Everything In Between

 Week 14  (Source: Writing ) I was really looking forward to doing the story lab this week! I decided to look into the " Writers Write " option to really browse popular posts and get a sense of the writing community. I noticed in my feedback from my storybook that I didn't describe elements of my stores in as much detail as I should. This gives me an opportunity to look at how other writers styles can help me improve in this aspect. The first example is from the "most popular section" called " 106 Ways To Describe Sound s ." I particularly enjoyed this article because it was a fun way to show all the different words that can really improve someones writing just by adding it in/replacing it. It was nice looking into the difference between "natural sounds" and onomatopoeia. Since I'm writing such a dramatic story I think adding in these sound words can help make it feel more realistic or interesting. I have so many strong characters that th

 Week 14 Finishing up this week of reading notes I focused on   Italian Popular Tales  by Thomas Crane, Part B. Since this semester is coming to a close and these are some of the last reading notes, I really am going to miss these fun stories to read from week to week. I wanted to stick with the same section as I usually do every week. I can't wait to finish this up but it is also very bittersweet!!  (Source: Dove ) The first story I wanted to take notes on was the first one I read. It's called " The Language of Animals ." I enjoyed the story right off the bat because of the name and the main character. The son gets made fun of for knowing the language of animals. He is seen as an outcast, but in my opinion I find this so be so cool! The story connects humans with nature and that kind of style of writing is beautiful to me. I felt as if this character went on a journey to discover who he was and why it was important to understand the animals. It's interesting to m

 Week 14 It was cool to see the different stories told between different parts of the world. I took Italian in college and really wanted to read into the Italian section. I read Italian Popular Tales by Thomas Crane. I think these tales have interesting twists on stories that I know of but have been "Americanized" or are just different. This particular section offered stories that have elements that are the same from different units but still tell their own unique story setting them apart.  (Source: Fair Angiola ) The first story that I found similarities to other units was " The Fair Angiola ." It was a story that was very similar to Rapunzel. The reason I saw similarities was because at the very beginning there were signs of the number seven. I know I have noted on this before during past stories. The witch that comes to Angiola's mother even says when she turns 7 she would have to give the witch her daughter. It also goes into the conflict showing that the m

 Week 13  (Source: Princess Elizabeth ) There once was this beautiful princess named Elizabeth who lived in a huge castle next to the river. She would spend most of her days sitting by her window watching the water flow. She was forbidden to go out there by orders of the king saying it was too dangerous. One day she saw a man who looked rather lost sitting by the riverbank. She quickly ran down the stairs and met with him from the other side.  Once she got closer she shouted, "Excuse me sir! What are you doing out here all by yourself?"  Elizabeth didn't realize he was the prince who was suppose to meet her sister, Anastasia, later that day.  He responded, "I'm so sorry I went for a ride by myself to clear my head and I got lost. I have to figure out a way to get to the castle actually."  She stumbled backwards realizing who he was. She quickly gave him directions on how to cross the river and ran back up to her room in hopes no one realized she had slipped

 Week 13  To finish off this British and Celtic unit, I just continued reading the " English Fairy Tales " by Joseph Jacobs, second edition. I think a story will be created from either one of the stories my last notes had, or this section depending on how different they are! I can't wait to look at the style since Jacobs has a range of different writing styles for these tales. I also find all the characters to be unique and presented really well through out these stories. It would be interesting to draw inspiration from one of the more intense stories as well.  (Source: Stars in the Sky ) The first story I read was " The Children in the Woods ." I immediately thought of Hansel and Gretel. I also wondered before reading it if it would end in a dark twisted way like the originals. The way the story is constructed makes it look like a really long poem (I honestly don't know the exact word for this style of story writing). When I started to read the actual story

 Week 13 Wow! I can't get enough of the " English Fairy Tales " by Joseph Jacobs. This is notes from the second edition. I found the layout of these tales to be very similar. They were also very creative and detailed in terms of interactions with other characters and the places where these stories took place. I definitely saw ties to stories I grew up reading, but I enjoyed these because they are a little darker and have obscure endings.  (Source: The Golden Ball ) The first story that caught my attention was " The Golden Ball " because it was completely different from what I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be a princess story with the event kind of "ball", but rather it was an actual golden ball. I thought the language and how it created the scenes was very interesting. This story had the same language style as "Tit Tot" but other stories in this collection are written normal. It also still followed that idea of a riddl

