Children's Fiction and Fairy Tales Retold: In Conversation with Maz Bangs, Authoress

Maz Bangs is the author of  The Lost Stories: Classic Stories and Fairy Tales Retold. She lives in the USA and has retold classic children's tales with a viewpoint that empowers women characters. She readily agreed to be interviewed by me and what follows is a conversation with her about the book! 

Find yourself a copy of the book via Amazon here 

Tell us a little bit about yourself!

I am a single parent, living in Colorado, USA. My full-time job is as a social worker, and I’ve been in this field for fourteen years. My work can often be draining and traumatic, but the resilience and strength, as well as the love of family through hardship, is ultimately what lies in the hearts of people, and this is the foundation for my characters.

How old were you when you read your first book? Tell us a little bit about what you thought of the book.

I can’t say I remember my first book, as my parents were reading to me from the time I was born. I grew up surrounded by books and we spent many weekends at the library throughout my childhood. I do have fond memories of my mother reading an illustrated adaptation of The Princess and the Pea as a young girl, and this memory absolutely led to the choice to include the story in this collection.

Why fairy tales and children's stories?

This collection was born from a spontaneous decision to rewrite the Nativity Story. The story of Mary and Joseph and the baby has never sat right with me. The idea of a fourteen-year old Jewish girl, in a crowded town filled with Jewish people, giving birth alone out back in a stable, is so incongruent with everything we know about Jewish community. So, at Christmas time 2020, I wrote my version of the Nativity Story, and inserted women into the narrative and gave Mary a voice in her own story. I took quite a few creative liberties to create a tale that was about women supporting women in birth. I received a lot of positive feedback from my friends and family, and I decided to take on a project to rewrite other well-known stories, and give women a voice where they hadn’t had one. The project itself manifested quite quickly, as these stories, the angles I chose to take, seemed to fall out of me effortlessly. It was as though they had been growing inside of me without my conscious awareness.

What according to you is the most essential element(s) which makes a story good?

Story-writing is a craft, and so it is about developing a character’s voice, and piecing together each part of the story in a way that shows and expresses all the complicated emotions characters experience. When I think about my favourite stories, the ones in which I can identify and empathise with the characters, have the most impact.

Is there anything called a bad story?

 

I do think there is bad writing, yes. Story-writing is a skill, just as all creative processes are. I think there are aspects of a story that can be taught, but ultimately, like all art, story-writing is a blend of skill and talent.

What is your attitude towards the graphic novel/comic book?

This has never been my preferred genre, but I have a ten-year old who loves graphic novels and comic books, so I have indulged this for him. I am a firm believer that allowing children to explore what interests them will help develop readers and kids who enjoy reading. Forcing the “canon of literature,” or what academia might consider the only valid literature, down a kid’s throat who has no interest in this, will not foster a positive relationship with reading. That said, I do think graphic novels and comic books are a valid and wonderful way to engage children (and adults!) in reading.

How important are stories to you?

I have always been a fan of both short stories and novels. Short stories must accomplish a lot in a very short amount of time, and I think this comes with its own challenges. It’s like the difference between running a 400m dash versus a marathon. They both require training, skill, and athleticism, but they are different challenges.

How does it feel to be a storyteller yourself?

This is a funny question, because although I have been telling stories in some fashion since I was a child, I didn’t consider myself a storyteller. I had always fancied myself a poet, and did not think short stories were a strength of mine. I hadn’t written a story before I penned the Nativity Story in December 2020, since I was in undergrad in 2007, and, in my opinion, even those weren’t very good.

We'll now talk about the creative processes that went on whilst this book was being written

How hard was it to write this book? Were you scared of MRAs or did you just plough ahead not caring?

It’s interesting you ask about MRA’s because they never entered my mind. I wrote this book to present women’s relationships with each other and the outside world as positive and supportive, and to change the way women have been portrayed and side-lined. Men are either absent altogether in these stories, or they are presented exactly as they are. I did not create any bad men that did not already exist. Bluebeard is exactly as he is in the original, as is Beast. The story of Adam refusing to share his power and equality with Lilith is the story. Joseph was ready to leave Mary had he not been visited by an angel, and I once heard a man preach from the pulpit one Christmas as a child, that Joseph was honourable for staying with Mary, as he did not have to. I simply took these already existing characters, and showed what that really looks like for women, when we live under that reality, and even more, the enduring strength of women relationships in navigating a world in which we have been relegated to inequality.

 

What's your take on the oppression, over-sexualization and general attitudes about women that prevail in today's world?

I think my book itself is a commentary on this. I made a point to not use the word “beautiful” anywhere in the book to describe any of the characters. I think we live in a world dominated by the male gaze, and so even this question rests on that foundation. Discussing the cultural impact of patriarchy isn’t something that can be condensed into a few sentences, but Lilith has some words about this in her story.

 

Tell us a little bit about the women who've inspired you

This is where I am supposed to write about famous women, but frankly, the women who have inspired me are my closest friends. My own mother is an incredible example of what it means to be a loving and supportive parent, and I am incredibly blessed to have her. There are many stories in this book where things characters have said or the love they’ve shown are drawn from my own mother’s love. So, the people who have inspired me are the women who have been steadfast and unwavering supports in my life. I couldn’t live this life without my women relationships.

If there is a message you're sending via this book and i ask you to write it down in a sentence not exceeding five words, your sentence would be?

Love, courage, and human connections prevail.

Do you believe your book will help a child respect both himself/herself/themselves and their elders?

I believe this book will help children find their own courage and strength, and learn to trust themselves. Characters in this book reclaim their agency, they are supported by women who love them, and they learn important lessons from friends, mentors, grandmothers, aunties, and mothers. I do think older women are presented in a very positive light, and many of the tropes about older women being jealous or vindictive towards younger women have been abandoned. This is as much a book for older people as it is for children. The older women in the book are supportive and accepting, and do not push their agendas, nor attempt to take agency away from younger characters. There are lessons to be learned for all ages.

Which story in the book is your favorite?

My personal favourite is Beauty and her Faith. The story of “Beauty and the Beast” has never been my favourite fairy tale, and like Faye, I judged Belle harshly for her choices. But the true lesson to be learned - that sometimes women simply have no good choices - is one many women can identify with.