Week 14 Review

For this final blog post, I wanted to check up and review everything. I feel like I have learned a lot in this semester, about myself as well as my writing. I think this image below is a great depiction of not only the semester and life in general. Life really is like a camera. We should focus on what is most important to us and learn from our mistakes as well. It is also important to not give up after something goes wrong. This semester has had a lot of ups and downs, so this was a good reminder to push through and that there are other opportunities out there.  

(Sylvia Duckworth Image)

Tech Tip: Weather Widget

I added a cool weather widget to my blog! Norman weather has been crazy lately so I thought this would be a fun thing to add. It's at the top of my blog if you want to check it out.

Heres the link on how to add it.

(My blog) 

Class Improvements

I have really enjoyed having this class this semester. I feel that it has allowed me to expand my writing skills I felt that I was alway learning new information. After reviewing the future planning suggestions, I really liked most of the ideas!

Change Review Weeks to Planning Weeks: 
I liked this idea! I think a bit of both review and planning would be good. I feel that a planning week would involve another week of changes being made, but that might be thinking about it wrong? I think when I first started this course, it would have been very helpful to see more of the overlay for the course and actually set my schedule to follow it.

Expand on the Story Planning Option: 
I also liked this idea of being able to plan my story options. I think it would be better so I could maybe get some feedback before even beginning to write.

Create more audio recordings: 
I didn't mind this idea. I think sometimes it is better to listen to stories out loud rather than read them all the time.

Create Writing Tutorial Videos: 
This would have to be my favorite idea! I am not the best at writing, so I think it would be helpful to actually see someone explain things. Sometimes I get lost following a bunch of written directions and things can be better translated by video in my opinion.

Creating Thematic Reading Units: 
I thought this was clever! I like it because I feel like it would help to organize things a little better. Jumping from story to story, it would be fun to see what kind of mysteries people write one week or another theme for another week. It would give people a set type of idea to follow.

Story Week 14: The Frog Kiss

Long ago there was a Princess named Hannah wandering through the tangled woods. She was a free spirit and loved to go off on her own. She always felt lonely and longed for something more in her life. One day, when she was playing with her ball in the woods, she accidentally dropped it into the murky waters down below. Devastated, she sat there and cried thinking about if she would ever get it back. The ball was expensive, and she had taken it from the King, her father. Worried what he would do, she cried for help. Maybe someone would come to her rescue..

Splashing the waters to look for signs of life she yelled, "HELLOOO is anyone out there?"

After waiting for a few minutes, Hannah hadn't heard anything from down below. She thought maybe she had frightened all the creatures... That was until all of the sudden a frog hopped up and sat beside her.

"What's wrong? You seem so sad my dear", the Frog exclaimed.

"Wretched creature I have lost a precious treasure that I took from my father."

*Hannah was grossed out at the sight of the ugly and slimy frog, but she was desperate*

"Oh my! Well, you are just in luck. I can help you solve your problem if you can help me solve mine.."

"I'm begging you Frog! You are my only hope. I will give you whatever you want."

Remembering this, the frog dove deep down into the waters to fetch the ball and return it to the beautiful Princess. Ever so thankful, she jumped with joy with all of her excitement. As she thanked the frog and was about to leave the frog began to speak.

"Princess, will you kiss thy lips of mine?"

Hannah thought about how gross the frog kiss would be, but was very thankful for what he had done. She lets her fears go past her and leaned in for a kiss.

*boom*

Long story short, after the kiss, the frog turned into a handsome young man. The Princess was in disbelief. She had never seen anything like him in all of her life. Falling head over heals for him, she asked him how he had become a man. Before this, she was grossed out at the thought of him.

"With your kiss I have come back to my human life. I was a human long ago until a spell cast me into an ugly frog. All I needed was the kiss of a beautiful Princess to grant my wish."

Princess Hannah was starstruck. She wanted to bring back the handsome man back to meet her family and thank him for what he had done for her. Although the man had wanted to go back with the girl, he had to tell her some bad new.

