Reading Notes: Brothers Grimm Ashliman (Part B)

Simeli Mountain

• there are two brothers, one rich and one who was poor
• the rich brother was selfish and never gave money to his brother even though his family would starve sometimes
• the poor brother made a living selling grain off of a cart which never made much money
• the poor brother pushed his cart through the forest and noticed a bare mountain
• twelve robbers walked up to the mountain and used the phrase "Mount Semsi, Mount Semsi open up" to cause the mountain to spread open allowing them entrance
• the brother waited until they left to climb down from the tree and use the same trick to see what was inside
• once inside, he saw that there was gold, silver, and precious stones but he never took any of the extremely valuable stuff only enough gold to fill his pockets
• he used this gold to help his family live comfortably and he always lived honestly by giving money to the less fortunate
• when he went back to get more money he would borrow a bushel from his brother to measure out the amount of gold he would carry back but one day his brother found out he was getting gold from somewhere
• the rich brother demanded him to show him where he got the gold or if he didn't he would have him imprisoned
• once the rich man is inside the mountain he grabs all of the most expensive items and in his excitement forgets the words that would let him out
• he realizes that the treasures are of no use to him since he can't even leave
• the robbers come back while he is trapped inside and kill him

Death's Messengers

• death stops a giant on the road and tells him he must be obeyed
• the giant beats death, almost to death
• death is leaning against a stone appearing very ill after his beating when a healthy young man comes down the road and helps him out
• death is grateful for his help but informs him he must come for him one day anyways
• death promises the man he will send messengers before he arrives to take him away
• the man lived very well for awhile until one day he became very ill and was in pain
• no messenger of death had come so he knew he would get better
• one day as he was regaining his health and feeling better death arrived to take him away
• the man was frustrated and claimed that death had not sent his messengers
• death informed him that the messengers were in the form of the illness, the fever, the toothaches he had, and the gout he has lived with
• essentially messengers of death were the effects of aging in that period of time, not a physical person who would come and chat with the man

The Gifts of the Little People

• a goldsmith and a tailor journeyed together through the mountains when they heard a strange but pleasant sound
• they followed the sound to find a group of little people sitting in a circle around a larger old man wearing a colorful jacket who had a white beard
• the two travelers hesitantly entered the circle where they were welcomed and the old man pulled out a knife and shaved their beards and hair
• after they handled that graciously the old man pointed to a pile of coal signaling them to take some and they did
• a monastery bell struck midnight and everyone in the circle disappeared
• they woke in the morning to find the coal in their pockets had turned to gold
• the goldsmith went back again to receive more gold the next night but when he awoke the second time his gold had turned back to coal and his hair never grew back
• he also gained an additional hump, he was already hump backed

Bibliography

Simeli Mountain - Brothers Grimm Ashliman Unit

Death's Messengers - Brothers Grimm Ashliman Unit

The Gifts of the Little People - Brothers Grimm Ashliman Unit

Image Information

Rock Face on Stissing Mountain, Pine Plains, NY - found on wikimedia

Reading Notes: Brothers Grimm Ashliman (Part A)

The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids

• the mother leaves the kids to go get food but warns them not to open the door for the wolf
• you can identify the wolf by his rough voice and black feet
• Wolf went to a shopkeeper and bought chalk which he ate to soften his voice
• he returned to the house with a softer voice but the kids saw his black feet and refused him entry
• Wolf went and had dough put on his feet, and flour sprinkled on it to make them appear white
• the miller refused to help initially but the wolf intimidated him so he had to do it
• Wolf entered the home and ate all of the kids except for the youngest who hid in a clock case
• the author has a good description of what the room looked like after the wolf had chased all of the kids around and eaten them
• "door stood wide open"
• mother goat returned home and saw the wreckage but found the one remaining kid
• they found the wolf resting under a tree and she had her kid fetch her some scissors so she could cut out the rest of her kids
• the wolf had eaten them all whole so they were still okay
• she replaced the kids with stones after they had been taken out of his stomach
• the extra weight of the stones caused the wolf to fall head first into the watering hole when he leaned over to get a drink so he drowned

The Seven Ravens

• a man had 7 sons but he deeply wished for a daughter
• he finally received a daughter but she was born frail and he asked his sons to run and grab some water to baptize her in case she were to die soon
• all of the boys wanted to be first to dip the water out and they ended up dropping the container down the well
• the man was mad that they were taking so long so he cursed them saying "I wish that those boys would all turn to ravens"
• the boys were turned to ravens but the girl grew healthier as time passed
• the girl had heard rumors from the villagers about her brothers' misfortune so she set out to try and reverse the curse and bring them home for their fate weighed on her conscience
• she traveled far and reached the sun but it was evil and ate little children so she traveled the other way and got to the moon who was very cold and wicked.
• finally she rested among the stars who were friendly and gave her a chicken bone which would be the key she would need to enter the glass mountain where her brothers resided
• she traveled to the glass mountain but realized she dropped her key so she cut off a finger and used it instead and it worked
• when she enters the ravens aren't home and for some reason she hides until one of them finds a ring she left him to see
• it is unclear whether or not she thought they might eat her right away
• once the one boy sees the ring he wishes that his sister was here so they could be set free and she comes forth once he utters this wish
• the boys change back to humans and go home

Bibliography

The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids - Brother Grimm Ashliman Unit

The Seven Ravens - Brothers Grimm Ashliman Unit

Image Information

The Ravens Return to Boys - found on wikimedia

Story Lab: EmpoWord

There were many sections in the chapter I read from this article but if you read below you will see that I pick and chose the ones that I found most applicable to bettering my writing ability and ones that I thought were particularly thought-provoking.

Scope

• refers to the boundaries of your story and plot
• I felt like some of my stories contain too broad of a scope and that makes them have a lot of general information instead of good detailed information about the scenarios.
• This made me think of using the phrase "a mile wide and an inch deep" to describe some of my stories
• they contained a lot of information but lacked a good level of depth

Sequence and Pacing

• refers to the order of events of your story and how quickly different situations progress
• This section talked about a story line pattern called In Medias Res
• this is the style where the beginning of your story starts in the middle of the action of the plot then later circles around to explain why all of the action was happening in the first place
• I thought this would be a great technique to try since I don't believe I have used it for any stories all semester
• This may help with my Scope problem because it allows me to begin with the exciting parts without having to trudge through the set-up information where I feel readers may lose a lot of interest

Building Characters

• this section talks about characterization which is something I would like to improve on
• I feel like I do well with directly describing a character but what I want to work on is indirect descriptions
• ask questions like: How do their actions reflect their traits? What's on their mind that they won't share with the world? What is the tone, inflection, and timbre of their voice?
• I usually have my characters hold a dialogue but I rarely describe the way their voice sounds of their inflection or tone.

