Welcome back to our week-long celebration of Five Enchanted Roses and the amazing authors who made this collection worthwhile. Today we are featuring Jenelle Schmidt, whose clever story, "Stone Curse," is delighting readers with its unexpected plot twists and endearing characters . . .


INTRODUCINGJENELLE SCHMIDT

How did you find out about the Five Enchanted Roses contest?   Jenelle Schmidt: I found out about the Five Enchanted Roses contest because I was waiting anxiously for the announcement. In 2013, I had posted a short snippet of a fairy tale retelling I was sort of playing around with for “The Princess and the Glass Hill.” Anne Elisabeth emailed me and asked if I had ever thought of doing other retellings and informed me of the contest Rooglewood was hosting for a Cinderella retelling. I submitted a story for that and - even though I didn’t win - really enjoyed working on a shorter project and being able to finish a rough draft in less than a month.
When Rooglewood Pressannounced the following year that the fairy tale would be "Beauty and the Beast," I had already decided I wasn’t going to enter. I didn’t think I had time. However, my imagination had other ideas and the glimmering of a plot began to smolder in the corner of my mind. Eventually, the plot and characters began to clamor for more attention, and I realized that I was going to enter the contest after all.

 Did your story idea spring immediately to mind or did you have to work to find the right tale to tell?
Jenelle Schmidt: The basic gist of the story came together pretty quickly and all at once. I wanted it to be pretty different from the original, while still having a lot of familiar settings and themes. I wrote the first two scenes in rapid succession, conquering over 2,000 words in an afternoon. 

After that, everything came to a screeching halt. Who had cast the curse on the prince? And why had they done it? And how could it be broken? Without knowing those things, the story could not progress, and I was stumped for weeks. I would sit down to write and absolutely nothing would happen. I would write a scene to take the story in one direction and then give up after a few hundred words, aware that what I had written was all wrong and could not work. I was starting to get desperate, and beginning to think I wouldn’t finish this story in time.

Finally, my husband (my knight in shining armor!) came to my rescue. We had already discussed the story a few times, but now he sat down with me and we spent a few evenings just talking about the story and wrestling with the outline and plot. He kept asking me, "Why? Why was the curse cast? Who cast the curse? How will the curse be broken?" It was that last question that finally unlocked the door to the way the story had to play out. And once Derek suggested the character of Ritter, the rest of the outline fell into place and the story began to take shape. It wasn't always perfectly smooth sailing from there on out, but I didn't run into any more brick walls.

What makes this retelling of the classic tale uniquely special to you?
Jenelle Schmidt: There are a myriad of reasons this story is special to me. First is the character of Karyna. I struggled with her a lot and had a hard time getting her just right. I had to do a lot of character development for her during the edits, trying to figure out what motivated her, why she thought and felt and acted the way she did. The breakthrough came when I realized that she shared a personality type with my sister-in-law, whom I love, but who is also very different than me. Once I could “see” Karyna, she began to grow into a more well-developed person, and I was able to write her much more clearly.
Another thing was that I just really enjoyed getting to write a completely different version of "Beauty and the Beast." I liked “fixing” some of the plot holes that are inherent to the Disney version (for example, if you do a little math, you realize that in the Disney cartoon, the prince is cursed at the age of eleven for not letting a creepy old woman into his house on a dark and stormy night - a decision I always thought his parents would have applauded). I also had a lot of fun adding my twists; I got to “break the rules” of the story while still holding true to the idea and themes of the original.
And finally, this story is dear to my heart because I wrote it for my children. I have three precious kiddos, two of whom are beautiful little girls who love fairy tales and dressing up and pretending to be princesses. (The youngest is still a baby, so he’s not much into stories or games of imagination . . . yet!) But I am excited to share this story with all three of them, and I hope they enjoy it. I hope it inspires them. Because while many of my readers may envision my life as this glamorous series of author photo shoots, sitting in my writing cave furiously typing away, or receiving boxes of books on a daily basis... the reality is that I am a mom first, author second. My life is mostly full of listening to the thoughts and dreams of two little girls, looking at interesting leaves with a magnifying glass, exploring the back yard, building fairy gardens, learning letters, rocking, cuddling, teaching, and playing. Writing is what I do when all the children are sleeping. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. The writing is hard to get done with three little munchkins running around, but without them, I know I wouldn’t write nearly as much.

