Week 8 Reflections

Reading. So far, I've enjoyed every reading. My favorites have been the Greek units and Japanese myths. Some, like the Egyptian myth unit, were more difficult due to dense language. Overall, I've read plenty of diverse stories from a variety of cultures, which is what I set out to do. I usually try to start reading early, especially over the weekend and in the mornings on the bus heading to campus. This helps because it allows me to do extra research before starting on reading notes. This extra research is an integral step of my writing process. For the most part, when I take notes about the reading, it's an analytical process in terms of the original story and a research process in terms of story planning. Clarification and researching background involving the original story and its culture tend to be important for me. Ultimately, if I can do the above things, I can flesh out story ideas in the notes themselves and come back to them later.

Writing. Mythology is a fun and naturally very interesting subject. People have been rewriting mythological stories and folk tales for years, and I understand why--many of the original stories are popular enough that readers are familiar with them and already invested in them. At the same time, it's satisfying to weave different subplots and even change the original story's plot around when writing, so it becomes your own story. So far, I like the stories I've written so far. Many of them I'll likely revisit after this semester to flesh out into longer works (like the partial rewrite of Cupid and Psyche and the Egyptian myths retold with cats). The weekly schedule is also quite helpful in its predictability, because it puts writing the story at the forefront of my mind for a good portion of the week. I've already gotten quite a few stories under my belt without feeling I have to pour a massive amount of time into it, thanks to this schedule.

In the future, I may try a multi-part series, especially after I finish my portfolio. In the meantime, to complete the portfolio, I plan on sticking with the same theme and overall tone I have established: human-like characters, mythological influence, and elements of love, death, and magic. Other than that, it's important to me to make sure my writing is verbally strong and clear, and that the stories are readable even to people who have little knowledge of the original stories.

Bronze Egyptian cat, taken by Shadowgate