Week 9 Story Planning: The Trickster Monkey

For this week, I am planning on a story that I will write for week 10. I am going to try something different this week, which will be the use of personification with animals. As I really haven't written any stories besides what I have done for this class, I've never expanded on the idea of writing a story where the main characters are animals. My idea is to have a story about a monkey who is constantly playing pranks on animals. He will annoy animals the time until he comes across another animal that puts an end to it.

My main motivation for writing this story is from the reading I have done from the various tales in the book Twenty Jakata Tales. Most, if not all, of the stories in the book are about animals who end up learning important morals that they can use for the rest of their lives. I was intrigued, and figured I would try to make a story about an animal who learns their lesson. 

I don't think I'm going to have any kind of advanced style (or should I say my kind of advanced style of writing) for this story. With the story being about an animal learing a lesson, I feel it would be too weird to try and force a harder style of writing for the message that it will portray.

Characters:

 Jaroo: The main character of the story, a genius monkey who uses his wit to play tricks on every animal he comes across.

Tamlar: An elephant, the first animal that Jaroo plays a trick on. He doesn't care too much and goes on about his day.

Jahko: A lion, he is very easy to make mad. Jahko puts and end to Jaroo's shenanigans.

                                    A drawing of a monkey I found online that I liked. Link

Bibliography: Inayat. Twenty Jataka Tales. Link

Week 9 Reading Notes: Twenty Jataka Tales, Part B

The idea of personifying animals is something that I had never really considered, but after reading these tales, I may really consider it.

Like, The Two pigs, there are so many things you can do with the animals once you personify them.

These stories are especially corny, but still the most important thing is they teach morals. These morals can be used throughout life.

The dialogue of the animals creates a sense of pleasure because they all seem to be able to communicate mostly peacefully betwwen species.

In The Patient Buffalo displays the same preconceived thoguhts that most have. For example, the monkey was a bit of a trickster.

The idea of a monkey being a playful creation is only increased through the personification of the animal.

This personification can be used to exacerbate a set of characteristics about an animal tat most people would be able to comprehend. I had never thought of this as a reason before to use personification.

                                         A cool cover that I think think represents the tales well. Link

Bibliography: Inayat. Twenty Jataka Tales. Link

Week 9 Reading Notes: Twenty Jataka Tales, Part A

The idea of using monkeys in a jakata story is not something that I would have ever thought of. There's no reason for me to think this though haha

The search for the tree could have introduced a possibly troublesome time due to greed.

The idea for the king to build a temple for somebody like he did, struck me in a way I didn't expect, considering it's monkeys.

The start of this story is something I could really simulate in a story of my own, as it creates some type of mystery.

The king not going beyond the woods, in Banyan, really demonstrates a sense of great respect that I wish to employ in my own stories.

The use of animals in these stories and personifying them makes you think about the animals in the wild and if they really do have these human characteristics.

The tortoise and the geese immediately made me think about the tortoise and the hare, so I'm curious to see if there will be any similarities despite the difference in animals.

Also, I find it rather interesting in these stories how animals are working together to achieve a goal that doesn't necessarily benefit all parties involved.

Some of the morlas of these stories seem rather like common sense, but I'm sure that if I were to go back and look at many of the American stories, i would feel the same.

One thing I need to think about for my upcoming story, is the idea of learning a life lesson. This is because I v'e realized that I only write stories with the idea of making something interesting, but never have I cared about the actual lesson it's telling.

                           A cool detail picture I found that portrays various Jakata tales. (Wikipedia)

Bibliography: Inayat. Twenty Jataka Tales. Link

Week 8 Growth Mindset

Growth mindset is something I definitely need to consider more as I do my assignments for the rest of this semester. As I wrote about it earlier in the semester, I definitely thought of the growth mindset as something I should implement into work I do not only for this class, my for the rest of my classes the rest of my time at OU. Like I've mentioned in previous posts, one of the problems i have is procrastinating and not turning things in on time. I still need to really utilize this aspect of the growth mindset and find a way that I can manage my responsibilities in a better way. Lastly, another aspect of the growth mindset that I feel I need to implement in my everyday life is the art of asking questions. I've always been one to keep it simple and go with the flow, but if I were to ask more questions, I could gain more knowledge and break out of my box.