Dialogue

• one of the most intriguing ideas I read in this section was that dialogue should be telling more than one thing
• it should convey more than one kind of information such as body language in addition to words
• I think my stories are missing a lot of non-verbal dialogue
• I seem to not think about adding more indirect forms of communication such as body language and that causes me to miss out on a very human aspect of communication

Bibliography

EmpoWord: Telling a Story -- found here

Image Information

Photo of an ancient book -- found on flickr

Reading Notes: Brother's Grimm Hunt (Part B)

Bearskin

• A soldier returning from war has no trade skill and needs to find work
• meets a mysterious man in the woods who tests his courage and resolve
• soldier must never bathe and must always wear a bearskin and a coat for if he does this for 7 years he will always have all the money he would need
• the man who made the deal turns out to be the devil and is referenced as Greencoat
• Bearksin as the soldier became known, always gave money to the poor and helped those in need as he wandered for 7 years
• he helped an old man whose estate had dwindled and the man promised him a wife of his daughters
• only the youngest conceded to marry Bearskin and the two older ones taunted her about the appearance of her husband
• he gave her half a ring while he kept the other half
• Finally after 7 years the devil returned, dismayed that the soldier had held out, and washed and groomed him and returned his cloak
• Soldier returned to the village to seek out the wife he hadn't seen for 3 years
• he was much more handsome than before and appeared to be a prestige general
• the two older sisters who had rejected him were trying hard to earn his favor, and the youngest averted her eyes still clothed in black like the day he left
• the soldier placed his half of the ring in a glass of wine to give to her and she noticed it after she drank it and saw that it matched her piece
• the sisters ran out of the home in rage and one drowned while the other hung herself
• devil comes back to taunt soldier saying he got two souls instead of one

Hans the Hedgehog

• a boy was born half hedgehog half man
• his family didn't want him but he never complained and left them to make a life for himself in the forest tending a herd of pigs
• 2 Kings travel through the forest lost and ask for directions
• he helps them if they promise to give him the first thing that approaches them when they reach the palace
• both times it was a king's daughter
• first King orders everyone to kill a man resembling Hans if they appear at his castle for he didn't want to give up his daughter
• the second one welcomed him and his daughter committed to Hans
• Hans shed his hedgehog skin and became a handsome man and they lived happily ever after

Bibliography

Bearskin from the Brothers Grimm (Hunt) Unit

Hans the Hedgehog from the Brothers Grimm (Hunt) Unit

Image Information

Image 1: Illustration of Bearskin - wikimedia

Image 2: The Devil grooms Bearskin after 7 years - wikimedia

Reading Notes: Brother's Grimm Hunt (Part A)

This unit contains fewer but longer stories. I thought this was much easier to read because the stories had more time for development.

Hansel and Grethel

• Hansel and Grethel live in a very poor family with their good-hearted father and mean step-mother
• the stories never mention anything about the children's real mother
• consider writing a story about their real mother and why she either died or left the family
• since the family is poor they have very little food so the stepmother sends the children out into the woods in hopes that they would get lost and eaten by animals so that the adults would have enough to eat
• the first time they are led into the woods, Hansel uses white pebbles to find his way back
• the second time he uses bread crumbs to leave a trail but birds ate all of the crumbs
• why did the mother wish to light a bonfire every time she took the children to the forest to be abandoned? 
• to attract wild animals, to create comfort so that the kids would sleep, other reasons...
• they find a house made of cakes, sugar, and bread in the forest that is occupied by an evil witch
• witches have red eyes and cannot see far but smell very well
• Grethel pushes the witch into the oven and burns her alive to save Hansel
• they grab treasure from the witches house and take it home to their father 
• the step-mother is dead at this point but the story never mentions how
• only been 3-4 days since the children had left the house this second time

Hansel is trapped in the cage by the evil witch.

Allerleirauh

• a King plans to marry his daughter because she looks strikingly similar to his wife
• to delay this and hopefully prevent the marriage from happening the daughter requests to have 3 dresses and a mantle of a thousand different kinds of fur and hair sewn together
• she thought this to be an impossible task but the King had it completed
• the girl runs away with the mantle and wears it as she falls asleep in the woods
• the King's guards find her while out hunting and initially believed her to be some rare animal because of the coat
• it would be interesting to give the girl the power to change into the different animals of the mantle at will 
• Story Idea: Hansel and Grethel were left in the same forest Allerleirauh escaped to. The bonfire attracts Allerleirauh to the area that Hansel and Grethel were in. She uses the powers she has and her mantle to help them defeat the witch and goes home with them to marry their father.

Bibliography

Hansel and Grethel from the Brothers Grimm (Hunt) Unit

Allerleirauh from the Brothers Grimm (Hunt) Unit

Image Information: Hansel in a cage. Found on publicdomainpictures.

Week 13 Story: St. Kavin's Blessings

**Find this story on my Portfolio here**

Many years ago in Glendalough village there lived a holy man named Kavin. Kavin lived a humble life, opting to live as a hermit near the lake to become closer to God by living more intimately among the nature he created. He lived this way for quite some time and became known as a very wise man to whom many traveled seeking guidance and wisdom. Over time, Kavin acquired a good number of disciples who wanted to live as he did and so he created the first monastery of Glendalough. During the course of his life, due to his wisdom and God's intervention, he was able to perform miracles and provide the people with answers to all their questions. Because of this he was canonized a Saint not too long after his passing. Since his death he has safeguarded the village of Glendalough and guided and blessed those that were pure of heart.

It had been a long time since St. Kavin had made his presence known in the Glendalough area. Few people outside of the royal family still paid him homage and perhaps that is the only reason the Prince Lyn was able to embark on his quest. Prince Lyn had taken to the task of searching all of Glendalough and even the nearby mountains to pray for forgiveness and to ask a favor of St. Kavin.

You see, a week prior, Prince Lyn had made a horrible mistake. He had come back from a hunting trip to be greeted by his favorite and most ferocious, yet gentle, greyhound at the entrance of his compound. Normally he would be excited to see Caemgen but today he quickly realized something was amiss. He was already suspicious of the dog since it hadn't come to him to go on the hunting trip even though he called out his name several times. Now that he looked closer, he realized that Caemgen had dried blood all over his fur and some still clang to the fringes of his mouth and dropped to the floor with every other pant.

