Thanks for joining, everyone! Now it’s time to pick what story we’re going to tell. We have two options:
1.) Retell an existing story
2.) Come up with a new one
If you plan on participating, please reply and let me know which option you prefer, and if you have any more specific ideas! Even if you have no opinion, please reply; I’d like to know how many people are participating so we can divide up the project accordingly.
I feel retelling an existing story may be the best/easiest method.
While coming up with a new story certainly would be in the spirit of the jam, it could lead to more opportunities for lagging or confusion. A retelling of a universal story/legend/fairy tale, however, would allow people to more easily acclimate and come up with ideas for their portion.
Thanks for your input! I do agree that a retelling would be easier. Coming up with something new would take a lot more time than just choosing something, and I’m not confident we can do it before the jam starts.
So is everyone okay with the retelling option? And if you haven’t replied yet and still plan on participating, please let me know!
Okay! In the interest of time, I’m going to finalize that we go with the retelling option.
The next step is to select a story. It should be something a lot of people are familiar with, or at least that all of us are familiar with. I’m thinking along the lines of a legend or fairy tale, like Jennifer said, since they’re simple enough that they have plenty of room for interpretation.
I also think it should be something that has enough different events in it to break down into unique parts. Goldilocks and the Three Bears wouldn’t work very well because most of it is Goldilocks touching the bears’ stuff.
Does anyone have anything in particular they want to do?
Andchan has a great idea with Dracula, I love that idea.
Off the top of my head, a few myth alternatives I could think of are (in no particular order):
Of course, give me two minutes and I'll keep thinking and adding more as well. It is best I stop now.
Princess Kaguya is the only one I’ve heard of. Thanks for the ideas!
While I do like the variety of cultures on display here, that’s also something to be mindful of. Chase of the Severed Head, for example, is a Cheyenne legend, and since I’m white and from the US, I don’t think I’d be the person to adapt that. (Though I don’t know all of your backgrounds.) At the very least, it would take a bunch to research to make sure the characters are accurate.
I’ll have to take a closer look at these when I have time!
We could list a bunch of elements we would like to work with and compose a "skeleton" out of it, then apply it to one of the proposed stories. Assuming our final story would have 3 acts, we could overlap similar elements of interest to team up people. Example:
I wanna make a horror story, about a queer person, solving a mystery.
And then we apply it to one of the stories that were already proposed, like fanfic, so we don't have to worry too much about butchering the original story...
Thank you for your patience; I’m now ready to continue the selection process. We’ll probably not choose something until after the jam starts, so it’s likely we’ll have to extend the deadline. Sorry about that. Please let me know if that’s an issue. For now, I have two questions.
1.) Overall, there seems to be an interest in doing something with horror aspects. Is that true, or would some of you prefer something different?
2.) Are all of you working alone, or are you in teams?
If anyone plans on participating but hasn’t posted here yet, please do!
1) I'm cool with doing something with horror aspects, though if there is anyone who didn't feel comfortable, any non-horror is fine by me!
2) I am working alone for this jam, as my current situation makes my available time rather sporadic (though I hope sometime in the future I'll get a chance to collaborate with people, it's always fun to work in a team)
Thank you for the replies! I think we’ll go with something that at least has horror aspects, like some of you said, even if the story as a whole isn’t horror. Little Brother and Little Sister might work for that; someone can expand on the cursed springs and have them do all sorts of weird things to whoever drinks them. You could have to stay hydrated while avoiding the magic water. Maybe some of it hurts you, while the rest of it just slows you down!
That article also mentions Hansel and Gretel. In that one, they both get lost in the woods and have to escape the witch. That’s at least two games with a suspenseful atmosphere.
Of the stories mentioned so far, Chase of the Severed Head and Dracula would lend themselves best to horror. But as I said, I hesitate to lead an adaptation of a story from a culture that might not be my place to take from. Dracula could work, but I haven’t read the original novel. Plus, it seems a bit long to split among only a handful of people. (Though there is the option of only doing part of it,)
There’s also taking a less scary story and making it scarier; I think And was talking about this with the improv idea, but if it’s something we know well, we don’t have to do it exactly as written. Maybe something terrible will happen if Cinderella doesn’t do a certain thing by midnight!
