Three Sleeping Beauties Blog Tour: Morgan Huneke ~ Interview

Hello People!!  It's the first day of the Three Sleeping Beauties Blog Tour!!  Today I bring you an interview with Morgan Huneke, author of Twisted Dreams.

Why did you choose to retell a fairytale? Why did you choose Sleeping Beauty?

It’s actually kind of a boring reason. I wanted to enter the Rooglewood Press Five Magic Spindles contest. I’d thought about writing a retelling before, largely because of previous contests, but also because I like fairy tales and retellings. However, I never had any good and coherent ideas before. And honestly, if the contest wasn’t on Sleeping Beauty, I probably never would have picked that one. It was never my favorite fairy tale and the Disney movie drives me crazy (they get so many plot things wrong when you compare it to the original and the structure is terrible). Writing my own version gives me a chance to redeem the story in my mind. :)

What inspired the unique plot twists you incorporated?

Doctor Who. When I decided to try to enter the contest, I brainstormed a list of possible twists. One was “what if the enchanted sleep is actually a good thing?” That somehow merged with the Doctor Who episode “Amy’s Choice,” where the characters keep flipping back between two places and have to try to figure out what’s a dream and what’s real. I took that concept and ran with it. Is the fairy tale real? Or is the sci-fi world where Liesel is a POW real?

What is your favorite fairytale?

That would probably be Rumpelstiltskin. I’m not entirely sure why, but it’s always fascinated me. Maybe it’s the spinning. I’ve long had a bit of an obsession with spinning and weaving. There’s so much that’s intriguing about that fairy tale, so much that can be explored. Cinderella is also special to me, though.

Do you plan to retell any more fairytales?

That’s still a bit up in the air. I’d like to, certainly. I have a story idea about Will and Liesel’s eldest daughter (this story actually predates Twisted Dreams) that I’m considering working Rumpelstiltskin into. I just have a few problems to resolve, such as how to work in the fairy tale, and what the actual plot of the book is. I’d also like to write a Cinderella, a Beauty and the Beast, and maybe a Little Mermaid someday, but I don’t have any good ideas yet.

Is Liesel modeled on you or someone you know?

Not particularly. For all my characters and stories, I pull elements from personal experience and observation—it adds an element of realism—and Liesel is no exception, but she’s less like me than most of my female leads. For the main trio in Twisted Dreams, I did more to take things as they are in the later story and extrapolate it backwards to figure out how they got there than I did to take inspiration from myself or people I know. Though I did get subconscious inspiration for Will and Liesel’s interaction from watching engaged couples interact.

You can connect with Morgan on her website, blog, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.  

You can find Twisted Dreams on Goodreads and Amazon.

To learn more about this blog tour, go to Kendra's blog, Knitted By God's Plan.