The Prince feared for the worst and sprinted upstairs to check on his son. He rushed into the room panting with exhaustion from the run and frantically scanned the room for signs of his child. The room was in shambles but most concerning was the sight of the crib thrown on its side with all of the torn and bloody rags strewn around the room. Prince Lyn assumed the worst and in anger shoved a spear through the heart of poor Caemgen. As the greyhound yelped in pain and collapsed, the sound of a baby crying could be heard. Prince Lyn whirled around to face the direction of the sound. Upon further inspection he noticed that a large wolf was tangled up in the cloth! The wolf suffered several lacerations around its body and appeared to have died from a deep wound to the nape of the neck. The fabric began to move and the Prince dashed towards it, lifted up the cloth and was relieved to discover his son was unharmed! However the excitement was short lived. The Prince realized that his favorite greyhound hadn't ignored his call to go hunting to harm his child, but to protect it from the wolf menace. The Prince was distraught. He sat down to help dampen the pangs of regret and tried to think about how he could remedy his mistake. He knew he had only one choice: to seek out St. Kavin and pray that he could bring Caemgen to life.

The Prince set off the next morning with a determined look and a small bag of supplies. He first visited the monastery asking the monks about what sort of heading would provide him with the best chance of encountering St. Kavin. The abbot informed him that St. Kavin was known to be rather fond of animals and often spent much time around a nearby lake where he spent his hermitage, although no one has been able to find the cave in which he resided for over a hundred years. Upon hearing this, the Prince knew he would find what he was looking for in that cave.

Once he arrived at the lake he sat upon a tall rock along to scan the shores in search of a crevice or some indication that a cave might be near. He wasn't able to discern any promising spots from his current vantage point so he decided it would be best to go ahead and walk around the shore in its entirety, he wasn't going to leave without finding the grotto.

Several hours had passed since he began his trek. He had seen every bit of the shoreline that could have been reached by a man on foot long ago. The Prince sat on a large bit of driftwood to take a break from walking about in the heat. A sense of despair started to set in and the Prince began to doubt the success of his venture for the first time. Just as the idea of failure snaked its way into his thoughts, the Prince heard the foliage behind him rustle. He jumped to his feet and whirled around to confront the source of the noise! He caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a dog, strikingly similar to Caemgen, trotting off deeper into to brush.

Prince Lyn cautiously crept up to where he believed the dog walked into the shrubs and stepped through to find an old, worn down path! He followed it a short distance up the hill to discover a wall of vines covering the entrance to a grotto. He had found the place of St. Kavin's hermitage! He removed the vines to allow the sunlight to filter in and brighten up the room. As the rays of sun penetrated the darkness there appeared a man and a dog, it was St. Kavin and Caemgen!

St. Kavin's lost grotto.

"I've been wanting to meet you for some time now, Prince Lyn" said St. Kavin.

The Prince fell to his knees in prostration as he was suddenly overcome by the aura St. Kavin radiated. "I need your help St. Kavin. I've made a terrible mistake and killed my most faithful friend and companion. If you can, I would ask that you restore him to me so that I can pay him the respects he is due for saving my son."

"I must admit I was a little disappointed to see that you returned my dog to me so quickly Prince Lyn. Caemgen is a fine animal and I knew he would be able to serve you well one day as your character was worthy of such a creature. Because of your faith and your persistence in arriving at this sacred place, I will grant you what you ask. Once you return home you will find Caemgen awaiting you, just as he always does. Remember what your faith has rewarded you with today."

With that St. Kavin was gone as quickly as he had appeared. The Prince was able to make it back home safely to find Caemgen waiting for him, just as the Saint had said. Prince Lyn was able to live a long and prosperous life and the loyal dog Caemgen was able to serve his family for generations to come as he was blessed by St. Kavin.


Author's Note
This story is heavily influenced by the story of King O'Toole and His Goose and is my addition to the tale of Beth Gellert from the Celtic Fairy Tale Unit. In the original story the Prince returns from his hunting trip and kills his favorite dog Gellert because he suspected him of killing his infant. As soon as he kills the dog he realizes his infant was actually safe and the dog had protected it similarly to my rendition. However, in the original story the tale ends with Gellert simply receiving a monument built for him. Since I had read about the healing powers of St. Kavin from the King O'Toole story I thought I should bring him into this story to bring back Gellert. And so my rendition has the Prince set off on a quest to rid himself of his grief and regret by trying to find the Saint that was known to be present in that region and request that he heal his dog. I thought it was fitting to throw in the fact that Gellert belonged to St. Kavin a long time ago because when I did some extra research on the Saint it said that animals were very fond of him due to the amount of time he spent in nature. The name that I gave Gellert in my story was Caemgen which I found was an old Irish spelling of the Saint's name.

Bibliography
King O'Toole and His Goose --- here
Beth Gellert --- here
More information about St. Kavin --- found on Wikipedia

Image Information
Grotto in the Woods --- found here

Reading Notes: Celtic Tales (Part B)

I would have to say I enjoyed the second set of Celtic stories as much or more than the first. Again, these stories often carried the message of having good character. A lot of characters have their characters tested, for the saints and other mystical creatures favor those who do good even when no one is watching.

King O'Toole and His Goose

• a good king who greatly enjoyed being able to go out into nature and hunt
• he becomes stricken with the ailments of old age and can no longer hunt so he buys a goose to occasionally hunt for him and keep him distracted because he was sad that he could no longer hunt
• the goose grows old and can no longer hunt either so the king becomes even more upset
• St. Kavin disguised as an ordinary man finds the king at the lake and tells him he can fix his goose
• the king agrees to offer him all of the land the goose can fly over if he is made well
• St. Kavin fixes the goose and the king stays true to his word
• the king and his goose live happily, until the goose dies of his own mistake and the king passes away from old age

The Chapel of St. Kevin.

Beth Gellert

• Prince Llewelyn had a special greyhound named Gellert who was gentle with kids and fierce on hunting trips
• one day Gellert didn't come when his master called so the Prince went hunting without him
• when he returns he sees Gellert waiting at the gate covered with blood
• the Prince runs up to the nursery to see blood everywhere
• he assumed Gellert had killed his heir while he was off hunting
• in his rage the Prince stabbed and killed Gellert only to notice afterwards the dead carcass of a wolf in the nursery
• Gellert had stayed behind to protect his child and had killed the wolf trying to take away his son
• Gellert could not be brought back to life so he was buried on a spot outside the castle walls that was in view of a great mountain and decorated heavily
• I would rather create an ending where Prince Llewelyn goes on a quest to revive Gellert
• maybe Gellert remains in the castle a guardian spirit who stays by the Prince's heir, guarding him as he grows up
• he could eventually become St. Kavin's dog so that I could draw a relationship between the Gellert and Goose stories

Bibliography

Celtic Fairy Tales unit found here

Beth Gellert --- here

King O'Tool and His Goose --- here

Image Information --- St. Kevin's Chapel in Ireland. Found on wikimedia.

