The fourteen fables, fairytales, and folk stories of the Fairest Maidens in the USA™

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

This is an experimental project I'm working on, a collection of modern "fables, fairytales, and folk stories" told in a frame story (a traditional story that houses sub-stories, like 1,001 Nights or the Pentamerone). The frame story follows a group of beauty pageant contestants who, in an attempt to make the contest more palatable to an increasingly polarized audience, compete to tell the best folk tale.

I don't want this project to reflect solely my views--I want it to be more communal, which is why I'm opening these stories up for comments! If there's something you like, dislike, or just think is weird ("why do all the lions have Biblical names?"), feel free to drop a comment saying as much, and I'll see if I can incorporate them into the final version in the form of reactions from the audience, judges, or other contestants :)

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2024
Author: LilyOfTheWillametteValley

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 5.0/ 5.0
Followers: 1
Views: 6,918

Chapters(18 total)

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(6)

A. StargazerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a charming little collection of stories told within a story. The frame story itself isn't particularly interesting to me compared to the substories, but the overall effect definitely works, I think.
There's some subtle social commentary going on as well. I won't say that I agree or disagree, or even that I'm completely certain where the author stands on the issues that are addressed or alluded to. But the critiques are present and interesting and presented well.
Overall I'm giving this collection full marks.
The overall style is well done. The substories each have a significant shift in style from one to the next, as fits in the overall frame story as they're told by completely different narrators. Even the fact that some of the stories are very poorly told fits with the frame story, as the narrator's nervousness, lack of preparation, and in general poor storytelling skills in fact add to the narrative.
Grammatically this story is well put together on a technical level, with no obvious mistakes that I noticed during my read. The sentence structure and word choice are well done.
The stories themselves are interesting, for the most part. I enjoyed the story about the lions and their pack falling apart most of all, but each of the stories that are told well were enjoyable. The allegories are interesting and make you think. Even when the contestant tells their story like crap, it's still fairly amusing and enjoyable.
Character wise, there's not much to judge because nobody's in focus long enough to really see them as a character or mark their growth, so I'm taking off half a point. It fits with the setting and what the author is trying to accomplish, so I don't really think that the lack of character growth is a detriment to the story. This story is what it is; a collection of short stories, and it's somewhat necessary in that situation to utilize stock characters to get the job done rather than building your own.
In summary, as a writing experiment,
C. Sebastian NuttRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I found this story to be a refreshing read and something that I did not expect to find on this cite. For the most part, if you click on any given work on this cite, you are going to run into a fantasy story or LitRPG. Not that I can really speak in this department, those are the genres that I write in, but it is a nice breath of fresh air to find something so different. If you are a fan of the Canterbury Tales, you might find some remnant of it laying within this frame as we are presented with a group of characters that each are expected to give a "fairy tale" for the reader to enjoy. While not all, or even most, of these stories are fairy tales, I found the read quite enjoyable. Would highly recommend.
Story: As I explained above, this is a fairly straightforward point. As the producers of a beauty pageant are noticing that no one is paying attention to them, they decide to add a new portion to the contest, asking each contestant to present a fable. Each of the girls make an attempt to do so, the stories telling more about the personalities of the women in question than trying to elucidate any wider point. Overall, an interesting set for the drama to play out upon.
Grammar and Style: The harshest thing that I can say about this story is that the individual stories presented are quite short. I very much wish that we had more time spent inside of these stories, and that the direction and blocking were not written in italics–this is completely unnecessary. The grammar did not catch me at any point and make me go back, and that is the best thing that I can say about it or any grammar rating that I give.
Character: The characters are somewhat thin. All that we ever really see of them is when they are on stage giving their stories, and a few tidbits of them backstage, but nothing really deep. I won't deduct too much hear as the cast is huge, but I think more time spent developing the individual characters would be well worth it.
JJ_MotoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I’ve finished reading all the stories and feel like I can give this a fair review now.
Style: The presentation, to me, of the stories is quite unique and something that I’ve rarely seen on this website. Each story is a little vignette that gives us a glimpse into the minds of different beauty pageant contests. Each of these stories is quite unique in its tone, presentation, and does a really good job in conveying to the reader what kind of person the contestant is. At least to my interpretation others might feel different.
