Reading Notes: English Fairy Tales, Part B

Mr. Miacca

One of the aspects that I feel I can take from this story and apply to my own story telling is foreshadowing. What I liked about the way this story sets the events is by having the first paragraph describe Tommy. This paragraph is crucial to the story by letting it be known that Tommy couldn't resist getting into trouble and disobeying. When analyzing this as a writer it is perfect in the sense that not only do we get an idea of the character but we also can start to predict the future of the story. I think that in my own writing that it would be important for me to learn how to set up an early part of the story that can foreshadow the later events. This is a great example of how to do so and as a writer I think I could match this especially in terms of trickster stories.

Another aspect of the story in which I feel I could take away to make my writing better is the use of slang in dialogue. When Mrs. Miacca says 'What d'ye want, my dear?' I think it gives a better illustration of what kind of person she is. I think that I should try to imagine how I think my characters would talk and try to match it. This allows the reader to feel more connected to the character in my opinion.

When thinking about how I could try and base a story off of this one, I was thinking about maybe trying to mask it off of the movie IT. I think that it could be a fun version of the story plus a more modern approach since the movie just came out. This is just an idea but I think it could be fun to make this a trickster story mixed with a horror story. 

This is a picture of Pennywise from the movie IT. I found this image on Wikimedia Commons.

Bibliography:

 English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1890).

The link to the specific story can be seen at the top. 

Reading Notes: English Fairy Tales, Part A

The Story of the Three Little Pigs

I feel like you didn't have a childhood if you didn't hear some version of the the three little pigs. This is why I couldn't resist but liking the style of this story and feeling the need to take my reading notes on them. The most important thing that I think I could take away from this story for my own writing would be the rhythm or cadence as I would call it. 

I find that in this story one of the great ways that build the anticipation is the rhythm of the story. By keeping a pattern of the words before an event it lets the reader know exactly what is going to happen. For example the "huff and puff" is used before each house is broken down but as the materials used become stronger he adds more of the "huffing and puffing" action. Same goes with the wolf inviting the third pig and saying a time with each event. This allows the reader to feel more included in the story by allowing them to kind of guess what would take place which I think brings excitement into a story. As a writer I think the way I could match this style is trying to come up with a fun little saying before events. 

Another aspect of writing that I feel I could try to include is the simple rhyming. This wasn't a poem or nursery rhyme but the rhyming creates a more fun aspect for the reader which keeps them involved. I think that in my own writing I should try to have the rhyming go along with the repetition of the cadence in order to create a path for the story. 

In terms of creating a story based on this one, I was thinking of having three neighborhood kids building a fort in which they brag about having it be the strongest while there is a bully who wants to break it down. This is just an idea but I think that I could possibly create a more modern version of this story that still is relevant towards children as this one does. 

This is an image of 3 little pigs that I found on Flickr.

Bibliography: 

 English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1890).

The specific story can be seen using the link in the header.