Reading Notes: Celtic Tales (Part A)

I found it interesting to discover that most of these tales, if not all, typically ended with a happy ending. If any characters didn't fare well in these stories it was due to the fact that they weren't great people. In the Celtic tales it seemed like the good people were always rewarded for their kindness and sense of adventure.

Connla and the Fairy Maiden

• at first only Connla could see the Fairy Maiden who walked up to the group
• only Connla could hear the Fairy Maiden at first 
• would be a get character attribute to have in a story
• creates an air of mystery and makes people uncomfortable when they believe something to be there but can't see it
• the Fairy Maiden talks of a land where there is no death, no aging, everyone is always happy
• should Connla go, he won't age either and he will receive a fairy crown 
• Connla's father, Conn, brings by a druid to say some enchantments to dispel the Fairy Maiden 
• before vanishing due to the spells, she threw Connla an apple from which he survived on for a whole month
• the apple always grew back, keeping whole no matter what
• Connla eventually leaves with the Fairy Maiden to go to the Plains of Pleasure in a crystal canoe that everyone was able to see cross the water

The Shepherd of Myddvai

• a shepherd spotted maidens arising from the lake near which he was tending to his flock
• eventually he is able to marry one of them but she says if he strikes her 3 times she will leave
• when they married she brought many farm animals with her as a gift
• the man ends up hitting her 3 times and she leaves him
• even though one of the cows she brought had been slaughtered, when she called for it it got up and began walking to her cured of any wounds
• interesting magic to apply to a story

Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree

• a king had a wife named Silver-Tree and a daughter named Gold-Tree
• similar to the "magic mirror" from Shrek, the queen finds a trout in a well that tells her who the most beautiful queen in the world is
• she learns that her daughter is the most beautiful and that infuriates Silver-Tree
• Silver-Tree tries to kill her daughter a few different ways
• by trying to get her husband to kill her to "cure" her own illness
• poisoning her daughter (successfully)
• poison drink 
• Golden-Tree dies from the poison her mother pricked her finger with but another girl comes by her resting place and picks the poisonous item out of her finger and she awakens
• the same girl who removed the poison also gets Silver-Tree to drink the poisonous drink she was going to give to her daughter
• Silver-Tree dies in the end and Golden-Tree, her husband and his other wife live happily ever after

Silver-Tree waits for Gold-Tree to poke her finger through the key-hole so she can prick her with the poison.

Bibliography

Celtic Fairy Tales Unit found here

Image Information: Silver-Tree waiting to poison her daughter -- found on wikimedia.

Story Lab: Writer's Advice

This week I decided to take a look at the writing website to find some storytelling tips! I was able to find a few promising articles that I feel provided some great information that I can use to better my writing. I'm looking forward to implementing these tips in next week's story.

45 Ways to Avoid Using the Word 'Very'

• Essentially this post consisted of a large image that had very helpful examples of how to replace using the word 'very' 
• included a few quotes by popular authors that gave me an idea of what kind of opinion a great writer has of the word 'very'
• "Susbstitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very,' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be." - Mark Twain
• another author claimed that 'very' was the most useless word in our language and that it only weakens your writing (Florence King)

Mark Twain deep in thought.

Cheat Sheets for Writing Body Language

• this article lists the top 5 rules you need to follow when using body language
• one of my favorite arguments the article makes is when it says that over 50% of human communication is nonverbal
• this emphasis how important including details of a characters body language is to your story and to the reader who is trying to understand your writing
• the article also said that body language needs to be used to show your reader something instead of just narrating everything to them
• it gives the reader a break from reading paragraph after paragraph
• the article also has several examples on how to describe the different emotions a character may experience through body language

Must-Have Scenes That Reveal Character

• There are 3 key character scenes you need to have when writing
• the Monogram scene
• give your character 3 or so qualities
• now write a scene that shows him performing actions that demonstrate he has those character qualities
• Momentum scene
• when your character makes a decision to do something, they always progress towards acting on that decision
• make sure to include the buildup to acting on that decision
• how did your character arrive to the point to be able to conquer their goal?
• Glimpse
• make sure to let the reader know that the character has at least a little humanity or imperfection
• too much of an invincible charisma can put off readers

Bibliography

Must-Have Scenes That Reveal Character - found here

Cheat Sheets For Writing Body Language - found here

Ways to Avoid Using the Word 'Very' - found here

Image Information: Mark Twain pondering. Found on wikipedia

Reading Notes: Alice in Wonderland (Part B)

In the second half of the Alice in Wonderland reading she encounters the Mad Hatter at a Tea Party along with the March Hare and a dormouse. Their iconic conversation ensues and reading it now at a later point in my life it actually starts to make more sense. There is a lot of word play and selective hearing going on during the conversation which makes it very hard to follow.

A Mad Tea-Party

• Alice finds the trio sitting at a large table with plenty of room for several more people but when she approaches they notice her and yell out that there is no more room
• Alice sits anyways 
• The March Hare asks Alice to have some wine, she remarks that she doesn't see any wine.
• The Hare then tells her that there isn't any and Alice claims that it wasn't kind of him to offer something he didn't have
• The Hare retorts that it wasn't nice of her to sit down without being invited
• May want to write a story including this kind of humor from the Hare
• this group is very particular on wording things exactly as people's thoughts are intended
• if you use a "saying" it is taken literally
• the Hatter says something that would lead us to believe that time in Wonderland remains the same although days and years pass through
• it is always "tea time" for them
• the speak of Time as if it is a living being, a male in fact
• Mad Hatter says that depending on your relationship with Time, he will speed up or slow down time to help you if you are on good terms
• once the Mad Hatter sang for the Queen and she didn't like it and mentioned that he was murdering time so now Time doesn't care for the Mad Hatter and makes sure it is always 6 o'clock for him

Depiction of Alice when she learns Time is a "He".

