The Goose Girl

Genres

  • HISTORICAL FICTION set in the Tudor era. Do I just want more GOOD Tudor fiction? Maybe. But seriously, this would be delicious set at the court of Henry VIII. Or make it Elizabethan, and the potential is just as rich. (In that case, make John Dee be the one to figure it out, please? That would be hilarious.) ~ Arielle
  • HISTORICAL FANTASY 1920s mystery! Guys, I’m missing Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. I know I’ve said before how much I want fairy tale retellings done in that style, and I’m saying it again. (I believe Aussie author W.R. Gingell has plans somewhere along these lines, maybe??) But seriously, can’t you see a fantasy version of Jack and Phryne investigating this? ~ Arielle
  • DIESELPUNK. I know we keep saying this too, but really, it would be great. A secret Nazi-sympathizer servant forcing her wealthy mistress to trade places with her before they arrive at a place the mistress was going to use as an observational post? There are several epic World War plots that could be spun from this tale. ~ Arielle
  • ELEMENTAL MAGIC FANTASY – I’m thinking Avatar: The Last Airbender-esque here. A major part of the story is the princess calling to the wind to keep Conrad away from stealing locks of her hair, right? So let’s play that up and have the princess have some airbending-like powers BUT ALSO other people/kingdoms possess different elemental abilities as well. ~ Christine Smith + Hayden Wand, Tracey Dyck
  • MYSTERY – What if the story was told from not the princess’s point-of-view, but either the prince’s or king’s? And maybe Falada is not a horse but the princess’s guard or someone who gets murdered. And thus the prince and/or king realizes something nefarious is going on in their palace when they find his body and it turns into this big mystery novel with lies and murders and threats and all that fun stuff. ~ Christine Smith
  • POLITICAL INTRIGUE – The story leaves a lot of questions about why the prince and princess must get married, what sort of relationship the two kingdoms have, why not a soul realized the maid wasn’t the real princess, etc., etc. I think it’s the makings for a very complex and delicious political intrigue story. ~ Christine Smith
  • STEAMPUNK – Because I want a steampunk version of every fairy tale, and I’m not aware of one for The Goose Girl? What if the princess is tasked to tend to some sort of automatons instead of geese? Which ends up being a good thing because she’s always loved tinkering with machines but never got the chance as a princess. And somehow she rigs up an automaton army to help her take back her title? I don’t even know, guys. I just like weird steampunk stories. ~ Christine Smith
  • REGENCY FICTION – Honestly, this story (minus the magic and more grim parts) feels like it could be a setup for a Jane Austen novel. The storyline of low birth stealing the title of high birth doesn’t have to involve royalty, after all. Why couldn’t a lowly maid steal the identity of her mistress and run off to take her mistress’s betrothed due to being bitter toward their different classes? Add some humor in there and sweet romances and it’d be perfect! ~ Christine Smith
  • WESTERN – I’m not really a western person BUT this kind of seems like a perfect setup for a mail-order bride storyline. So I’m just going to throw that out there. ~ Christine Smith
  • HISTORICAL FICTION. I mentioned this in the live-action dream cast, but I’d love to see an Irish set (or Scottish hehe) historical tale. I can really see it set in many different timelines from Medieval, Elizabethan, to even the 18th-19th century. Oh man, I love a good period drama. ~ Faith White
  • WESTERN. A mail-order-bride (Goose girl) is forced to change places with an on-the-run criminal (maybe she’s a train robber or gunslinger!) who takes her place to marry the mayor’s son. ~ Faith White
  • HISTORICAL FICTION- I don’t know, but The Goose Girl seems MADE for historical fiction–maybe because of its dose of political intrigue? ~ Hayden Wand
  • TRADITIONAL FANTASY- I know, this has been done, but I’m still very much in the mood for some classic fantasy Goose Girl retellings, maybe because there aren’t nearly as many of those as we have for other popular tales like Sleeping Beauty or Snow White. ~ Hayden Wand
  • ELEMENTAL FANTASY. YES. I’m soooo on board with having fairytale retellings inspired by the Avatar series. While reading the original fairytale, the fact that she calls/controls the wind always stood out to me and I wondered what it would be like to have more characters using elemental “bending” or whatnot. Yes, some of that is in the strain of Hale’s Books of Bayern, but I don’t consider those true elemental magic. Not really, anyways. ~ Kirsten Fichter
  • STEAMPUNK. Because why not, and because we always want more steampunk. ~ Kirsten Fichter
  • REGENCY MYSTERY. Technically, these could be two different genres, but I’d love to see them together. Someone else said it before me, but the Goose Girl feels very Jane Austen. And I’m also borrowing the aforementioned idea of retelling it from a secondary character’s POV wherein he/she finds the murdered Falada and must then unravel the maid’s treachery. ~ Kirsten Fichter
  • KOREAN HISTORICAL – I haven’t really delved into much Korean history yet, but I feel like this would be such an interesting tale to weave into the Joseon Dynasty! ~ Tracey Dyck
  • THRILLER – Okay, but doesn’t this beg for a story where the maid is involved in human trafficking? This would be a gritty, difficult story to read (or write), but I could see it being really meaningful. ~ Tracey Dyck

