Storybook: Brainstorming Styles

Topic: My storybook will be about the theme of shape-shifting within the Ramayana and Mahabharata. I plan to find four stories that feature characters that have the power of changing shape. I have already chosen Indra and Hanuman for 2 of my stories. I’m also debating on using Mareecha (from chapter 5 of the Ramayana) but am unsure and will have to decide after I read the Mahabharata. I do not believe I will have any trouble at all finding stories that will work for my storybook and think the topic will give me a cool opportunity to write some neat stuff.

Possible Story Options

Law & Order: SSU (Shape Shifters Unit): A possible style I am considering is a first-person account of events mixed with third person storytelling style that would be formatted in a way similar to the television show Law & Order: SVU. I think the switching of perspectives would be a good way to keep the stories interesting and prevent them from sounding monotonous. Also, it would be dramatic but still fun to write.  I’m unsure of whether or not I would modernize it or not. I am thinking the shape-shifters themselves would be members of an elite team of crime-fighters (similar to those on the show) who used to be criminals but have been recruited by the government to use their ability for good. The characters would see it as some sort of redemption for their past actions, to help them build better karma. Each story would tell my retelling of the original story in third person then shift to the character now and what role they play on the team with their powers (sort of like a character introduction on a TV show website). Indra could, for example, be the strange tech analyst or the field agent  who conducts sneaky investigations when in other forms and reports incredible observations in his real form back at the office (because he sees everything with his 1000 eyes).

è Opening on first page of site could start like this: In the criminal justice system, sometimes criminals who can be rehabilitated are recruited to help with especially difficult cases. These detectives are members of an elite squad known as the Shape Shifters Unit. These are their stories

Children’s Storybook: Another possibility for my storybook is that of doing a children’s storybook. I would tell the stories in third person style but with an audience that is young. Each story will teach a lesson, as is traditional with children’s stories. All of the stories will have a happy ending, but will all focus on the shape-shifter even if the character is the “bad guy.” I might even do my own illustrations if I do this one. With this style, I debate aiming it for really young kids, or like elementary (maybe 3^rd/4^th grade) so that I can keep it somewhat simple, but still use bigger words. Also, I’m not sure if I would aim it for girls or boys. If I chose to write for a group of young girls, it would be much like a Disney storybook with bright colors and pretty illustrations. If I write for a group of young boys, I would be more likely to include darker colors and illustrations where the creatures look scarier when they are bad. The edges would be sharper in the illustrations too. Maybe I will combine both and find a happy medium, but either way I think it would be fun.

Teenagers: I could write my storybook in a diary format where each character has a few diary entries to tell their stories and express their angst, frustration, pride, etc (feelings) and tell their story from their point of view. It would be written in the modern day as the four characters go through their daily lives at the same high school. The stories would remain mostly true to the original tales, but with a few changes that are essential to the setting and age of the characters.

è For example, Indra would be the freshman who is generally popular at school, but feels inadequate and frustrated when he becomes infatuated with the gorgeous Ahalya, a senior who is at the top of her class but is incredibly humble and sweet but is dating the varsity wrestling captain/president of the archery club who is very popular because he is nice, strong, honest, empathetic, and heavily involved in the school/community. Indra would write entries where he saw Ahalya and how it made him feel, how obsessed he becomes because he knows he could never win against her boyfriend Gautauma so instead of being a gentleman and trying to win her hand fairly he uses his shape-shifting powers to get close to her, etc.

X-Men Style: I could combine the idea of them being teens (or at least some of them) with shape-shifting powers that interact at school with the idea of them being on a crime-fighting team by writing their stories as if they were in the X-Men comics. They would all be attending Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. It could be a mix of third-person story telling style with the occasional diary entry or scribble in their notes about how things are from their perspective. Or it could be similar to a character bio where it tells their story, strengths, weaknesses, powers, etc.

è Indra would be the trouble-making recruit at the school who is foreshadowed to be bad. He enjoys causing trouble and picks on others occasionally but still works with the others and is training to be an x-man, but during a big battle where all of them come together (similar to that in the X-Men: Last Stand movie), he chooses to go with the bad guys (Magneto’s camp).

è Hanuman would be the good student/teacher favorite who is sweet and truly dedicated to/inspired by Professor X. He truly wants to do good and fights alongside the X-Men, acting as a sort of apprentice of Professor X’s.

This is for my week 3 storyBOOK assignment, and I don't have to post it, but I was hoping to get some feedback from other students (maybe) about which style they think I should go with.