Rules for writing a fairy tale. Fairy tale structure: how to learn to create magical stories

A fairy tale is a powerful weapon against bad mood, insomnia, and injustice. She is capable of re-educating, shaming, hinting. And what’s important is that anyone can compose it. How to do it? We will tell you how to write a fairy tale that will please, surprise and be remembered for a long time.

1. Develop your imagination.

In order to write a fairy tale, you need. The chances that it will come after a working day or while cleaning the house are small. Then where to look for it? The answer is clear – among children. Playing with them in the sandbox, observing their spontaneous behavior, you can begin to fantasize together. Children will definitely be inspired to think about how to write a fairy tale.

This is exactly what Alan Alexander Milne, the author of the famous story about Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh, once did. He was not a children's author, but playing with his son, listening to him and his ideas, the writer created a world-famous bestseller.

2. Choose a genre.

It is impossible to determine when fairy tales appeared, since they belonged to oral folk. They were told to young children in order to reason, educate, and convey an edifying message. Since then, all stories for children have been divided into three categories (genres).

• Magical– the plot contains magical objects or events (self-assembled tablecloth, transformations).
• About animals– the main characters are animals endowed with human qualities (the life of animals in a mitten).
• Social and household– people of different classes appear, everyday or social problems are raised (the story of the porridge with an ax).

Genres may overlap, but it is better to determine the main genre line in advance.

3. Think over the topic and main idea.

You need to think about what the fairy tale will be about. It is advisable to put the wording in one sentence, since specifics at the beginning of the work contribute to its advancement.

The peculiarity of fairy tales is that they must teach something. A fairy tale without a joke is like a joke without a funny ending.

But the teaching must be carefully veiled. That is, not speaking directly is bad, giving the little reader the opportunity to draw conclusions himself, to push him to them. When the theme, as well as the main idea, are determined, it will become clear how to write the fairy tale further.

4. Determine the target audience.

Books for adults do not have return restrictions; they do not say “recommended reading for people aged 30 to 40 or 50+.” But children's fairy tales are always designed for an audience of a certain age - preschoolers, primary school students, and so on.

Based on this, it will be easier to form the communication style of the characters and the level of complexity of their speech.

5. Create unique characters and unusual reality.

Baba Yaga, Koschey the Immortal, Puss in Boots are bright, interesting characters that a novice storyteller would be better off forgetting. An interesting, unique character with a fancy name is a guarantee that you will want to read the text.

What matters is the reality in which the characters will exist. It should be unlike anything else, original. Here you can give free rein by inventing, for example, houses with wings, honey roads or a land of pears.

It is worth imagining all the features of this world, every detail in the images of the characters. Children are very attentive readers; they will immediately notice a “blunder” or a contradiction.

How to write a fairy tale so that it is successful? Revive a unique hero and believe in him!

6. Come up with an interesting plot.

In order not to get confused in the events of your own narrative and to follow their logical course, you need to adhere to a certain composition.

• Introduction– interests the audience and encourages them to read the text further. Here we introduce readers to the main character and also give an idea of ​​what the story will be about.
• The beginning– the event that starts everything. The plot should intrigue and introduce you to the essence of what is happening.
• Development of action– in this part of the story the hero encounters obstacles and solves problems. The plot should be interesting and dynamic. Only in this mode will the child read to the main episode.
• Climax- This is the most intense and touching moment of the story. You need to make it so that it takes your breath away from worrying about the main character. How will he get out of this situation? What will it do? Will his true friends help him? What would I do? If there are so many questions in a small head, then the climax part is written perfectly.
• Conclusion– now the worst is behind us. Readers can only enjoy the victory, savor the triumph of good over evil.

Following this plan is how to write a fairy tale so that its plot develops consistently and logically.

7. Hone your writing skills.

To “catch the wave,” you can start by remaking several well-known fairy tales. Or write a fanfic for them (continued). An exercise called “Word Play” will help “stir up the imagination.” What is its meaning?

Here are the lines already written:

An evil wizard bewitched the castle, stealing the princess.

What if they could be mixed?

The evil castle stole the wizard and the princess.

Or like this:

The enchanted princess was looking for the wizard's castle.

This can be continued until a suitable option arises.

8. Stick to style.

• Do not use complex or overly long sentences.
• Avoid lyrical digressions and philosophical reasoning.
• Watch your vocabulary - do not use words that children do not understand.

Adults pick up children's books to distract themselves and... And children listen to them in order to be transported to other worlds.

This process should take place unnoticed by them. How to write a fairy tale in such a way as to achieve this? Read and reread your own text, improving it.

9. Come up with a name.

It is best to name your work when it is finished. The plot may change during writing, so there is no need to rush.

10. It's all in the details.

Good conquers evil.