"Princess I must not go with you. For I am bound to the woods by the spell. You have restored my humanity, and I wish more than ever that you would stay with me here."

Not sure what to do, the Princess looked for signs all around her. She knew that if she stayed with the man she might not ever see her family again. She also knew that if she left, she might lose the love of her life...

(The Frog) 

Author's Note: The original story that I got my inspiration from was called "The Frog Prince".  I kept some of the storyline about the princess losing her ball, but changed the outcome for the most part. I added some dialogue as well just because I wanted to try something new. I changed the ending to where all it took was a kiss to change the frog back into a handsome man.


Bibliography: Brothers Grimm LibriVox

Tech Tip: Google Timer

For this Tech Tip I thought I would try out the Google Timer! I am a very big procrastinator, so I thought that I would time myself for writing my stories and notes this week. I also get off track very easily, so if I know I am in a crunch to get things done then that might help me. I have never really used a timer before for my work, but I usually know how long that I have

(Google Timer) 

What I enjoyed most about this timer is that I was able to set however long I wanted to go for and that it could either be a timer or a stopwatch. It was also easy access to get to as well. I think it is a lot more simple than setting a timer on my phone, just because my phone can be a distraction too. 

I would recommend this to other students trying to stay on task and get things done in a timely manner! 

Reading Notes: Brothers Grimm; Part B

"The Queen Bee" was an interesting story. From the title of the story, I expected something completely different than what it turned out to be. The story had to do with three brothers, one of which was picked on, but he stopped the other brothers from doing some horrible things to creatures. The older two brothers ended up turning into stone after they couldn't complete a task, while the other brother was able to receive help from the creatures that he had saved. I like how the ending tied everything together and the bee was able to tell which had the honey. I think if I was to make changes to this story I would maybe make it about three girls on an adventure, just because of the title. I also think the two brothers should have stayed into stone. That would have been funny.

"The Fox and the Horse" was another  story that from Part B that I enjoyed. It made me mad in the beginning, however, when the owner stopped feeding the horse after all the horse did for the owner. The owner, in my opinion, deserved to have something bad happen to him. Maybe I would have had the lion come back to eat him after the horse rounded him up. I also like the unexpected friendship that was formed with the fox and the horse. Maybe I could also go further into detail about the friendship that they did have. The story didn't elaborate much as to why the fox decided to help the horse out.

(The Fox and the Horse) 

"The Willow-Wren and the Bear" was the last story I wanted to mention in my notes. I like the idea that these animals were part of some type of royalty. I think it is funny that there were Queens and Kings and that the bear had to respect the birds. As the story continued, I liked that the battle was with the animals in the air and the animals on the ground. I was expecting the larger animals to win, but thought it was clever that the animals that flew were able to outsmart the larger animals to get what they wanted.


Bibliography: Brothers Grimm LibriVox

Reading Notes: Brothers Grimm; Part A

"The Frog Prince" was a very cute story to read. I thought there were so many changes that could be made to personalize the story. The whole story deals with a princess that loses her ball in the water. She asks a frog to help her retrieve it. The frog does so, asking the princess for a favor and she agrees thinking it was a silly request of the frog. After the frog does as he is asked, he goes to the princess expecting to get what he asked for. At first, the princess is hesitant, but soon agrees to what the frog asked. After a few days of living with the frog, he then turns into a handsome prince one morning and they live happily ever after. I thought about a few changes that I could make to the story. The whole story I was thinking of how the prince actually turned into the frog? Maybe I could do a little back history on what happened to him. I also thought about making the princess a frog instead of them living happily ever after. Not all stories have happy endings for everyone.

 (The Frog Prince) 

Rapunzel was the next story that I read from Part A. I hadn't read the story in a while so it wasn't super familiar with the beginning of it. I thought that the story was a bit different than I had remembered. There are a few different changes that could be made to the story after reading it. I wish I had heard more of what happened to the parents and maybe even about Rapunzel's childhood. That would be different and new aspect. I also would have liked to go more in depth to what made the person want to keep Rapunzel trapped and what they did with the hair. 

