The story of Cinderella is one beloved by millions of young children. Versions of the classic fairy tale can be found in cultures around the world. As a little girl Malinda Lo was especially fond of the Disney movie. Growing up she was a voracious reader and writer--when she was twelve she had a poem about her cat Fluffy published in Cats magazine. In high school her writing skewed towards fantasy, writing several stories including one she described as a knock-off of a favorite book, Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword. So it is not that surprising that Malinda is now the author of two young adult fantasy novels published by Little, Brown, and that her debut novel, Ash, is a retelling of Cinderella. When I heard Malinda speak at an ALAN workshop she recounted how the novel came about.
Though Malinda loved creative writing growing up, it was neglected it after high school. She graduated from Wellesley College and later received master's degrees from Harvard and Stanford Universities. She spent some time as an editorial assistant at Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, was the managing editor at AfterEllen.com, and also worked as a journalist. When she made the decision to face her fears and try to write a novel, she decided that she wanted to write the book she had always wanted to read as a young person: a retelling of Cinderella. Malinda shared that she had loved reading Robin McKinley's fairy tale retellings, and had read and reread Beauty (a retelling of Beauty and the Beast) but had always wanted a retelling of Cinderella. As part of her research, she began by reading, and often rereading from her childhood, the many versions of Cinderella in hopes of understanding the core of the tale. What struck her the most was that grief was the central theme. The loss of parents drastically affects the protagonist. The plot and characters in Malinda's tale of Cinderella does differ from other versions. The fairy-godmother is not at all Disney-esque. Malinda still wanted a magical element in her novel, so she turned instead to Irish folklore and the idea that gifts come with a price. The difference that may have received the most attention was that of the love story. In her first draft her protagonist, Aisling--or Ash--marries Prince Aidan and has only a friendship with his huntress, Kaisa. But when a close friend read the draft she bluntly noted that the relationship felt boring. She pointed out to Malinda that Ash had more chemistry with Kaisa than Aidan.
Malinda felt she was faced with two options: make the prince more charming or write a lesbian Cinderella. As a reader of LBGT fiction, and from her experience in publishing, Malinda knew the market and felt this second option was crazy and unsellable. So she tried to write a more charming prince. It didn't work. In all, Malinda spent eight years writing drafts of Ash. The end result is a young adult novel that was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, the Andre Norton Award for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy, and the Lambda Literary Award for Children's/Young Adult, and was a Kirkus 2009 Best Book for Children and Teens pick. Though Ash has her first gay relationship with Kaisa, Malinda shared that she feels her novel is not a coming out story because in the world she created being gay was not anything weird. The main core of the story is still about love and grief. Malinda's newest novel, Huntress, was published in April 2011, and is a prequel to Ash. Set in the same world, but in a time long before Ash, Aidan, and Kaisa, this new novel follows two teen girls from the Academy of Sages on a quest to rescue the Fairy Queen. Again, it is a fantasy adventure that is filled with strong and diverse female characters sure to please her fans. Malinda is working on her third novel, which she often shares updates about on her blog.
For more information about Malinda Lo, visit her site http://www.malindalo.com.
Contributor: Emily Griffin
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