Seven Magic Mirrors, Guest Post: But One Life

It is Day 6 of the Magic Mirrors Blog tour. Today, we have a guest post by author Wyn Estelle Owens on her story, "But One Life." It sounds like something I've been craving more of lately: short historical fiction.

---

But One Life, a retelling of Snow White set during the American Revolution, actually has a bit of complicated history behind it.

You see, I never even dreamed I’d ever write it. Or anything like it, really. Historical fiction was a genre I was notoriously picky about. When writing a story, 90% of the time I’ll write a fantasy. Historical fiction is not something I would have decided to write as a random project, it’s just not my style.

Waaaaaaay back in 2016, right as the Five Magic Spindles contest was wrapping up, I guessed that the next contest was most likely going to be Snow White, and started planning. I came up with a very interesting idea and spent the next year planning and plotting and worldbuilding.

Which, in the end, was that story’s undoing. The world I made and the story that belonged to it was too vast and complicated for me to stuff into 20,000 words and still make me feel as if I’d done it justice.

So there I was, in the first week of the 2017 July session of Camp Nano, with no story and VERY aware if I stalled much longer, I might not be able to participate at all. And I wanted very, very badly to participate in the contest.

It was then an idea formed. I was sitting there, bemoaning my fate to a friend, when a series of factors collided in my head.

I’d always loved the American Revolution, mostly from watching Liberty’s Kids when I was little. One of my favorite books, The Sherwood Ring (which is seriously amazing) is set during the revolution. And it just so happened that I had been reading some American Revolution themed stories recently and had been listening to a near-unholy amount of Hamilton the past few days.

So I opened my mouth and blurted, “Hey, what if I wrote Snow White in the American Revolution?”

My friend, being smart, immediately asked how I’d make it work, and we had a brief plotting session. The first solid part of the story was Ginny—though back then, she was named Gwendolyn (a month later I discovered that name wasn’t in use during the 1700s, so I had to change it). However, I immediately knew Ginny was going to be a spy. If she was a spy, there would be no risk of straying to close to the dreaded trap of the Passive Heroine, which is definitely Something To Be Avoided when rewriting fairytales with sleeping curses. There were a couple of things that came to be in that brief plotting session—Captain Ethan (my amazing ‘prince’ character), the climax, and my pride and joy: Ginny’s way of sneaking messages under prying, suspicious noses.  But that would be spoilers, so you’ll have to go and find out how she does it yourself . (Plug, plug).

It’s kind of strange, almost, how this story came to be. Back when the contest officially started, in June last year, I wouldn’t have imagined that I’d spend the next 6 months writing a Historical Fiction tale. I especially wouldn’t have imagined that Historical Fiction retelling would go on to win an Honorable Mention.

And I never would have guessed I’d be here, publishing my first book. Which is not a fantasy.

Life sure is funny, sometimes, isn’t it?

---

Author Bio:

Wyn Estelle Owens is the penname of a young woman who’s still figuring out what this whole ‘adult’ thing is all about. She lives in a big, old house in Maryland by a Hundred Acre Wood (dubbed Neldoreth) with her parents, three occasionally obnoxious brothers, her dog Jackie, and her rabbit Joker. She is fond of reading, writing, drawing, speaking in dead or imaginary languages, playing videogames, quoting classic or obscure literature, being randomly dramatic, and generally making things out of yarn. Her dream is to write stories that inspire people to chase after the wonderful world of storytelling. Her favorite all-time authors are Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Christa Kinde, and above all, J.R.R. Tolkien, who first inspired her to pursuing novel writing when she read the Hobbit at the age of seven. Find her online at: Goodreads || Facebook
---
Ah, I can't wait to read this one!

Y'all know the drill by now: full tour schedule here, enter the awesome giveaway, check out today's posts. :D

October 30th

Knitted By God's Plan: 7 Reasons to Read
Light and Shadows: 5 Reasons to Read
The Language of Writing: Review
Ink Calamities: Review
I'm Charles Baker Harris (And I Can Read): Review
The Labyrinth: Guest Post
Resting Life: Guest Post