Week 8 Reflections

I haven't missed a reading yet, and I've tried to stay away from summarizing the plot of each reading, which really helps when it comes time to write the weekly story. In looking back at my reading notes, it looks like writing about places being described was my favorite thing about the Ramayana, whereas with the Mahabharata, the parts that captured my attention were the little story lines that each character had. For example, I took notes on the story where Shantanu and Ganga fell in love and Ganga kept throwing her babies in the river and then another note on Satyavati's story. Overall, I think I'm doing pretty well transitioning from my reading notes to storytelling, since I really only write about details that make me think or parts that I liked. The Mahabharata and Ramayana have been fun to read, but my favorite "readings" so far have been watching the short films that the professor has posted as options, like the "Mahabharata Epified" and "Sita Sings the Blues". I'm excited for weeks 9-14 because I've checked out "Ganesha Goes to Lunch" and read a couple of stories already from it, but now I'll be able to delve into some deities that we haven't really covered yet in the two epics we've studied so far in class. I also want to look at "Hindu Legends" and "Fables of Bidpai".

I have been pretty happy with how my stories have turned out. I've noticed that, with the exception of my second story about Thataka's beginning, I draw inspiration from modern everyday life. Settings for my stories have been poverty-ridden towns, boring cubicle farms, biology laboratories, and college classrooms. I love how ancient Indian epics have timeless lessons and themes that can be applied to any setting. In the weeks left, my goal for storytelling is to explore dialogue. I don't usually add a lot of dialogue to my stories because I'm afraid it won't sound natural, so I'm trying to read more of other people's stories to see how they make modern dialogue sound.

 I am happy with my choice of doing a storybook. Although my storytelling collection could be used in a portfolio, I wanted to start a fresh project that would allow me to be creative and add some humor to Indian epics.

  Sometimes I see some things that I want to avoid in my future stories by looking at other peoples' blogs. This goes beyond simple grammar mistakes. I'm talking about mistakes like not adding enough detail or not using colorful and interesting words. Sometimes, stories don't flow very well and as a result you can lose interest fast. Other students are continuously impressing me with their creativity in this class. I've seen some great examples of suspenseful and funny stories that have inspired me to try and recreate the same mood.


Image: QDT