The Queen's Croquet-Ground

• Alice uses a flamingo to hit the croquet ball which is actually a hedgehog forming a ball
• the game is incredibly hard as the flamingo and hedgehog don't get along with each other, much less everyone else's
• Alice finally gets a chance to talk to the White Rabbit but never even asks what he was doing in her world in the first place
• The cat appears to her while she plays the game but only allows its head to be visible
• the King dislikes that cat and asks for it to be executed which causes some confusion since it has no body at the present moment already
• We find out the Duchess is in prison for boxing the Queen's ears
• she seems to be the only character who physically assaults the Queen and isn't too afraid of her

Alice's Evidence

• Alice sits through a lengthy, absurd court hearing about who stole the Queen's tarts
• Finally she has enough and confronts the King and Queen claiming they are "just cards" at which point they all fly up in the air and swarm here
• she wakes up soon after to find herself next to her sister on the bank just like at the beginning
• it was all a dream

Bibliography

Alice in Wonderland Unit here

Mad Tea-Party here

Croquet-Ground here

Alice's Evidence here

Image Information: Alice at the Tea Party found on flikr

Reading Notes: Alice in Wonderland (Part A)

This week's reading will be of the original Alice in Wonderland story. The first section covers Alice spotting the rabbit, chasing it down the hole, and entering Wonderland.

Down the Rabbit-Hole

• Alice was reading with her sister on the bank of a lake or river and is bored because the book her sister was reading had no pictures
• Alice is young and simple
• It was a hot day, and it made her "sleepy and stupid"
• She spots a white rabbit with pink eyes who mentions how late he is and pulls a stop-watch out of his waistcoat-pocket
• Alice immediately gets up to chase the rabbit and jumps down the hole
• I wonder what her sister is thinking at this time
• Alice falls down the hole for an extremely long time
• the hole is lined with shelves full of books and jars, some with labels some without
• Alice begins talking to herself quite a bit and exhibits her creativity and imagination with some of the thoughts she has
• As she gets closer to the bottom of the hole, she gets the feeling that she is starting to doze off and get sleepy
• She lands at the bottom of the hole just in time to see the rabbit hurrying down a long passage and she chases him only to lose him around the corner
• Alice is in a hallway lined with many doors
• She finds a table with a key, and a bottle labeled "drink me" sitting on it which she drinks to become smaller
• Alice eventually goes through the door and enters Wonderland and meets the caterpillar smoking hookah

Advice From a Caterpillar

• the caterpillar peppers Alice with existential questions
• Alice can't answer the questions and becomes frustrated and angry
• Alice claims she can't remember things so the caterpillar asks her to recite a rhyme she should know
• Alice is having memory loss
• Eventually the caterpillar tells her to eat the mushroom to grow bigger again
• one side makes her smaller the other bigger
• Alice eats some of the mushroom and her neck grows so long she is mistaken for a snake by birds

Pig and Pepper

• Alice meets the Duchess and the Cheshire cat
• she takes care of a baby which turns into a pig
• perhaps all the snorting the baby does due to the pepper causes it to make pig noises and therefore turns into a pig

Bibliography

Alice in Wonderland Unit here

Image Information: The grin of the cheshire cat Alice encounters at the house of the Duchess. Found on flickr

Week 11 Story: Koyo Enters the Spirit Realm

"I'm sure this is the direction the woman pointed towards earlier", thought Koyo as he hiked through seemingly untouched portions of the woods. He had been traveling for several hours at this point and the woman mentioned she remembered the village being about 5-6 hours away, so he should be getting close.

It had only been a couple short months since Koyo had begun his quest to confront and eliminate evil beings across the land. His last successful venture consisted of him decapitating a snake chief who had been stealing all of the good pieces of meat from other members of the village leaving them with scraps to survive on for the Winter. Once he defeated the greedy chieftain he was able to distribute the meat among the poorest of the village to ensure their survival and well-being. After going from village to village performing the same actions, Koyo became a tribal legend. For many he was considered the equivalent of a native Robin Hood. Currently he was on his way to what he believed would be his final mission. He had heard rumors of a village suffering from the tyranny of a cannibal chieftain. The stories say that the chief was somewhat of a giant and consumed a member of the village each week as compensation for his protection. Should any of the villagers try to escape he would capture them, chop them up, and stew them for dinner.

The sun began to set, the wind began to pick up, and the trees of the forest began to cast tall, ominous shadows across the ground. Koyo smelled something peculiar as he walked along. Every time the breeze kicked up, he caught the scent of a sour, putrid odor coming from the direction he was walking. As he got closer he was able to distinguish a soft glow in the distance: campfires. At this point the sun had completely disappeared from the horizon and the glow of the moon began to shine through the clouds.

"I will go down to the village tomorrow when it is light", Koyo thought to himself. He found a small clearing a kilometer or so outside of the village and made camp for the night. He lit no fire that night for he did not know what kind of attitudes the villagers may have towards outsiders. "Perhaps they might all be cannibals", he pondered. Koyo went to sleep against a tree, waiting to venture into the village once the sun has been up awhile.

Rays of sunlight pierced through the brush of the forest waking Koyo. He began his trek towards the village once again but noticed a smaller puff of smoke rising above the trees not far from him. He was in no hurry to reach the village and decided he could spare some time to discover what caused the smoke. The smoke billowing up became thicker the closer he got until finally he glimpsed a homely lodge sitting in the woods. He crept up to the door, knocked, and awaited a response.

"Come in Koyo, I've been waiting for you for some time."

Hesitantly, Koyo entered the lodge and saw an elderly woman working at a table grinding some herbs together.

"Who are you, and why were you expecting me?" he asked.

"I'm called Grandmother, and once I heard of your triumph over the Snake chieftain I knew you would be on your way here. I know what goes on in the village and I assumed, correctly, that you would be interested in intervening. Before you head in to the village, you must know that the chief is protected by a curse cast upon him by the spirit of these woods. You won't be able to defeat him until you destroy the spirit."

"Grandmother, I have no way of reaching the realm of spirits and besides that I have no intention of visiting my ancestors prematurely. I have heard the stories of those who visit the Ghost Camp and never return."

"You must take these herbs I've been preparing, Koyo, and make tea out of them. I've included in here a mixture of Pine, Cedar, and Sage which, once consumed, will allow you to reach the spiritual plane. Remember, you must take only 4 sips of the tea for should you drink any more you will remain a spirit forever. By taking only 4 sips you will obtain 4 hours of time to locate and destroy the spirit."

Koyo took the herbs and sat near the fire in Grandmother's lodge. He set them in the pot and watched as it began to boil. The smell aroma was pleasant and warm, then suddenly he felt a chill race down his spine as his eyelids grew heavier and the light of the fire began to fade from his vision.

Koyo awoke suddenly and sprang to his feet. As he glanced around he noticed everything was a haze. The walls of the lodge moved out of his way like smoke, and the bright fire he remembered before closing his eyes now emitted only a soft glow. Though he had never been here before, he knew he had crossed over into the spirit world.

To be continued...