This is one of the main features of this type of creativity. Why this happened, the opinions of philologists differ. This topic can be discussed, but the law cannot be broken. The ending must be good.

Magic numbers.

When the numbers 3, 7, 12 appear in a fairy tale, they cease to be ordinary. These numbers are real symbols. They add an intriguing mystery to the story: 3 questions, 3 tests, 3 heroes, and so on.

True friend.

The main character needs an assistant who will give hints and help in difficulties. You can make it funny. This is a real trend in modern stories. For example, the donkey from the cartoon "Shrek". Making people laugh and supporting them in trouble are the two main functions of such a character.

Means of artistic expression.

Without hyperbole (exaggeration), antithesis (contrast), constant epithets (the beautiful maiden), vivid comparisons, it will not be possible to create a colorful speech atmosphere. Their role in the text is very important, since it is the means of artistic expression that form our images. A person who wants to learn how to write a fairy tale needs to master this artistic weapon.

Author's position.

How to write a fairy tale? It’s quite simple if you have the desire, develop it and have enough time. By following our advice, you can create a unique, interesting story that will become a favorite for many.

The fairy tale is the most beloved genre of literature by both writers and readers. Fairy tales are written for children, teenagers and adults. Fairy tales for children are usually extremely simple, with a clear message and moral, a clear division of characters into “good” and “bad”. Works for older children are deeper and more ambiguous, raising complex topics and stimulating them to think. Well, fairy tales for adults are a completely separate subgenre, which is worth talking about separately. Today’s article is a site about how to correctly write fairy tales for a children’s audience.

Features of a modern fairy tale

In a literary fairy tale there is always an element of something unusual - magical objects, fictional worlds and creatures, unusual events, etc. People can fly there, animals can talk, furniture can come to life... The incredible thing that happens is limited only by the author’s imagination.

As a rule, in a fairy-tale book there is a villain who plots intrigues against the main character and his friends. In the finale, good, as usual, triumphs: evil is punished, and all the positive characters begin to live happily ever after.

However, in our age of post-postmodernism, many storytellers (primarily those whose works are aimed at teenagers) try to avoid this traditional scheme. They reinterpret classic stories and change the usual rules of the game.

Thus, in some stories there are no negative characters at all. A canonical example is books about the Moomins and Prostokvashino. After all, Morra and the postman Pechkin cannot be seriously considered villains.

In addition, negative characters often become the main characters from whose point of view everything that happens is presented. They, as a rule, evoke sympathy and sympathy, in contrast to the cloying and always correct goodies.

True, all this usually does not refer to completely children's fairy tales. They are modernized to be interesting to today's children, but at the same time follow traditions - the victory of good over evil, a guaranteed happy ending, clear morality, etc.

How to start writing a fairy tale

First of all you need:

1. Choose a main theme, a leitmotif around which the plot will revolve or which will become the starting point for its development. It could be something quite ordinary - for example, relationships between family members or a trip to the sea. But this must be approached from an unexpected angle. The theme could also be something more original - a treasure hunt, a found magic wand, or an acquaintance with a magician.
2. Decide where the action will take place. In most fairy-tale works, all events take place in a fictional world, which can be completely independent (the country of the shorties from the adventures of Dunno) or be part of ours (the world of wizards in Potter). Also, the arena for the development of the plot can be a familiar reality, where something unprecedented begins to happen (“Mary Poppins”).
3. Come up with bright characters - heroes and villains. The protagonists can be ordinary people to whom some magical event happened, talking animals, magical creatures, etc. The main thing is that the public follows their adventures with interest and worries about them. The antagonist can also be an ordinary person who has taken the path of evil, or a powerful sorcerer.
4. Write an intriguing first line. Look at how the main bestsellers of recent years begin: “When I was young, there were dragons in the world,” “The Wilkinson family suddenly turned into ghosts,” “Bertha the Fox felt unhappy. Life was ending before it even began.” Try to come up with the same catchy beginning, after which you will immediately want to know about dragons, and about the Wilkinsons, and about Bertha’s misadventures.

Learning to write a fairy tale

Many today's writers boldly ignore the golden rules of storytellers. But many writers adhere to them, preferring the good old traditions to postmodernism. Among these traditions, for example, is simple and understandable language. Although some adults also enjoy reading children's fairy tales, their main audience is still very young.

Therefore, sentences with confusing construction, hard-to-read words and unclear terms should be avoided. Complex language is a completely unnecessary element of a fairy-tale text. More attention should be paid to the characters, action and magical surroundings.

The moral in a modern fairy tale is not presented directly, but is usually present. The works emphasize the importance of family, friends, justice and all kinds of positive qualities - mercy, responsiveness, etc.

It is advisable to come up with a happy ending for your book, when the antagonist gets what he deserves, and all the problems and hardships of the protagonist end. The main character gets what he was looking for, and usually learns valuable life lessons in the process.

