J. A. Armitage Interview

1) What fairytale(s) have you chosen to retell and why?
I’ve done many fairytale retellings including 52 books worth of retellings this year. Next year I’ll be releasing a fairytale retelling boxset and in that I’ll be writing Alice in Wonderland with a co-author. My first fairytale retelling came out in 2017. It was based on Cinderella.

2) What makes your story unique?
I like to give twists to each of my fairytales. The Charm series that was based on Cinderella was actually about Prince Charming, or Princess Charmaine as she was in the books. I swapped the gender. The 52 books I’m releasing this year are not retellings as such, but are after the ever after. They are told from the point of view of the children of the famous fairytale characters, eighteen years after the ever after. as for the Alice retelling. I’m writing it with J.A. Culican, so it is bound to involve dragons somewhere in it.

3) What was your favorite fairytale growing up and why?
I had a fairytale compendium. It was such a thick book. There isn’t one particular fairytale I liked the most, but if I had to pick. I’d probably choose twelve dancing princesses. I always looked like a boy as a kid, (My parents made me keep my hair short and I hated it) so I loved the stories of pretty dresses and balls.

4) Who was your favorite villain?
I wouldn’t say it was a villain, but I loved the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. He didn’t hurt alice, but he wasn’t exactly helpful either. as a child, I did what I was supposed to and hated all the villains. As an adult, I can see most of their points of view, haha.

5) Is this a standalone or do you have more books planned?
I’m releasing a fairytale a week this year. Every Wednesday, one of my Kingdom of Fairytales books comes out. They were co-authored by some amazing authors and feature everyone’s favorite fairytales. If you want to find out more about any of my projects, visit the Kingdom of Fairytales page on Facebook.

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