Author's Note
This story was strongly influenced by the stories of Kut-O-Yis as well as the Camp of the Ghosts from the Blackfoot Unit. I changed the name of Kut-O-Yis to something that sounded similar but wasn't as complicated to type out haha. I liked how his character helped the poor people of the community by taking away from those that were being greedy. I also really liked the spiritual aspects of the ghost camp story I had read from part A so I thought I'd try to combine the two.

Bibliography
The Camp of the Ghosts here
Stories of Kut-O-Yis begins here

Image Information
Sunset in the woods. Found here (pxhere)
Inside Grandmother's Lodge. Found here (flickr)

Reading Notes: Blackfoot Stories (Part B)

The second half of the Blackfoot Stories share the same general style as the first half. Both sets of stories attempt to convey a message or explain history and nature. The second set of stories explains the reason why certain forest animals obtained their unique physical characteristics. It is likely that the reason only the peculiar animals had stories was because they were different among most other things in nature which would beg the question of "why?'. So, the stories were used to explain unusual phenomena that the natives came into contact with during the course of their life in nature.

The Smart Woman Chief

• this story talks about the beginning of the creation of humans
• the story states that women were created before men and were created poorly so that was why they were weaker than men
• it is interesting that this native story of creation recalls women being created before man and on top of that they were more clever
• this is a stark contrast to the biblical version of creation
• the chief of the women turns Old Man into a pine tree for his bad behavior
• interesting that the woman chief has witch-like powers

Kut-O-Yis Stories

• Kut-O-Yis is compared to the Jack the Giant Killer of European stories. He kills evil monsters and people in order to help others
• I feel like he better resembles a Hercules or maybe even a Robin Hood style character. He always meets with the poor people to find out what their troubles are then tries to fix them
• He usually takes from or kills those who are greedy and have more and then gives the loot to those in need of it
• Kut-O-Yis was born of the blood clot of a buffalo as it was being stewed in a hot pot
• the number four seems to have some special significance in the Blackfoot tribe, I should look it up to find out more information
• Kut-O-Yis, after helping his parents get rid of an evil son-in-law, goes from town to town liberating the most poor from the greed of the town chiefs
• In each town he helps the starving elderly folk by killing the chief that hordes all of the good meat
• first town he kills bears
• second town he kills snakes
• third he kills a demigod-like entity known as the Wind Sucker
• when he killed an animal, he always left one female to be able to continue breeding for the species
• fourth he kills a man-eater who was chief of a village
• he allows himself to be devoured four times and comes back to life each time before eventually killing the man
• Kut-O-Yis as a character seeks out justice for those who have been done wrong but at the same time he is, to some extent, merciful to those he punishes

Kut-O-Yis faces the man-eater of the fourth village.

Bibliography

The Blackfoot Unit

Image Information: The Cannibal found on wikipedia.

Reading Notes: Blackfoot Stories (Part A)

For this week I read stories originating from the Blackfoot Indian tribe. The stories I read often served the purpose of describing an aspect of nature. They would explain the relationship between different seasons, why some animals migrate each year, and how to pray to the gods of the different weather entities.

The Wolf Man

• A man has two bad wives that never help at home or pull their weight around the house
• They become upset that he moved their family away from the village so they plot to kill their husband
• They place his regular sitting spot over a concealed pit fall which he ends up falling into and becomes badly injured
• he used a buffalo skull as a seat
• The wives leave him to die and return to the village and pretend to be sad
• A pack of wolves came, and one of them helped the man out of the pit and took him back to their elder wolf who healed him
• The man becomes a brother to the wolves and when he was cured by the old blind wolf, he received a wolf head and hands
• In return for their help, the man lived with the wolf pack and tripped the snares of the locals before the wolves would get trapped so they could roam freely and get their meat
• the villagers seem to automatically know it is the man-wolf tripping the snares so it may be interesting to write an about an event that makes the existence of the man-wolf known to them
• Eventually the villagers capture the man-wolf and bring him into the light of the lodge where they recognize him
• they suggest that he punishes the wives who treated him poorly but he leaves their judgement up to them

Examples of some common signs of the Plains Indians.

The Camp of the Ghosts

• A man's wife passes away and he can't live without her so he tries to go to the spirit lodge to bring her back
• The old woman goes to the ghost camp to try to bring back with her the spirits of the some of the man's relatives so that he could be guided by them to the camp
• if the man were to open his eyes at any point during the trip he would die and never come back
• he had to lie to the spirits saying that his grandmother requested he come so that he would gain entrance to the ghost camp
• The chief ghost burnt sweet pine to mask the scent of living human which allowed other ghosts to get close to the man
• The man had to stay in the ghost camp for four days before he would be able to see his wife and begin to take her back
• At the end of the 3rd night, the ghosts gave the man the Worm Pipe and his wife's spirit
• The man had to keep his eyes shut for all four days of the journey back to the village and once he got there they had to sit in a sweat lodge outside of the village
• had they not done this the man would die and his wife would disappear
• The old woman took back her medicines and the man became human again
• would be interesting to write about what kind of medicines the man took that allowed him to enter the spiritual plane

Bibliography

Blackfoot Indian Unit

Image information: Signs of the Plains Indians found on wikipedia

Story Lab: Ted Talks on Storytelling

I took the opportunity to work on a story lab this week and more specifically, I watched the videos that discussed stories and storytelling. The two videos that were provided were incredibly interesting and offered points of view that I had not ever thought about. They discussed conceptions I had experienced and brought up excellent reasons as to why I had them.

The Danger of a Single Story

• this Ted talk was presented by Chimamanda Adichie, a novelist from Nigeria. She discussed the issue of telling, or hearing, a single story. 
• The single story phenomena refers to when we are only presented with one piece of information about an individual or group of people and we use that small bit of knowledge to generalize the group
• Adichie talked about how when she was growing up, one of the people that worked in their home was a young man. All her mother ever told her about him was that his family was very poor, and if she ever refused to finish her dinner she would say something about how much someone like the man's family would appreciate that food. Consequently, she developed the perception that this man and his family had nothing and could make nothing.
• One day her family visited the man's and they showed her a beautiful, intricately woven basket that the man's brother had created.
• This opened a new door in her mind, for she had previously only believed that if you were destitute you could not create or be creative and solely lived for survival.
• This video talked about how powerful a single story could be and  the importance of telling multiple stories
• A story can show how good or bad a people can be so it is important to tell many stories so we can develop a well-rounded perception of the subject of the story

Imaginary Friends and Real-World Consequences

• This talk brings up two questions: Why does anyone spend so much time reading fiction, and what effect does this have on us?
• Specifically, this video delves into a subset of these questions and discusses the relationships people form with these fictional characters.
• Why do we care so much about fictional characters and what effects do the relationships we form with them have on us?
• Parasocial relationships are relationships you form with someone you don't know by consuming media about that person.
• We know that fictional characters are fictional, but we alief that they're real.
• Alief - a gut-level belief-like attitude that may contradict an explicitly held belief
• We care so much about fictional characters because we alief that we truly know them, even though we believe and realistically know that they don't exist
• as a side note, this video used Harry Potter as an example frequently and that really hit home for me since it was my favorite childhood memory

The Deathly Hallows from Harry Potter.

