The Worlds of Ashley Stangl

Hello, everyone! Remember me? Yes, I'm still alive. I've just been too busy to blog or to write much. But my schedule has cleared up for a while, giving me more time to blog...and to write. I've seen The Writer's Tag on plenty of blogs, and most recently saw it on Hamlette's blog . I want this blog to be more than tags, but I've been meaning to make some posts about writing, so this seems like a good way to start.  Without further ado... 1. What genres, styles, and topics do you write about? I write science fiction and fantasy, especially fairy tale retellings. I would like to write in other genres, but I find that a story idea has to have a fun worldbuilding element in order to maintain my interest. Even my contemporary ideas have a fairy tale connection for my imagination to seize upon. I write mostly in past-tense third-person-limited, but I’ve also done past-tense first-person, first-person epistolary, and a fragment of second-person future-tens...

A couple weeks ago, Hamlette at Hamlette's Soliloquy nominated me for a Liebster Award, with the following rules. 1. Answer the 11 questions given by the person who nominated you. 2. Nominate other bloggers (up to 11) and give them 11 questions to answer.  The questions look fun, and after a busy couple of weeks, I finally have the time to answer them, so here goes! 1.  Are there any movies you like better than the books they were based on? I first watched the 1995 Sense and Sensibility not long after I'd read the novel, and I was obnoxious in hating on all the ways it differed from the book, but a couple of years ago, I watched the movie again and adored it. Sense and Sensibility is my least favorite Jane Austen novel, and the movie improves upon the book in so many ways. The romance between Elinor and Edward feels real, important and emotional.  Colonel Brandon gets to perform a big romantic gesture for Marianne that outdoes Willoughby's, and their ma...

I love when books cater specifically to my tastes.  Lately, I've been wishing for more mysteries set in fantasy worlds.  Then, suddenly, I see this beautiful cover on Amazon, and find Masque by W.R. Gingell , an ebook (currently free) that's a fantasy, a murder mystery, and a fairy tale retelling .  Specifically, "Beauty and the Beast".  Watching Beauty and her Beast solve a mystery together?  I could not buy this book fast enough. Even so, I kept my expectations tempered.  Fairy tale retellings, though they're one of my favorite genres, are often not great literature.  Independently published fairy tale retellings are often especially amateurish, with thinly drawn settings and characters, as though simply throwing in the right symbols and plot points should be enough to satisfy the reader.  I expected, at best, for Masque to be a faintly drawn fantasy, with vaguely pleasant characters and just enough plot to keep me motivated to reach the la...