If the fairy tale is supposed to continue in the future, after the happy ending you can write an afterword in which the defeated villain swears revenge or a new, even stronger and more dangerous enemy appears.

An old fairy tale in a new way

The fashion for remaking classic fairy-tale plots appeared quite a long time ago. Most often, a new perspective on well-known stories is given in fairy tales for adults. But children's storytellers also love to take some old work and breathe new life into it, modernizing the old text or writing about all the events from a different angle.

In postmodern books, princesses, carried away by dragons into high towers, make friends with their captors, handsome princes turn out to be scoundrels, and evil witches and sorcerers turn into strong personalities misunderstood by society, who in reality only wish the best for everyone.

In addition, the classic plot can be revived by changing the time and place of action or the images of the characters. For example, Ivanushka the Fool can become a seventh-grader Vanya, who caught a magic pike while fishing, and Little Red Riding Hood can become a pizza delivery girl making deliveries to a dangerous area.

Having turned on your imagination at full capacity, all that remains is to transfer your ideas to paper and create a full-fledged manuscript. And about how and where to attach it, read the material on the website. This video will also tell you how to write a fairy tale:

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Do you want to be surrounded by miracles? Are you willing to create magic yourself? Then become a good storyteller! And if you don’t know how to write a fairy tale, this article was created especially for you!

Where to start a fairy tale

Come up with characters for your fairy tale: good and evil, main characters and minor ones. Think over their features, their “zest”. There are no halftones in a fairy tale: the world is divided into black and white, good and bad. And the main character should definitely evoke sympathy, even if he is a fool, like Ivan, or a lazy person, like Emelya. And anyone and anything can become a hero - there is complete scope for imagination. Remember your first fairy tales: “Kolobok”, “Ryaba the Hen”, “Turnip”. The characters can be more intricate, as in modern fairy tales. You can create your own unique hero! Actually, it is with its definition, a certain characteristic, that the plot of a fairy tale begins. “Who, where, when lived” - you can follow this scheme.

Calm notes give way to intriguing ones: some unexpected event happens, from which bright, incredible adventures with miracles, transformations, and magical objects begin for the main character! The main part of the tale is devoted to this story. The hero completes tasks and overcomes obstacles. And his friends help him with this - magical assistants (a classic example is the Little Humpbacked Horse). But a fairy tale can also be calmer, while remaining instructive and wise. For example, in the children's fairy tale "Teremok", in fact, no adventures occur. But the fairy tale teaches us friendship, help, responsiveness, and also hard work: together we can move mountains or build a new tower. But if you want your fairy tale to be listened to with your mouth open, get ready for an intricate plot with a chase and miracles. At some point it becomes scary, and then it becomes fun. The hero may be on the verge of death, but living water will come to the rescue or a faithful assistant will be right there: a fairy-tale hero does not burn in fire and does not drown in water.

In order to correctly write a fairy tale, use stylistic devices: triple repetitions, exaggerations (hyperbole), oppositions (antithesis: “big and small”, “thick and thin”) and, of course, decorating definitions (epithets: “wise”, “beautiful” "). This creates a traditional fairy-tale atmosphere and allows you to characterize the characters.

The fairy tale is not written in the same words, in the same syllable as an ordinary essay. And that is why it is read in one breath. And it’s also easy to remember!

Stress point

In any fairy tale, sooner or later the most intense moment occurs - the climax, when good and evil directly collide or when the hero faces the most serious test. But no matter what befalls him, good invariably triumphs over evil. This is perhaps the most important fairy tale law. This is stated in the denouement: “And they began to live and live well and make good things” or “And they lived happily ever after” - traditional happy fairy tale endings. You don’t have to put an end to your fairy tale (an open ending), let everyone speculate on how it might end. Or maybe your fairy tale will have a continuation?

We hope you have decided how to write an essay - a fairy tale, and will soon be able to delight your little readers with a new story. And if you can still create illustrations and design your creation, your fairy tale will have no price! I wish you creative success and inspiration!

01.01.2017

You asked: “Help me write a fairy tale?” Because you want to learn how to write a fairy tale yourself.

• Your children are 4-7 years old
• Are you new to writing fairy tales?
• Do you need a simple technique for composing fairy tales?
• Do you want to enjoy the development process of your children?

The good news is that by following my tips, you will learn how to write little fairy tales for your children. You will definitely succeed if you follow simple rules. If you go step by step.

So, let's go!

1. You need a fairy tale hero or heroine

Write a fairy tale about a person, animal, plant or any object: a toy, a teapot, a spoon, a light bulb, a table, a tablet. About everything that catches your eye or comes to mind. If you wish, you can revive anything, even natural phenomena. But people or animals most often act as the main characters in fairy tales.

