Topic Brainstorm: My ideas

 

(Loki and Idun by John Bauer via Wikimedia Commons)

Topic 1: Tricksters 

(This link seems helpful as it lists a bunch of different tricksters from various cultures)

    This topic sounds fun because I really enjoy tricksters in stories because they are not only clever, but they also bring a twist into the story. Loki is a well-known trickster in Norse mythology but that is the only specific trickster that I know of. Otherwise, I have little to no knowledge of any other trickster stories, so I am hoping to learn more about this type of story because they’re pretty entertaining. My idea of retelling the stories of various tricksters is to make them all sit down and argue about which one of them played the best trick. They will argue and tell one of their stories in hopes to be named the best trickster.

Topic 2: Legendary Creatures                                                                                                                    

(This link seems helpful because it list legendary creatures from all different cultures rather than just the well known ones)

    This topic also sounds fun to me because I remember as a kid, I was always interested in mythical creatures such as dragons, cyclops, etc. The only previous knowledge that I have come from reading Percy Jackson books as a kid, so I am more familiar about mythical creatures from Greek mythology more than anything else. Therefore, I hope to learn more about some legendary creatures from other cultures. The idea I have about retelling some of the stories of the creatures is based around a man that is building a zoo of mythical creatures. The time will be set before the heroes in many typical stories will be able to defeat the creatures and instead this man will go around collecting the creatures from all over the world with each creature coming from a different region (Europe, Asia, Africa, etc.).

Topic 3: Aesop's Fables                                                                                                                                  

(This link seems helpful as there are a lot of Aesop's Fables to choose from)

    This topic interests me because I really like the hidden message behind all the stories. The stories are really thought provoking because throughout the stories in this section, while they are not long, they have enough information in them in order for you to understand the message if you look deep enough. While I have heard of Aesop’s fables before, the only experience I have with these tales are from this week when doing the anthology assignment. For the Storybook, I would rewrite all these tales and change the characters and settings while still keeping the underlying message of the stories. I am not sure yet whether I will be picking random stories to tell or having a theme of say, just stories based around a certain animal, but I am leaning more towards the single theme.

Topic 4: Japanese Ghost Stories                                                                                                                 

(This link seems useful because under the Yūrei header, you can find links to different types of ghosts and their folktales)

    I am interested in this topic because I have always been interested in ghost stories, especially from Asian cultures. I really enjoy the creepy vibe that the stories give off and the amount of creativity that comes with some of these stories. That being said, I have only heard of a couple Japanese stories and am not exactly well versed in the topic. Thus, I would like to learn more about the different types of ghosts that are portrayed in the Japanese culture. My idea for the retelling of the stories from this topic would be a first-hand account of an extremely unlucky person that just recently moved to Japan. This person will end up encountering multiple ghosts from the stories and will be telling his experience of them, following closely to some of the encounters in the original stories.