The Stories, the Myths, the Folklore

The first thing that drew my attention was " 10 Ways To Kick-Start Your Writing At Halloween ." I love reading mystery and suspense books because they are the easiest to imagine. I also love Halloween, so that was a bonus. The article talks about 10 things that can be used to jumpstart a great story and those tips do not only have to be used for scary stories, they can be created into other stories that draw suspense or center around a specific character. Some of the tips included: isolating your character to create suspense, use a ticking clock to build tension, slow the pace of the story to drawn it out, etc. The article also provides Halloween prompts that can be used to help writers get started with their stories.  The second article that I looked at was " The 7 Qualities Of Compelling Character Motivations ." When I first started writing stories, I struggled with outlining a character that was detailed and fun to read about. This article really helped give m...

"Fairy Ointment" was an interesting story to read and unlike some of the other stories in this unit, I had never heard of this story before. I think it is somewhat humorous because the ointment is kinda like fairy dust in a way. The story started out with a man asking for the midwife's help in caring for his baby while his wife was ill and could not do it herself. Even though the man seemed sketchy to the midwife, she said yes because it was her job. The fellow whisked her away on his dark black horse that had fiery eyes. The story started out kind of creepy because the man had an eerie look to him and his horse was jet black and was described to have fiery eyes like hell fire. I personally thought that this story was going to take a terrible turn. However, the man was right, the baby did need to be taken care of and the midwife did it. The woman, however, told the midwife to rub this strange ointment on the baby's eyes when they open. The midwife was concerned and...

The story of the Three Little Pigs is a classic tale. It is almost just like I remember from my childhood. The first and second pigs build houses made of flimsy material and the wolf easily takes the houses down. After the wolf "huffs and puffs" the house gets blown down and the pigs become supper. However, the third pig is very clever. He builds his house of brick which was not able to be blown down by the wolf. All of that is very common in the story of the three little pigs. However, I do not know if I just forgot or if I never heard the ending to the story... After the brick house stays standing, the clever wolf tries to outsmart the pig, but the pig actually outsmarts the wolf cleverness many times. It started out with picking turnips. The wolf, knowing the pig liked turnips in his soup, offered the pig company while picking some, but he actually was just trying to lure Mr. Pig out of his safe brick house. The wolf provided the pig a certain time to go, the pig agreed,...

It was late April of 2017 and Holly's junior year of college was almost finished. She had been killing herself with school and classes for the last three years and she was finally going to take her MCAT exam to see if she would get into medical school. She had been studying for months and was totally worn out, but she was pushing through the exhaustion. She was spread out all over the library's tables when her biggest competitor, Haley, walked towards her. Holly tried to ignore her and pretend like she did not see Haley, but it was too late, Haley was already sitting down in one of the extra chairs. Holly looked tired, exhausted, a mess if you must, but Haley looked happy and peppy. This just irked Holly even more. Haley asked Holly, "Are you ready for next weekend? I cannot wait to take this, it's going to be so easy." Holly looked up from her books and forced a weak smile. She replied, "Easy? How long have you been studying?" and Haley replied, ...

This story was very interesting and a tad confusing. It was called "Cry-Because-He-Had-No-Wife." I thought this story might have some sort of Native American meaning, but after reading it, it did not stand out in that way. The story started out with a young boy that cried all the time because he wanted a wife. How old was he? Why did he want a wife so bad? The boy lived with his grandparents and they told him about a lady in the east that he could go see. The boy started on his journey to the east. This is where the story took a confusing turn... The boy stopped at this giant's house and went in to see him. The giant insisted that the boy stay for breakfast so he did. The giant cooked up a roast and asked the boy to choose which roast he wanted. Being small, the boy chose the small roast and the giant let him live. Was the giants going to kill him if he chose the large roast? How was that significant? The boy went on his way after breakfast, but he quickly came upon ...

I read the story, "How Beaver Stole Fire." It was a cute little story, but some of the things in the story were interesting. It started that only pine trees could have fire, but trees burn... so why do they want fire?? Also, why would they only use it for themselves? Why not share it with the animals and other creatures in the forest.  One winter night when it was exceedingly cold, the greedy pine trees gathered to warm themselves, but the beaver hid near the bank where no one could see him. A live coal rolled over near the bank where beaver was hiding, he took advantage of the opportunity and stole it.  Beaver took off hiding the coal in his breast. I think it was funny because the trees dodged after him, but trees do not run. Also, don't beavers swim? Why didn't beaver jump into the river? I thought it was interesting to read that when the trees got tired they would stop and then they would be stuck there.  The beaver ran and ran and passed along fire to othe...