Bibliography

The Danger of a Single Story --> video

Imaginary Friends and Real-World Consequences --> video

Image Information: Deathly Hallows found on deviantart

Reading Notes: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains (Part B)

Of the stories in Part B, I much preferred the ones about ghosts and spirits. Even though I felt like the other stories weren't as entertaining, I found it interesting that the rabbit was the trickster character for the Native Americans. Perhaps that is why some tribes, like the Choctaw,  hold rabbit hunting events and pieces of the animal in high regard.

The Man Who Shot a Ghost

• a man traveled alone through the woods and killed several rabbits in the forrest
• perhaps the amount of game he collected attracted the spirits near by
• the ghosts can physically interact with humans, as a ghost comes by and kicks the man in the back while he is hiding
• before the ghost escapes, the man fires a shot through his leg
• the man hears the ghost mention to another spirit that he had been shot in the head even though the man clearly shot him in the leg
• the next day the man walked over to where he last heard the ghosts speak and found that one of the graves was disturbed and that the bone that was visible showed there was a wound to the skull
• many ghost stories stem from someone trying to disturb the resting place of a deceased individual
• tribes take burial sites very seriously and believe that the spirits of those who have passed away still may linger there so it is best not to disturb anything lest you be haunted

The Indian Who Wrestled With a Ghost

• a man goes on the warpath and must stay in the woods overnight
• he hears the sound of a woman wailing for her son but pretends to be asleep
• a woman walks into the light of his fire and picks up his foot and drops it repeatedly to determine if he is dead
• she almost cuts it, but the man springs up from his spot and shoots her and she runs off into the night
• once the light of day arrived, he released he had camped near a burial scaffold from long ago
• even female spirits are dangerous
• once again the man sleeps on burial ground teeming with spirits
• the next night a stranger appears and requests pipe tobacco
• stranger turns out to be a skeleton and challenges the man to a duel
• perhaps this symbolizes the reaper
• if the man wins then he will conquer his foes and take a prize of horses back home
• the closer the skeleton is to the light of the fire, the weaker he becomes
• he grows stronger the darker it is

Defeating the skeleton at the fire.

Bibliography

Great Plains Unit

Image Information: found on pixabay

Reading Notes: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains (Part A)

From reading these stories it became very clear that the Native Americans were a very spiritual group of people. They were a people who were deeply connected to everything in nature, from the animals to the weather. They believed that everything had a purpose, and that any act of nature was an indication of the will of greater beings. Many tribes also believed that gods and spirits played a very active role in their lives, influencing many day to day activities and seasonal rituals.

Arapaho Ghost Dance from around 1900.

Tattooed Ghosts

• Once a man dies he becomes a spirit that must travel the earth to reach his final destination known as Many Lodges
• while living, a person must tattoo their forehead or wrists so that the spiritual judge will allow them to pass on to Many Lodges
• if no tattoos are present, they are sent back down to earth out of the sky to walk the world forever.
• smoke of the cedar is sacred and will ward away spirits
• if a ghost calls to someone living and they answer, they will die soon after

Forked Roads

• The night stars light up the earth for spirits
• spirits are in the sky walking among the stars, the milky way acts as a road
• this story contains a list of actions that will prevent a spirit from entering the land of good spirits

The Eagle's Revenge

• An Eagle is a highly revered animal in native american culture
• one day a hunter killed an eagle for feasting on a deer he had slain
• that night a stranger appeared at their pow-wow and danced
• every-time he told a story, at the end of a song, a member of the tribe would die
• the spirit of the eagle's brother took human form and enacted revenge on the tribe for the death of his brother
• think about using animal-human transformations in a story

The Ghost's Resentment

• native tribes hold their deceased in high regard
• a group of men go to steal some cloth from a death lodge so they could make clothes from it
• a young man paints himself as a ghost and goes to the lodge ahead of them to scare them away
• a potential story could be to have all the men go one night and be scared by the young man, but then they go a second night
• the second night they are met by a real ghost, and suffer some sort of fate

Bibliography

Great Plains Unit

Image Information: Ghost Dance on wikimedia.

Week 9 Story:

**Please visit my portfolio to read a more updated version of this story!**

Once upon a time there was a village nestled deep in the snow-capped mountains of Nepal. The people of this village were blessed with extreme physical fitness. As it was situated at high altitude, possessing high aerobic fitness was necessary for providing a family with the essentials for living and for attracting a partner. Every thing that was of importance in their daily rituals was gathered from the mountain side or its summit. The ladies of the village chose their suitor based on how physically fit the man was because that would determine his ability to put food on the table and make a home.

Now, in this village there lived a poor beggar. He had experienced unfortunate luck since birth as he was born with a particularly low level of physical fitness. This didn't allow him to perform many activities at this altitude, especially compared to the other young men. So as time went by, he grew bigger and more lazy, not caring to put much effort into any activity save for one thing: wooing the princess of the village. She was the most sought after and beautiful girl he had ever seen. She had green eyes that were as vibrant as the flora after a summer rain, and experiencing the smile that accompanied her warm laughter felt like being embraced by a crackling fire during a harsh winter. In addition to that she was tall, of healthy build, and was the gentlest girl in the village. The chief had made a rule that no one may become a suitor to his daughter unless he could present her with the rare flower that grows at the top of the highest peak of their mountain.

It was rumored that the old hermit living just outside the village was a wizard and had the ability to enchant stones with certain qualities. The poor beggar knew that the only way he might have a chance at picking this flower and winning the hand of the princess was to consult with the hermit. 

So, for the first time in two weeks, the beggar ineptly got to his feet and began to saunter up the road to the humble abode of the hermit. As he got closer and closer to the hut, he started to notice unusual weather changes. A heavy gust of wind would bring through a foot of snow, but minutes later the snow would be replaced by a spring rain with all sorts of plants, fruits, and trees blooming. He could feel the soft buzz of the magic aura surrounding the hut and knew that once he set foot inside his future would change forever. 

