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This is for a possible Sirens presentation. The theme this year is "retold tales."
Can you recommend to me fantasy media or myth in which female characters, in some sense, alter reality by telling stories about it?
This "altering reality" doesn't have to be magic in itself; the ultimate example is Scheherazade, who changes the world by telling stories. There's also Martha's world-changing storytelling in Doctor Who.
The other examples I thought of were magical: Paperhouse
(girl creates spooky new reality by drawing it), Fudoki
(a dying princess of the Heian court writes a story about a cat who becomes a woman; she may or may not create a reality in which the story is true), The Secret Country
(kids create a fantasy world, then travel to it and find that it is and isn't as they imagined), The Tricksters
(characters from a girl's lush fantasy narrative show up, again not exactly as she pictured them), Voices (Annals of the Western Shore)
(spoilery but sort of fits), Witch Week
(the entire climax depends on a girl telling a story which alters reality.)
Can you think of others? Especially, examples from myth and folklore, and examples which aren't about white girls?
ETA: If you rec something, please explain how it fits.
Can you recommend to me fantasy media or myth in which female characters, in some sense, alter reality by telling stories about it?
This "altering reality" doesn't have to be magic in itself; the ultimate example is Scheherazade, who changes the world by telling stories. There's also Martha's world-changing storytelling in Doctor Who.
The other examples I thought of were magical: Paperhouse
(girl creates spooky new reality by drawing it), Fudoki (a dying princess of the Heian court writes a story about a cat who becomes a woman; she may or may not create a reality in which the story is true), The Secret Country (kids create a fantasy world, then travel to it and find that it is and isn't as they imagined), The Tricksters (characters from a girl's lush fantasy narrative show up, again not exactly as she pictured them), Voices (Annals of the Western Shore) (spoilery but sort of fits), Witch Week (the entire climax depends on a girl telling a story which alters reality.)Can you think of others? Especially, examples from myth and folklore, and examples which aren't about white girls?
ETA: If you rec something, please explain how it fits.
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Solstice Wood, Patricia McKillip: the sewing and gossip circle stiches up the boundaries between our world and Farie, then the stories the Elf Queen slips out to them convince them to change how they defend the line. Actually, a whole ton of McKillip's stuff has storytelling as plot elements, though I won't swear that the majority are women.
Fushigi Yuugi, er, I forget who wrote it. An old shojo anime. The girls fall into a story, live it, change it/embody it, the readers interact with it.
House of Leaves? Admittedly, the only female storyteller voice is Poe's music. The story is such a gorgeous use of framing devices that you should read it if you haven't. Um, some time you're not going to need to sleep with the lights off any too soon.