Topic Brainstorm

Animals, Natural and Supernatural

I like the idea of creating a storybook about different animals which I got from the link above because being a biology major, I have to learn about animals a good amount. I think that animals are always a great way to tell a story if you personify them. By using animals in the real world I feel I could make it more modern and relatable for readers while incorporating ideas of the past. I don't know anything about Indian animals so this would be a great way to learn about how the gods were portrayed as animals as well as famous animals who told stories. I specifically enjoyed the idea of using the elephant god Airavata because I think this might be a good way to explain natural things in the world since he is connected with the formation of clouds. I could possibly use him to do creation stories and what not. I specifically enjoy the idea of using animals to teach lessons. Although he doesn't seem to be portrayed as negative, I kind of like the idea of using Naga to do creation stories as well but maybe in a evil sense sort of like the bible with the serpent. I feel as if animals could lead me to a multitude of possibilities in direction of stories, but overall I feel they would be a great way to connect to a younger crowd which I would like to do. I felt like the Zoo Animal history storybook is the type of direction I could see myself taking. 

This is an image of Airavata which I found on Wikimedia Commons.

Music

Because I'm very interested in music of today and the past, I couldn't help but think this might be an interesting topic for me. I don't know anything about the music of Indian story culture but I think it would be interesting to learn how they incorporated music and dancing into telling stories. Ravananugraha seems like someone I could use since he was so musically in touch for being trapped for a thousand years. I was thinking maybe I could have him be a rapper who told stories through music. I know plenty of artists like Tupac, 50 Cent, and wrote songs in their prison sentences which told stories of their times so I was thinking I could maybe have him be like them. I could also include the dancing aspect and use someone like Nataraja to give history lessons about the dances he teaches. I realize this one could be very broad but if I were to get creative with it I could have these characters telling stories from other stories even. 

Brothers

I have never had a brother but have always wanted one because I can see how close they are. However, I have a bunch of friends who I treat as my brothers because I have so much trust in them. This is why I would think I could use the topic of brothers to tell great stories about loyalty. If I used Surgiva and Vali to tell stories, I could possibly even incorporate animals into the stories since they are the king of monkeys. I could even have stories where the brothers might turn on each other in a way to show how the loyalty isn't there sometimes. Because I don't have any knowledge about this topic as well in terms of Indian stories, I would have to do a lot more research to incorporate stories about brothers, but I would also like to take a modern and relatable approach with this topic as well just as the Hogwarts: Loyalty of Brothers storybook does.

Festivals and Holidays

I would say this topic got my attention because it seems to me that with holidays and festivals there always comes great stories that one could laugh about. I was thinking about possibly making this topic a comedy style storybook. I would have to learn about more fun festivals such as Navarati which is apparently a nine night festival. I like the idea of making it a crazy partying style festival where the characters make mistakes that can be laughable yet something that teach a lesson. If I couldn't do something like this I could just focus on the Gods or things celebrated in these festivals and hopefully come up with an interesting way of retelling their stories and why they are celebrated. I feel this topic would take a lot of research but I think I would have fun with this topic in the sense that I could take it a bunch of directions.