Inspiration for The Bear of Rosethorn Ring (Guest Post)

 I think this is the first guest post I've ever had on my blog! I love hearing about the inspirations behind everyone's stories so I'm glad Kirsten decided to write her post on her inspiration for The Bear of  Rosethorn Ring. Hope you guys enjoy it too!

Inspiration is a funny thing. It came come from many places, be triggered by many sources, and smash into you when you least expect it. Typically, my most inspirational activity is washing the dishes. I’m not sure what it is about leaning over the sink and scrubbing burned noodles off the bottom of a pot, but it sure promotes a lot of story ideas.

            The Bear of Rosethorn Ring, however, was very different. This story didn’t start with a spark of inspiration from an unlikely source. Rather, it was a story built out of desperation. My desperation. Because the story wasn’t ever supposed to exist.

            Marita Kadlec is the Sleeping Beauty heroine of book two of my series, Spindle Dreams. And while I liked Marita and we got on well enough, there was something I didn’t know about her until a few weeks before her book released. She was a twin. Since the two girls were separated only moments after birth, neither knew the other existed and OF COURSE I had to go and write the missing twin’s story. And that was how the Rapunzel story, Diamond, was born.

            Now, I’m a big fan of sibling stories. Most characters in my books have at least one (if not more) sibling and one of the things I love the most is writing siblings interacting. I grew up with five siblings, all very close, so I’ve had a lot of experience living sibling relationships. One of the things that always bothered me with the ending of Diamond was that my two twins, Marita and Diamond, never actually got to meet and interact with each other. Oh, the story definitely ends hinting at their meeting, but they never got to be siblings on the written page.

            Now, do you see my desperation?

            I was desperate to see Marita and Diamond interact. I wanted a good sibling fairytale to retell where they could get to be sisters on the written page. I can’t say that I thought much about which fairytale to retell for their story, since Snow White and Rose Red was definite in my mind from the moment I knew I had to tell their sister story.

            But Snow White and Rose Red heavily features an enchanted bear, and I was briefly stumped on how to write a talking bear without magic. No magic has been a key trait of my stories since the beginning, and I knew I’d have to dabble in some steampunk and other fun elements to pull it off. But where would you find a good bear for the girls to save? I began researching some bear-ish things, and soon pulled up several articles chronicling the bearbaiting in Elizabethan theatre. Alongside of those articles were a number on dancing bears performing in circuses.

            My brain went nuts when I read circus. I’d always wanted to write a circus book, ever since I read Skye Hoffert’s Falling Snow in the Five Poisoned Apples anthology (shameless shout-out to that fantastic story! *winks*). Skye’s epic take on a circus as a setting for a fairytale retelling was so unique, and it made me insanely curious to see what other fairytales would fit into the circus aesthetic. Thus, I was going to write a circus story with a bear – or, more specifically, a man in a bearsuit. It involved a lot of research on my end, since I wasn’t super familiar with circuses and their inner workings, but I created something of my own circus with the traveling Rosethorn Ring. And I was smitten.

            I had my twins, I had my bear, and I had my circus. Now, I just needed to get the story written so I could share it with the world.

            I mean, weren’t you all just as desperate to read Marita and Diamond as sisters as I was? 

   ...

 (Glad I'm not the only one who gets inspiration from doing the dishes. Still can't believe Falling Snow was one of the inspirations for this story. Never getting over that! *cries*)

About the Author:

Kirsten Fichter is a twenty-something Christian writer who loves being the wife to her favorite person ever, mommy to two precious blessings, a piano enthusiast, a dragon buff, a serious bookworm, and an INFP synesthete. Fairytales have always fascinated her, and she has made it her goal to rewrite as many as possible and become known as the "Grimm Dickens" (i.e. mixing Grimm fairytales with a Dickens style). She is present in many online circles under the name "Kiri Liz" if you care about things like that. As you read this, she'll be somewhere under a maple tree - trying very hard to finish the seventeen and a half other stories she unwisely started all at once.

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Make sure you check out the rest of the blog tour. I'll be reviewing The Bear of  Rosethorn Ring soon!

Blog Tour Schedule

April 5^th

-          Welcome & Giveaway @ A Synesthete Writer

-          Author Interview @ Living Outside the Lines

-          Favorite Fairytales About Siblings (Guest Post) @ Lands Uncharted

-          Book Review @ Christine Smith

-          Book Review @ Tower in the Plains

April 6^th

-          Snow White and Rose Red Tag @ A Synesthete Writer

-          Author Interview & Book Review @ Madi’s Musings

-          Looking Ahead at the Twist Tales (Guest Post) @ Virtual Paper

-          Book Review @ E. Kaiser Writes

April 7^th

-          Snow White and Rose Red Mad Libs @ A Synesthete Writer

-          Inspiration for The Bear of Rosethorn Ring (Guest Post) @ Ink Castles

-          Favorite Characters from the Twist Tales (Guest Post) @ Living Outside the Lines

-          Book Review @ Shieldmaidens of Shiloh

-          Book Review @ Live. Love. Read.

April 8^th

-          The First Chapter @ A Synesthete Writer

-          Awesome and Obscure Fairytales (Guest Post) @ Madi’s Musings

-          SWRR Elements in The Bear of Rosethorn Ring (Guest Post) @ Abigail Falanga

-          Book Review @ Blooming with Books

-          Book Review @ C.O. Bonham

April 9^th

-          Winner & Wrap-Up @ A Synesthete Writer

-          Author Interview & Book Review @ Virtual Paper

-          Retelling an Unknown Fairytale (Guest Post) @ Live. Love. Read

-          Book Review @ Living Outside the Lines

-          Book Review @ Ink Castles

 

When their father runs away, Marita and Diamond Kadlec realize how different twins can be. Marita’s ready to forget Lucas entirely, but Diamond wants to give him the second chance she’s never been able to give before. That’s before they discover that Lucas is indebted to the ill-tempered D’vard and his traveling circus, the Rosethorn Ring. The Ring’s entertainment lacks a bear, and Lucas must play the part of the savage creature to regain his freedom.

 

Lorcan D’vard cares only for three things: tending to his beloved beard, promoting his Rosethorn Ring, and eradicating the assassin out to kill him. With time running out, D’vard agrees to cancel Lucas’s debt and let him go free – if Marita and Diamond can apprehend the assassin before the assassin ends the show.

 

This is Snow White and Rose Red with a twist like you’ve never seen it before. 

Releases April 6th, 2021