"The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean"was another story from the Brothers Grimm section I enjoyed. It was about three completely different items that escape "death", but not being cooked or used to cook something. The three set out on a journey to another country to repair themselves, but ultimately were not too successful when they tried to cross a bridge. The straw and coal were injured as well as the bean. The story ends, however, with the bean being repaired. I think I could make the story continue with another adventure and them somehow meeting up again. 

Bibliography: Brothers Grimm LibriVox

Story Planning Week 13: The Headless Prince

For my story planning post I wanted to focus on the story called, "The Headless Princess". There is a lot to this story that I think I would do to change it. For starters, I would call it, "The Headless Prince". After reading the original story, I thought that the boy should end up getting his head chopped off and that he should be of higher status, such as a prince. Most of the stories in this series had to do with some bad fortune to women most of the time, so I felt like the roles should be reversed.

In the original story, there is a Princess who is able to take her head on and off. She only does so in the privacy of her castle. The boy catches her taking her head off. This is where I would change things up a bit. After the boy catches her doing so, he goes and spreads the word. This is then where I would make things a little more interesting happen to the prince. In the original story the princess dies, and tries to get revenge on the boy for watching and he called her a witch. I think that I wouldn't make her evil, but just have her teach the boy a lesson not to invade other's privacy.

For the beginning of the story,  I think I should also talk about why the princesses head is detachable. Was she born that way? Maybe. I feel like it could be some type of legend. Maybe the princess caught someone else doing that so it could end up being some type of spell that is cast upon whoever watches. Maybe the king and queen were evil to the princess in the earlier years of her life.

I also thought may be this could be some type of love story between the princess and the boy. Maybe they somehow end up together after both of their heads are chopped off. I think it could be kind of romantic in a way. They might end up different from everyone else that they know, but at least they have each other.

(Headless princess)

Bibliography: Russian Fairy Tales by W.R.S. Ralston

Reading Notes: Russian Folktales; Part B

For Part B, I enjoyed reading The Headless Princess. I was expecting something entirely different than what the story turned out to be. I thought that the princess would have her head chopped off or something in the story. The story already has her with her head attachable and detachable. That would be so weird if people could just take their heads off and on. I bet I could add a back story to why her head was chopped off in the first place. In addition, I liked how it did involve a neighbor who spread rumors about her. When she died, the kid had to read stuff to her that terrified him, but he listened to the granny and stayed safe. Eventually, they told the king that the princess was evil and the boy was rewarded. Seems very interesting that he was rewarded for something like that.

The Warlock was another good story to read in Part B. I liked how this time it was the father that had died and he left special instructions to his sons after he was dead that their wives needed to do. He had three sons and left special instructions for a cross to not be laid on him. The sons wives would be sent in to spin wool. The first two wives were tricked and strangled by the father. The third wife, however had better luck as she decided to not be fooled and bring a cross in. When he tried to strangle her, she set the cross on him and he died and she was left with treasure. Maybe I will add more to the story of what happens and what the cross on the father really represents?

The last story I wanted to take notes on was called "The Two Friends". I wasn't sure what to expect, but I thought the story was a bit strange. It had to do with two friends who promised they would invite the other to the wedding even if someone was dead. One of them was dead, but the other still went to his grave to invite his friend. His friend ended up somehow tricking the groom into drinking and a few hundred years had passed. I wonder what could have made his friend do this? Was it jealousy? I should add to the story to make for something more interesting.

(Grave site)

Bibliography: Russian Fairy Tales by W.R.S. Ralston

Reading Notes: Russian Folktales; Part A

The first story for Part A was quite interesting. I read The Dead mother and there were aspects that I like and didn't like at the same time. I felt like it was a change from all of the other stories I have read and could eventually be turned into a scary movie or something. The basis of the story has to do with the mother dying during childbirth and her "ghost" coming back to feed the baby and keep him calm at night when no one is around. When the nanny starts to notice this, she notifies others and they seek out waiting for what is to come. I find it interesting that they do catch her in the act and suddenly the baby is dead. Maybe there is more to the story? I think I could try to add some dialogue to this story or  I would rewrite the ending to explain more of what was happening.

