Week 8 Reading and Writing
Overall, I would say that the reading and writing assignments are working well for me. I am not really a terribly creative person, so having to write my own stories has helped me grow as a writer and has pushed me a bit outside of my comfort zone, what with the fact that other people can read what I write. I have also learned so much about making blogs and websites and about various methods for taking notes and writings stories. I've found all of the readings so far extremely interesting and informative and have learned about other cultures and time periods through the weeks.
I am happy with by blog and the way it looks and am pretty satisfied with my website, though it can be difficult to have fun backgrounds like the jungle while still keeping the text readable. Overall, I like the way both look and probably will not be making any major changes to them. I am also quite happy with how the writing is going for my project, although I only have the introduction and first story done so far. I have a pretty good idea about the direction I am going to take the other three stories and like the fact that we have a week in between adding to our website stories to edit them and make them look really polished. My story posts are going pretty well, as well, though it can be hard to come up with interesting ideas for retelling the stories as I am not really that creative. I have managed alright so far, though, so no complaints.
My biggest accomplishment so far for this class has been the website storybook. I really like that I can design it and write the stories and pretty much make it my own. I've never had my own website before so this is all very new to me and I am finding that I enjoy it quite a lot! I am excited to see how it all looks at the end of the semester, with all of my completed stories and the beautiful pictures and backgrounds that I will find to use along the way. Finding pictures of tigers is honestly my favorite part--I have spent quite a bit of time just scrolling through hundreds of photos trying to find ones I really like. I might even add some more to the pages I have already finished, just because there are so many gorgeous photos to use!
My favorite reading for this class so far has been either the tiger stories that I read in preparation for my storybook project or the Arabian nights stories. I really like the multi-level storytelling in Arabian nights and find the stories intriguing and more complicated than most other stories I have read for this class. The Arabian nights stories just keep going on and on, building up many levels of stories, and I love that. The fact that all of these stories are coming from a woman who is trying to stay alive and keep other women alive while entertaining her murderous man is also something I find fascinating.
I definitely think my reading notes have helped with each and every story I have written for this class. I pretty much do the hard part in the notes, coming up with different story ideas. All I have to do for the story is flesh out my ideas as stated in the notes and perhaps add some more details and different plot twists along the way to keep the story interesting and long enough to feel complete (typically a story feels complete to me around 600-700 words, but sometimes they are a bit shorter or a bit longer, depending on what all I think is important to include--some stories are really complex so they tend to be longer).
I haven't really discovered any new research strategies, I just keep doing what I have always done. I look up characters or events or places online to see what I all I can find out and to give me a better sense of the context of a particular story, which sometimes helps me with writing my own story. Sometimes it doesn't really help that much, just depends on the story. I always like looking up places where stories take place, though, because I love traveling and nature so seeing these types of landscapes helped me become more interested in the story and in writing my own.
My favorite picture from my blog would be the photo of the bronze statue of the monkey king Sun Wu Kung. I like monkeys and find the statue humorous what with the monkey king's intense expression--he really looks like a warrior about to strike the death blow! I also like how the purple background looks with the bronze statue--the colors really go together and make the photo more interesting than if the statue was simply set against a black background. I also like that Sun's fur is pulled up into a bun and that he is wearing armor and a warrior's uniform just like a human.
I am happy with by blog and the way it looks and am pretty satisfied with my website, though it can be difficult to have fun backgrounds like the jungle while still keeping the text readable. Overall, I like the way both look and probably will not be making any major changes to them. I am also quite happy with how the writing is going for my project, although I only have the introduction and first story done so far. I have a pretty good idea about the direction I am going to take the other three stories and like the fact that we have a week in between adding to our website stories to edit them and make them look really polished. My story posts are going pretty well, as well, though it can be hard to come up with interesting ideas for retelling the stories as I am not really that creative. I have managed alright so far, though, so no complaints.
My biggest accomplishment so far for this class has been the website storybook. I really like that I can design it and write the stories and pretty much make it my own. I've never had my own website before so this is all very new to me and I am finding that I enjoy it quite a lot! I am excited to see how it all looks at the end of the semester, with all of my completed stories and the beautiful pictures and backgrounds that I will find to use along the way. Finding pictures of tigers is honestly my favorite part--I have spent quite a bit of time just scrolling through hundreds of photos trying to find ones I really like. I might even add some more to the pages I have already finished, just because there are so many gorgeous photos to use!
My favorite reading for this class so far has been either the tiger stories that I read in preparation for my storybook project or the Arabian nights stories. I really like the multi-level storytelling in Arabian nights and find the stories intriguing and more complicated than most other stories I have read for this class. The Arabian nights stories just keep going on and on, building up many levels of stories, and I love that. The fact that all of these stories are coming from a woman who is trying to stay alive and keep other women alive while entertaining her murderous man is also something I find fascinating.
I definitely think my reading notes have helped with each and every story I have written for this class. I pretty much do the hard part in the notes, coming up with different story ideas. All I have to do for the story is flesh out my ideas as stated in the notes and perhaps add some more details and different plot twists along the way to keep the story interesting and long enough to feel complete (typically a story feels complete to me around 600-700 words, but sometimes they are a bit shorter or a bit longer, depending on what all I think is important to include--some stories are really complex so they tend to be longer).
I haven't really discovered any new research strategies, I just keep doing what I have always done. I look up characters or events or places online to see what I all I can find out and to give me a better sense of the context of a particular story, which sometimes helps me with writing my own story. Sometimes it doesn't really help that much, just depends on the story. I always like looking up places where stories take place, though, because I love traveling and nature so seeing these types of landscapes helped me become more interested in the story and in writing my own.
My favorite picture from my blog would be the photo of the bronze statue of the monkey king Sun Wu Kung. I like monkeys and find the statue humorous what with the monkey king's intense expression--he really looks like a warrior about to strike the death blow! I also like how the purple background looks with the bronze statue--the colors really go together and make the photo more interesting than if the statue was simply set against a black background. I also like that Sun's fur is pulled up into a bun and that he is wearing armor and a warrior's uniform just like a human.
Photo of a bronze statue of the monkey king, taken by oliverho. Source: Flickr
In the future, I want to spend more time researching people, places, things while reading stories as I think this will help me better understand the stories and engage with them in a more meaningful way, which will in turn help me write better stories, more creative stories. It is also more enjoyable to take time and do this kind of research and turns reading and writing assignments from more work I have to do into an actually fun activity. I also could stand to add a few more details about possible story ideas when writing my reading notes. This will also help me create better stories later on.
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