Wicked Fairy Tales Author Spotlight – R.W. Whitefield

This interview is part of Wicked Fairy Tales Month at ForbiddenFiction.com. With the launch of our first anthology of erotic fairy tales, we decided to give folks more of a glimpse behind the scenes. So, to celebrate, we will have a drawing, author and staff interviews, and other fun bonus materials. For more information on this an the Wicked Fairy Tales anthology, see HERE.

R.W. Whitefield

R.W. Whitefield loves steampunk, fantasy, horror, and anything escapist. She has been writing since she was three years old, and at 25 years of age, shows no signs of stopping. In her spare time, she runs support groups and organizes activist events for her local LGBT community. She lives with a slightly neurotic cat. She likes long walks in the woods, cheesy movies, and three-piece suits.

INTERVIEW with Author:

What was your favorite fairy tale as a child and why?

My favorite fairy tale was Vasilisa the Beautiful, a Russian fairy tale featuring Baba Yaga. I loved the detail of Baba Yaga's house and her magical servants, and how she wasn't a wicked witch, merely a strange one. I also loved the story Cat-Skin, about a princess who runs away from her father to disguise herself in the household of a king and win his hand through cleverness, and The Goose Girl, where a princess commands the north wind and the head of her talking horse to win back the throne and marriage that is hers. I liked stories with lots of magic, that work on the power of three, and where women use their wit and their power to rise above their circumstances and get what they're looking for. 

What is your favorite as an adult and why? 

I love stories about actual fairies--changeling stories, stories of people working with the fair folk, and stories like Tam Lin where one individual must undergo difficult tasks to win the freedom of a loved one. I like the the strangeness of the fairy court and fairy life, and of the idea of a fairy world just beyond our ken. 

What is the appeal of traditional fairy tales? 

The best fairy tales are deeply symbolic. They're stories about growing up, about the cycle of life, about the ebb and flow of power and influence--stories that speak to archetypical experiences, coded in a magical language. Traditional folktales also appeal to a rather cruel sense of justice in us. Wickedness is punished horribly, goodness is rewarded, and trickery abounds. 

Most people think of fairy tales as children's stories. What makes a fairy tale erotic?

For most of history, fairy tales weren't just for kids--they were for everyone. It's only in the past few hundred years that folklorists have collected and bowdlerized traditional folklore so it would be acceptable for a Victorian idea of childhood. Fairy tales are full of violence, sex, and passion, and these run just under the surface of the sanitized tales that we read in the nursery. Writing erotic fairy tales is just about uncovering and rediscovering the sensuality and passion that was already there. 

Would you describe for us your writing process? 

I usually start with a single scene--a girl dancing while someone watches her, a princess laid out on a pile of gold like a treasure--and work backwards and forwards to figure out why that scene is there, and what happens next. I often take inspiration from other sources, such as songs or passages in poems, and I like to weave a few sources of inspiration together and see what happens when I connect them. I usually juggle ideas in my mind for days or weeks before I ever get them down on paper.

How long have you been reading and writing erotica?

I began to read "grown-up" books with erotic interludes as an adolescent, so when I began to write in earnest, it was only natural for me to include erotic scenes in my writing. The first piece of dedicated erotica I wrote was in high school, and it was a present for a girl I was dating. After I got over my shyness at writing sex, I never stopped. 

How did you come up with the idea for your story (or stories) in the Wicked Fairy Tales collection?

Both pieces were requests from friends for Valentine's Day. I'd asked readers of my blog to give me suggestions for short erotic or romantic pieces, and two prompts I particularly liked were "Dragons and virgins" and "Little Red Riding Hood." I tailored each piece to what I knew each requester liked--for "Dragons and virgins," straightforward humor and light comedy, and for "Little Red Riding Hood," club culture and dark decadence. 

Stories:

Clockwork Dolls (Short Story – Coming Soon!)

Anke can do anything with brass and steam, springs and gears. What she can’t do is cross the lines of class and propriety that keep her from declaring her love for her patron, the beautiful Lady Phoebe. Lady Phoebe has long been entertained—and stimulated—by the dancing dolls Anke has made for her, but now she must marry for the sake of duty and family. She has one last commission for Anke—to build a doll that can love her as much as Anke does. (F/F)

Do Virgins Taste Better? by R.W. Whitefield Short Story (2600 words) Genre(s): Fantasy, Comedy When the dragon kidnaps a princess, he find himself wondering if a cow would have been a better idea after all. Who knew a princess was so demanding, or so kinky? (F/M) Also available in the Wicked Fairy Tales anthology.

Little Henna Hair by R.W. Whitefield Short Story (3270 words) Genre(s): Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary, Supernatural A werewolf sees a sexy redhead dancing in his nightclub, and he follows her into an alley. He doesn’t expect her to take on the big, bad wolf, but Little Henna Hair is more than able—she’s willing. (F/M) Also available in the Wicked Fairy Tales anthology.

MORE SOON!