(Pot of Gold) 

The next story started off with another couple and the wife dying... I hope there isn't a common theme of that. Maybe I'll make the husband die to give the female a stronger role? Anyways the rest of the story I actually enjoyed very much. The poor man whose wife had died just wanted someone to help him bury his wife. He went to the pope was turned down because he did not have any money. Somehow the old man acquired a pot of gold and went back to the pope and asked him again. The pope accepted this time, but still questioned how the old man got the money. The pope talked with his wife and decided to rob the poor old man. Things didn't turn out so well for the pope as he took the money, but his disguise ended up being stuck to him. I like the idea of karma happening. The poor man seemed to be very good and realized that he had survived before being poor. Maybe I will do a story with a lesson about being greedy?

The final story that I want to discuss is The Bad Wife. At first I really liked where the story was going, even though maybe I should create a story called "The Bad Husband", since they seem to devalue the woman's character. I did like how whatever the man said, the wife did the opposite. I think there could be a lot to add from a story based off of one like this. After she got tricked into going into the forrest I got a little confused. I think I would make a completely different ending and have her trick the husband into it? I could also make her into a better character and not into a Demon like the story makes her out to be.




Bibliography: Russian Fairy Tales by W.R.S. Ralston

Story Planning: Week 12

I've never done a story planning post before so this might be a little interesting... I have included my notes from the first story that I read with more detail. The story I chose from my section was "The Rose Tree". The story started off very subtle, then got a little interesting.

The gruesome part really disturbed me. It had a stepmother chopping off her stepdaughter's head. The stepdaughter seemed a little naive. I think in my story post I would include more dialogue and more of a reason for the stepmother to do so. I also though about having the children (since the stepmother also had a son) change identities.

Even though it would be really sad, I think the boy should dress up like the girl to make it seem like they are playing a trick on the stepmom. She was very fond of her son, so I think it would be interesting to add a part about her thinking it was the daughter instead of her own son. I think I could build some type of moral out of the story that way. The stepmother would then feel really guilty about learning the truth of what she had done to her son.

The stepmother also had them eat the daughter for dinner, so I was really disturbed by that part. I think I would get rid of that and maybe have something more evil happen to the stepmother. I do like the idea of her just regretting what she had done to her own son though.

Another idea I had to have the father more involved and go after the stepmother for doing that to a child. I know revenge isn't always the best, but if someone did that to my child I would be mortified. I also wanted to add some more dialogue and description to the story.

(The Rose Tree)

Bibliography: English Fairy Tales

Reading Notes: English Fairy Tales; Part B

(Henny Penny)

I thought the first story for Part B was very cute. I also thought it was a little confusing with all of the names that the animals were given. It made me laugh every time I had to read the names over and over again though. Things then started to take a turn for the worst when some of the animals heads got chopped off. I was not expecting that. Maybe for one of my stories I should just throw something in the readers are not expecting and make them cringe a little. I probably would not make the names so confusing though, I feel like everything got very repetitive and was getting annoyed.

The next story was quite interesting. I don't really know why, but I have not liked the names of the characters very well. I think they should have included characters with more of a background or meaning to why they named something the way they did. I felt like there wasn't entirely a moral to the story either. I don't think I would choose to write something like this.

The next story I enjoyed until the end. Reading Jonny-Cake reminded me the of the old riddle. I was hoping the story would go more in to detail from the song and it did to an extent. The story also felt slightly repetitive again which I didn't care much for. The ending was again surprising and sad. I felt bad for Jonny-Cake, but also felt like he was bragging throughout the story. I think there are a few things I could do with this story to make it interesting.


