Read, Write, Repeat.

In a little more than a month, Anna Staniszewski will have a second book out in the world.

Her first novel, My Very UnFairy Tale Life, was released by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky in November 2011. The sequel, My Epic Fairy Tale Fail, is coming March 1.

And the new book picks up with even more adventures for Jenny, a girl who has a strange job as an official “adventurer.” She travels across enchanted kingdoms saving magical creatures and fighting horrible beasts that most people think are only myths and legends.

Jenny’s new mission is to travel to the Land of Tales to defeat an evil witch and complete three Impossible Tasks. Throw in some school friends, a bumbling knight, a rhyming troll, and a giant bird, and happily ever after starts looking far, far away. But with her parents’ fate on the line, this is one happy ending Jenny is determined to deliver.

Anna was nice enough to drop by and answer a few, fun, fairy tale questions:

Why do fairytales always take place “once upon a time?” Wouldn’t it be interesting if things happened “Twice upon a time” or “Thrice upon a time”?
I think part of the reason I like fairy tale retellings so much is that the story can happen anytime. Today, next week, a hundred years from now. Fairy tales are such simple stories that they can work in pretty much any time or place. That’s why my next project is going to be about robot fairies that live on Mars. (Okay, not really. Well, maybe.)

Please complete the following sentences:

To truly be charming, a prince should always … Have perfect manners, a great sense of humor, and plenty of chocolate on hand.

When encountered by a frog claiming to be a prince, a princess should … Threaten to stomp on the frog if he tries to kiss her.

If a fairy godmother suddenly appeared in your living room, you would … Ask her to fix the broken lamps we have around the house. Oh, and maybe fix our broken microwave. And my husband’s car. Clearly, I could use a handyman instead of a fairy godmother!

Fire-breathing dragons are inherently evil. Discuss.
If dragons breathed rainbows and glitter, I think we’d feel differently about them. But fire, while useful in small amounts, is usually pretty dangerous. I would suggest not getting too chummy with any creature that could turn you into a s’more.

The best fairytale ever written is:
“East of the Sun, West of the Moon.” It starts off as a Beauty and the Beast story, but then it turns into a tale about a girl rescuing her prince. You really can’t go wrong with a magical story about a girl who saves the day (says the author of a magical story about a girl who saves the day).

“Happily ever after.” Is it a fairy tale?
I think it’s funny that people associate “fairy tale” with a story in which things are perfect. Most fairy tales are full of danger and deceit. Yes, there’s magic in the tales, but usually that magic hurts people. So “happily ever after” might be a nice idea, but I wouldn’t advise calling it a fairy tale … unless you want a potentially flesh-eating monster showing up at your door.

Thank you, Anna!

Want to know more about Anna? She was born in Poland and raised in the United States, and grew up loving fairy tales in both Polish and English. She was named the 2006-2007 Writer-in-Residence at the Boston Public Library and a winner of the 2009 PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award.

Currently, Anna lives outside of Boston with her husband and their black Labrador, Emma. When she’s not writing, Anna spends her time teaching, reading and challenging unicorns to games of hopscotch.

Visit her at www.annastan.com.

Or, watch this really cool book trailer she created for My Epic Fairy Tale Fail.