He knocked on the door, then waited for several minutes. Just as he turned to walk away, the door shuddered and with great effort appeared to slowly open inward. Curious, the beggar poked his head in and saw that the room was quite dark except for the fire illuminating the far corner of the room. He spied the man sitting in a chair near the fire, who beckoned him in without ever turning to look.

"I've been expecting you, come have a seat and we'll chat. I can provide you with the tools to change your future, but ultimately the outcome of your success lies within your hands", said the hermit.

To be continued...

Author's Note

This story was influenced by the story of the Wizard and the Beggar in the Laos unit as well as the story of the Tortoise and the Geese from the Tales of Bidpai. This version of the story in its current state has not arrived to the point at which the story of the Tortoise and the Geese has shown its influence. I plan to add an ending to this story once it becomes a part of my portfolio project. In the Wizard and the Beggar, the wizard gives the beggar a magic stone that grants him anything he wants but because the beggar knows of the other magical stones the wizard possesses he comes back to try to rob the wizard. Because of the beggar's greed, the wizard takes the stone back that he gave to him and flies off, leaving the beggar with nothing again. I plan to add a similar element to this story in the future, maybe.

Bibliography/ Image info

• The Wizard and the Beggar from the Laos Unit
• The Tortoise and the Geese from the Bidpai Unit
• Rare flower image
• Wizard hut image

Reading Notes: Folklore of Laos Part B

Many of the Laos folklore is centered around the idea that if you behave well in life and make the right decisions, you will be greatly rewarded. Often times, the character of a story will be presented with a treasure or with the option to return something of value. If they are satisfied with the initial gift or choose to return the item, they receive even greater rewards than if they tried to be greedy or had taken the item.

After looking at my work so far this semester, I've found that I need to work on finding opportunities to add more detail to my stories. I will be looking for interesting descriptions and details in this week's reading. Many of the tales in this unit were short so it was difficult to find much descriptive language but I feel like even though the examples I found were few, they provided helpful examples and ideas.

One Woman

• "..but take and sell me as a slave to the captain of the ship lying at the mouth of the river."
• the addition of the specified area of the river makes the sentence much more interesting. The author could have just said the captain's boat was on the river, but instead chose to place it at the "mouth of the river" to give the readers more visual.

A Boy of the City Streets

• "...bade the boy to go to a brook..."
• referring to a creek from which to obtain drinking water. Too often I think I forget to use more specific words when referring to a body of water and typically just say "river" or "lake" instead of a word like "pool" which may have more mystical connotations.

To Aid a Beast

• using the venom of a snake to cure eyesight
• using unconventional items to solve problems
• not a detail but interesting story development

The Words of Untold Value

• "...two fine hairs..."
• instead of just calling them hairs, describe it simply
• "...placed the two hairs in a package with his clothing, and sealed the package with wax..."
• instead of simply saying the boy packed all of his stuff, add more visual elements to the sentence like this.

Accurate representation of me, searching for the details. Wikimedia.

Bibliography

Laos Folklore Unit

Laos Folk-Lore by Katherine Fleeson

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

To start off, I'd just like to mention that I found this opportunity to look back over some comments and feedback structures very beneficial. With my schedule it is difficult to find time to check out feedback in addition to my regular assignment load this semester so having it as part of the weekly work worked out great.


Overall, I feel like all the comments I receive for my project website was very helpful. I noticed a common theme among them and they were all about something I could correct. I think the suggestions I received from the professor provided more insight into my grammatical and structural errors while a lot of the student suggestions revolved around aesthetics or plot ideas. A lot of suggestions confirmed what I concluded from my own review which was the fact that I should try incorporating more detail into my story. It seems a lot of comments shared that sentiment so that it something I will definitely look into.

When I write feedback to my peers I try to commend them on an aspect of their story that I really enjoyed or that they did well with, ask a question about something that confused me like a word they used or an action a character performed, and then finally I make a suggestion about something they might add to their story or alter in some way. I hope that my comments are seen as helpful, positive, and constructive. I find it a lot easier to write comments about fairy tales I'm more familiar with but hopefully all of my feedback is of a decent level of quality.

I feel like all of the introductions I've read did a good job of giving a solid level of insight into the hobbies and passions of the writer. After reading several of them, they were written so well that I felt like I could easily hold a conversation with that person face to face and discuss similar interests or have an interesting debate. I think my introduction could use some work but overall I like the layout of my blog.

I believe my introduction could benefit from a little change. I feel as though it should have less focus on traveling and more on things I do locally and more frequently. Regarding the feedback assignments, I think it would be beneficial to me to try to allocate some time to go over the comments I receive more often so I can grow more as a writer each time I tell a story.

I feel like a lot of times the idea of not doing something correctly or the possibility of failure keeps me from attempting some things. I remind myself that it's equally as important to experience failures as it is to experience success. If I never fail, I won't learn how to build myself back up or how to correct things I'm doing wrong. Everyone fails, even the greatest athletes, artists, and intellectuals. If they aren't afraid to fail, why should I?

Image Info : cheezburger

Week 8 Reading and Writing

Looking back on some of the things I've written and some of the notes I've taken this semester, there are are a lot of things that I felt were good and bad. I could see that as the semester has progressed I've made some significant improvement in making more useful and concise notes. At first I believe I was adding a little too much fluff from the stories, such as some irrelevant plot line details, but now I am doing better at taking note more specific scenarios from stories that caught my eye or a theme I had not thought of.
As the semester has progressed I feel as though I've become more comfortable with writing a story and I felt like that was evident in the examples I have created. I also feel good about the quality of the plot lines in my stories and the goals of the characters I've created. That being said, there are a couple things I'd really like to improve on. As I read through my stories I feel that, even though the story line is decent, they tend to be a little bland. They lack the descriptive words that make the reader interested and help them create the world I describe in my head. I know that I love reading those details in other people's stories so I'm sure mine would benefit from them as well.

Found on wikimedia.

I've chosen this image  of a depiction of Sindbad for very simple reasons. First, I really like all the vibrant colors it has. I think that accurately reflects the culture and trade that Sindbad comes from. Merchants were very important people in his time, and they traveled far and wide to sell and experience other cultures. I also like how this picture has all the elements of an adventure: food, a treasure chest, and a determined-looking individual.

Looking forward, I think I would greatly benefit from reading more stories that use very descriptive language. I think that is one of my biggest weaknesses regarding my story-telling capabilities. I need to look for more opportunities to add things into my story that would trigger the creative mind of the reader and allow them to really delve into the story. I should also look at more examples of comma splicing because that tends to be a recurring theme in my writing.