Georgina Warren is the author of the middle grade story collection Tales of Virtuous Stepmothers. She works at the Library of Congress, and she lives in Washington, D.C.
Q: What inspired you to write Tales of Virtuous Stepmothers?
A: As a child, I grew up hearing countless adaptations of fairy tales in books and film, particularly those produced by Disney. It was easy to assume that all stepmothers were wicked villains because these traditional archetypes were the most visible and prominent examples I knew.
When my parents separated, my sister and I lived with our mother in Winston-Salem, and we only saw our father and stepmother on weekends. I was homeschooled and spent my days painting and exploring books in the local public library.
Later I moved to Washington, D.C., with my father and stepmother and started attending schools there. My experiences in the British School of Washington and the Field School awakened a deeper, lifelong passion for the visual, literary, and performing arts.
While growing up with my father and stepmother, I realized that traditional fairy tales like Cinderella and Snow White, stories that featured a “wicked stepmother,” did not reflect the life I shared with my own family. This revelation led me to develop a better narrative for modern readers.
My stepmother has always been an innovative, loving, and brave woman. When I started writing Tales of Virtuous Stepmothers, I imbued my stepmother characters with all the virtues that every good parent should possess like patience, creativity, compassion, loyalty, resilience, courage, and intelligence.
Q: Were you influenced by any particular style of fairy tale or folk tale as you wrote the stories in your collection?
A: Obviously, the three famous fairy tales that inspired me were Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, and Snow White! This trio of stories codified the wicked stepmother and their subsequent adaptions have continued to portray the character of the stepmother as cruel, vain, and negligent.
My style of writing evokes that of classic fairy tale authors like the Grimm Brothers, Hans Christian Anderson, Charles Perrault, George MacDonald, and Oscar Wilde. But I also strive to bring a modern sensibility to my narratives so that the lessons in each story resonate with modern readers. My approach has been to blend traditional elements with modern ideas to help my audience relate to the narratives.
Q: What would you say are the most common perceptions and misconceptions about stepmothers?
A: At first glance, many people assume that stepmothers have the same traits as the ones they know from the traditional stories. The stepmother only cares about herself, she will always love her biological children more than her stepchildren, she is replacing the biological mother, etc.
Our culture idealizes the nuclear family with two happily married parents and children. When couples get married in real life, they usually hope to maintain a fulfilling, lifelong relationship while they raise their children, watching them grow up and attend school, get married, start a new job, and have grandchildren.
People apply the same standards to romantic couples in fictional settings. Keeping couples and parents happy together forever is an idealized vision. But in real life, there are many reasons why two people cannot stay together forever.
At the time the traditional stories were created, mothers often died in childbirth and fathers needed another wife to tend the children and the house while they worked at their jobs. Women were only expected to be wives and mothers. Young boys could attend school and learn trades while young girls could only hope to leave their family homes when they found a new husband.
But the modern world that we know is very different. Divorce was once considered a taboo, but many more couples now separate and remarry when they experience interpersonal conflicts that damage a relationship.
None of the fairytales I heard in my childhood told me that some divorced couples manage an amicable co-parenting arrangement with the children dividing time between visiting each parent in separate homes. All I learned was that children that got a stepmother needed to escape from her abuse, marry a prince and find a better home because their fathers were stupid enough to marry the wrong women!
Modern stepmothers can experience some of the following challenges when they are trying to establish their roles in a blended family: alienation, isolation, emotional burnout, manipulation, imposter syndrome, and struggle to mediate conflicts with step-siblings, in-laws, or the ex-wife.
Readers always felt sympathetic to the children of these traditional fairy tales, but in the modern world, the stepmother has always been treated as the true outcast of the family.
Q: What impact did it have on you to write the book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?
A: Writing this book allowed me to express my own ideas about stepmothers and their families in more creative ways. I have also woven aspects of my family’s history into the narratives to pay tribute to everything that I learned from them.
Creating the stories helped me gain more closure on the emotional pain that I felt as a teenager. In addition, I felt a sense of turning the page and starting a new chapter in my life.
After the book was published, I felt a great sense of accomplishment because I made stories that would allow other readers to celebrate all the virtuous stepmothers they know and remove the stigma that has always affected modern blended families.
The “wicked stepmother” stereotype is a curse that has affected families for generations, I wrote this book as the first step to end that curse.
Stepmothers can feel vindicated because they now have a fantasy book that recognizes their daily struggles and celebrates their achievements. Children from blended families can feel affirmation that their family is normal, and they can feel proud of their unique heritage.
Other readers will gain a deeper understanding of some common dynamics in a blended family from these imaginary worlds. Future authors might even be inspired to write new stories that depict a more authentic portrayal of the modern stepmother in fiction and in reality.
With this book, more stepmothers can wear their titles with pride, and children don’t need to be ashamed to tell other people that they have a stepmother.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Tales of Virtuous Stepmothers is only the first part of a three-volume set I planned to write. Some of these short stories grew bigger and they will be released as companion novels later. I have one pirate story and one circus story in the works as well.
This summer I’m working on the stories and pictures for the second volume in this Virtuous Stepmothers treasury. I’m planning to take the next step of processing the manuscript with my editor soon.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Each story has a heraldic crest incorporating stained glass elements which I designed myself. In the medieval era, noble families used different colors and motifs to serve as their “signature” to set themselves apart. The motif of the stained glass represents blended families as a mosaic of different people with diverse backgrounds combining into one entity.
The book is for middle grade readers (ages 8-12) but teens and adults can also enjoy the stories. I designed the stories to speak to the young and the young at heart. Readers can find Tales of Virtuous Stepmothers on Amazon in paperback and ebook formats. They can also follow my author links on Goodreads and Instagram for the latest writing news.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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