Anna Questerly

Anna Questerly
Bookseller and bibliophile turned author, Anna Questerly writes medieval fiction and fairy tales for smart kids and young hearts. For adults, she creates Utopian fantasy as A.J. Questerly.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time...I believe these to be the four most magical words in the English language; these words instantly transport us to far away lands. Lands where we might meet dragons, witches, princesses or beings we cannot yet imagine. These words create limitless possibilities the moment they are spoken or read. Is it just me or do those words still send a delightful shiver down your backbone too?
I still get that same tingle when I settle down with a new book to read; as I open the cover I’m sure, I mentally insert the words, Once upon a time, because writers always seem to forget to include them at the beginning of their stories these days.
In fact, I don’t think those words have been used to begin a book in over a hundred years. I may be wrong about that; if you know of any, please feel free to add it to the comments. Are fairy tales out of style? Perhaps it’s time to reawaken their power?
I started writing fairy tales last summer and enjoyed it so much that I’m still writing them today-the truth is, I can’t stop; it’s now become an obsession, taken over a large part of my life and now they have somehow turned themselves into a book!
As part of my research for my book, I’ve been rereading the old fairy tales and I can now say with confidence, I am a fairy tale expert. Let me know your questions or thoughts; I want this blog to be about anything related to reading, writing or telling fairy tales and I will welcome all comments.
Which is your all time favorite tale? I’ll tell you mine in my next posting.

3 comments:

  1. Anna-
    My wife and I are eager to see your book published. Glad to see things are moving along with the editing.

    My wife is a big fan of children's literature. In contrast, I like to read historical fiction and historal non-fiction. In recent weeks, I did read Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, which references lots of great tales. It got me interested in reading some of the classics.

    I don't have a favorite fairy tale or children's classic that I can call a favorite. I just haven't spent enough time with them. The book that moved me most recently was Ben-Hur.

    A little off from the fairy tale topic, but I wanted to contribute to your blog.

    Reid Beggs

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  2. Dear future fans of Anna Questerly


    when i was a child, anna snuck into my room and replaced my tv, and all my vidio games with an archive of books and epic tails of magic and adventures.(Thats a true story....) and because of that magical miss questerly, i love all fairy tails.
    (especially angel allies)so if you too love fairy tails,read all of annas books.

    one love
    kevin t.

    p.s. support your local artist

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  3. Okay I only did that once, and I promise my "future fans" I will not sneak into their rooms and remove their TVs and video games.

    ReplyDelete