Topic Brainstorm for StoryBook

Before looking at any of the suggestions for topic choices I thought I should take some time to think to myself if I had any stories in mind that I was already leaning towards. After a brief moment I felt like I would enjoy doing something with Dante's Inferno, some sort of Peter Pan story, or even a story involving the tale of Robin Hood. With these in mind, I jumped into the list of suggested topics to see what other ideas I might come across.

1. Dante's Inferno

Well, I have never read the Divine Comedy myself but I have heard bits and pieces of it from different pieces of literature and from a philosophy class I have taken. I find Dante's description of the different levels of hell fascinating and appreciate the imagery he uses in describing them. I also like the way that he presents hell via a guide named Virgil who takes you down through each unique level. I'm not sure in what manner I would change the story to make it my own. Perhaps it would be interesting to take the point of view of the devil trying to keep Dante's soul in hell.

Sherwood Forest, Robin Hood Meets Little John For The First Time. This is a photo of a famous sculpture in Sherwood Forest near Nottinghamshire in Great Britain.

2. Robin Hood

Ever since I saw the Disney cartoon version of Robin Hood as a kid I've loved this story. I like the idea of a character that lives outside the law, because it is unjust, and takes from those who are greedy and gives to those in need. The idea of a good criminal always has interested me. If I was to use this for my StoryBook I might consider changing the setting of the original story. The original story seems to take place in medieval England, but in my revision I would have it take place in the Wild West during the Land Run era. I think using that setting would allow enough similarities for most people to recognize the influence from the original story.

3. Peter Pan

While I thoroughly enjoyed the Disney cartoon of Peter Pan, I think I would have to say that Hook was my all-time favorite Pan depiction. The original story of Peter Pan was written by a Scottish novelist named J.M. Barrie and despite being a huge fan of the story I can't say that I've ever read the original. What made me remember this story was the example linked above which takes you to a StoryBook made by a previous student. His adaptation was so enjoyable I'm strongly considering pursuing my own for this project. That being said I'm not sure what approach I would take towards a revision. Maybe I will rely more heavily on the Hook adaptation and write about something to do with Rufio, the Lost Boy who is in charge while Peter Pan was gone.

4. Beowulf

Since I had chosen three topic that I already had some sort of knowledge about prior to reading the list of suggestions, I thought I should pick a story that I hadn't had much experience with before. Beowulf is the tale of a strong English warrior who slays monsters. While the previous heroes/explorers I chose tend to rely on agility or cunning Beowulf relies on a little more on strength than speed to overcome obstacles and defeat the evil in the story. I have heard of Beowulf but never looked much into it and decided this would be the perfect opportunity to learn more about this character. I'm not sure how I would write my own revision of the Beowulf story. Maybe there should be a plot twist involving Beowulf being a monster himself and that is how he is able to defeat these other monsters and obtain superhuman strength.