Dissertation Prep - Week 2/3

Over these past two weeks I have been reading Enid Blyton's " The Magical Adventures of the Wishing-Chair" to help progress my understanding of Children's fairy tales. This classic story was a favourite of mine growing up. Having not read it for a while I decided to delve back into my childhood and re read it.

I had forgotten how vast Blyton's imagination was. The story drops two children, Mollie and Peter into different worlds whilst they undertake an adventure together alongside a pixie named Chinky. Blyton uses detailed descriptions of each character that the children meet along their journey and this is something I definitely want to do in my own.

Although the language is a little out dated having been written in 1937, the story still holds meaning and a sense of value within the fantasy genre. We get to escape the real world and meet various creatures; from goblins to witches to magicians. Although the children have a lot of fun riding on the wishing chair they do come to a halt when they are greeted by wizards and giants. The children team up with Chinky, creating a sort of "dream team" in order to get out of these awful situations. Such as when they are trapped in the castle with 'The Snoogle' near the end of the story. 

After having just recently finished the book I have taken inspiration from the intricate detail used to describe each character as an individual. I also like the idea of everything coming to life (the chair) and how an object plays a big part in the story. The children are on an ongoing adventure and I like that. I like how both the children and the reader don't know where they are going to end up. Whether that be an open country field or a castle with an endless amount of rooms. 

The idea of morphing is interesting to me as within the fairy tale genre anything goes and I want to create characters which are memorable to the reader and ones no one has ever heard of before. Blyton also brings in an 'old wife' tale' when Mollie and Peter's neighbour visits. They told their neighbour that if he pulls a face and the wind changes his face will stay like that - and of course the wind changed and it came true. I enjoyed this element of the story as it is something that parents would say to their children and obviously it would never happen. Yet by Blyton including this it made the fairy tale come alive as she has intertwined Mollie and Peter's 'fantasy world' (with the wishing chair) and the real world (with their family and friends). 

In my previous post I discussed how every traditional children's fairy tale has a "loyal" character. Within this story the loyal character is most definitely the wishing chair. The chair saves the children when it is most needed and always comes back to save them no matter what. I think this is important even within an adult fairy tale (which I want to attempt) as a story can be as dark as you like but an element of hope must always be there. I believe this because every story needs a little bit of hope to guide the protagonist through their journey. 

I am now moving on to adult fairy tales and I am currently reading Briar Rose by Jane Yolen- so far so good. 

Sian X.

Starting the dissertation / WEEK ONE.

Throughout the next 11 months of tears, stress and a lot of comfort food I want to write a timeline of my thoughts and ideas and see how these change throughout the year. I feel this will benefit me to see how both my ideas and writing have developed in order to help me gain the best possible grade.

It is the first week of June and also my first week back at home for summer. To start of my dissertation research I have begun to read around the subject I am focusing on. As I am undertaking a Creative Writing dissertation I have decided to write a fairy tale and at the moment I am thinking of writing a contemporary fairy tale which challenges the traditional.

Yesterday I read four traditional children's fairy tales including; Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretel.

Whilst reading I was noting down all the features of the main characters such as the villain, the 'loyal' character, the princess and the saviour (usually the prince). I also took note of any symbols such as the apple in Snow White and the spinning wheel in Sleeping Beauty.

Reading these fairy tales has helped me form a basis of the traditional fairy tale and the important elements of them.

Over the weekend I hope to continue reading more traditional children's fairy tales in hope of some inspiration before moving on to adult fairy tales where I hope to find more detail and gore.

Praying I stick to this!

Sian. X 

The end of Second Year

 I have finished my exams and my room is beginning to become more and more empty as I pack up to go home for summer. This year has gone so quickly and surprisingly a lot quicker than first year. Although second year comes with a lot more work than first it was still a lot of fun!

Moving into a new house was exciting especially with 7 other people, it was just like halls all over again but a tad quieter. My course got a lot more interesting as I was allowed to pick 3 units that I wanted to take on for a whole year and was not limited to just compulsory units. Although I feel I could have done a little better than expected I still surprised myself with some of the marks I received.

The social aspect of Second year was still at a high yet I was more strict with myself when it came to important deadlines and of course exam season. I had two exams and hopefully they were the last exams I will ever sit! 

Since I have finished Second year all I can say is that my time has been filled with friends, food and a lot of alcohol. It's like a throwback to first year where all we did was go out and get drunk. This weekend is my last weekend in Portsmouth before I go home, I am very sad but also quite excited to go home and be in the comfort of a CLEAN house with lots of food that I haven't bought! 

Summer holds a few exciting things for me including a months work experience at a Publishing company in London, a weekend away in Dublin and Bestival with a few close friends in September. 

Although sad to be moving on to my last year at University I can thankfully say that this year/term has been a good one. I have grown closer to friends (3 of them who I will be living with next year) and met so many new people. I have explored Portsmouth a lot more by making use of the beach which is just round the corner of my home to eating at so many unique cafe's and restaurants that Portsmouth has to offer. 

So here's to third year! (and to a lot tears and stress)

Sian. X