Week 3: Storybook Styles

The Ordeal of Queen Draupadi from Wikipedia

Topic:

After reading more about Draupadi, I think I'd like to do a storybook about women in Indian Epics. I think it would be interesting to showcase the strong (or otherwise) women that have a large role to play in these stories. It would be cool to focus on four different women, with a connecting factor, to supply four different stories.  The first story I'd like to do something with is The Game of Dice, which deals with Draupadi and her being gambled as a last resort by Yudhisthira. She gets dragged by her hair to the game, which, there's tons of potential there. I love graphic novels, so I'd like to do something with the stories in Sita: Daughter of the Earth, or something akin to that. Both women are limitless as towards stories that could be retold!

Bibliography: 

"Sita: Daughter of the Earth" by Saraswati Nagpal. Website: Reading Guide

Draupadi. Source: Wikipedia

Styles: 

Letters Home: I recently wrote a storytelling blog post in a style of a soldier writing home during WWI, and I really enjoyed writing it. I think this could work well, if a character is writing home about her experiences, or keeping touch with people elsewhere--maybe even a pen pal situation. I'm definitely more comfortable writing in third person, and that's how I'd write this style of storybook. I'd like the women to be the storytellers here, since we don't often hear their point of view. 

Bedtime Stories to Daughter: An interesting frame tale might be to have a mother telling her daughter about the strong women of days past. I think this one probably gets used a fair bit, but if it's done the right way, it could be interesting. Whenever I have offspring, I plan to tell them, regardless of their gender, about the great men and women of our society and societies past. Having a mother--maybe a sister--telling a younger daughter stories that inspire her. These could be done in flashbacks, too, as the now older daughter comes across events in her own life that remind her of the stories, and she could take inspiration for action from them. 

Western: This is purely, purely because I think it would be great fun to write and design an old-timey Western storybook. A storybook with saloons, gunfights, and feisty women would suit these stories quite well, I think. Gambling happened often enough, so that would tie in with Draupadi fairly well, as well as several other facets I'm sure I haven't thought of yet. I like Westerns, especially ones with a futuristic element (tastefully) tied in, a la time traveling, maybe space... Magic? Westerns of ye olde time periods? All good things.

The Resistance: I accidentally inspired myself with the Bedtime Stories style--if the women together were part of a loosely formed resistance against some government, past, present, or future, the tales could be the stories of how they further their cause, or how they became legends within the ranks. This might have a good way to tie the story together with a plot line--told through the eyes of the young girl mentioned earlier, how she interacts with these women and how the women interact with the world, this could tie together really nicely.