writing is your own. No plagiarism, please! This means that you can’t just copy and paste someone else’s text, but it also means that you can’t write a story containing characters that are under current copyright protection. Yes, that means no contemporary fan fiction. You could write a story including Peter Pan, because the copyright on the original Peter Pan stories has expired. If you contribute a story with Darth Vader as a character, however, your submission will be rejected.
The length of the text should fit what the story needs. If you’re terse in a clever sort of way, you might be able to tell a tale in 3 pages. Rich description helps add to the glamour of a well-told fairy tale, though, so your contribution might be 30 pages long. Give the story what you feel it truly deserves, no less, and no more.
We’re not a great big operation with loads of resources – more like the shoemaker who relied on the kindness of elves to stay in business – so we’ll respond to your submission, but it might take us some time to craft a response. Please be patient, and we’ll be patient too. We understand writers’ anxieties, so if you worry that your contribution has fallen through the cracks, don’t be afraid to send a quick message along asking about the progress of our review.
Everyone who has a story selected for inclusion in Fairy Tales for a Digital Age will receive a free copy of the book. So, make sure to include your email address, but also your physical mailing address, along with your story.
To submit your story, send it, as an attachment in MS Word or plain text format, to: submit@tellafairytaleday.com
What’s the deadline? Death is always a presence in fairy tales, if only to be looming back stage. Stories must be submitted by the Winter Solstice, 2019.