Trouble in Fairytale Land
DEVIN WEEKS/Press Post Falls Middle School eighth-graders gather in the library April 18 to show off the trophies they received for earning top spots in the 2018 Twisted Fairy Tales writing competition. The competition has been a part of the eighth-grade Elements of Horror writing unit for four years, encouraging students to get creative as they put dark spins on old classics. From left to right, seated: Kody Skewis, Kaleb Jacobs, Sawyer Thompson, Arianna Heiss, Tyler Dean, David McDonald and Alyssa Krause. Standing, left to right: Trinity White, Morgan Abbott, Crystal Thompson, Hailey Reuter…
By DEVIN WEEKS
Staff Writer
POST FALLS — The carefree, loveable boy who never ages takes on a ghoulish persona in Post Falls eighth-grader Morgan Abbott's version of "Peter Pan."
In this eerily altered tale, Peter Pan is transformed into "Peter Pain."
"The twist of my fairy tale is a simple one — I turned the hero character evil," Morgan said. "In the Disney version, he is cheerful and pure. In my story, I still gave him a cheerful demeanor, but he is in no way pure. In my story, 'Peter Pain,' I describe a scene where a Lost Boy is put to rest by a box full of acid. Also, at the end, I reveal that this was all a vision of what is yet to come, implying that Peter Pan hunts for more children to lure into his trap."
Morgan and her peers stretched their writer brains to the dark corners of their minds for the 2018 Twisted Fairy Tales writing competition. The contest is a part of the Elements of Horror unit that has been taught to PFMS eighth-graders for four years.
"It came about through one of our instructor’s experience in college comparing Grimm’s Fairy Tales with current fairy tales," said English teacher Paul Mauel. "Obviously, Grimm’s tales were rooted in storylines that were not unlike the R-rated scary/horror movies of today."
Morgan said she chose to twist "Peter Pan" because it's a story that is set apart from other tales and doesn't focus on a princess.
"It is one of my favorite stories, but one of the more forgotten ones," she said. "We all know exactly how 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves' and 'Beauty and the Beast' play out. But 'Peter Pan' can leave us thinking on what really happened."
Kaleb Jacobs twisted "Beauty and the Beast," an experience that taught him more about the story as well as the importance of knowing how to use different writing elements.
"Honestly, I really enjoyed letting my mind wander into another world," he said. "I lost myself in the story and just wrote what was on my mind and was very happy with the outcome."
Elexis Spier chose to twist "Sleeping Beauty."
"I liked that I could make the story my own in a way by changing the events in any way I would like," she said.
David McDonald, who twisted "Little Red Riding Hood," said this experience taught him to "go beyond the limits that someone sets and make your own limits."
"I learned that there is no limit to our imagination and that us as kids don't really have limits when it comes to writing," he said. "I liked that we could twist the way we wanted, not the way someone else wanted us to, and we didn't have a limit on how long it could be."
PFMS 2018 Twisted Fairy Tales winners:
Second period:
First place — Trinity White
Second place — Ariana Heiss, Caryn Peterson
Third place — Addison Larson
Third period:
First place — Morgan Abbott
Second place — Alyssa Krause
Third place — Crystal Thompson
Fourth period
First place — Sawyer Thompson
Second place — Kaleb Jacobs
Third place — Kody Skewis
Fifth period
First place — Tyler Dean
Second place — David McDonald
Third place — Kailey Cramer
Sixth period
First place — Elexis Spier
Second place — Hailey Reuter
Third place — Gage Davenport