Portfolio Topic Brainstorm
Initially, I think I might be leaning towards a portfolio over a storybook. There are enough units that I find interesting that I think I'd prefer to do my own anthology, pulling one story from each of my favorite units rather than trying to stretch one unit into four stories.
To me, the most interesting units look like:
1. Wild West: I know there's no official unit for Old West folktales, but the internet is full of cowboy-themed legends. My dad has always been a big Westerns guy, and so his interest has rubbed off onto me. Plus, HBO's Westworld has played a big role in my interest in Western-themed stories.
Many of these tales deal with hauntings (i.e. the ghost of Jesse James haunting his family farm) and I think that it would be fairly easy to tie in some of the flavor of the "Ghost Stories" units that are already in the UnTextbook here, here, here and here. I specifically liked the sound of the legend of the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine.
I found two online story banks at Legends of America and Ranker that deal with the Old West and there are many more out there -- probably from more academic sources. Do you know of any Western-themed sources I should look into?
2. Pirates: Treasure Island and the Uncharted video game franchise are responsible for this one. Pirate tales have ghost ships (i.e. The Flying Dutchman), lost treasure, legendary pirate kings and all sorts of elements that would be perfect for a mythology story.
The Ghost of Captain Brand looks intriguing (more double-dipping into ghost stories), and you could probably spin a Moby Dick-esque flair onto it -- I've been meaning to try to read that one forever, and this could be good motivation.
3. Norse Mythology: I don't know much about this one compared to the previous two, but I'm interested to learn more. I've really liked the trickster themed stories that I've been reading in this class, so I thought that focusing on Loki could be a good way to combine the two genres.
The Death of Baldur and Loki Bound both seem relevant, and Ancient Origins provides some good background info on him to help flesh out details.
I don't know if I'd rather write a story that focuses on Loki as the protagonist, or try to invent a scenario in which the protagonist meets Loki, for better or for worse.
4. Dante's Inferno: This one interests me because it has the potential to combine so many different units. You can focus on the Biblical implications of the journey from Hell to Heaven, tie in information about the devil, rewrite chunks of the Divine Comedy, throw all kinds of mythological creatures into your hellscape -- and all of this can come from the UnTextbook.
I think I'd like to re-skin the setting (I'm not sure exactly what yet) and cast characters relevant to the new scenario in the existing roles written by Dante. This one seems especially fun to me.
To me, the most interesting units look like:
1. Wild West: I know there's no official unit for Old West folktales, but the internet is full of cowboy-themed legends. My dad has always been a big Westerns guy, and so his interest has rubbed off onto me. Plus, HBO's Westworld has played a big role in my interest in Western-themed stories.
Many of these tales deal with hauntings (i.e. the ghost of Jesse James haunting his family farm) and I think that it would be fairly easy to tie in some of the flavor of the "Ghost Stories" units that are already in the UnTextbook here, here, here and here. I specifically liked the sound of the legend of the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine.
I found two online story banks at Legends of America and Ranker that deal with the Old West and there are many more out there -- probably from more academic sources. Do you know of any Western-themed sources I should look into?
2. Pirates: Treasure Island and the Uncharted video game franchise are responsible for this one. Pirate tales have ghost ships (i.e. The Flying Dutchman), lost treasure, legendary pirate kings and all sorts of elements that would be perfect for a mythology story.
The Ghost of Captain Brand looks intriguing (more double-dipping into ghost stories), and you could probably spin a Moby Dick-esque flair onto it -- I've been meaning to try to read that one forever, and this could be good motivation.
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| An illustration from The Ghost of Captain Brand. Source: Project Gutenberg. |
3. Norse Mythology: I don't know much about this one compared to the previous two, but I'm interested to learn more. I've really liked the trickster themed stories that I've been reading in this class, so I thought that focusing on Loki could be a good way to combine the two genres.
The Death of Baldur and Loki Bound both seem relevant, and Ancient Origins provides some good background info on him to help flesh out details.
I don't know if I'd rather write a story that focuses on Loki as the protagonist, or try to invent a scenario in which the protagonist meets Loki, for better or for worse.
4. Dante's Inferno: This one interests me because it has the potential to combine so many different units. You can focus on the Biblical implications of the journey from Hell to Heaven, tie in information about the devil, rewrite chunks of the Divine Comedy, throw all kinds of mythological creatures into your hellscape -- and all of this can come from the UnTextbook.
I think I'd like to re-skin the setting (I'm not sure exactly what yet) and cast characters relevant to the new scenario in the existing roles written by Dante. This one seems especially fun to me.
Hi Spencer,
ReplyDeleteThese definitely seem very interesting. I think the Wild West one would be fun, since Oklahoma is kind of depicted as the Wild West. Have you seen "Oklahoma!", the musical? Cowboys are always a kick to every story haha. The only thing I know about pirates is that they have one eye and a parrot. Oh wait! There's Blackbeard, too! For the rest of the topics, I have never even heard of them, so I am definitely excited to learn more. Can't wait to see your portfolio transform and come to life each week.