                                                    Growth vs. Fixed mindset. Link

Week 8 Reflections

As I scan through my reading notes for the semester, I remember all of the very interesting stories I have read. I have been able to mostly maintain a good reading schedule, but it of course changes some weeks because my work schedule changes. Nonetheless, I have been able to do the vast majority of the reading. One thing I was say, though, is that I don't tend to follow the reading notes as closely as I should, in regards to my storytelling that I do one Wednesdays. I think I should probably use the readings as a better barometer for how i would like to write my stories.

I am very happy with the stories that I have been writing so far this semester. This is mostly because I have never in my life seen myself as a writer. So, good or bad, I am very proud of myself for reaching into my bag of creativity and produce the stories that I have.I have learned that you don't have to be a "writer" to be able to create a story that you and others may enjoy. Like I said, I never thought of myself as a writer before this class. As far as my storybook goes, I am very happy with my decision to tell Tragic Stories about Yakshas because I think I have found something unique that not many people have thought about doing a storybook over. To better develop my writing skills, I would like to master the concept of imagery in my writing. I read some stories and people are about to describe things so well that it's as if I can see it right in front of me. I would like to be able to portray this sort of descriptive writing.

I am very impressed by other people's stories in the class. I am very sure that the vast majority of them are better than mine! I don't see many habits in other people's stories that I want to avoid in my own, I really only see things that I would like to be able to do in my stories, mostly regarding plain creativity. I think one thing I could do to give better feedback is be a little more critical and not just focus on what I like about their stories, but also what they could do to make it even better.

Ramayana picture I thought was cool. Link

Week 7 tech tip: Canvas Mobile App

Last semester, I didn't have canvas, so this semester has been an experience for me. One thing I didn't like about D2L was that the mobile site had a very basic and was hard to use. I am very thankful for Canvas because not only does it have an actual mobile app, the design and layout is very satisfying to me. You can do everything on the app that you can do on the actual website, which is awesome. I've only been using it for half of a semester now, but so far, so good. I am willing to bet that the app actually increases the overall grades for students, as it's easier for them to check on their grades. I hope the Canvas Mobile App only continues to get better.

Week 7 Story: King Shantanu's Downfall

King Shantanu and Ganga. Link

And just like that, she was gone. The short period of time they had together was over. What was supposed to last an eternity, didn't. King Shantanu sat in a room all alone.

"Did Ganga ever even love me?" He muttered to himself. "I mean, how could she? I'm a king, but what else am I? No wonder she left me."

King Shantanu had never experienced this before, Even knowing her true intentions, he didn't want to accept who she really was, or her true purpose on this Earth. Ganga was his first wife. His first true love. He did everything he could to make her happy. He didn't even say anything after she cast many of the children into the Ganges river.

It had been days now. King Shantanu remained alone in a dark room, barely eating and talking to no one.

"I don't care anymore." King Shantanu said to himself. "All of the power, the fame, it doesn't matter anymore. What is wrong with me? I just don't understand. I was nothing but good to my wife. She was the greatest thing to ever happen to me. Now, without her, I am nothing. I am a worthless king. Take my Kingdom, Gods! Take it all! I don't deserve it anymore. Look at me, I'm a pathetic excuse for a king. How am I fit run a kingdom? I just want to end it."

The aids of King Shantanu were getting extremely worried. They had barely seen him over the course of the last week. One of them decided to finally confront the situation head on.

"I'm going to go in there and try to motivate him. We need a leader right now. He can't lead us if he's just sitting in a room depressed." One of the aids says.
"Are you sure? Maybe it would be best to not intervene and let him handle this on his own. He's pretty fragile right now." The other aid ignored him and went to the King's room,

"King Shantanu? I wish to speak with you." The aid says as he arrives at the locked door of them room.

"Go away!" The king says. I wish to be alone and not speak with anyone.

The aid says to the King, "King Shantanu, I know how much Ganga meant to you, but maybe this was for the best. Because of your brave actions, you now have a son that you will love until your dying days. Ganga may have left, but she provided you with a son that you now you are able to give all of your love to. The aid then left.

King Shantanu began thinking to himself. "Maybe he is right. My son means the world to me. Why am I wasting time in this room alone and moping when I have a son to care for and raise?"

King Shantanu wiped the tears from his face, stood up, and opened his door.

Bibliography: Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition

Author's Note: One of the major things that stuck out to me from the Mahabharata  that I thought I could make a story on was the feelings that King Shantanu must have felt after his first wife left him. In a way, this story could be a filler for the Mahabharata, but some details may be too different to allow my story to exactly fit into the Mahabharata.