Serious question:
You keep mentioning you do not want to lead an adaptation of a story that is not your culture. What is your culture? That probably will help us narrow down what you are willing to work with.
EDIT: As a note, I'm a multiracial AFAB asexual, so I'm very accustomed to having to work with the cultures of other people that are not my own. I will be cool with anything. Si a ti parece, acuerdo!
I’m from the US, and my ancestry is a European mixed bag. That’s why I’ve been leaning towards European fairy tales. If some of you have other backgrounds and would like to do something outside of that, I wouldn’t be opposed to it! Sorry I didn’t take you all into account. I may not even be contributing to the story proper, depending on how we’re doing this.
My concern is less about doing something from cultures that aren’t my own and more about the power dynamics at play here. Someone white leading an adaptation from a culture of color could lead to issues (stereotypes, etc.). I just don’t want to accidentally hurt anyone, basically.
The other reason I keep going back to the fairy tales is familiarity. I think it’d be easier to work with something I’ve already naturally been exposed to than just copying off the Wikipedia description. The latter would be like using a word after only reading it in a dictionary; yeah, you get what it technically means, but you’re missing all the subtle connotations!
I was thinking of Little Mermaid myself, specifically the original version! I do recall that when the Little Mermaid was a human, walking hurt. Badly.
It would be very easy to make a foreboding atmosphere in the Beast’s castle.
Rapunzel also has wandering through an unfamiliar environment going for it. From the Wikipedia article: “ In anger, the sorceress cuts off [Rapunzel’s] hair and casts her out into the wilderness to fend for herself.“ Plus, there’s the idea of being trapped in a tower. We could focus on the horror of isolation.
That looks like it could be fun! I’m always impressed when people are able arrange words into a rhythm and have them rhyme.
And the story’s really interesting! I like how the grandma and wolf are the same person. And that she tries, albeit poorly, to explain it by pointing to the practical jokes. If everyone’s an anthropomorphic animal, that basically makes her a cannibal. Horrific indeed!
There are a couple changes I’d want to make. Would that be okay?
But I’ll have to see what everyone else thinks.
I’m going to use this post to compile all the stories suggested so far, so it’s easier to make a decision.
We’ve agreed on doing something that at least has horror elements, if it’s not entirely horror.
It does seem easier in Discord. Additionally, I think it might help us discuss things more quickly. Here’s the invite link: https://discord.gg/mYNkYduY
Hi, everyone! At goliard’s request, I’ve created a Discord server for this jam: https://discord.gg/mYNkYduY
Looks like it’s a tie between the Little Red Riding Hood poem and Beauty and the Beast. But since goliard is the one who wrote it, I’ll count that as a tiebreaker!
I did mention I wanted to make a couple changes, and the main one is I would prefer the main characters aren’t police officers. They can still be action heroes, as long as they aren’t that specifically. Maybe a group specifically to seek out the paranormal?
As long as you’re okay with that, Lupinanny it is!
I'm at a loss. This depiction of the "police" (y'know, woodland animals in a fairy tale parody...) is wholly positive. If you insist on this I will withdraw from the competition. I've no doubt you have good intentions, but I'd like to remind you that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I don't live in the US, and I don't feel bound by the political situation there. Please do not use the Lupinanny poem in any way.
You’re right; their depiction in the poem is positive. It sounds like they’re not really meant to reflect the real world at all; is that correct? If that’s the case, I’ll still be willing to do this if we make it clear they’re their own thing. I don’t know about the situation in your country and I’m sorry for projecting my own political context there, but I admit I still wouldn’t be comfortable basing them on a real police force even if it isn’t the US’s.
If you’d rather withdraw, that’s perfectly within your right. I don’t want to make any changes to your work you don’t want. And we can always switch to the second place option, Beauty and the Beast.
This is like one of those discussions about cartoon violence and its relevance to the real world. There is very little relevance to the real world -- it's fiction. How could it be based on a "real police force"? They are fictional anthropomorphic woodland animals... I feel ridiculous having to explain this. Are there going to be trigger warnings for fairy stories? No, of course the story is not meant to reflect the real world -- a child could see that. I'm so mad about this -- it's been a negative experience when it could have been enjoyable. Please use Beauty and the Beast -- I don't want to take part any more.