Authors

  • ERICA LAURIE – She writes fantastic Korean fantasies, and I’d really like to see her do a novella retelling of this tale in that style. ~ Arielle
  • A.G. MARSHALL – Do we mention A.G. Marshall in almost every SWL we do? Yes. Do we intend to stop anytime soon? Nope. Seriously, if you guys haven’t read her books, you are missing out. This tale would be great in both her short story series (Once Upon A Short Story) and her full-length novel series Fairy Tale Adventures. ~ Arielle + Hayden Wand, Kirsten Fichter
  • W.R. GINGELL – Because she’s great at stolen identities and conniving plots and lighthearted fantasy with a touch of murder on the side, and I think she’d excel at a delightful retelling of this one. ~ Christine Smith
  • JENELLE SCHMIDT – Her fairy tales are always so full of beauty and discovery and doing hard things and the joys of the simple ways of life—which I think are all elements this fairy tale has, to a point. Or at least has the potential of having. So I’d love to see Jenelle bring it to life in her own poignant way. ~ Christine Smith
  • RACHEL KOVACINY – The western idea I had? Yeah, I nominate Rachel to write it, since she’s the queen of western fairy tale retellings! ~ Christine Smith
  • VIVIAN VANDE VELDE – Because I would absolutely love to see what sort of humorous take she’d do for this fairy tale. It feels like one she’d retell. ~ Christine Smith
  • GAIL CARSON LEVINE – Do I even need a reason? I’d LOVE to see what she’d do with this fairy tale! ~ Christine Smith + Tracey Dyck
  • BECKY WADE. This is very random, haha, as Becky writes Inspirational Romance. But I’d be so curious to see her take on a series of fairy tales and translate them into contemporary romances! Like imagine there being a series about a family (like her A Porter Family series) but each sibling has a fairy-tale inspired storyline (Goose Girl, Snow White, etc). Inspirational Romance can be very hit or miss to me but I think Becky Wade is one of the greats out there in this genre. ~ Faith White
  • After reading NINA CLARE’S The Miller’s Daughter and The Reluctant Wife, I know she could write an incredible Goose Girl retelling! ~ Hayden Wand
  • I also think a retelling done in the style of Jessica Day George’s Dragon Slippers would be great, too. ~ Hayden Wand
  • NAOMI NOVIK. I read her Rumplestiltskin retelling a bit ago and, while it’s a bit on the darker side, I loved how she twisted and incorporated so MANY (i.e. basically all) of the elements from the original fairytale. Truly, I think she could take on the darker side of The Goose Girl and twist it phenomenally. ~ Kirsten Fichter
  • KAT CHO – Mentioning Korean historical earlier reminded me of Kat Cho, since she writes urban fantasy set in Seoul. Whether she went urban or historical with this tale, I think she’d write a really fun retelling. ~ Tracey Dyck

