You might think The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is the eerie tale of the Headless Horseman, the 18^th-century ghost of a Hessian trooper who rises from his burial site every Halloween and ridesaround Sleepy Hollow Cemetery on his horse in search of his missing head. Well, only partly. See, the ghostly horseman only makes an appearance in the last few pages of the story. So then, what is the rest of the tale about?

If you’ve never read LOSH, go ahead and do it. Seriously. It’s not that long, and not only is it an American classic, penned by Washington Irving, but you can also see a love triangle at its most comical. That’s right—The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is actually a comedy, one that Irving considered silly compared to his greater works. It introduces Ichabod Crane, an awkward, educated out-of-towner who’s taken a job in Sleepy Hollow as a schoolmaster. Soon, he falls in love with Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter of the town’s richest farmer.

Way to set the bar high, Ichabod.

Like something out of a teen movie, Katrina thinks Ichabod is super dreamy, but she already has a suitor, town hero, Brom Van Brunt. Brom is a strapping young lad, quick with a prank and agile on his horse. And trust me, he’s not too keen on know-it-all, ladykiller Ichabod coming to town to flirt with his girl.

Next thing you know, Ichabod is attending the annual Van Tassel Halloween Party. Confident he can win Katrina over with his big words and suave manners, he sets off on his dinky horse, ready to dance and impress the ladies. But jealous Brom has a plan. At the party, he waits for the right moment. Watching his girlfriend play the coquette and dance with Ichabod, he goes for the throat—Ichabod’s fear of the supernatural. Because the schoolmaster is a superstitious man at heart, Brom tells spooky tales to spike Ichabod’s anxiety just in time for a ride home through the foreboding forest.

At the end of the night, Ichabod kisses Katrina’s hand and takes off in the dead of night past Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, regretful of listening to those scary tales by the fire. Gulp. Now he’s on edge, fearful of every shadow and sound. Just as he’s almost out of the forest, his worst fears materialize. The Headless Horseman appears on his mighty steed, cackling and whirring his sword near Ichabod’s head. A chase ensues, and just as Ichabod crosses the bridge toward safety, the horseman throws his head—a flaming pumpkin—toward Ichabod, knocking him off his horse. We never actually find out what happened to Ichabod, but the flaming pumpkin is a clue. A real ghost would’ve thrown his head, the legend says. But some say he was spooked out of town by Brom Bones pretending to be the horseman, a prank enabling him to lead the fair Katrina to the altar. Oh, Ichabod, such a sucker! Rumors say that Ichabod was alive in another county married to a wealthy widow. But the old wives of Sleepy Hollow know he was spirited away by the Headless Horseman.

So, you see, LOSH is really a cautionary tale—don’t mess with another man’s girl—dressed up as a romantic comedy with paranormal elements. In my novel, Wake the Hollow, I wanted to go further and explore Katrina’s point of view, what she thought of those two guys fighting over her while uncovering the details of her mother’s death. Wake the Hollow isn’t a straight retelling, because I didn’t want anyone to already know the ending. For this reason, I added a brand new main plot while keeping the love triangle as the subplot. What ensued was the craziest, most awesome, spooky thing I’ve ever written, a novel I would’ve enjoyed all by myself even if it’d never been published.

So there. You don’t have to have read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow to enjoy Wake the Hollow, but it helps if you do. Happy Reading!

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Gaby Triana is the award-winning author of six YA novels—Wake the Hollow, Summer of Yesterday, Riding the Universe, The Temptress Four, Cubanita, and Backstage Pass, as well as seventeen ghostwritten novels for best-selling authors. A former 4th grade teacher, Gaby earned Teacher of the Year in 2000, wrote her first novel, Freddie and the Biltmore Ghost, then left teaching to launch a full-time writing career. She went on to publish young adult novels with HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, win an IRA Teen Choice Award, ALA Best Paperback Award, and Hispanic Magazine’s Good Reads of 2008. She spends her time writing romance, obsessing about Halloween, Christmas, and Disney World, as well as hosting parties, designing jewelry, making whimsical cakes, and planning her next costume contest. When not writing, she might be watching movies with her boys, posting food pics on social media, or helping run the Florida region of the SCBWI. Gaby lives in Miami with her three sons, Michael, Noah, and Murphy. She has one dog, Chloe, and two cats—Miss Daisy, and the reformed thug, shooting survivor, Bowie.

Gaby can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Instagram and GabyTriana.com!