Storybook Plan

First of all I think the unTextbook will be a very useful resource as a sort of jumping off point. I think Wikipedia will also be useful for foundational ideas. I plan on lots of other adaptations of the stories I choose as inspiration. I will also be going through former students story books for ideas.

I think I definitely want to do an anthology. I think it would be the most fun to tell trickster stories that myself and most people are unfamiliar with, so I will definitely be enlisting your help this week to get some of those ideas rolling. I am still undecided if I want to have a nine-taled fox story or a story about Kagn, but I will be doing much deliberating this week to get a concrete idea of what it is that I want to do.

I guess the main theme I am going for with my stories is that I want them to be fun. This might sound very simple, but no one likes to be bored. I think if I can make stories that people enjoy reading without it feeling like a chore or homework then it will be mission accomplished. The second thing I am really going for is to showcase the wit of some of these infamous tricksters. Finally, I want to tell unfamiliar stories to expose myself and classmates to new things. I personally love learning new things, and I have to be constantly taking in new information. Especially in the era of entertainment that we are in with the constant remakes, reboots, and sequels I think it is important to tell new stories. I am not a fan of milking a franchise for all its worth. We need some fresh stories.

An Aztec trickster god. Source

Check at my very bare bones story book project so far here.  

Topic Research

For my project I think the most topic I would have the most fun writing about is tricksters. I can't quite place why they are some of my stories, but I really appreciate a nice scheme or demonstration of incredible wit.

Obviously the first trickster story that popped into my head was Loki. Thanks Marvel. But I have no desire to do this story. It's no fun to tell a story every knows. Instead I am going to choose I story I am unfamiliar with to do my project over. I want to learn new stories, and what better way is there to do that than telling my own versions of those stories.

Once I started searching for some trickster stories Anansi was a very popular result. However, since I am already familiar with the story of Anansi I will not be doing my project over it. Sorry Anansi.

The first story I am thinking of doing my project over is the story of Kumiho. When I think of a trickster I think of a cunning fox. "In folktales, the Kumiho would often take the form of a beautiful woman and attempt to seduce young boys. If they gave into temptation, the Kumiho would morph back into a fox and eat their heart and liver. Kumiho have been compared to the European werewolf." Sounds fun!

The second story I am thinking of writing about is the story of Kagn. Once again this story meets the criteria of me being completely unfamiliar with it. "Their trickster god Cagn, perhaps one of the original imaginings of the trickster archetype, holds a unique position as also being the supreme god and creator of the universe." Not only is he the original trickster, he is also the supreme god of the universe like how cool is that.

The final story I am now considering for my project is the story of Juha. I think this could be really fun to write about because "often he is the trickster, while occasionally he is the butt of the trick. The common bond among all the forms of Juha is his use of trickery to teach humorous or ironic moral lessons." I think those could provide for some really interesting stories.

Source: https://ultraculture.org/blog/2016/02/10/5-trickster-gods-world-mythology/

A fox that is up to no good.

Source

Topic Brainstorm

The first topic I think would be interesting is a trickster story. I really liked the trickster story we read in the anthology this week and I am a fan of tricksters in general. I can appreciate a nice clever scheme. The only trickster myths I am really familiar with are stories about Loki, but I would love to read up on more. After looking at the wikipedia for tricksters this is a lot of material and inspiration to work with. https://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2017/07/project-idea-tricksters.html

Another topic I think I would enjoy writing about is the Greek underworld. I'm sure I'm not the only one who loved Hercules as a kid, and Hades was a great villain. However, I think the non Disney version of Hades is much more fascinating, as he is not just some one-dimensional bad guy. To my understanding he isn't even much of a villain. I also think I would enjoy writing about Persephone or Cerberus. https://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2017/07/project-idea-greek-underworld.html

What's behind door number three? It's ghost stories! I love being scared. Well I don't like being scared in real life but I like suspense, and I think ghost stories are a great outlet for that. I enjoy a good spook. For this one I also think there will be plenty of great source material to go off of. I was a huge fan of Casper growing up. Writing a comical ghost story would also be a lot of fun. https://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2017/07/project-idea-ghost-stories.html

Finally the fourth topic I think I could write about is the devil. Sympathy for the Devil is one of the best songs of all time, and that's really all the inspiration that I need. Kidding! Kind of. I think the devil is a really interesting character to write about. He has a lot of depths and different things to explore in a story. After browsing some of the devil stories I think I could come up with some pretty interesting stuff. https://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2017/07/project-idea-devil.html


A spooky ghost. Source