PROMPT: Rewriting Frosty

VoiceCATCH is on hiatus for winter break, but here’s a prompt to keep those pens going.

This time of the year, we’re inundated with classic holiday tales. Try rewriting one or two of them. For example, what would happen if Frosty the Snowman turned into a hard-charging corporate executive? What if Rudolph crashed Santa’s sleigh?

Here are a few Christmas tales to give you a place to start, but of course stories from any tradition could be used.

A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
Frosty the Snowman
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Dr. Seuss)
Jack Frost
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
A Visit from St. Nicholas (‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, Clement Clarke Moore)

Rewriting classic stories in general can yield some great writing, and it’s fun. Also, many writers use this technique to address social concerns (sometimes called revisionist writing). For example, feminist writers have rewritten fairy tales to reclaim a voice traditionally dominated by men.

Even corporate America has co-opted the classic fairy tale to deliver business lessons. What can you do with classic stories? Here are a few publications you can preview on amazon.com to see a range of possibilities.

Goldilocks on Management:  27 Revisionist Fairy Tales for Serious Managers by Gloria Gilbert Mayer and Thomas Mayer

Jack and the Giant:  A Story Full of Beans by Jim Harris

Transformations by Anne Sexton

Wicked:  The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West  by Gregory Maguire