Bibliography: English Fairy Tales

Reading Notes: English Fairy Tales; Part A

The first story in this section was pretty interesting. There were some parts that I thought went together and some that I didn't. At the end I was trying to figure out the moral of the story and if it even really had one. The story begins with a daughter betraying her mother and eating pies that she is not supposed to. It then transitions to her getting to marry the king. Most months with the king would be glorious, with the exception of a few bad days in between. During those bad days she struggled with what she had to do. Help came along the way and they tried to make things difficult for her by having her try to guess their name. I think if I was to change up the story, I would try to make a connection as to why this person wanted her to guess their name. Overall, it was a fairly good read.

I enjoyed The Rose Tree, the second story a little better. Although it was gruesome, there was somewhat more of a moral to the story than the first one. If I was make changes, I would maybe have the daughter and son deceive the stepmother somehow and have her end up killing her own son and then face the consequences that way. I liked the description in the story as well. I felt as if I was able to picture everything, as cruel and unusual as it was. It still creeps me out that some of the stories I have read have someone being killed and then their body eaten by those people. I am disturbed by the fact that a human would have the heart to do that. Maybe I would take that part out.

(The Rose Tree) 

The next story was kind of funny! I enjoyed how things kept adding on to the story to make things seem crazier. It would be a fun twist if I made something mess up in the chain of events happening. I feel like the lady went through so much to get a pig to do something, but overall I liked the idea. 

The last story I liked from Part A was the cat and the mouse having  conversation. I think in my writing I should include more dialogue. I like how nonchalantly the story ended with the cat eating the mouse. It would be funny to do a role reversal and have the mouse eat the cat. Not ideal, but would be very interesting. 

Bibliography: English Fairy Tales

Week 11 Story: Grendel

Far away in the land of Daneland, lived an unusual creature. Not many knew what to think of him, for he was unlike anyone people had ever seen before. Rumors flooded the land that it was an evil beast out to get everyone. The monster-like human was known as Grendel. Hair grew from every inch of his massive stature. His build was mighty and although he did not intend to scare people, the way he looked frightened those around him. Grendel was an outcast, and for that he stayed isolated.

His isolation made him a more reserved character. Grendel never thought of himself as mean, but the people of Daneland made him more protective over himself. There were many days and nights that people came after him because of what he looked like.

Grendel's mother knew what her son was going through, so early on she taught him how to defend himself. He trained unlike any other and had to always be prepared for battle. Grendel tried to do nice things for the town and offered to defend Daneland, but the people were still too afraid of him and ridiculed him for the way he looked even more.

With low self-esteem and no friends, Grendel resorted to his isolated home. Grendel and his mother had to build it far away from civilization so that they would not get terrorized on a daily basis. The house was cozy to them, but to outsiders, it was dark and cold. It looked as if it was an uncompleted puzzle. The house was patched together with parts from all over and gave off a feeling of fear to those that were around it because it wasn't exactly like their home.

As years went on, Grendel got extremely lonely which transitioned into his anger for people that weren't accepting of him and the way he looked. He didn't understand why society was so fearful of him and even after trying to change his appearance, nothing worked. He grew back his hair after shaving almost immediately and his build wouldn't change no matter how little he ate. The combination of people afraid of him and him not being able to change had a huge impact on his life.

What triggered his rampage was the people of Daneland taunting him. Grendel then devised a plan. He thought that maybe he could terrorize the people so that they would stop making fun of him and not allowing him to do the things he wanted to do. In planning out what he would do, he hoped that in doing this no one would get harmed, but that they would make him the protector of their land instead.

Well... things didn't go as well as what was anticipated for Grendel. He was right about the people being fearful, but that made them dislike him even more. They wanted Grendel dead, and would do whatever it took to make that happen. This is what led to the people of Daneland to send the wanderer off to find someone to fight the mighty Grendel.

This is also what led to the Beowulf coming to fight Grendel. Maybe if Beowulf really knew what Grendel was going through things might have turned out differently for him...

