Written by Jimena Romero
The Miami Book Fair is just around the corner! With multiple virtual panels by authors lined up, the fair will take place from November 15th to the 22nd. The fair will feature many authors and will allow you to watch these talented writers talk about their works. These panels, available for all ages and addressing a wide range of topics, will surely inspire you and make your day.
In the meantime, the Culture Shock Miami Student Council is here to warm you up for the week ahead of us! We had the pleasure of interviewing one of the featured talented YA writers in the event: Elizabeth Lim. We bring you today an exclusive on her most recent book, So This Is Love: A Twisted Tale.
Elizabeth Lim
Elizabeth Lim has been writing since middle school, posting her Star Wars, Sweet Valley, and Sailor Moon fanfiction online. At first, she did it just for fun, never imagining that she would become a published author or that writing would become her career.
Now, Lim has not published one but four books in total. As she worked on her Mulan-inspired duology Spin The Dawn and Unravel the Dusk, she got invited to contribute to Disney’s newest book collection, Twisted Tales.
Twisted Tales
Twisted Tales is a new Disney book series comprising nine books so far. The Book series debuted with A Whole New World and continued twisting stories ever since.
A factor that makes the book series even more unique are the titles of the books. Every book has the name of an iconic song from the movies as a title. Moreover, Liz Braswell and Jen Calonita are the two other writers involved in this collection in addition to Elizabeth Lim.
The whole concept of the book series is to take a Disney classic tale such as Peter Pan, Beauty and the Beast, or The Little Mermaid and ask a “What if question.” This question essentially changes the plot and brings a new light into the stories that we all grew up with.
Lim has created two books for this collection. In 2018, her book Reflection came out, in which Mulan must venture into the underworld. Most recently, she created So This is Love, where Cinderella never gets to try on the glass slipper.
As a life-long Disney fan, Elizabeth Lim describes the experience of writing and twisting these stories as very special.
“The experience of actually working on these stories and being able to contribute to them has been the most stand out memory [...] It is a really nice feeling to be able to draw from these childhood memories, go back to them as an adult, and add to them.”
So This Is Love
So This Is Love is an amazing book that you will not be able to close until you finish. Magic. Romance. Betrayal. Independence. Friendship. These are the five phrases that Lim chose when we asked her to describe her book in only five words.
The book starts with the magical evening with Prince Charles at the Ball. Abruptly interrupted by the clock striking twelve, Cinderella’s dream night comes to an end.
The next day, Lady Tremaine traps Cinderella in her bedroom, preventing her from ever being identified as the missing princess. With the new turn of events, Cinderella has to find a way to escape on her own— to find a way to be freed from the control of her step-family.
In this new version of Cinderella, Lim manages to shine a new light on Cinderella’s character. She realized that in the original story, we never get to see a development in her character. As a result, she makes her more independent and outspoken in So This is Love.
“She has to go out on her own [...] she is forced to become independent and she has to find a way to make her own Happy Ever After,” Lim expressed when describing the creation of this new Cinderella.
Additionally, she answers all the questions that have been lingering in our minds all these years. Such as ‘why does the magic end at midnight?’ or ‘how does the fairy godmother know Cinderella?.’ Wondering all these things since her childhood, Lim decided to address all these questions in her book.
More about Elizabeth Lim
When we asked Elizabeth Lim if she was working on any other twisted tales, she answered that she wasn’t planning on it. However, she did say that if they ask her to do more, she would again take on the challenge.
Instead, she is currently working on the follow-up series of her duology. Having already published two books of this series, she will work on the next ones in this upcoming year.
As a successful published author, we asked Lim to provide us with some advice for aspiring authors.
“It’s important to just get things down on paper, to just write, and finish a draft. Even if it’s really messy, even if it’s really bad, you just need to get from start to finish. Later you can go back and edit it to make it better.”
To hear more from Elizabeth Lim and the other writers involved in the Twisted Tales collection, sign up to participate in the Miami Book Fair and add their Panel: Disney’s Twisted Tales under your watchlist. It will take place on November 20th. Additionally, don’t forget to check out the rest of the events that the Book Fair has in store for you!