Story Lab: TVTropes

This week, I looked through the TVTrope website. I specifically looked through Fairy Tale tropes, as a thought they could be beneficial to this class. I thought the "Once Upon a Time" trope was interesting to read about; I learned that it dates back to 1380 and has been in almost every fairy tale since. I also read about "Happily Ever After." Because this phrase is so classic, it can be considered a discredited trope and is now often subject to parody. People like this ending because they simply like a happy ending.
One trope I thought would be interesting to use is the "Rule of Three." This is a pattern of telling a story three time, each time with some differences. In the third time, a twist is often incorporated. Alternatively, there is also the "Rule of Seven." This trope is most often evident through the use of a group of seven characters, such as the seven dwarfs, seven days of the week, or seven celestial bodies. This would be easy to incorporate into one of my stories. Each member of a group of seven could represent something different.
"The Impossible Task" was interesting to read about. This is a theme used in many myths and fairy tales in which a person gives someone else a task they do not think they will be able to accomplish, usually trying to get rid of them or have a reason to not keep their end of the deal. The task can come in the form of a riddle or a very difficult quest. They can be broken into three types: feats that should be too hard but the hero is able to undertake, feats that sound physically impossible but the hero is able to overcome as a riddle, or a Chekhov's Gun magic spell solves the problem.

Castle from Pixabay

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Reading Notes: Nursery Rhymes, Part B

In the "Jingles" section of the Nursery Rhymes unit, there are several well-known tales. The first is "Hey Diddle Diddle." HEY! diddle, diddle, The cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the moon; The little dog laugh'd To see the sport, While the dish ran after the spoon. The next is "Tweedledum and Tweedledee." TWEEDLE-DUM and Tweedle-dee Resolved to have a battle For Tweedle-dum said Tweedle-dee Had spoiled his nice new rattle. Just then flew by a monstrous crow As big as a tar-barrel, Which frightened both the heroes so They quite forgot their quarrel. Another is "Rub-a-dub-dub." RUB a dub dub, Three men in a tub: And who do you think they be? The butcher, the baker, The candlestick-maker; Turn 'em out, knaves all three! As I said in the other reading post about the Nursery Rhymes unit, I think it would be difficult to write my own jingles inspired by these. They are all fairly short and follow a similar rhyme scheme. Th...

Story Lab: TED Talk Videos

For this Story Lab, I watched Ted Talks about stories and storytelling . The first video is the TED Talk of a woman named Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie from Nigeria. From a young age, she has been a storyteller. She read foreign books for much of her childhood and based the stories she wrote based on what she read in these books. She eventually discovered books and she learned that writers could look like her. When she came to university in the United States, her roommate was surprised to learn Nigeria has English as an official language and that she was familiar with many of the comforts of American life. She believes people like her roommate have a view of Africans because of writing that portrays them as living in a dark place. When Chimamanda wrote a book, her professor told her the book was not "African enough" because the characters were similar to him, a middle-class man, and they drove cars. When she visited Mexico, she realized she saw the people there as poor immigran...

Reading Notes: Ancient Egypt, Part A

In the story " The Death of Osiris ," Osiris's brother, Set, creates an ornate chest that match Osiris's exact dimensions. During a large feast, Set tells everyone that whoever's dimensions are a perfect match for the chest will be gifted the chest. All the guests tried fitting in the chest, but none fit. Finally, Osiris tries laying in it and fits perfectly. Before he can get out, however, the "evil followers" of Set nail Osiris into the chest, killing him. The party quickly becomes filled with sorrow rather than joy, and Osiris and his coffin are put in the Nile, which they float down until they set sail in the ocean. I think it would be interesting to tell a similar story to this one, in which people thought someone was doing a good deed for society, but it is secretly a sinister act. I could use the same basic premise by having someone create an object that is unknowably created for one specific person, people trying to win this object, and ...

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