For many years, fairy tale stories have delighted people in the form of novels, short stories and movies. This unique type of story has certain features that make it what it is; you know you are reading a fairy tale story when:
- It starts with “Once upon a time”, ” Long ago, in a…”
- The lead character is a good person who is maltreated.
- There is a brave hero.
- Location of the story is an imaginary or “far away” land.
- There are talking animals and use of magic.
- It has mythical creatures like unicorns, giants, flying horse, etc.
- Good conquers evil and the villain meets his/her doom.
- The story ends with “happily ever after”.
If you let your imagination run wild and harness your creativity, writing a fairy tale will be a lot of fun for you. The hard part is probably getting an idea, but don’t worry, I will take care of that part. Here are some ideas you can use to write your fairy tale short story:
- A little princess is stolen from her parents and locked away in a tower. The kidnapper is the palace royal chef who replaces her own baby with the princess and uses dark magic to convince the king and queen that her baby is theirs. The chef’s assistant finds out the truth and embarks on a mission to rescue the real princess and break the spell cast on her parents.
- A brave soldier must solve three riddles before he can defeat an evil giant tormenting his hometown. He faces many challenges before discovering the riddles and seeks the help of a wise old woman, who helps him to solve them and conquer the evil giant.
- A once handsome but wicked and arrogant prince has been cursed by a magician, so every night, he turns into a pig. To break the curse, he must find a woman to love him even after discovering that he turns into a pig at night…a task that would force him to be humble and respectful.
- Unicorns are being hunted and sold to an evil sorcerer who kills them to have more power. The princess of the kingdom discovers the villain’s hideout and informs her friend who is a talking goldfish. Together, they set out to expose the evil sorcerer and rescue the unicorns. As they face challenges, help comes in form of an elf.
- A beautiful mermaid has to find a way to enter the human world and get a magic book of spells that she must read to her dying father. She can only look human and survive outside water for seven days. She finds the magic book, but falls in love with a handsome prince who is already betrothed to an evil princess. This princess discovers her betrothed is falling for the beautiful “stranger” and starts making life difficult for her… a challenge the mermaid must overcome to get back to the sea on time with the magic book.
Writing Tips
Use these ideas to spark your own imagination, and use them any way you want. Change characters and settings around, use different ideas from each different prompt to create something entirely new. It’s up to you.
My suggestion is to take 10 minutes and use one of these as a starting point to write from, and then you can see where it leads.
Want To Come Up With Your Own Fairy Tale Story Ideas?
Check Out Holly’s Writing Classes.
Start With Her FREE Flash Fiction Writing Class: Write Flash Fiction that Doesn’t SUCK
I’d love to hear how these ideas worked for you – please leave your feedback below and I’ll respond as soon as I can.
Happy Writing
Erica
Hi Erica, thank you for an interesting post and one that I found fun at the same time. I loved your ideas for writing a fairy tale. I have never tried it but I believe once you start you really could get carried away and let your mind run riot.
One thing I will do though is look at the writing classes you have recommended and see what I can achieve if anything.
Hi Cheryl, thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment. I’m glad you liked the post:)
Thanks for reading!
My brother loves writing stories. I will get him to check out your website. The ideas you have suggested gives a good starting point to start writing a fairy tale story. I have never written a short story before except reading them. After reading your article, I’m thinking to try out the 10 mins and see how it turns out. Sounds like fun.
Thanks for your comment, I’m glad you found the prompts inspiring – I’d love to know how you get on with your 10 minutes writing.
Thanks for reading!
Hi Erica, thank you for this post! I love fairy tales, so I find your writing prompts quite intriguing. I wish I would’ve thought of something like this. You also mentioned flash fiction, I remember using that practice in school. We’d be given a topic or key word and be timed for half hour to just write. It was amazing what some people could come up with in that short amount of time.
Were you ever instructed to write flash fiction in school?
Thank you so much this helped me a lot. I am 12 years old and I am writing a chapter book that I will publish later on in life. My favorite author’s are Chris Colfer And Soman Chainani. I love the series, Land of Stories and The School for Good and Evil. I love fairy tales and fantasy.
Thank you so much for your comment. I’m so glad this helped you:) It’s awesome that you’re writing already, and your first book! – it’s my greatest regret that I didn’t write more from a younger age. I went through phrases of giving up. But now the world has opened right up in terms of publishing. Keep writing, and when you’re ready, start learning about indi-publishing. Thank you so much for reading. Erica
Thank you for a thought-provoking and entertaining piece. Your ideas for writing a fairy tale were fantastic. I’ve never done it, but I feel you could get carried away and let your thoughts run wild once you start.