Feedback Focus

This week, I tried three different focusing techniques: reading out loud, copy-and-delete, and using a timer. My favorite technique out of the three was Reading Out Loud. For this technique, I read Why Dog and Cat are Enemies, a Chinese fable, and I was able to focus on the story and process its meaning fairly easily without losing track. My next favorite was the Copy-and-Delete technique. For this technique, I read Bucchettino, an Italian fable, and I thought it was a useful idea to use for long stories or written works in which you simply needed to know the idea or paraphrase it since everything will be in your own words. My least favorite technique was Using a Timer. For this technique, I read Quest for the Throne, a story by Tyler Brooking who was another Epics of India student, and I didn't like the idea of having a set limit on reading/rereading. It makes me anxious to know that I'm timing myself 10 minutes to focus. Out of all three techniques, I would definitely use reading out loud the most because it seems the most effective to me and allows me to view a story through tunnel vision.

Focus

Week 4 Story Planning: The Legendary Rama

This week I decided to try taking one week to actually plan a story instead of writing one immediately. I want to focus on some key events like Rama’s Exile, the Golden Deer Scene, the Death of Ravana, and Rama’s Coronation. I’m going to refer PDE Ramayana for story details and Monro’s “Rama and Sita” for stylistic points and further details. Anyway, here’s the plan:

• Storytelling like a classic fairytale (with old fashion English)
• Third-person perspective of an unknown Ayodhya citizen
• Retelling of the legend of Rama
• Audience could be children?
• The speaker could be identified as Rama’s descendent at the end of the story.
• One of his sons maybe?

The story could start off like the basic “Once upon a time” fairytale introduction, and should end with “And they all lived happily ever after.” I want to end the storytelling with the coronation instead of the whole Rama/Sita drama because that is my least favorite part of the whole story. Everything should be exaggerated to promote a heroic tone like how a son would tell a story of his beloved role-model father. After Rama’s story is told, the children (if it’s going to be children as the audience) should question how the speaker knows the story or asks if the story’s real. Then, my story can end with the speaker revealing himself as his son or however the relation will be.

Alternate Ending: On Rama’s Wikipedia page, I found a section for “Rama Worship.” Another possibility for the speaker could be a Rama’s descendent wayy down the line, reveal his/her relation to Rama, and he/she could do the whole “And that’s why we have the (fill in the blank) festival!”

•     Rama Navami – Rama’s day and time of birth
•     Vijayadashmi – Rama’s victory over Ravana and rakshasas
•     Diwali – Rama’s return to Ayodhya

Father Telling Story to Son

Bibliography:

1. Monro's "Rama and Sita"
2. PDE Ramayana
3. Wikipedia (Rama)

Reading Notes: W. D. Monro's "Rama & Sita" (Part B)

Today, I finished W. D. Monro's "Rama and Sita," and I completely loved it. Monro made it feel like a classic fairytale. The most interesting change I saw from PDE Ramayana was the ending. The ultimate end of "Rama and Sita" was the reunion of the royal couple, and everything was happily ever after, which is a fantastic change in my opinion. The drama when Rama decided he couldn't trust Sita's purity after trying to save her for so long was completely unnecessary. By having a simple, happy ending, Monro was able to let the tale come to a nice conclusion without sparking more conflict, only to end in the same conclusion as before.

The other thing I found interesting was that Monro decided to end "The Tale of Rama & Sita" with a verse translation from Valmiki's "Ramayana" by R. T. H. Griffith.

"Ten thousand years Ayodhya, blest

With Rama's Rule, had peace and rest.

No widow mourned her murdered mate,

No house was ever desolate.

The happy land no murrain knew,

The flocks and herd increased and grew.

The earth her kindly fruits supplied,

No harvest failed, no children died.

Unknown where want, disease, and crime:

So calm, so happy was the time."

The verse was a great ending because it added to the happily-ever-after mood of the story. Each line was describes good fortune all throughout Adyodhya and under Rama's reign as king, which simply reinforced the prior ending in prose.

In my story for this week, I was thinking about writing in an old-fashioned English fairytale style in prose OR verse in reference to Monro's work. I really liked how he executed the story from beginning to end, adding narrator commentary every once in a while. Another story idea may be to discuss these events in a perspective of a third party (not Rama and Sita) who is telling the story at an older age. OR I could potentially choose one perspective (either Rama or Sita) and have them tell their twins about how they met and how their father bravely fought to go save their mother. 

Sita & Her Children

Bibliography: W. D. Monro's "Rama and Sita"

Reading Notes: W. D. Monro's "Rama & Sita" (Part A)

This week, I decided to read W. D. Monro's "Rama & Sita" because I am planning on using his book Stories of India's Gods and Heroes to reference in my storybook (webpage to be announced soon!). While reading Part A of this section, I noticed that the writing style had old-fashioned storytelling in prose while PDE Ramayana was more small episodes with old-fashioned wording in either prose or verse style. Monro also decided to have the story told from different perspectives more in depth, too. For instance, he includes the interaction between Ravana and Sita as she continues to deny and reject him.

Monro's style also made the story of Rama & Sita more interesting and intense by building up a heroic suspense, which made the epic more... well, epic! I imagine an old wise man telling a story while reading this version. In a different way than I've done before, I'm thinking about writing my story this week in a old-fashioned prose. I might write it as more of a fairytale, too! The story of Rama and Sita fits the basic mold of hero-saving-the-damsel-in-distress. I could make Rama a prince, Sita a princess, and Ravana a fire breathing dragon! But that's for a later decision.

At the end of Part A (and the middle of the "Rama and Sita" section), Monro includes "The Tale of Pururavas & Urvasi" as a parallel love story to Rama and Sita's. I thought this was an interesting inclusion because it shows a different take on the power of love with a happier ending before the story of Rama and Sita ends. For this week's story, I could focus more on Pururavas and Urvasi instead, and have both of them thrown into the prince-princess rescue mission, too!

Rama & Sita

Bibliography: W. D. Monro's "Rama & Sita"