What do you think is most important for a hero?

Of course, his character and appearance.

Think about what your hero is like

He's funny? Smart? Brave? Beautiful?

Also don't forget to come up with small flaws

It is small? Shy? Are you often lazy? Stubborn?

Creating a character in a little fairy tale can take some time. But if you get a convincing hero or heroine who evokes sympathy and a desire to help him, then half the battle is done. By the way, an invented character can be made the hero of a variety of stories.

Use these building blocks to create the character of the hero of your fairy tale.

As you understand, one hero or heroine is not enough for a fairy tale.

Place the hero of your short fairy tale in a specific time and space

Consider whether your story takes place in a real or fictional world.

Now? A long time ago? Or in the distant future?

How long will it take the hero to overcome all difficulties and achieve his goal?

A day, a few years, a century?

Place your character in a familiar or, conversely, unusual environment.

Keep it simple. You can, for example, place the hero in your apartment and imagine a living room filled with cozy armchairs and sofas with cushions. Or the kitchen. Or a nursery. Or a yard.

Remember to include all your senses. And to do this, go inside your hero or heroine and imagine.

Please note that most fairy tales of all times use the idea of ​​"a lady in trouble" or "a boy in trouble." These ideas always work!

Write what happened to the main character

• unusual phenomenon
• the villain conjured something,
• some action shifted the balance,
• disease,
• stealing something vital,
• a loss,
• poverty and the need to survive,
• a task to save or protect someone, perhaps the whole world.

Come up with goals

• solve a small or big problem,
• reach some destination as a result of travel,
• help yourself, a family member or simply save a person,
• fulfill the dream,
• get an answer to a question
• break the spell
• to cure or to be cured?
• find a friend or loved one.

  5. Your little fairy tale should have a happy ending.

Even though we don't always get what we want in real life, the world of fairy tales makes us believe that anything is possible.

Try these ideas:

• the main character of the fairy tale saves himself, his family or someone else,
• the hero solves the puzzle and reveals the secret,
• the main character overcomes obstacles and his character or character trait changes,
• the main character becomes happier, richer, smarter, he has friends.

Now you can start introducing the tale

Use the classic openings: “Once upon a time,” “In one country far, far away,” “Once upon a time,” and the like.

Or make up your own: “The Legend Speaks” or “Deep in the Heart of the Forest.”

Choose a point of view for your story

How will you tell your tale: in the first, second or third person?

As a storyteller, you can be directly involved in the action or provide only objective information about how the characters in the story act and what happens to them.

Make sure that the text of the fairy tale you composed is appropriate for the child’s age.

For children V age from 3 to 5 years use simple themes.

The hero did not know something and thanks to simple actions he found out. The hero was sad, but became cheerful. Someone was greedy, but thanks to the actions of the hero, he became kind. The hero corrected the injustice, made friends with other characters, saved the character and made him smile. I lost something, but as a result of my actions I found it.

For children agedfrom 5 to 7 years You can make the topics more complex.

Add villains, let the hero overcome three, not one, difficult situations. Add evil magic to your fairy tale, include the hero’s rebellious actions: disobedience, running away from home for adventure, committing a forbidden act. Weave morality into the story, summarized in proverbs and sayings.

And before we move on to the examples, get your GIFT!

A book with educational games for children 5-7 years old!

Examples of how to write a fairy tale yourself

And now - examples of magical stories and pictures for visual warm-up. Start with a small fairy tale. And in order to open the doors of your imagination, look at photographs and pictures. Let your imagination run wild.

My favourite dog

This story was written by a mother together with her five-year-old son, whose dog died. The son told his dream, and his mother took dictation.

A Tale of Butterflies

- Mommy, where did butterflies come from? - I ask.

And she tells me.

One day in the fall, a Wizard watched children playing on the lawn. The children laughed and had fun, but the wizard was sad. I was sad because I saw how time was passing, taking with it people, flowers and all the beauty of the world to other worlds.

“We need to preserve the beauty here on earth for people,” thought the Wizard.
He took out a magic box and began to put sunbeams, the blue of the sky, the glare of flowers, children's laughter, and the breath of wind into it.
When the children went to bed and the clearing was empty, the wizard opened the box. A light rhythmic rustling filled the air, and beautiful butterflies fluttered everywhere where the gaze penetrated.

“Fly to a magical land to your Queen,” said the wizard. - Now your purpose is to give people beauty.

The butterfly kingdom is hidden among the impenetrable jungle and high rocks. There are many wonderful fragrant flowers and herbs, clear lakes and crystal waterfalls. It's summer all the time here and the sun shines all year round. This wonderful country is ruled by the beautiful and kind Queen of Butterflies. She is very beautiful, cheerful and joyful.