retelling
Fresh narrative version
A retelling is a new version of an existing story, often adapted for a different audience or medium: a feminist retelling of Cinderella, a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet.
The word emphasizes that the core narrative remains recognizable even as details change.
Retellings may update settings, shift perspectives, or reinterpret themes while honoring the original.
New version created
- rebootCycle power intentionally
- reimaginingFresh interpretation of existing material
- modernizationAdoption of current methods
- interpretationAssigned meaning
screenplay · adaptation · version · spinoff · update · reworking · translation · localization
Narrating events from memory
- narrationVerbal account delivery
- paraphraseRestatement in new words
- recapitulationSummarizing what came before
- synopsisCondensed version of content
summary · account · rendition · version · oral tradition · campfire · bedtime story · anecdote
Body of traditional tales
- legendUnverified traditional tale
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
- fableMoral tale with animals
- fairy taleMagical children's narrative
epic · creation myth · origin story · pantheon · gods · heroes · trickster · quest
Ancient Greek epic composer
- ShakespeareElizabethan dramatist and poet
- AesopAncient Greek fable writer
- GrimmFolklorist brothers' surname
- OdysseyEpic of homecoming
Iliad · Beowulf · Gilgamesh · Mahabharata · Ramayana · Aeneid · Arabian Nights · Chaucer
Sacred religious writings
- parableInstructive allegorical narrative
- gospelSacred choral tradition
- sutraEastern religious discourse
- dharmaCosmic moral order
sermon · homily · midrash · apocalypse · revelation · testament · devotional · liturgy
remake
New version created
- rebootCycle power intentionally
- reimaginingFresh interpretation of existing material
- modernizationAdoption of current methods
interpretation · screenplay · adaptation · version · spinoff · update · reworking · translation · localization · abridgment
recounting
Narrating events from memory
- narrationVerbal account delivery
- paraphraseRestatement in new words
- recapitulationSummarizing what came before
synopsis · summary · account · rendition · version · oral tradition · campfire · bedtime story · anecdote · yarn
mythology
Body of traditional tales
fairy tale · epic · creation myth · origin story · pantheon · gods · heroes · trickster · quest · underworld
Homer
Ancient Greek epic composer
- ShakespeareElizabethan dramatist and poet
- AesopAncient Greek fable writer
- GrimmFolklorist brothers' surname
Odyssey · Iliad · Beowulf · Gilgamesh · Mahabharata · Ramayana · Aeneid · Arabian Nights · Chaucer · Ovid
scripture
Sacred religious writings
- parableInstructive allegorical narrative
- gospelSacred choral tradition
- sutraEastern religious discourse
dharma · sermon · homily · midrash · apocalypse · revelation · testament · devotional · liturgy · catechism
- literacyliteracy, reading, spelling, alphabet, writing
- fantasywizard, witch, magic, dragon, elf
- readingfluency, read, comprehension, readers, books
- storytellingstory, tale, narrative, narrator, storyteller
- language artsreading comprehension, grammar rules, vocabulary building, phonics, spelling bees
- adaptionsremake, reboot, reimagining, reworking, version
retellingoriginal
First or inventive
original composition · invention · innovation · primary source · source material
- modern retellingOld story made new
- dramatic retelling
- fairy tale retellingReworked traditional story
- myth retellingReimagined traditional narrative