Reading Notes: Down the Rabbit Hole Part B

For today's reading I read the second half of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I enjoyed this section more than the first because my favorite character is in it more. My favorite character is the mad hatter because he is such a dynamic character. While writing my first blog post for Part A of the readings I had wanted to include him in the story, but I am worried I won't be able to do his craziness justice.

One of the best things about the Alice in Wonderland stories is how much detail was put into creating the story. For my story I want to focus on the detail and story within a story element. Something that might be interesting is If I had the story book come a life.

For my first character I want to use a little boy. I chose this because Alice is the strong female lead so I felt like the story needed a male lead. When thinking about the story I pictured the little boy from the Polar Express. I like the idea of a kid who thinks they are too grown up to listen to or believe in fairy tales.

I want to incorporate this type of character into my story. It’s a typical Peter Pan type story where the character needs a reason to believe in the impossible. I feel like this type of story is a modern take for adults, because adults don’t have the same fascination of magic as children do.

Hopefully with my story this week I can play with the amount of detail I add to my story. That is one of the things that makes the Alice in Wonderland stories so fascinating is how different of a world Wonderland is. Hopefully I will be able to incorporate all of the details and elements that make the stories great.

Alice daydreaming before she goes to Wonderland. Web Source 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Reading Notes: Wonderland: Down the Rabbit Hole Part A

Alice at the tea party. Web Source 

I really enjoyed reading the story of Alice and Wonderland. I loved the movie as a kid and never got around to reading the original story. One thing I always loved about the movie and now about the story is the bravery of Alice. Even though she gets herself into sticky situations she is a strong character full of imagination.

For my story this week I would love to play with the idea of Alice being trapped in her story. I never liked the way the movie of Alice and Wonderland ended. I don't think she should just wake up and be safe. I think Alice as a strong character becomes trapped in Wonderland and seeks to fight off the queen.

For my story I would love to play with a role-reversal technique. If I make Alice the strong heroine that she is it would be interesting to have another character come into the story and need her help. I’m still playing with the idea of how the new character can stumble upon Wonderland. I look forward to part 2 of this reading because that section focuses more on the evil queen figure. While this character wont be a focal point of my story it will still be important to develop them as a bad guy.

I really want to stay true to the idea of how impactful stories are. The original story of Alice and Wonderland began with her talking about stories, “and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or conversations?'” I thought that this was a fun quote and it inspired me to have conversations and pictures be a major part of my new story.


I want to stay true to the original story of Alice and Wonderland and I am exited to see what story it has inspired me to create.


Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Story Planning: The Uncommon Fairy

From the Readings 

• One of the main characters in my story book is Fae or Fairy and the Celtic Fairy tales have a lot of stories about fae, however they call them shees. In the The Shee An Gannon and the Gruagach Gaire the clever fairy was able to figure out why the Gruahach stopped laughing

Research on Fairies (Welsh Fairies) 

Through my research I found a lot of stories about fairies and other mythological creatures in the Welsh section. A story that stood out to me was the story of the Fairy of the Dell. Within this story their is a group of fairies who band together to stop a bad witch. I like this because in pop-culure the view of fairies isn't always positive. I would like to apply this to my project by making it the background of my character Gavin. This story implies that all witches are evil, so the modern way to break this stereotype would be to have Gavin go against this belief! 

The Fairy of the Dell by Peter H. Emerson (1894).

I wanted to learn more about Welsh fairies, so I left the Untextbook site and went to google (agh). On google I found the term "Tylwyth Teg." is the common word in Wales for describing Fair Folk. Like the fairy satires in the Celtic Fairy tale section, these fairies give out gifts to people. If people talk about the fairies the gifts disappear. This could be a potentially funny way for someone to think that they could exploit Gavin. If people think that Gavin could make them rich they might try to use him for that purpose. 

Information on the Tylwyth Teg from Wikipedia. 

