Introduction to a my Simple Life
My name is Jessica and I am a senior majoring in Microbiology. A cool thing I like about my major is that microorganisms run the world; they're all around you and they're so diverse. A class I really enjoyed last semester was Pathogenic Microorganisms and Infectious Diseases. I want to one day become a Physician Associate and this class just fascinated me. We studied a lot of diseases and different microbes that could compromise your health. The epidemiology of these pathogens fascinated me and it was a one of a kind class. I currently work at a doctor's office right now as a medical assistant. I love my job and everyday is always a different day. H opefully after I graduate I will be accepted into a program to get me closer to my goal. I am the youngest of four which makes me the baby of the family. My parents both roughly have seven brothers and sisters. So my immediate and extended family are big. There is truly not a dull moment with my family and...
Hey Jessica! I LOVE your story concept! I'm also doing something related to fairies and changelings, but I like the direction you're taking yours. 20 months of pregnancy, I literally cannot even imagine. I like how relatable the two fairies are. I mean, I've never been in that situation nor have I had any kids, but I feel like the discussion of being able to provide for a child is a heavy topic a lot of new parents can relate to. It adds a sense of normalcy to the fairy-world. It's interesting that the big switcheroo is a taboo topic for the fairy community! I wonder, do the changelings take on any 'deformities' or an evil nature? Or I wonder if the human baby being raised in the fairy household would take on an evil nature? I'm so interested to see what you come up with and how it differs from mine, haha!
ReplyDeleteHey Jessica!
ReplyDeleteI read your introduction and I love it! It kind of reminds of the Netflix live-action Winx Saga where Bloom was a changeling. I love the unique characteristics that you gave the fairies like 20 month pregnancy instead of the regular 8. I like that instead of the regular fairy tale that focuses on royalties like the king and queen, you focused it on the servant and maid. The way you describe their story makes me feel like switching their baby with a human baby is justified. They cannot afford to care for a fairy child and if switching their baby to give her a better life, then I would understand. What if you expand on the world of Tibiopia like the magic they use, is there other realms that they can travel to, and others. What would happen to the human baby and fairy baby once they realized they were switched at birth? Overall, I like your concept and image, and I just hope you have fun writing your story!
Hey Jessica,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, when reading your story I immediately thought of this show on Netflix called Winx Saga, where a girl goes to fairy school and *spoiler* finds out she's a changeling. I would highly recommend watching it for inspiration. I really enjoyed reading your introduction and your project looks really nice so far. After reading your introduction I did have a few questions. Do you plan on continuing the story of Hayley and Flora and their adventures that come from the consequences of Floras parents actions? Another was will Floras parents Magnus and Flutter face repercussions for such a taboo act? My last question is where do you come up with Tibiopia, is this a common realm told in stories of different cultures? This may be something you discuss in an author's note on your introduction page. Overall, your project looks really good, keep up the great work!
Hi Jessica, I just read the Introduction to your storybook and really enjoyed it! I had never heard of changelings before, but I was able to learn more about them through your story. Although you did not explicitly say what a changeling was, you added enough details for the reader to be able to infer what it is. You also did a great job creating the background of all the characters and setting up the background for the story overall. One thing that I am curious about is the realm of Tibiopia. Is this realm common in changeling stories or did you make this realm up yourself? I am also interested in how your story will continue from here. Will the stories be based on the human child in the fairy world or the fairy child in the human world or even both? Overall, I think this was a really good introduction to your storybook and I am excited to see where it goes from here!
ReplyDeleteHello, Jessica. My concept of changelings is from "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" and a movie called "Changeling" with Angelina Jolie. The latter is a little similar to your story. I like how your parent fairies are happy even though they're constantly working and are very poor. It reminds me of my time in Guatemala. Comparatively, the people there have nothing, and yet it appears they have more joy than anyone in America.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the first person perspective in Hayley's story. It's cool to have multiple point of view's within the same story.
I'm questioning why these parents thought it would make sense to switch their baby with a human. Maybe if they were evil they could get rid of the human baby or something. The fact that they are taking care of the human baby makes me wonder why they didn't just take care of the fairy baby. Maybe it wasn't a matter of being able to provide for the child, was it a matter of having a good life? I could do with some more clarity on that. Perhaps the fairy parents didn't expect to fall in love with the human child? I don't know.
There are a few formatting errors with your quotes. Usually you end them with a comma, and then you continue the sentence with who spoke. There were also a few sentences either missing a word or just need to be looked over again. There's one sentence in your author's note in particular.
Good job. We could all use some faith, trust, and pixie dust in our lives.
I almost forgot! It's awesome how you integrated the comment wall into your site. That's a time saver!
DeleteHowdy Jessica!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I just want to say the way you have your comment wall embedded into your home page is really cool (how on earth did you do that?). Moving on to your story book though, I really enjoyed reading through your introduction and first story. I think the Changeling premise is really fun! I have to admit it kind of reminded me of "Elf" (did Magnus and Flutter's magic make Hayley fairy-sized or is she suspiciously large for a fairy?). I also think there's a ton of potential in the world you are building here. I would love to learn more about the interactions between the fairy world and the human world. The fairies obviously know the humans exist, but do the humans know the fairies exist? If they do, how do they relate with one another? I'd also love to learn more about Flora. How is she getting by with her human parents and siblings? Will she ever find out about her real heritage? I can't wait to read the rest of your stories and find out!
