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Week 15 StoryLab: Learning About Microfiction

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For this week's story assignment, I read and learned more about microfiction through various examples that were provided in the guide. I've definitely read microfiction in the past and have always enjoyed how a story can paint so much in a couple of sentences! The best part, I think, was how the main point of these short stories is to allow the readers themselves to fill in the blanks left so strategically by the authors. The story could take so many twists and turns, all depending on how the reader learns to decipher the story and continue on with it in their heads. Of the stories that I've read in the section, the ones that were most interesting were the horror ones in Reddit . I've always been intrigued by the horror genre, and of course, there were many here that gave me absolute goosebumps. One of the techniques that I've learned, especially under word limits, is to extend the length of the sentences themselves ... even if it's not grammatically correct. An

Reading Notes: Dante's Inferno; Part B

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 Stories are derived from Dante's Divine Comedy, by Tony Kline The Minotaur and the Centaurs With the introduction, it connects to the story of the Minotaur and Theseus, which was the one who slain him and sent him to the Underworld Virgil mentioned his doom and the hero that done the deed to the Minotaur, which made the Minotaur very upset, which was a sign for Dante to descend further into the Underworld There didn't need to be an additional story that was added for the Minotaur, which made a special appearance laying on the top of a gully, but that's all There were a group of centaurs seen after the descent into the 7th circle, each of them armed and racing one after the other like they would on the Earth above When questioned, Virgil said that he would only answer to Chiron, which by further research was the son of the Titan Cronus Why does this make him important? Why do they seek only him? The one that was speaking to him happened to be Nessus, but how does Virgil kno

Reading Notes: Dante's Inferno; Part A

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 Stories below are derived from Dante's Divine Comedy, by Tony Kline Dante and Virgil Very good introduction, the author is either talking to himself or directly to the reader. He tells of how lost and scared he was when entering the "impenetrable" woods, creating a personal note to the reader about how fearful he was Doesn't say too much, but definitely instilled a mood for the reader to start with the rest of the story Included a character called Divine Love Will this character be introduced later? Or was this just a general idea that the readers should know about? A manifestation of a feeling or emotion as a tangible character? When Dante met Virgil, Virgil introduced himself in a very odd way. He included many names of his lineage as well as who was associated with him in the past It also seemed that Dante knew who Virgil was, and also regarded him as his "master" VIRGIL IS HIS GUIDE THROUGH HELL?? At this point, it makes a lot more sense about who Dante

Week 14 Review

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  (Clownfish in the Water. Source: CC BY 2.0 ) I particularly enjoyed this picture of this clownfish. I don't know for what particular reason that I found this so fascinating, but it might have been the photography skills as well as the colors that contrasted with each other both of the subject as well as the background. One of the videos that I enjoyed from this week's review was the T-Rex song . I particularly liked this because it was something silly that helped relieve me from some the stress that I'm currently feeling!

The Dead Mother

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 In a village, long ago, there was a wonderful couple living in a small house. Everything was well; they were all loved. Until one day, the lady of the house bore a child. However, the mother died suddenly after childbirth. The husband cried for weeks. What is he to do now? He notices something strange. The baby would cry day in, day out, but would sleep peacefully at night. Alone. As if it was suckled! He decided to stay up one night to see what was going on in the middle of the night. That night, he heard something or someone opens the door to the baby's room. He walked silently to the room. Tip. Tap. Tip. Tap. In the room, he didn't believe what he saw. It was the dead mother, in the same clothes that she was buried in, kneeling over the cradle and tendering for the baby. The next day, it happened again. Day by day, he would invite more people over to witness this miracle. Until on the 10th day, the child died in its sleep. The village was never visited by the dead mother ag

Reading Notes: Russian Folktales; Part B

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 Stories derived from Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston The Headless Princess The king has a daughter who was an "enchantress" Usually, I've never read of royalty having any powers at all. Does the King also have powers? If not, why only the princess? The story is odd in terms of the message that it was trying to convey. For the most part, I couldn't figure out if the enchantress was supposed to be the protagonist or the antagonist because it was the priest's son that was peeping. I like how for ritualistic reasons, there are various details .. such as the number of days and the things the characters had to do to prevent from being taken away How did the old woman already know that the Princess was a witch from the start? (The Headless Princess. Source: RTOO )

Reading Notes: Russian Folktales, Part A

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Stories derived from Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston  Russia: The Dead Mother There is mentioned a certain village but did not specifically mention the name of the village  This can add to the anonymous atmosphere of the story, which creates a good introduction to the rest of the story Mentioned terminology that was specific to the region of the origin of the story In this case, it was the "moujik" which directly refers to a Russian serf -- basically an unfree peasant of Russia This could categorize as a horror story, something that could invoke terror in the readers Mentions the dead mother next to the cradle of the baby, which was something that the reader did not expect because the story started with the dead mother dying after childbirth! Maybe there's an all-encompassing theme to the rest of the story about the relationship between the baby and the mother, which in this case, can expand passed the limited time on Earth (Mother and Her Child. Source: Fairy Tal