Topic Research

So for my project I have considered the options I presented last week and decided on the main topic of my stories. That topic will be on the monster's of Indian epics. As such I will actually be drawing from many of the sources I listed last week as all of them contain interesting stories that could work well for me.

An example of a Rakshasa. Source

Here are some examples:

Goblin City:
This story is one I saw retold this week and as such it kept it fresh on my mind. I really like the idea of creatures that morph into beautiful women to lure their prey. I think it too could be morphed into almost any story I could imagine.

The Golden Deer:
On a similar note, as most Rakshasa use their ability to transform against our heroes it is just a matter of in what way. This story, rather than looking at people seduced by beauty, has the hero seduced by a more worldly physical possession. In this case it is a golden deer, but it could easily be a golden trophy or something.

Thataka:
This story introduces a new power of Rakshasas. They are able to turn invisible. This is a power that can immediately become frightening if used correctly. I also like the idea presented in this story, that some people may have qualms killing all of the Rakshasas.

Topic Brainstorm

An example of the Rakshasa. Source

Jataka Tales:
The main aspect of this topic that draws me to it is the variety of the stories contained within its huge body of works. With somewhere around 550 poems worth of stories, there will be no shortage of subject matter to adapt. One of the main things I will be trying to do in my stories is to create a little community with the repeating characters and I feel as if having this kind of variety of tales will work well for that kind of slice of life story telling.

Supernatural Characters of the Ramayana:

On a similar vein to the last story telling method, if I used this topic I'd also have a kind of slice of life story about a small community. The main difference here, is that this topic lends itself beautifully to the genre of horror. Take for example these. I could very easily see a story being told about how a town is continuously attacked by various mythological monsters from India. The main issue with these, is it might portray certain aspects of the mythology a bit one sided. I do believe that is something that can be overcome in the storytelling though.

Nagas:

Once again, looking at the previous topic structure, I'd be using this topic for horror stories. The main difference here is that rather than slice of life, these would be a lot more focused. Leaning more heavily on the Mahabharata interpretation of these creatures, they would be the main villains of the story that our protagonists fight against. In these stories the supernatural elements might be slightly downplayed to add an element of wonder and semi-realism to the storytelling.

Sages and Gurus:

Switching things up a little bit away from the horror genre. I like the idea of a guru or a sage coming to town and helping out various characters with their problems. Obviously the stories would be lifted and transcribed from the stories of the specific guru/sage. One of the harder parts of this topic would be narrowing down to a specific sage. It would be possible to combine multiple people's stories into one "conglomerate" sage, but either way my lack of background knowledge would not help here.