Week 5: Portfolio Styles

Storytelling from an Animal's perspective
What attracted me to this style is its versatility, Telling a story from the perspective of an animal -- like a crane, which I did in one of my stories about the Ganges -- can be useful for pretty much any setting. I also like to use animals as more of an innocent character for reader sympathy. I think it is most reminiscent in kids' stories, books, and movies. Most kids can be intrigued enough by a talking squirrel enough while still being fully entertained by its cute appearance. Some of the challenges provided come from forcibly infusing this animal bystander into a story. It's also easier to use an animal whenever it's not plausible for the human to be in that situation. One of the weaknesses is that some might not take an animal as seriously while the story is starting, before the setting is completely established.

Breaking News
What interested me in this storytelling style would be the ability to choose an unfavorable perspective potentially. For instance, a news station in Lanka could be hard at work trying to convince viewers that Rama is in the wrong, and that these battles are really all about perspective. I remember reading a book that was a newspaper report on the "Three Little Pigs" but from the perspective of the wolf being the good guy. Other than that, I don't recall too many stories where they are told from this view. The weaknesses of this style would be a lack of introspection to the characters. Most character development would be with newscasters and not the reported characters.

News channel

Social Media / OU hybrid
I saw the social media idea and the OU-campus idea and would like to give a shot at mashing them up. I'm trying to imagine a series of tweets or Facebook posts between some of the ladies of Lanka and how much they dislike having Sita around -- maybe on OU's campus or in a class? Obviously this one would need some major tinkering, but I think it has potential. One of the weaknesses would be the readability -- seeing as each tweet could only be 140 characters by rule. I'd like to figure out a way to actually format them as tweets, too.

Social media

Plot twist
I like the idea of plot twists; however, I feel pretty inadequate in my ability to concoct them. The reason I like plot twists so much is because they can completely change how you feel about a story. Plot twists are especially prevalent in thrillers (Inception, anyone?) and while they're not always carried out properly, the reader sometimes can feel proud because he predicted the twist. The weakness of this style is that it requires entirely new material and that this material needs to mesh well with the rest of the story. The strength, as I mentioned above, is that they can completely re-vamp a story that has been repeatedly told.

Court Trial
This was my idea for my original storybook. What appealed to me about this style is that it makes everything feel more real to me.  Saying someone was "sent to court" isn't nearly as threatening as actually going through the trial and all its gritty details. One of the weaknesses, and what ended up bogging me down on my storybook, was trying to go through the in-depth trial speak used. I like it in movies because it makes the setting more realistic and credible, yet it was excruciating for me to write. I would still like to figure out a way to incorporate it into my portfolio, just not as the only style.