A Bit of Gold Inspiration and Easter Eggs

A Bit of Gold: A Rumpelstiltskin Story releases in 2 days! *whoops and hollers* It’s been a long time coming to this point in time, and I’m very excited! (I’m also kinda stressed, considering I still have to write the majority of blog posts for this blog tour, AND Amazon just decided to give me some trouble with the paperback, meaning it might be delayed *ARGH*, but hey… life still goes on. Keep moving forward and make some lemonade, if you need to.)

Origins and Inspiration

While I’ve talked a lot about the actual release, I don’t think I’ve blogged very much about the book and the story itself. The main character, Seth Stendahl, doesn’t need much of an introduction for any readers who’ve read Diamond: A Rapunzel Story. I wasn’t able to explore all of Seth’s story in that book (it was less than 25,000 words, you know), and I always knew I would be coming back to visit him with another book (or two). He didn’t make an appearance in book four of my series, The Bear of Rosethorn Ring: A Snow White and Rose Red Story, so he ended up getting his own book entirely.

When I first started writing about Seth Stendahl, the idea of having him be in a Rumpelstiltskin story was always in the back of my mind. I mean, he was an alchemist, and alchemy has always had a tie with gold. Why not mix the two? What could be more natural?

Oh, yeah. I’m doing it without magic. Strictly scientific — if not fantastical — realism. No magic. That’s when I began a whole bunch of research into alchemy and how gold could be made in a fantastical but seemingly real way. The connection I found was iron and blood, and from there all the ideas began weaving together beautifully. True, the first draft was just “good enough” for my liking, so I rewrote the majority of the story (which is a first for the Twist Tales books so far), and I’m loving how it turned out.

Easter Eggs and Fairytale Elements

Now let’s move onto the Easter Eggs, or the hidden tidbits that I like to sneak in that reference either the original fairytale or another Rumpelstiltskin Story. Typically, I like to include Disney Easter Eggs, but this time around, there was no Disney film adaptation to reference.

There is, however, a popular Rumpel character in TV, and that is Mr. Gold from the show Once Upon a Time. I’ve seen bits of the show, and — while I’ve been impressed with the retold fairytales and mixed stories — the show contains language and content that I can’t promote as a Christian, so I really didn’t reference Mr. Gold all that much… beyond naming one of the horses “Dearie.”

Instead, I chose to reference more of the original fairytale. When the queen is guessing Rumpelstiltskin’s name, the original lists a handful of names that I used. Sir Henri Gaubert has 3 apprentices: Kasper, Melchoir, and Balzer. Additionally, Seth’s sister, Bianka, has 3 dogs: Muttonchops, Lacedleg, and Ribsofbeef. And for those last three names… I loved naming dogs those names so much. I can’t even begin to explain. Beautiful dog names. Anyway.

The biggest reference came from Rumpel’s original lines from the fairytale: “Something living is more valuable than gold.” It was this line that really sparked a good bit of the book’s plot and really took hold on some of the characters. If I recall correctly, Rumpel says this more than once in the original fairytale, so I really wanted to bring it out as a theme in A Bit of Gold. And with the rewrite, I was truly able to do just that. *no spoilers, of course*

It was my goal to keep as many of the original elements from the fairytale as possible, but still make it a fresh take on the story… and all without magic. From a distance, I definitely wouldn’t say it’s a clear Rumpelstiltskin retelling. Out of all the Twist Tales, it’s probably the most deviated from the original plot than the other retellings. I already know a lot of people may argue that there isn’t a clear Rumpelstiltskin character. There is, however; it’s Sir Henri Gaubert. But truthfully, other aspects of Rumpelstiltskin’s original character are strewn throughout a couple different people, but Gaubert is the main antagonist and motivated by greed — hence, he’s Rumpelstiltskin. But don’t take my word on that. Go and read it for yourself, and leave me a review with your opinion.

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