I love it when people take a well-known tale and give it a twist. You get things like Warm Bodies (Romeo and Juliet with zombies), Elementary (Sherlock Holmes in modern day New York City with a female Watson), and Briar Rose (a novel by Jane Yolen about the holocaust and adapted from Sleeping Beauty). Sometimes just the premise is enough to excite some gleeful writing. I mean, Romeo and Juliet with zombies! That’s an idea you can grab and run with!
Laura Cooper had an idea: Disney Princesses as velociraptors. And holy cow did she run with it, creating an awesome single-panel webcomic called Velociprincesses. Above you see her take on Snow White, if Snow White were a dinosaur with huge claws and sharp teeth more interested in eating princes than in being saved by them. You definitely want to check out the rest of her work. You can even get the comics on tshirts!
Personally, I’m inspired to sit down with my writing notebook and just start brainstorming wacky twists on classic tales, and see what I come up with. Macbeth with dolphins? The Telltale Heart as a political thriller about a candidate that goes slowly insane…OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH, that’s good! Excuse me, gotta write that now 🙂
Various and Sundry 