Pre-Existing Worlds

  • PLENILUNE by Jennifer Freitag – A maid who forces her mistress to switch places with her? Marital politics and a king/lord who knows something else is going on and is determined to uncover it? This is tailor-made for Freitag’s Plenilune world. ~ Arielle
  • THE PAPER CROWNS WORLD by Mirriam Elin Neal – Neal excels at loose retellings or re-imaginings of tales, with lots of room to interpret a tale. This seems perfect for her universe of portals, two worlds (greenlands and greylands), wyslings (oh, those wyslings), disguises, and fey. ~ Arielle
  • FAIRY TALES ON THE MOON by Katherine S. Cole – She’s got an epic science fantasy series going on there (as yet unpublished but coming soon!), and this would be delicious in her style and universe. ~ Arielle
  • ONCE UPON A WESTERN series by Rachel Kovaciny – I haven’t read much in this series yet, but it just seems like a Goose Girl retelling would fit there. ~ Arielle
  • KINGDOMS OF FABLE by Erika Everest – I just got the chance to beta read the first book in the series (coming in October!) and it’s great. She’s set up so many fairy tale retellings and so many paths the series can go down. I don’t know if she’s planning to do The Goose Girl or not, but I’d love to see it there. ~ Arielle
  • KIRSTEN FICHTER’S ONCE UPON A TWIST TALES WORLD – This just feels like a tale that’d fit so perfectly in this novella series of lighthearted fantasy and sweet romances. I absolutely need a Goose Girl addition to this series. ~ Christine Smith
  • J. GRACE PENNINGTON’S RUMPLED WORD – Rumpled was a delicious Rumpelstiltskin retelling with a steampunk backdrop, which I think would work perfectly for a steampunk The Goose Girl retelling. I would LOVE to see J. Grace Pennington do another fairy tale in that world, and this particular fairy tale feels just right for it. ~ Christine Smith
  • The (Fairly) True Story of… I love Liesl Shurtliff’s series for middle grade readers and I think the Goose Girl would be a perfect addition to add into this series! ~ Faith White
  • Aside from A.G. Marshall’s fairy tale adventures, I’m having a hard time thinking of another story world for The Goose Girl. But I do admit I’m surprised Gail Carson Levine has never written a Goose Girl story in the world of Biddle! ~ Hayden Wand
  • GAIL CARSON LEVINE’S BIDDLE. Her Princess Tales were so hilarious, and I’d LOVE to see her add the Goose Girl to this story world! ~ Kirsten Fichter
  • RACHEL KOVACINY’S ONCE UPON A WESTERN. Umm, a Goose Girl retelling set in the Old West? YES, PLEASE. ~ Kirsten Fichter
  • GUMIHO SERIES by Kat Cho – Like I said, this would be a fun tie-in, as long as she could find some actual Korean mythology to mix with it. ~ Tracey Dyck
  • ELLA ENCHANTED by Gail Carson Levine – Setting it in the same world as Ella Enchanted would be super fun. ~ Tracey Dyck

Movies / TV

  • ANIMATED dream cast ~ Fairy Tale Central
  • LIVE-ACTION dream cast ~ Fairy Tale Central
  • A Cursed-style live-action teen series with actually decent writing and world cohesion would be cute. Plus our dreamcast movies, of course. ~ Arielle
  • An animated adaptation with the aesthetically pleasing world/art style of Tangled would be a dream. come. true. This story just begs for a brightly colored animated film. ~ Christine Smith
  • I also think it’d serve very well for a live-action TV show or mini series since there is quite a lot to explore, between the maid’s treachery, the politics of the two kingdoms, the princess’s journey from royalty to goose girl, all of it. There would be a lot to unpack and I think could work quite well as a television show. ~ Christine Smith
  • Studio Ghibli. I’d love to see them take on another fairytale story – like Howl’s Moving Castle. cries it would be so beautiful!! ~ Faith White
  • I’d LOVE an adaptation of Shannon Hale’s The Goose Girl. It was one of the first fairy tale retellings I ever read (and pretty much got me into the genre) and I’d LOVE IT if we actually got a movie! ~ Hayden Wand
  • I also agree that it would be amazing as a Tangled-style animated film! I get the same aesthetic vibes (for lack of a better word) for The Goose Girl as I do for Rapunzel, so it would totally work. ~ Hayden Wand
  • I’d love a good, old animated, musical adaptation. Basically Disney in the style of Sleeping Beauty or Tangled. Yes, this fairytale has its darker sides, but Disney always blots that out. There’s just so much beauty in this fairytale, and I’m honestly surprised no big animated films have been made for it yet. ~ Kirsten Fichter
  • I’m in 100% agreement with the Studio Ghibli and Tangled-esque ideas! Sign. Me. Up. ~ Tracey Dyck

Full Fairy Tale Central wishlist

MERRY WRITING!

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