The prose is an absolute delight. Firstly, the author is a great writer, and could probably write in a variety of genre if they wish to do so. They’re easily able to switch genres, from scathing satire, to a comedy adventure. All of it is delivered through her sublime prose. And what makes it more impressive is the tonal shift she does from story to story to convey the contestant’s emotions the best.
Story: It’s a short story collection about beauty contestant pageants presenting fables. There is an overarching narrative to it though, so every story is linked to each other and there is a chronological order to it all. All the stories are pretty unique, and as mentioned before give insight into the contestants and some of them do leave you with a lot of questions. I would argue there aren’t really any weak ones, hence why my perfect score, however there a couple that truly do stand head and shoulders above the rest.
Grammar: Grammar is top notch. No complaints.
Character: There really isn’t a lot of characterisation in the traditional sense as understood by this website. However, I’d still give it a perfect score because the stories are told by the contestants who are different characters of course, and a lot of the characterization comes through when you dig in deeper to what is being said in the stories
RavensFantasyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Style/Story: This fiction consists of a unique collection of different tales. Consisting of sweet tales and not so sweet tales, thus varying the audiences and producers reactions to the story. The story does a good job at captivating the reactions and behaviors of the contestants. Each story left me having a different reaction myself.
Overall, having a different girl tell a different tale per chapter is an interesting concept to me. With some tales having a slightly different style or pace gives a different reading experience per chapter.
Grammar: There were minor grammar issues here and there. But nothing that didn’t want to stop me from reading.
Characters: There isn’t one set character in this story. Instead you get 14 very different girls from different states. As each one tells their tale, you can tell that the story does well at giving the girls a different voice. Not only that but how some of the girls act and behave.
Even the producers and the crowd themselves showed how different they can be. Even with the shorter chapters.
I will say you don’t get much of a description per character which may be my only complaint. However, the story doesn’t seem to have the prime focus on the character but the tales themselves.
In Summary: I am happy that this set of tales was found through a review swap. As each tale was different, varying from deep to sweet you were left with wondering what was coming next. Each tale may be short, may vary with style and pace, but overall the collection was a great find!
SkarabraeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I like this story quite a bit.
Style: I like this story's style a lot. It has literary devices, in particular a lot of imagery that helps with the story's tone and set various scenes within the story. I was able to spot some foreshadowing too as I read more of the story. The author has incredibly good word choice and is able to set the tone very well with it. The author's way of writing is also unique. And I can safely say that the tone fits the story perfectly.
Story: The story is great. it is paced at just the right pace. It develops at the right pace too. So, no complaints regarding that. The story itself is about a beauty pageant where the contestants have to tell fairy tales in one of the contests. It is effectively an anthology with a bunch of different short stories. This premise is handled very well, and the fairy tales are very interesting with just the right amount of weirdness. So, it's good here.
Grammar: I couldn't find any grammatical errors. That does not mean they don't exist, but if they do, they are most likely not distracting enough for most people to notice them.
Character: The characters are simplistic, but not in a bad way. They fit the fairy tale themes very well, which makes them perfect for this story. So, I have no complaints here.
Overall, I highly recommend this story.
SpookyspacklesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I have given this a read up to date, and wanted to provide a general review of the stories so far,
Style: The style changes drastically between each short story (with due reason), and each story manages to show up with its own underlying message, whether or not the deliverer intended it. You won't see traditional folklore and beasts when you dive in, but you will see some very interesting characters for the chapters that tell a larger tale.
Story: This is a short story collection based on an over-arching theme. I won't mention what ties all these folktales together, because it's hilarious and you should see for yourself, but it's definitely a twist I haven't seen before. The author is working on updating the stories based on reader feedback, so you may see spots where an expected reaction is missing, and some polls each chapter to gauge your reaction as though you're also watching the events unfold (which you sort of are, so I implore you to give some responses).
Grammar: No structural issues or glaring errors so far. The stories read easy, and the flow slows and quickens as intended by the author.
Character: The short stories don't provide a huge space to learn about each character's backstory, because that's not the focus of the story. Each person you meet is there to send a message, and the author presents, and sets this up very well.
That being said, at a surface level, you can feel respect for the characters that managed to show up in the overarching time-crunch brought on by the theme, and some second-hand embarrassment (and pity) for the ones that couldn't.
Overall, it's quite fun! Each story is very bite-sized, and ranges in theme from just a bit depressing to goofy and fun. I would recommend giving it a go!