(Grendel the mighty)

Author's Note: After reading the story of Beowulf, I was inspired to tell the story from a different perspective. In the original story, we do not learn much about Grendel or why he is causing havoc towards the Danes. In this story I wanted to explain why Grendel was so angry. I feel like for every underlying anger there is a reason behind it. Grendel was feeling like an outcast and society didn't help him to be a part of it. The moral of the story is to be accepting of other people and to not judge a book by its cover. Although Grendel went around terrorizing people, the whole situation could have been prevented.

Bibliography: The Story of Beowulf by Stafford Riggs

Reading Notes: Beowulf; Part B

Part B continues the story with Grendel coming to attack Beowulf. Grendel is depicted as this great huge beast. It appears that Beowulf is not yet prepared for the battle. They begin to fight in Heorot, with the scene being set as something dark and mysterious. I like how the author was able to make the scene more realistic. I think that is exactly what my stories need, so that people become more invested in what I am writing.

(Grendel)

The battle between Beowulf and Grendel went back and forth, each causing havoc on one another. The fight was very gruesome, but in the end, Beowulf was able to pull off the unthinkable. I think if I was to write this I might change what happens a bit. What if Grendel won? What if he made Beowulf his slave? That might be a fun twist to not always see the hero win. 

The story continued and Beowulf got much praise for his victory. That didn't last long, however, as news came that there was still a monster out there. The monster still causing havoc was Grendel's mother getting revenge over her son. Beowulf thought to himself to go after the mother alone. I think it would be interesting to tell the story from maybe the mother's point of view? I like the idea of explaining the problems that her son was facing and go in depth as to why he was acting crazy. 

The end of the story was victorious for Beowulf, as he was able to defeat the mom and the people were overjoyed for the victory the Danes received. For a period of time, Beowulf went back to his land and eventually ruled over it when king died. No one had come to challenge Beowulf for a while even though he had a lot of enemies. Eventually, towards the end of the story, Beowulf had to battle a dragon and was unsuccessful. He was still remembered as a great hero and was celebrated by his people. 

Bibliography: The Story of Beowulf by Stafford Riggs

Reading Notes: Beowulf; Part A

The story begins setting the scene of Geastland. This area had a ruler named Hygelac. I think it my story I need to put a little more focus into setting up my characters and giving them fitting names and qualities. The intro continued with a great description of the land and the creatures that lived there. There were seamstress and and other creepy characters that make for a spooky kind of story. I like how well the descriptions were attributed to each character and the scene, making it more realistic to imagine being there. I need to work on that in my writings and include better descriptions.

There were many youths, or rather younger men, that were under the Kind Hygelac. One of the men under him was known as Beowulf. Beowulf is appointed the thane of the kind (his uncle). Beowulf had a strong stature, but also had much to learn from the king about war and hunting. Many people were envious of Beowulf because of how close to the king and queen he sat at the feast. People though that he didn't deserve it. Although he was strong he was somewhat "cowardice".

The story continues with a wanderer coming to sing about troubles going on in their land. The wanderer (also a minstrel), pulled out a harp and sang and sang about a monster named Grendel. Grendel brought a great amount of destruction to the land and the people feared him.

All while the wanderer was singing, Beowulf was thinking to himself that he could take on the terrible monster known as Grendel. He then proclaimed that he would go to the land of the Danes and serve as their king to defeat the great Grendel. People didn't know whether to laugh or to cheer.

(Beowulf proclaiming his fight) 

People were then excited for the bravery that Beowulf showed. I think if I am to change the story around, I should maybe change up Beowulf's character or make him a girl fighting for battle. It would be interesting to see this through a female perspective. I could also tell the story through the monster Grendel. That would be an interesting point of view. 

Continuing with the story, Beowulf then prepares for his journey to defeat the great Grendel. Special stuff was made for him and he was also sent with an army of people. I think the story could be made different if Beowulf just fought with what he had himself or with his wits. 

Bibliography: The Story of Beowulf by Stafford Riggs