Story Week 14

Revised Story

Princesses through out history tend not to rule. Their brothers steal the throne because of misogynist rules, but that does not mean they do not have any power in high society. Often, they negotiate their marriages to make peace with foreign powers and their husbands regard them as the most important part of their life. This aspect of this life makes them increasingly vulnerable.

Megan and Harry, part of the English royal family, were a happy couple with three beautiful children until Megan was kidnapped by the Spanish prince Ferdinand. Ferdinand's sister, Cressida Bonas, was broken up with Harry's cousin, and he leaked ill information about her to the press. She was devastated she lost her spot in Buckingham Palace and was humiliated. Ferdinand repeatedly tried to get Megan to leave Harry for him, but she refused.

Harry went to war with all of Spain for Megan. He spent many years when he was younger in the army in Afghanistan and was very skilled. First during the battle of Madrid, Ferdinand sent the solider Sebastian to fight the rest of the English soldiers, and went to fight Harry. But he couldn't defeat him by himself. So, Diego, Ferdinand's brother, who was incredibly mighty and giant, decided to join the battle, to face off directly with Harry. He joined later because Ferdinand's Father sent him to Southern Spain and it took him time to get to Madrid. He devastated the English Army, but Harry was able to defeat him. His defeat doom Ferdinand. Without Diego, Ferdinand was easily defeated.

Harry, winning the war, and continuing English dominance over Spain, began to search for Megan. He found her safe and true. They were able to return to their family and continue raising their young children, along with bringing the royal family to modernity. They will remain happy until the next scandal William creates or the next crash Harry's grandpa causes.

The British Royal Family

Author's Notes

So I used the story of Kumbhakarna from Ramyana. As a quick review, Kumbhakarna is Ravana's giant brother who sleeps for 6 months and had to be awoken. I changed the story and made it modern and secular. Also, I added some of the drama of the British Royal family because in a modern world, princes would not go to war because one cut off a princess's nose, so I wanted to give it a sense of plausibility. I added the first paragraph to place the story in pre-modern time and to add more to the plausibility factor. 

Revisions

So turns out William has been cheating on Kate despite the fact that she has been suffering to give him heirs and is so out of his league. I changed the story from William and Kate to Harry to Megan. They are more fun anyway and are actually in the twenty first century so I was able to update some parts of their life. I also went in and corrected some sentences. 

Week 11 Story

Downtown Story

A young couple moved to New York City to work on Wall Street. The wife, Pam, was a stock broker, and the husband, Eric, worked in a firm. They were from the West Coast, so none of their family and friends were from the area. They had no emergency contacts or anyone to rely on. Pam was incredibly scared that they would have no where to turn in case of an emergency. Also, New Yorkers keep to themselves and don't go out of their way to help strangers often, so they couldn't hope for random acts of kindness.

New York City

Pam was concerned they didn't know anyone so she forced Eric to make friends. He made friends at the gym, work, and a alumnae association. Their names are Jacob, Daniel, and Andrew.

Years later Pam and Eric started their family and had twin girls.

Cute Twins

They were incredibly happy. Their career were going great and loved being parents. However, when the young family was going to the park one day, their uber was involved in a car crash. The girls were unscathed, but both parents were hurt.

The friends Pam forced Eric to make, stepped up during the time it took Pam and Eric to recover, and helped take care of the girls until their family could come and visit. Jacob would stay with the girls during the morning because he worked in the afternoon. Daniel would take the girls with his kids during the days, and Andrew watched the girls at night.

Author's Note 

I based this story off of the Hawk and the Osprey. I stayed pretty true to the story, but I changed the characters to people and setting to New York City. I did this because I could see this situation arising there. Its really scary to move to a place without connections, and someone has likely been forced to make friends before. In the actual story the Hawk is threatened by a hunter, but because I changed them to people, that was a lot less realistic. A car crash is more realistic and is something 1/3 experience in their lifetime.

Story Laboratory Week 10

EmpoWord: Telling a Story

"We're all stories, in the end"- Steven Moffat, Doctor Who

Reading this quote in an English accent makes it even better. It can be applied and can be thrown to so many situations. That's why I love British TV.  

Narration is incredibly significant in every culture. We are constantly telling stories or being influenced by them. Historians, Chemists, Musicians. It make it interesting though you have to make it deliberate. 

Mood- Emotional dimension which a reader experiences while encountering a text

Narrative pacing- the speed with which a story progress through plot events, Can be influenced by reflective and descriptive writing.

Tone- The emotional register of the text

Scope refers to the boundaries of the plot, primary focus. Where and when does it begin and end? and what is the focus. Background information plays a role. 

If you think how you would respond in situations it can help. Also, try not to be too broad so you do not bore you leader or add too many details. Foreshadowing also keeps your reader into your story.  It works with the sequence and pacing. Your climax has to be just right, 

In medias res- in the middle of things --- map out your story to help

Writing is fun

The point of view shapes how your reader experiences the story. It also affects how your write. You have to make it believable and not fake. Stream of consciousness is wild.


Empo Word Shane Abrams

Week 6, Story Laboratory

Advice to Writers ---- bibliography 

So this piece is some interviews and quotes from writers giving advice. I am so excited because my future will contain so much writing. I would like to also write a book one day, so these snippets of a master's mind are valuable paragraphs. Personally, I ended up looking for reallyu interesting thoughts or individuals I respected. 

Richard Russo gave some advice about thinking about what you have to do today. When you think about an entire novel, it is overwhelming, but pacing yourself with the three pages on Monday-- it is incredibly achievable. It is useless to worry about the future, it will only slow down the current process. Even not working on a novel, this is important. I change my mind so much. If I worry about the end, I won't get through the middle that shapes the end naturally. 