Hi Jessica! After reading your Introduction and your first story, I’m very intrigued by this concept of changelings, which I didn’t know much about before reading your Storybook. I was surprised that the first story was told from Flora’s perspective, since the Introduction was told in third person. But I really enjoyed it from this perspective—since the reader knows more than Flora, the source of her confusion makes more sense. One thing I wonder after only reading the first entry and the Introduction: why didn’t Flora’s parents tell her that she was a changeling sooner, before she got her hopes up so much about her powers? I’m also curious about if you plan to make any entries from Hayley’s perspective. It might be interesting to see how she is exploring life with powers in a human world! (Also, super useful to have your Comment Wall embedded in your Storybook home page like this—I loved how accessible it was!)
ReplyDeleteHi Jessica, great job with this storybook so far. I love how you embedded the comment wall into the home page—I think I'll do that for my project! The changeling topic is awesome because in my experience it's less mainstream than other mythical creatures, and you can explore a lot of deeper themes about identity. I loved reading your author's note and learning about your friend who inspired the story—that gave everything more meaning. One thing you might consider is switching the order of the stories. If people read "Flora's Realization" before knowing she's a human baby, they will feel all her confusion with her instead of knowing the ending the whole time. I saw that general research inspired your stories rather than a particular tale, so maybe link some of the websites where you found information in the author's notes so people can learn more. When it comes to the design, I love all the images you included. The cloud banner image gives such a light feeling to each story. I noticed the fonts were different from the introduction to the first story, so you might think about making those the same. Great job! I really enjoyed reading this and I'm curious to hear the story from Hayley's perspective next.
ReplyDeleteHi Jessica! I love the concept you're playing with here - while I was reading your intro and thinking about Changlings, I was thinking about how kind of sinister it could be for fairies to be switching babies out between the human and non-human realms, but I like the motivation you provide for such a swap. It left me wondering: what about fairies makes them more difficult and taxing to raise than human babies? I also like how you start from the perspective of the human child rather than the fairy; however, I feel like you could elaborate more on what's going through her head, how her emotions are affecting her and her behavior. A common writing suggestion is "Show, don't tell" and I felt like your dialogue was telling us quite a bit, which I think you could compliment nicely by showing us a bit more. But it's really beautiful work so far! Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteHey Jessica,
ReplyDeleteYour project was actually one that I bookmarked because I loved the changeling concept you had going. I'm assuming you saw all of the comments relating it the Netflix show Winx saga and maybe took some inspiration from that. One thing I noticed on one of your new stories Hayley's Peculiar Day that it is missing a few things. It does not have an image uploaded and most importantly an authors note. That is what we are meant to focus on this week when giving feedback. So that'd be my first suggestion is implementing an authors note for your new story. You may attempt to even try and flesh out ideas I might not have understood while reading the regular story. However, on floras realization you did a really great job of explaining your intentions in the notes of that story. I really like that you gave background as to the origin of a changeling to refresh memories or for those who had never seen that popular Netflix show. I also like how you explained how the story made you think while writing it as well. Really nice job, keep up the great work!
Hi Jessica, I revisited your storybook and enjoyed reading the first two stories of your project! I think that it is really cool how you are including the perspective of both of the girls as I think it will be interesting to see the differences between the two. At the time of writing this comment, the second story does not have an image or author’s note, but I am sure that you are working on it. As for the author’s note in the first story, I really liked how you gave background information on what Changelings are as some readers may not be familiar with them. I also really enjoyed how you explained as to what this story was based off of as it didn’t come from an original story, but it was a story that came from your own personal experiences. Overall, I think that your stories were a great continuation from your introduction and I’m excited to see how you will end the story off.
ReplyDeleteHi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI really loved your stories. When looking over topics for my storybook changelings was one of the things that interested me. I like the direction that you took your stories because I have known changelings to be bad creatures. It was interesting to read about the dynamics between Magnus and Flutter in the beginning and them not exactly agree on what to do. I got a little confused in the stories with the names of the kids until I realized you used their fairies daughter's name as the human's daughter's name in "Floras Realization". I get why it was done like that it just took me a minute to catch on. I was wondering what makes it harder to care for a fairy baby and why is it easier to switch them with humans? Great job on your storybook! You really have a way of telling your stories and drawing the reader in. I hope you add another story to continue it!
Hello Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI was immediately attracted to your intro art! Very cool! Oooh 20 month gestation period for fairies? Yikes, that's tough. One suggestion, you might try changing the font of the two stories to match the intro and see if you like it. I liked the larger font in the introduction as it was a little less strain on the ol' eyes! In fact, I'm gonna go update my storybook font right now as it's on the smaller side! Overall I really like the direction you're going with your stories and Hayley having some special powers is a super enticing aspect for young readers. I can't wait to see the third story! Do Flora and Haley find each other? Switch powers? Blossom in their own worlds? Great suspense!
Couple of things to check:
"that I get to try out our magical powers" -flora's realization
"why don't try it again" -flora's realization
Hi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI love your introduction. Great job setting up the context for the following stories and explaining the Magnus and Flutter along with their challenging decision of what to do with their child. Your introduction is mostly about this conflict, but through that I get to understand the conflict more and their decision has more weight because I understand how big it was. After reading the two stories, I was confused about the switching of the children, but the author's note really helped. Flora is actually Hayley but since she was switched then her name was switched too, and I am assuming Flora's parents are Magnus and Flutter? This makes a lot of sense with Flora's parents says "don't get too disappointed if you don't get them." I love the idea behind your stories. It is complex, and like you say in your first author's note it is something many people probably don't understand, but your note's do a great job of explaining the idea behind your stories. Great context clues in both of your stories to immerse a reader. I'm excited to read your final story, Jessica!