Melanie Dickerson reimages
fairy tales in historical settings,
but in the absence of magic,
spiritual warfare becomes more
real. She says, “For my fairy tale
retellings, I try to take the basic
fairy tale and expand it, fleshing
out the characters and asking
myself what the story would
have been like if it had actually
happened. With The Fairest
Beauty (Zondervan), my Snow
White retelling, I wanted a heroic
hero, which is missing from
the Disney version. In that one,
the prince is completely passive.
I wanted to focus on my two
main characters and their journeys,
both their literal journey
away from the evil duchess, and
their spiritual and emotional
journeys as well. They both had
things they needed to deal with
from their pasts.”