 Week 12 (Source: Unsplash ) I really enjoy doing these "story lab" assignments and I have to say I really needed to read the " Advice to Writers " blog this week. I've been so overwhelmed with the amount of writing assignments I've had lately so my motivation to write has been down. I feel like I'm running out of ideas for stories and my brain just feels so dead. There was one post on this blog that I immediately saw and related to. It was the perfect timing to see it and realize I shouldn't be overwhelmed by it all. This one was "The Useless Days Will Add Up To Something." I actually am a waitress and it even talked about how "the shitty waitressing jobs" even add up to something. I needed to think of the bigger picture of it all and see how it all amounts to me becoming a better writer. I know this funk has had an effect on being able to create stories that I like actually want to write about. The blog post "Story is Emoti

 Week 12 I really enjoyed reading the  " English Fairy Tales " by Joseph Jacobs in 1890 for the first reading. I decided to keep reading on to the second part just to see how crazy these tales get! There weren't any that I was already familiar with in this section, but I really wanted to see if they had twists like the first part.  (Source: Fairy Ointment ) The first story I read was obviously the " Henny-Penny " one.  It really reminded me of the reading " The Old Woman With The Pig ." It felt like a series of events that just kept building on themselves. It gives on somewhat of a child like rhyme. I think the language makes people want to read on. I also thought the names were kind of silly, but spoke to the characters personality because they sounded easily silly. It definitely went along with the idea that the fox is meant to trick people. Which is exactly what happened. In the end, the message didn't even get to the king but it still went down

 Week 12  For the first reading I was really intrigued with all the choices we had since this is such a cool unit! I thought it would be interesting to read about some of the english fairy tales since I've heard they are a lot different from the ones I probably grew up reading. These stories come from " English Fairy Tales " by Joseph Jacobs in 1890.  (Source: Binnorie ) In the first story " Tom Tit Tot " I quickly realized it probably wasn't for a child to read. I've heard versions of this story before, but the langue in it was kind of confusing. I thought it was interesting that it gave off this kind of tone where the mother and daughter were less wealthy in a way, and all because of a lie the daughter was able to grab the king's attention and marry him. I do think this idea of spinning skein or else she dies is worse than her life probably would've been with Tom Tit Tot. In addition to that the ending of the story was interesting because it di

 Week 11  The Giving Trees (Source: Three Trees ) Have you ever wondered how "mother nature" or "mother earth" ever got it's name? Mothers cherish the life that they bring into the world. They nurture it and watch it grow just like all things on earth. Mother nature experiences all aspects of life and death in a repeated cycle. It watches all forms of life grow and flourish.To truly experience it, we must examine these cycles or life and death and how it can be a beautiful thing.  There was once was two brothers who were rather mischievous. Their mother was constantly getting onto them about how often they would play and not help around the house. She was exhausted as she was very poor and had to clean, find food, and cook, just to support her family. One day she asked her sons if they would go find food as she needed to rest from working so hard that morning sewing clothes for them. The boys were furious as all they wanted to do was play games. The mother begge

Week 11 Although I didn't previously take notes on the rabbit stories, I still enjoyed reading them! I found the other stories to be quite obscure and strange and I liked that. Diving into Part B of these stories I found it to be nice reading about animals again! In Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney, I saw a lot of animals and ideas that pertained to different beliefs of all the kinds of creations on earth. In the story " The Terrapin's Escape from the Wolves " it was interesting to see a possum take on a wolf. The possum was much more clever and was able to attack the wolf. The other wolves found it so disappointing that the Terrapin was using this one wolf's ear as a spoon! That was such a crazy concept to me. I also liked that the wolves had a council meeting kind of thing where they would decide what to do to the Terrapin. He was still somewhat of a trickster where he ended up begging them to deliberately put him in a situation where he could still get awa

 Week 11 I've been reading a lot of other students stories on the rabbit trickster as it's a common theme through out many different cultures, so I was excited to read about something that included that. Diving in to the stories on " Myths of the Cherokee " by James Mooney, I was already so excited by the introduction in " How The World Was Made. " It depicted beautiful imagery that lead into how they viewed the land, and ended it with a slight burst of fear.  It really showed the ways of the animals and how they discovered new land first, which was an interesting take. I also noticed the repetition of the number 7 which is typically related to a religious symbol. It was the start of a great conflict!  In the story " The First Fire " It was interesting to see all the animals try to work together. It was obviously their first time seeing the fire and they all wanted to take part in brining it to the animals. Many of them got burned or were hurt by t