The first quote that I saw that really stood out to me was "Learn From Failure." I am a PreMed major at OU and sometimes the classes are super challenging. However, I tend to hold myself to such a high standard that I overwhelm myself. When I get a bad grade, I take it very hard rather than using it as motivation to never get that type of grade again. I will use this quote to drive motivation, rather than trigger anxiety. The second quote that I really like was, "G.R.O.W.: Go Rip Open Windows." Personally, I have a routine and I stick to it. I was to adapt this motto so that I can feel comfortable stepping out of my comfort zone and seeking opportunity. I will not find much success if I close myself off from opportunity and opportunity is not going to seek me out. Finding ways to grow will benefit me in life, school, and in general. Growth Mindset quote from Padlet page

The first story in my story book is about how the Trojan War got started, but I am using the rival game OU and TX as Greece and Troy. It is not necessarily about football, but since Texas is OU's biggest rival, I thought it would modern and humorous.  Recap: Sam concocts a plan that leaves one of the Sooner cheerleaders in his hands. He uses her captivity as a way to get Lincoln Riley to throw the big rival game. Lincoln, and three OU football icons are trying to concoct some plan of their own to get the cheerleader back without having to lose the game.  STORY 2: The Battle (war itself) The Trojan war was not over immediately even though Greece had a massive army attacking Troy.    - The OU football team had very large and fast players, but Texas (titans) were not going to give up easily so the score remained to be 0-0 in the first half. Jalen used his power of wittiness to try and outsmart the Titan players, but it did not seem to succeed because the Titans...

The story, "The Rattlesnake's Vengeance" was very interesting. In the beginning, the mother heard her children scream which triggered her to take action and she killed "the chief" rattlesnake in the process. The father was climbing in the mountains and came up the colony of rattlesnakes and he and the colony had a conversation. That makes me wonder if the chief rattlesnake was talking to the children and what he was saying. Why did the mother kill the snake automatically if she could have talked to him and told him to leave them alone? Anyway, the colony of rattlesnakes told the man that he had to give up his wife as sacrifice for paying the debt of murder of one of their own. Surprisingly, he did not fight those terms. He did exactly what the snakes told him to do and he let his wife get bitten by the rattlesnake that was sent to accomplish the task. Did he dislike his wife? Why did he not try to save her life and negotiate terms? After the deed was done ...

The Rabbit and the Deer story has two stories in one. The first story, "How the Deer Got His Horns" is about a deer and rabbit that both have exceptional agility. The deer can run fast and the rabbit can jump high. The animals in the forest wanted to see the two race. All the animals decided upon rules and made the prize a pair of horns (antlers). The animals gathered to watch this prestigious race. The rabbit tried to trick the animals and cheat the race by "looking at the race track," but instead he was creating a path way so that he could finish faster. After reading this story, I wondered why the rabbit is always the trickster in stories. For example, in the tortoise and the hare, the hare was once again the trickster that was overly confident about winning, The next story is honestly quite sad. The rabbit, being a sore loser, tries to trick the deer into making a decision that ultimately hurts his lifestyle. Once again, the rabbit is a cheater and gnawed o...

This is the first time I have ever heard of browser typing and I already love it. Sometimes I misspell things because my brain works faster than my fingers and I skip right over it. I cannot wait to use this handy tool when writing stories for my storybook or my blog post. Right now, I just use word and it is hard because I have to open it up and open a new page all to right words, then close it. This bookmarked browser tool will be so helpful.n I think it will be very useful!! I 100% recommend this tip!

There once was a handsome young man that lived in a very small village outside a large palace of riches. He, and his family, were very poor and only had income because the knights would buy chickens and eggs from them. Inside the palace lived a king, a queen, and their son. The prince was very rich and had everything anyone could dream of, but he was the most unattractive person in the land. A beautiful princess from a neighboring kingdom came to visit the palace one day. She met the prince in hopes of finding a husband. However, once she met him, she was very conflicted. He was rich and her family wanted them to marry in order to conjoin the kingdoms, but she wanted to marry for love and she just did not love him. That night, she snuck out of the palace to clear her head and figure out what she was going to do. She was just outside the palace when she heard someone say to her, "Miss? Are you lost?" She turned around quickly to find the poor young man walking up to he...

"The Ogre of Rashomon" was a story about an ogre awaiting the arrival of passing civilians and it was a creepy tale that haunted many in the city of Rashomon. One night a brave knight, Hojo, told this story about the Ogre that nobody has lived to prove exists. Watanabe, another brave knight, said that this story was just a myth because the leader of the knights killed all the ogres a long time ago and it was unlikely that any survived. Watanabe wants to prove that he is right, so he takes a piece of paper, signed by all the knights, to hang at the gate of Rashomon. As Watanabe was about to leave after hanging his paper, something attacked him from behind. In the darkness, he could not see, so he felt around for whatever he could. He felt a large, hairy arm and knew at once that it had to be an ogre. He drew his sword in defense! Watanabe was brave and fought the ogre off, but he did  not want the ogre to get away!! The ogre did end up escaping, so Watanabe returned to the ...

The story, "The Man Who Did Not Wish To Die," is simply about a man that fears death. Sentaro, a man living a wealthy life that could have anything he wanted and never even thought about work, realized that one day his life would end. He was very distraught and remembered a story about a Chinese King that set out to find an elixir that would allow him to live forever. The king sent out one of his courtiers to retrieve this elixir, but he never came back. Sentaro thinks that he can find this potion if he, himself, takes the journey to the famous Mt. Fuji where the elixir is said to be. He could not find the hermits that rumored to hold the elixir to life, so he began to seek out the shrine for the king's courtier that came to Mr. Fuji a long time ago. Sentaro prayed and prayed to the shrine when the courtier appeared one night. He spoke to Sentaro and told him that his intentions for the elixir are selfish and to become a hermit, he needed to have a pure heart. Since Se...