This search lead me into a search about fairy rings. These rings naturally occur in nature and are formed of mushrooms or flowers. They got their popularity in fairy stories. In these stories the fairy rings are places you want to avoid. In some tales if you step foot in an empty fair ring you will die at a young age. In the Welsh tales, fairies will try to get you to come into their ring and dance with them. If you step foot in the ring you will be trapped forever in a constant dance. 

Information on the fairy ring from Wikipedia. 

Character Sketch 

As I mentioned above I want to focus on a character from my project. He is a Fae named Gavin. For my story next week I want to write a background story involving Gavin. I think that this would give me a new direction on the character. This week I read the Celtic fairy tales but after my research I found that the Welsh offered me more room to grow with the character.

Gavin: Will be from the tribe of the Fairy of the Dell, whose mission it is to stop evil witches. My college of the elite project is all about breaking down stereotypes. So, for my character Gavin I want him to rebel against the belief that all witches are bad. Since I don't have a witch in my story I am choosing to modify the story for vampires. Like witches they are also seen as a dark race. Gavin getting paired with a vampire for a roommate is a great way to reverse this stereotype.

Willy Pogany to ‘The Welsh Fairy Book’ by W Jenkyn Thomas, first published in 1907. Source

Bibliography: Joseph Jacobs, Celtic Fairy Tales in 1892

Reading Notes: Celtic Fairy Tales Part A

This week I read some of the stories form the first volume of the Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. I really enjoyed these stories and in particular the story of Gold-tree and Silver-tree and the story of the Tale of Ivan. The Tale of Ivan was in Part B of the readings. I didn't know I had read on until it was too late!

I liked the story of Gold-tree and Silver-Tree because it mimicked the tale of Snow White. One thing that I have noticed from my readings is how tricky the characters are. This is interesting to me because in the Disney-version of fairy tales, which I am more familiar with, the characters are very black and white. There is a good character and a bad character. Within the Celtic Fairy Tales the characters are very deceiving. Whether it be from false promises or twisted words. For my story this week I will be contributing more to the plot of my storybook. One of the main characters in my story book is Fae or Fairy and the Celtic Fairy tales have a lot of stories about fae, however they call them shees. In the The Shee An Gannon and the Gruagach Gaire the clever fairy was able to figure out why the Gruahach stopped laughing. 

The Shee in this story seemed very carefree but determined in his approach to finding the information. This is something I want to bring into my character. Throughout my readings this week I want to learn more about the Celtic version of fairies and see the different elements I can incorporate into my storybook.

Bibliography: Joseph Jacobs, Celtic Fairy Tales in 1892

The Shee An Gannon. Web Source 

Story: Dear Diary

10/26/2045

Dear Diary . . .

Once Upon a Time . . .

Just kidding. I would like to tell you that this is your average fairy tale, but its not. I’m not a princess or a damsel in distress; I’m just a girl, who bad things keep happening to.

Hi my name is Jade. I am your run of the mill eighteen-year-old. When I was younger my mother died in a car crash. Years later my father got remarried to the most awful women on the face of the Earth. You might think I’m exaggerating, but she makes Voldemort seem like a kitten. My dad and the monster were married for a year when he went missing. He went to work in the morning and never came back. The police said he ran, but I know better. My dad would never leave my brothers and I behind. Luckily for me I have three amazing brothers who have watched out for me my entire life. They take the role of an overbearing older brother to a completely new level. This can be annoying, but after losing so many people in my life, it’s a welcomed pain. When I turned eighteen my life flipped upside-down. I was still searching for my father who had been gone five years by now and I was about to find out that my brothers weren’t who I thought they were. Turns out, having all this crappy stuff happen in your life, means you qualify to get a fairy-god mother. However, it seems that they were short staffed and instead my brothers became by fairy-god brothers. It was a bit of a shock for all of us. To this day I joke that every time they come near me they have to wear a tutu and leggings (warning: never day this to your older brother)

My eighteenth birthday was also a blessing because it meant that I got to join my brothers at the University and get away from the she-devil. My freshman year was going great until I got a text from an unknown number. All it said was “Come find me.” It was super ominous and I forgot about it until the next week at the same time I received the same text. After consulting my brothers we concluded that it could be our long-lost daddy calling to us for help.  Even though I knew he would never run off on us, it’s hard to not be somewhat mad at him for disappearing.

