The Red Hoods

Dark folkloric fantasy retold from the wolves’ point of view

Ghost Author • Worldbuilding Bible • Character Architecture

I was brought in with a single creative constraint—tell Red Riding Hood from the wolves’ point of view. I wrote the first chapter as a proof of concept and was then hired to build the rest: a comprehensive world bible (pack law, human doctrine, geography, sensory rules), character architecture and relationship webs, a theme/moral spine, and a tent-pole outline for Book One.

From there I drafted additional chapters, aligned POV/voice rules across scenes, and iterated through revision passes to keep plot, character, and theme in lockstep. The end result was to be a cohesive, wolves-first mythology designed to scale into a YA series meant to have the perspective of the villain.

The villain will always be the villain if the hero tells the story.

Overview

Genre/age: YA–NA dark folkloric fantasy in an original “Enchanted Forest.”

Premise: A reframing of Red Riding Hood through the wolves’ struggle to survive a tribe of avengers who wear the red cloak as creed. Primary POV follows Liam, a wolf living in human form, whose pack hides in plain sight while a rising Red Hood faction hunts them.

Status: Draft-in-progress with a chaptered manuscript, a living outline, and a working series bible (world factions, elders’ council, oracle, mapless territory schema, and ritual law).

My role: Author, world architect, character/relationship systems, series scaffolding.

Theme

Theme statement: When a story hardens into dogma, it licenses violence. Core questions:

  • Who gets to be called a monster when the myth was written by the victors?

  • Can justice exist between predators and prey once the roles are ritualized? Counter-theme tensions: Mercy vs. survival; memory vs. rumor; personal loyalty vs. pack law.

Point-Of-View

Narration model: Primarily Liam (wolf) with strategic human counter-POVs (Redley, Granny) to expose doctrine and stakes. Scenes privilege pack logic first.

Tense/person: Close third.

On-page constraints: Sensory bias toward smell/sound, territory, weather and pack dynamics; human interiority minimized in wolf-led scenes; idioms and metaphors draw from hunt, wintering, and kin-rank.

World Pillars

Pack Law

Hidden-in-plain-sight wolves live much of the time in human form to avoid Red Hood reprisals. Hierarchy (alpha line; siblings Liam/Daena), rites of winter, and trials that balance survival against secrecy. Breaking cover endangers the pack.

Human Doctrine

Descendants of the original “Red.” The cloak is both uniform and vow. Elders enforce a punitive creed shaped by an origin atrocity; Granny is a political force arguing for escalation. Public display of colors marks tribal boundaries.

The Border Woods

Traders’ Depot, Poppy Fields, Oracle’s glade, and the Thorn Roads.

Seasonal scarcity increases risk;

borders are policed more by rumor and ritual than fences.

Laws of Scent & Sound

Information travels as trails, howls, heartbeats, and wind-shifts. Wolves ‘read’ the forest the way humans read text—turning scent and silence into meaning.

Characters & Architectures

  • Liam

    WOLF – Heir

    Want: protect pack and brother; Need: redefine strength as stewardship, not secrecy. Wound: a past failure under full moon. Mask → Truth: soldier → peacemaker. ArcPromise: from enforcement to bridge.

  • Redley

    RED HOOD

    Want: prove loyalty; Need: question inherited hatred. Wound: family loss mythologized by tribe. Mask → Truth: zealot → witness. Arc Promise: from badge-bearer to truth-teller.

  • Ryder

    WOLF – Liam’s Brother – Catalyst

    Want: get home; Need: refuse being used Wound: turned into a rallying cry. Mask → Truth: passenger → pathfinder. Arc Promise: Forces tribes to face the lie.

  • Granny

    RED HOOD – Redley’s Grandmother

    Want: uphold doctrine through fear. Need: confront complicity in an endless war. Arc Promise: test of whether law can bend.

  • DAENA

    WOLF – Liam’s Sister

    Want: safety through strength; Need: trust strategy over force. Arc Promise: rival protector → ally tactician.

Plot Framework

  1. Inciting fracture: A Red Hood operation in the Border Woods goes wrong under a full moon; a disappearance ignites mutual blame.

  1. Pack law tested: Liam breaks protocol to search, exposing the pack to doctrine-driven patrols.

  2. Doctrine escalates: Granny leverages fear to harden village policy; cloaks flood the roads.

  3. Midpoint: Liam and Redley trade information in the poppy fields—an illegal truce.

  4. Betrayal/exile: A leak severs Liam’s standing; Redley is publicly shamed for doubting the creed.

  5. Trial by winter: Scarcity and weather squeeze both sides; the oracle’s riddle reframes the original myth.

  6. Truth of the myth: Evidence surfaces that the founding “wolf crime” was misremembered/manipulated.

  7. Climax: Rescue mission forces wolves and hoods into the same clearing; justice vs. survival becomes personal.

  8. Denouement: A new law-of-the-woods is proposed—thin, fragile, and costly.

Sample Drafts

Chapter 1: The Enchanted Forest
Chapter 2: Tragic Memories
Chapter 3: The Perfect Gift
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Romance Sample