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Storybook Topic and Storytelling Plan

This week, your Storybook assignment has two parts: identifying your Storybook topic, and then brainstorming about ways to "frame" your stories, tying them all together in a unified Storybook.

PART ONE: Identify your topic. Based on the feedback I sent you about your possible topics, you need to choose a Storybook topic now. If you are not sure about which topic to choose, please get in touch with me about that before you proceed with this assignment. You need to have a clear definition of your topic, and you need to have identified at least one story that you know you want to retell in your Storybook. By the end of the semester, your Storybook will contain a total of four stories. You need to write a few sentences about your Storybook topic, including information about the story you plan to include. Here's a sample topic statement:

My Storybook will be about animal stories from Africa. My goal is to find four different animals from four different African storytelling traditions. One story I know I want to include is "The Story of the Hippos" from this book: The King of the Snakes and Other Folk-Lore Stories from Uganda, by Mrs. George Baskerville (1922). I do not think I will have any trouble finding stories about different animals from the different African story collections which I have found online.

PART TWO: Framing the stories. You need to "frame" your stories so that they will fit together into a unified Storybook. To some extent, your stories will fit together because of the topic of the stories. In order to really make the stories fit together into a Storybook, though, you also need to plan your storytelling strategy so that the stories will share some kind of framework. There are literally hundreds of different ways to frame your stories - with options ranging from something very simple (using the same storytelling for each story) to something as elaborate as a frametale (when you invent a larger story into which your four individual stories are inserted). The best way to understand these options is by looking at some previous Storybooks as examples; then, you will write up some paragraphs about the frames that you think might work best with your topic!

Frame with a style. You can frame your stories by choosing a distinctive storytelling style, and using that style for each of your stories. For example, the diary style is a very popular way to retell stories; here are some Storybooks that use diary or letter-writing style or some other first-person narrative style to frame the stories. Another good style choice is to write in newspaper style or to use an interview or documentary format. Yet another possibility is to write the stories as if they were sermons, or you might try a travelogue style.

Frame with a narrator. A great way to give your Storybook a lot of unity is to use the same narrator for all four stories. You don't have to limit yourself to human storytellers: you can use an animal storyteller, or a divine storyteller, or even an inanimate object as the storyteller. Especially for traditional stories, it often makes sense to use some kind of elder storyteller (parent, grandparent, etc.).

Frame with a setting. Another great way to frame your stories is to have them take place in the same setting - different stories, different narrators, but a shared setting where storytelling naturally takes place. You can set the stories in a bar (with either the bartender or the customers telling the story), or in a therapist's office (the therapist might see just one client four times, or might have four different clients), or in a school classroom. A courtroom is a dramatic setting for telling stories. The setting can also be a kind of dream or vision or supernatural apparition. People can share stories while they are on a journey or when they have gathered together for some kind of festival or carnival (which can include informal festivals, too, like a sleepvoer!). There is also the popular tradition of telling bedtime stories. Just think of any situation where people would have a reason to tell stories to each other - in a storm shelter, in a beauty parlor, in a park, at a sleepover, around a campfire - and you will have a setting you can use as a frame for your Storybook: browse some more examples if you are curious!

Use a frametale. A frametale is the most elaborate way to tie your stories together. With a frametale, you not only have a setting and a narrator, but you also add in a plot of your own, from your own imagination. Each frametale is quite unique - see these many examples of frametales in previous Storybooks - but there are some general frametale types you might want to consider. A frametale might be based on the idea of a crime or some other kind of investigation into a mystery, or you could build the frametale plot based on some kind of journey or quest (including time travel, of course). Another good type of frametale is based on a competition or contest (even a contest of life and death!). You can build a frametale around some magical object and its supernatural powers or around some mysterious book or map or painting. You can insert dreams or visions into the frametale, moving back and forth between the frametale reality and the stories told in dreams. The possibilities are limitless, since you can imagine any plot your want for the frametale! Take a look at the complete list of examples of frametales in previous Storybooks and you'll see what an incredible variety there is!

So, you now need to BRAINSTORM about ways you could frame your stories. You need a paragraph where you mention possible frame styles that might work for your topic, a paragraph about possible frame narrators, and a paragraph about possible frame settings. Finally, please try to think of at least one frametale you could invent for your topic! The idea is that by brainstorming all these different possibilities, you will be able to find the very best way to frame your Storybook, based on your topic and the unique potential of your own imagination! Feel free to mention some of the specific Storybooks you looked at for ideas.

The assignment you turn in should have five brief paragraphs (one paragraph about your topic, plus the four brainstorming paragraph) for a total length between 400 words (minimum) and 1000 words (maximum). To make sure you are clear about this, take a look at this SAMPLE ASSIGNMENT.

When you are done, cut-and-paste your assignment into an email to the instructor. Do not send an attachment; just cut-and-paste the text into the body of the email message. If you are in the Myth-Folklore class, use the Subject Line Myth-Folklore Frame Brainstorm; if you are in Indian Epics, Indian Epics Frame Brainstorm; or for World Literature, World Lit Frame Brainstorm.

NOTE ABOUT TURN-AROUND TIME: As these assignments are turned in, they go into a stack, and I read and respond to them in the order that they are received, Monday through Friday. I do not respond to assignments over the weekend. Just how quickly I will get back to you depends on how many items there are in the stack. You can check on the contents of the stack if you want to make sure I have received your assignment. If you want comments back quickly, turn your assignment in early! If you turn it in the day that it is due, I will be much more slow in getting comments back to you because of the large number of assignments that will be in the stack.