If you had to pick a favorite fairy tale, which would it be and why?
Jenelle Schmidt: I love fairy tales. My grandpa gave me a book of the more obscure ones when I was five or six, and I just fell in love with them. I never really thought about which fairy tale was my favorite, though there were several I would read over and over again. "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," "The Goose Girl," "The Snow Queen," "Rapunzel," and "The Princess on the Glass Hill." I tended to lean towards the stories that were a bit more obscure - though I also loved the more familiar tales: "Beauty and the Beast," "Cinderella," and "Sleeping Beauty."
Still enjoying the book of fairy tales my grandfather gave me!I’d say that if I absolutely had to choose, though, I’d go with the "Twelve Dancing Princesses." Something about that story always intrigued me. I enjoyed the mystery of it, the open-ended nature (which allows for quite the variety of retellings), the magical realm that the princesses venture out to every night. It was my love of adventure which first drew me to this story and captured my heart. 
When I was little, my cousins were my best friends, and whenever we had sleep-overs at their house we would determine to stay up until all our parents were asleep and then slip out of the house to have an “adventure.” They lived on a very large piece of land, with a creek running through the middle of it. It was the perfect place to have large games of Capture the Flag. Most nights, we fell asleep before we got to go adventuring, but once in a while we would manage to stay awake. Our adventures never took us to magical realms, but our imaginations definitely did. 
Even as an adult, I still enjoy a good adventure. My early love of fairy tales turned easily into a love of fantasy and science fiction. Those genres are replete with daring exploits and thrilling escapades. It can be hard to experience those things in the midst of every day life, especially when you’ve got three very small children to keep track of. Most of the time, I am content to enjoy that sort of excitement through reading books and watching movies. However, every now and then I do get a chance to experience a bit of that adventure my soul longs for.

Keeping in mind the many themes of the classic fairy tale, have you ever experienced a "Beauty and the Beast" moment in your life?
Jenelle Schmidt: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8. One of the reasons I love the story of Beauty and the Beast is the number of Biblical themes running through it. Beauty’s father, for example, has always seemed to me to be a type of Job character - through no fault of his own, he loses everything. Then there is the sacrificial love displayed by both the father and Beauty, each willing to die in the other’s stead. And finally, there is the Beast, who must be loved before he appears lovable in order for the curse to be broken.
We are all, at some point, like the Beast. Unlovable and incapable of love. Like the Beast, we wear a curse, and we cannot free ourselves from it. Just like Beauty must love the Beast while he is still under the curse, while he is still ugly and scary, Christ loved us while we were still sinners. In the midst of our rebellion, he died for us - and His love is the only thing that can break the curse of sin.
I would have to say that the most profound “Beauty and the Beast” moment in my life came on the day I realized and understood that I could not climb up to Jesus on my own. That I was under a curse, and I could not lift it on my own. On that day, I accepted the gift of Jesus’ love for me, despite my beastliness. And it was on that day that I, like the Beast of the fairy tale, began to be transformed into something beautiful.
___________________ 
 
 JENELLE SCHDMIT grew up in the northern-midwest. She now resides with her husband and their three adorable children in North Carolina where the summers are too hot and there is never enough snow. Jenelle fell in love with reading at a young age during family storytimes. To this day she enjoys creating exciting adventure tales filled with poignant themes and compelling characters in the fantasy and sci-fi genres.  



GIVEAWAY!

 In honor of this exciting release, the authors of Five Enchanted Roses have teamed up with Rooglewood Press to offer an exciting Giveaway Bundle for one lucky winner! Included in the bundle will be:
1 print copy of Five Enchanted Roses
1 "Book of Omens" red leather journal from Kaycee Browning1 Lilla Rose cameo hair clip from Savannah Jezowski1 pressed rose bookmark from Jenelle Schmidt1 pair of jaguar sunglasses from Dorian Tsukioka1 gorgeous rose and pearl necklace
If you would like to enter your name for a chance to win this awesome bundle, here's what you do:
 Share any of the following images (or any of the images from our Launch Week Celebration) on your social media sites -- Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, blogs, etc.
For every image that you share, copy a link and compile all your links into a list. Send your link list in an email to David Cross ([email protected]) using the subject header: "Five Enchanted Roses Giveaway." Be sure to send him your links NO LATER THAN MONDAY, AUGUST 3. The winner will be selected later that week.

You may also gain one free entry by leaving a comment for Jenelle down below, congratulating her on her new story or asking her a question about "Stone Curse."
  Have fun spreading the news about this awesome new collection from Rooglewood Press!
 




  __________________
Don't forget to purchase your copy of Five Enchanted Roses today! Add the book to your Goodreads shelves and let your reader friends know how much you enjoy these beautiful tales.