Long story short, I knew there could only be one person behind is disappearance and Ill give you one guess as to who that is: my monster of a stepmother. Christmas break is coming up and while I dread going home, I am excited to see what clues I can find at her house. I know that she is behind this and now all I need is to prove it.

Thank goodness my brothers now have magic powers. While we still haven’t figured out what all they can do, I know I will need them when I go back into her house. No one is safe in that house and I’m determined to reveal her as the monster she is.

A diary holds many secrets. Web Source 

Author’s Note: For my readings this week I read the marriage tales of the Native American people. These stories feature first hand accounts of the trials of marriage. To stick with this theme of a first person account I made my story into a diary entry. I didn’t want to make it too obvious that she was writing in a diary because I didn’t want that to be the main focus of my story. I also made her the daughter rather than the wife because I feel like kids are given a unique perspective on marriage by watching their parents. As most diary entries are day by day I knew that my story wouldn’t have a resolution, so I will give it to you here! She finds out that her stepmom kidnapped the dad and if she kept him long enough she would gain Jades inheritance. The stepmother, who had been hiding the father at her parent’s house, had conspired with her parents to steal Jades money from her trust fund. This was a spin on the black-widow stories.

Bibliography: Readings from Tales of North American Indians by Stith Thompson.

Reading Notes: Native American Marriage Tales Unit Part B

For this set of readings. I read part B of the Native American Marriage Tales Unit. This unit was much happier than the first. My favorite story out of this section was the True Bride stories. They held elements of a Cinderella story mixed with Snow White.

In the story their are four mysterious brothers. I really liked them as the "fairy-god mother" type character. They watched out for the girl and worked to make her life easier. In my first reading I mentioned that I wanted to write a horror story. So, after reading this I want to play with the idea of a horror story that involves traditional fairy tale characters.

In my story the brothers would be captured by the evil stepmother, so that they could no longer help the girl. The girl would then be forced to go rescue them. This is a fun role-reversal where the former damsel in distress has to save her fairy-god brothers (name still pending). As for the setting that my story will be in, I like the idea of a fair away castle that she must travel too. The key with this kind of story is making sure that I don't make the journey too long. Even though I wanted to write a horror story I still firmly believe that they can have a happy ending.

I also want to incorporate another character into my story. So, while it might be a prince or a local boy they will help her in her journey. I know I want to incorporate aspects of the Native American stories into the journey, I just haven't figured out how they will fit yet!

Cinderella Wonder books. Illustration by Ruth Ives. Source 

Bibliography: Readings from Tales of North American Indians by Stith Thompson.

Reading Notes: Native American Marriage Tales Unit Part A

When I first started this unit I thought it would be happy tales of marriage. However, as I continued to read I was saddened that most of these stories had unfortunate endings and beginnings. While this was sad it inspired me to write a horror story for my weekly story.

I want to focus on the idea of a husband being kidnapped and the wife having to save him. I think this would be a nice role-reversal on the age-old damsel in distress stereotype. For this story I will use the story of the Piqued Buffalo Wife as my inspiration. In this story the son and wife are buffalos who turn into humans. In order for the husband to keep them he must pass several tasks laid out by the buffalos.

This goes into what I want to write about. It might be interesting if the husband's family disapproves of the marriage. And being a wealthy family they pay someone to kidnap their son to keep him from marring her. In the end I want the moral of my story to be that love can overcome anything. I think one thing that is interesting about this plot for a horror story is the lengths that the family will go to to prevent the marriage and how their money can buy anything.

This is a very modern horror story. The money will be the big monster of the story! Within many of the Native American Marriage Tales the evil being is simply an animal or object, so I wanted to stick with this same trend for my story. Money is something that everyone uses, it is a common object. It has both benefits and downsides so it will be interesting to look into these!

Bibliography: Readings from Tales of North American Indians by Stith Thompson.

Money, money, money. Flickr