Cold

This week in the Cold, we wrap up our ongoing autopsy of the fairytale genre, as well as finish the fairytale we have been building chapter by chapter from scratch. Although like many, if not all fairytales, the end can signify a new beginning. That beginning might be assured – with the time-immortal words “And they lived happily ever after,” or it might be more ambiguous...

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://victoriadougherty.wordpress.com/2021/06/18/and-so-we-come-to-the-end/

This week in the Cold, we continue our autopsy of the fairytale, focusing on the quest. In most fairytales, at least the ones that really capture our imaginations in a lasting, generations-long manner, a lover – often a prince or princess – must go on a quest. He or she has to perform a series of trials in order to prove worthy, not only of true love, but of a kingdom they are poised to inherit – whether that be a literal kingdom, an actual realm in a fictious country, or a place in God’s kingdom. The Brother’s Grimm tended to focus on the the former, while Hans Christian Andersen had a far more spiritual approach.

Both interpretations are dramatic, exciting, and virtually irresistible. And damn it, not only are we going to examine what makes them so, but we're going to write a quest that'll blow you away!

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://victoriadougherty.wordpress.com/2021/05/28/to-hell-and-back-the-role-of-the-quest-in-fairytales/

This week in the Cold we continue our autopsy of the fairytale genre, focusing on the role of the friend. The friend, in any fairytale worth its salt, is instrumental in conquering evil and often acts as love's handmaiden. He clears the path for a pair of would-be lovers, so that order and prosperity can be restored to the realm. We are also continuing to write our own fairytale and building on our examinations of the tropes that are crucial in creating a great story that withstands the test of time. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://victoriadougherty.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/in-fairytales-friendship-is-instrumental-in-conquering-evil/

This week in the Cold, we're tackling the love stories that are the heart-center of every fairytale. Whether it's a platonic love, like the one between the siblings in Hansel and Gretel, or a romantic love like in Sleeping Beauty, all fairytales are love stories. And as we continue in our endeavor to build our own fairytale from scratch, we have a big decision to make. Will our lovers live happily ever after, or is there a darker, more complex lesson in their love story?  At the end of this episode - you'll get to vote how our tale with end!

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://victoriadougherty.wordpress.com/2021/05/07/and-they-lived-happily-ever-after-maybe/

 This week in the Cold, we talk about the moral center of every story, and how in fairytales, curses and choices play a primary role in constructing that moral. As we continue to build our own fairytale, we're playing with the importance of these moral choices, too. How a fairytale’s protagonists are shaped by their responses to curses, magical forces, and plain old bum luck. Through their actions and inactions, they teach us, the reader, how the choices we make today, will build the lives we will live tomorrow. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://victoriadougherty.wordpress.com/2021/04/23/curses-and-choices-the-moral-center-of-every-fairytale/

This week in the Cold, we’re continuing our autopsy of the fairytale genre, as well as the construction, from the ground up, of a brand new tale of magic, morality, and love, titled “Romakaji.” The role of magic is at the center of our episode, so get ready to be bewitched.

All fairytales have an enchantment at their core, and the most memorable include some manner of sorceress casting spells and creating mayhem, right? Like putting a princess to sleep, feeding a poisoned apple to a step-daughter, turning a handsome, young lad into a frog or a beast. Evil Queens, witches, and fairy godmothers change the course of a maiden’s life, most often entangling her lover in their mischief, providing obstacles, but also opportunities for a smitten pair to show their devotion to one another, to demonstrate their worthiness of true love. 

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://victoriadougherty.wordpress.com/2021/04/16/witches-and-enchantments/

This week in the Cold, we venture into our third episode focusing on the fairytale genre. Not only are we writing our own fairytale, using all of the common tropes we loved as kids, and let's face it, still fall for as adults, but we're trying to figure out just what makes each of these tropes so compelling. Probably the most popular trope of is the damsel in distress. Writing a damsel in distress is tricky business. Damsels must be beautiful, have a moral dimension, and a memorable backstory. Most often, they are cursed, so they come with a lot of trouble. In other words, this is going to be fun.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://victoriadougherty.wordpress.com/2021/04/09/damsels-in-distress-and-dysfunction/

The moment a stranger enters a story there is a seismic shift, and reader or audience member knows things will never be the same...for good or ill. This week in the Cold, we examine the role of the stranger. How a stranger is introduced, and the way he is woven into a story. We then weave a stranger into our continuing story...the fairytale we've been writing by the seats of our pants. Please join us for this second chapter of "Romakaji." This episode is also available as a blog post: https://victoriadougherty.wordpress.com/2021/03/26/strange-stories-and-the-strangers-who-inhabit-them/

This week in the Cold, we talk about how our very surroundings inspire us creatively, and how a change in our environment can find us walking new paths, dreaming new dreams, and conjuring stories we'd never entertained writing before. This happened to me recently, and I hadn't even left my house. I only contemplated doing so, staring at a picture of an old, stone cottage in the Cotswolds in England. Before I knew it, I was writing a fairytale...

 This episode is also available as a blog post: https://victoriadougherty.wordpress.com/2021/03/19/come-dream-with-me/

This week in The Cold, we're talking about S-E-X from the ground up. From the way teens (at least the ones I eavesdrop on during carpool) view their own budding sexuality, to how our choices affect our lives in the long term, to the manners in which we interpret all of the conflicting information about sex and love, all the way to what we read about this monumentally important topic and why. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://victoriadougherty.wordpress.com/2018/05/04/eavesdropping-on-teens-as-they-talk-about-sex/