Topic Research: Japanese Grimm Fairytales?

Japanese Grimm Fairytales

Let's do a mash-up and see what we get!

After the comments that I was provided by Professor Gibbs, I'm thinking of going the route of combining two of my style choices into one. Japanese Fairytales and Grimm Fairytales into one genre seems to be a great take on some of the folklore and myth that stems from Japan in a creepy or twisted way. When I was younger, I really liked to indulge in horror games that were made in Japan. Some like the Fatal Frame games or even the video game interpretation of Ju-On. So with that, I looked into the Freebookapalooza and came across some stories that I think would help to inspire my writing for my end project! 

The first story I came across was the book "In Ghostly Japan" by Lafcadio Hearn which can be accessed from the Freebookapalooza site. This book is a recount of many supernatural stories and oriental mysteries that are centered around Japanese imagery, speech pattern, and slightly mirrored religion. What I liked about this book that helped in providing me with inspiration is that it isn't solely focused on scaring the reader or being overdone. It really draws out stories so that you may not know if something is good or bad, whether you should be scared or not scared, even how far the writer is going to go with the story so that it could be a happy ending or an unsettling ending. Since I wanted to take a Grimm approach to my storytelling, this was a great choice to stumble upon for future reference.

The second story I wanted to use in order to help with my semester project was the "Dragon Jewel" by Teresa Pierce Williston which can be found at the Sacred Texts website. This is a short story that accounts for the blind ego of a prince who wants to prove that he is not a coward to his people. He has a quick foil which is something I appreciate about fairytales because they often bring forward raw character development in such a short amount of time. Based on just the genuine feeling you can get from the prince's character made it inspirational to me because I want to be able to inject that much into a reader of my stories regardless of how long or short it may be. This one is more of a Japanese fairy tale that doesn't necessarily follow myth and lore.

The last story that gave me some inspiration is more on the Grimm Fairytale side of things. The passage I read was from Brothers Grimm (Hunt) section for "Thumbling" translated by Margaret Hunt and found on Un-Textbook. This story tells the journey of a small boy no larger than a thumb being separated from his parents and using his quick wit and small size to make his way home. All the while causing misfortune to the beings that have unintentionally helped guide him home. I like that not only is this a pretty serious story that has gruesome circumstances for some characters, but it also shows the evils in the world from both the main characters acts and the thoughts of the side characters throughout the story. It kept me interested and hopeful the whole time because I wanted to see if he would make it home before actually not being smart enough to keep going.

Image 1: Ghostly Scene (Pixabay)

Image 2: The Prince (Wikimedia Commons)

Image 3: Thumbling (Wikimedia Commons)

Topic Brainstorm: Which theme should I choose?

Topic Brainstorm

Which story theme is right for me?

So far into this class, I've already gotten an idea of the structure I kind of want my story to follow. I would want it to be a sort of  'choose your own adventure' style. I do want to take inspiration though from mythologies that I am not familiar with so that I can learn more and broaden my horizon so to speak. The mythologies that I'm really interested in learning fall under the Asian, Classical, or Celtic stories that we've been given access to delve into.

Japanese fairy tales seem to be the most interesting theme I can use to get a lot of options for branching in my storytelling. They like to bring in celestial beings, extreme situations, and the morals by the end of it are always very thought-provoking. Most trickster tales could become way more exciting if the reader was the one given the task of doing "the tricking" in the story. Based on the choices they make to either out-smart a wicked foe or help a character in need can be completely up to them. Something similar to Asian Fairytale stories listed in the Un-Textbook are what has helped spark these types of ideas in me.

I do want to have some sort of mystery pan out into my story. Whether that be a "Whodunit" sort of reading, an outcome that is not expected but doesn't necessarily have to follow death or tragedy; maybe it could be a journey somewhere and the end result is a twist? I want variety in my storytelling that engages the reader to never feel like what will happen is predictable. I was searching online and found an article about just a general breakdown of short story writing that follows the flow of mysteries from Writing World. This gives me enough of an idea on how to start the writing for a mystery if I choose to take that route.

My next theme idea is just a generic saga that will tell the tales of a hero and some great feat or tragedy that he must overcome for either himself, his/her loved ones, or his/her people. Everyone loves a good triumph story and I feel like I could really bring forward a lot of details to make any situation the main character is involved in coming to life. My inspiration for storytelling like this was from looking into the Un-Textbook and seeing the Robin Hood story that was listed as a read. A non-traditional hero yes, but still a beacon of hope to others.

My last theme idea is to relate my story to a Grimm Fairytale. Regardless of the region that this mythology would come out of. I love Grimm fairytales because they remind readers that not everything is painted in black and white. The good guys don't always win, the villains don't always turn to good people, the story may not have a happy ending, things of that nature. Taking something that is typically very happy like a princess tale and morphing it into a more Grimm situation seems to be up my alley if I can think of a story that hasn't already been done before. Maybe something like Brave or Moana perhaps? I was looking into the Un-Textbook for Grimm Fairytales and found a huge list to bounce ideas from once I actually sit down and decide if this is the topic I want to go for.

So many choices, which should I work off of? 

Image: Lost in Thought (Pixabay)