Earlier this month, I interviewed author Paul Jameson for the Storytelling Blog about his work. Today he provides a fresh perspective on one of my favorite types of story: Fairy tales, myths, and legends. 

According to his Amazon author profile, Paul writes “for the dark and quirky, the strange that makes you think. Brought up on Dahl, Du Maurier, Tolkien, and Poe, Paul is a cross-genre author, predominantly within the fantasy and crime genres, whose work carries a strong folk-horror motif. There are overtures to nature, folklore, paganism, and fairy tales in stories that explore the liminal edges of a wild wood or the urban cityscapes where monsters still lurk.” 

Fairy Tales, Myths, and Legends: What’s The Difference?

One question sure to evoke a heated debate and quiet furor on Twitter is, “What make a tale a myth as opposed to a legend as opposed to a fairy tale?” Personally, I think there are two ways to think about the answer: academic and popular.

Academic View Of Fairy Tales, Myths, and Legends 

The academic is the purist answer, it being one of rules and boundaries that enable research and study: the categorization of stories into understood boxes. By this definition, at its simplest, legend is a folkloric story or tale that has real or imagined roots in a known historical era, time or period, such as King Arthur. Myth, on the other hand, is often foundational; the bedrock of a religious or societal belief introduced by gods and godlike figures. These tales tend to be “before” or “outside” time and history, although that is not always the case. 

Then, to confuse it the more, we have fairy tales and folk stories. These may fall into either legend or myth, or indeed be constructs entirely of their own making. Such tales tend to contain “new” fictional or fantastical elements away from the real world but might also draw on inspiration and characters from real historical times or place. Thus, the formal lines are blurred, complicated, even from an academic standpoint.

Hence such lively debate;
So ends my basic understanding of the academic.

Popular View Of Fairy Tales, Myths, And Legends

And so, we come then to what might be called the “popular” understanding of myth and legend, folk stories, fairy tales, and ghostly goings on. For me, as an author, this is the more important definition. It knows no boundaries and is constrained only by the imagination of an artist and their audience. It is a space where the academic holds little sway, “for the people, by the people;” where tales are read or whispered, believed, and pictured in the mind’s eye. Ghosts and gods are real, beyond sight, and the kings and queens, witches, warlocks and warriors all still walk the world.

By this definition magic holds hands with nature, and monsters move in the shadows. Such tales can be traditional or modern, pastoral, suburban, or industrial. After the telling, graveyards are scary and alleys, hurried down. Abandoned buildings, feared, and forests, scuttled through. From out of books or told over pints in a pub, definitions don’t matter, and the rules are there to be broken.

Legend, myth, fairy tale, or fancy—all are freely interchangeable.
Here, the Otherworld is just around the corner;
Hiding in the shadows,
And under beds…

The only things that matters in this definition are that stories poke an audience’s imagination and become real and believed, even if but for an instant. This, for an author and artist of new works, is the most important definition. Maybe, in time, their work will be believed and join a rich tapestry of folklore.

Emotional And Social Roots Of Story

People study the historical and sociological roots of folktales from an academic perspective, people far better qualified than I to discuss the expression of our modern anxieties and fears through new folktales. 

That being said, as an author, I think any fiction—from old fables to modern fairy tales, speculative to romance, science fiction to horror and beyond—undoubtedly reflect some aspect of society and the times they’re written in. This might be a conscious or unconscious decision by the author, but I think it’s impossible for an artist to disassociate completely from the world around them. What has made and molded them will, in my opinion, seep into their work.

Thus, any work will have something to tell about the time in which it’s written, but what that is will be down to each reader’s own interpretation—rightly or wrongly—and this is what makes art such a unique experience to everyone involved.

Fairy Tales And Modern Fiction

Successfully incorporating legendary material into story comes back to academic and popular definitions for me, and what you as a writer are trying to achieve. Is it a “science” or an “art” that you’re creating?

If you’re writing in boxes, educating people about myth and legend, or separating fact from fiction, then you’re going to really need to understand and stick to academic definitions and form. In this context you’ll need to understand the impost of cultural ownership and history. Sensitivity will be required.

 If, however, you see your writing as an artistic endeavor, I think pretty much anything goes. You are the artist and you are creating. You have an intended audience and the sensitivities of others might become secondary. There will always be people who “don’t get,” “don’t like,” or “are offended” by your art.

That’s OK.
It’s art.  

Similarly, when incorporating legendary material into fiction there will always be clever purists who claim you’re wrong. In this context they “don’t get” fiction. It’s the imagined you’re playing with, and it’s there to be repainted, remolded, and reimagined anew as an artist. There is no right or wrong, only what the artist wants to achieve.

Necessary And Representative?

That said though, I do try to be sensitive to others, be it cultural misappropriation or other aspects of life, such as gender or disability representation. I always question myself, “Is what I’m including necessary to the overall context, and is it representative (irrespective of whether people ‘like’ that representation or not) of the real world?”

Whatever is included has to help achieve what I want as an artist—be that an underlying message, feeling, delivery, or change in perspective of the reader—be that known or unknown to them. But as I’ve already said, you can’t please everyone, in life, art, or fiction, and authors do well to remember that. It’s OK.

Paul Jameson’s books and stories are available on Amazon.com. Visit his website, and follow Paul on Twitter, Goodreads, and Facebook.

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