Lin-Manuel Miranda critique our current society and my study habits with a story of his childhood. He encouraged creators to learn to stay in their head present and not get distracted. It is so easy to get distracted with how fast the world spins and the millions of tiny screams of the world vying for my attention. His friend distracted himself for three hours with a stick and this inspired him to step his imagination game. When I was younger, and I would just sit there and think with myself, my world meant so much more to me. It was so much more entertaining and I thought so deeply about so many concepts. Now I don't have time for any of that, or I am constantly distracted during that time. If I allow myself to check out of reality more, my conceptualization of reality will be so much more fulfilling and my work that much more original. 

Elie Wiesel said writers write because they have to. I wonder if he thought that because his world was mostly one before the high speed of technology. His imagination was not stiffed by the workaholic nature of our society. He said the characters would suffocate him if they did not escape so I wonder if that means if in all of his characters, a piece of his own character or personality lays. He is one of my favorite people and authors to ever exist, so I am incredibly intrigued by the guess into his genius. 

Elie Wiesel at different stages of his life

Week 5 Story: William and Kate

William and Kate 

Princesses tend not to rule. Their brothers steal the throne because of misogynist rules, but that does not mean they do not have any power in high society. Often, they negotiate their marriages to make peace with foreign powers and their husbands regard them as the most important part of their life. This aspect of this life makes them increasingly vulnerable.

Kate and William, part of the English royal family, were a happy couple with three beautiful children until Kate was kidnapped by the Spanish prince Ferdinand. Ferdinand's sister, Cressida Bonas, was broken up with William's brother Harry, and he leaked ill information about her to the press. Ferdinand repeatedly tried to get Kate to leave William for him, but she refused.

William went to war with all of Spain for Kate. First during the battle of Madrid, Ferdinand sent the solider Sebastian to fight the rest of the English soldiers, and went to fight William. But he couldn't defeat him by himself. So, Diego, Ferdinand's brother, who was incredibly mighty and giant, decided to join the battle, to face off directly with William. He joined later because Ferdinand's Father sent him to Southern Spain and it took him time to get to Madrid. He devastated the English Army, but William was able to defeat him. His defeat doom Ferdinand. Without Diego, Ferdinand was easily defeated.

William, winning the war, and continuing English dominance over Spain, began to search for Kate. He found her safe and true. They were able to return to their family and continue raising their young children. They will remain happy until the next scandal Harry creates or the next crash William's grandpa causes.

The British Royal Family

Author's Notes

So I used the story of Kumbhakarna from Ramyana. As a quick review, Kumbhakarna is Ravana's giant brother who sleeps for 6 months and had to be awoken. I changed the story and made it modern and secular. Also, I added some of the drama of the British Royal family because in a modern world, princes would not go to war because one cut off a princess's nose, so I wanted to give it a sense of plausibility. I added the first paragraph to place the story in pre-modern time and to add more to the plausibility factor. 

Bibliography 

Kumbhakarna 

Week 2 Story: The Crocodile in the River

The Crocodile in the River

Deep in Australia, where crocodiles grow to enormous lengths and have incredible strength. A Monkey, Bodisatta, was told by his fellow troupe about a crocodiles named Devadatta's murderous plans. But the Monkey was not afraid, they had been through this situation before. Long before, in another life, Devadatta had tried to kill the monkey but failed.

A Troupe of Monkeys

Bodisatta had lived a previous life as a monkey. He had grown extremely large and strong. Instead of living in Australia though, he lived on the West Coast of Africa. There Devadatta also lived as a large crocodile in muddy waters where he could hide. He lived with a different troupe of monkeys on a beautiful island filled with trees. He could get from the island to the the mainland by jumping on rocks or debris to get more fruit that did not live on the island.

Devadatta was in love with a beautiful crocodile who longed to eat a monkey heart. The two had a small family, and she spent her days caring for the young. So, she could not catch the monkey, for her days were filled. Crocodile children have terrible attitudes. So Devadatta came up with the plan to lay on one of the rocks the monkeys used to cross to the mainland and catch a monkey when he landed on him, instead of the rock.

The next day Bodisatta was going to cross from the mainland back to his home when he noticed the rocks were not like how they usually were. One in particular looked much larger and darker than usual. He wondered if it could be a crocodile so he called out to it, "Hello Rock." But, the rock kept silent. So, he called out to it again.  But this time, the crocodile answer back, "Hello."

Bodisatta then replied, "Who are you?"

Devadatta caught, answered, "A crocodile, here to eat your heart"

Bodisatta was much smarter than the crocodile. He knew the crocodile could stay there until he caught a monkey. So he told Devadatta, "Open up, you win. I can not get home and there is no life for me here."

Devadatta accepted the easy win and opened his mouth and closed his eyes. But, Bodisatta jumped off his head to his island and to safety. There, he could warn his family and keep Devadatta from getting monkey hearts from them.

Authors Note:

I slightly changed the story. I changed details and made the story my own. Also in the original, Bodisatta lives in solidarity on his island. I have never heard of a monkey not in a troupe so I added that detail and also I liked the aspect of two family men looking for their family's and the start of a feud over their loved ones that lasted lives. It wasn't a large change, just changed the priorities of the main characters. Also, monkeys are in abundance of where I chose to place the story so it made more sense to warn others because Devadatta could have just found another monkey. 

Bibliography:

The Crocodile in the River, Vanarinda Jataka, in The Jataka: Volume 1 translated by Robert Chalmers.