🦢 CHANGE can be excruciating but necessary. 🪽 How do you transform an almost 25-year-old, 9 Chapter, young adult story into a 40-chapter novel? Well, by redefining its genre and using a different narrative style, of course! 🐬NO COMPLAINTS PLEASE 🦢 I have no right to complain that a Singapore-based WebNovel Publishing company offered to publish HOW THE DOLPHIN TAUGHT THE SWAN TO FLY into a Webnovel, with the possibility of a comic adaptation too. 🪽 The catch? I need to have at least 40 chapters. 🐬 To do that, I need to figure out how to expand the story in many ways. 🦢 Just so grateful that God is always there to help me find ways and opportunities to learn and unlearn new things. 🪽 FRAME THE STORY 🐬 While doing my Film Making class, I wanted to focus on different narrative styles using this audio-visual medium. 🦢 Among these narratives is what one calls the: Frame Story. 🪽 According to the article: What is a Frame Story? || Definition & Examples by Raymond Malewitz, an Oregon State University Associate Professor of American Literature 🐬 "Frame story is a narrative that frames or surrounds another story or set of stories. It usually appears at the beginning and end of that larger story and provides important context and key information for how to read it." 🦢 Using this technique, aside from the "fable" about the Swan and the Dolphin, I loosely juxtapose this with my own experiences, stream of consciousness while writing and rewriting this story. 🪽 ROMAN A CLEF 🐬 In connection with the Frame of the Story, I cannot say HOW THE DOLPHIN TAUGHT THE SWAN TO FLY is autobiographical because I'm not a swan in real life. 🦢 It's a fable, yet it has elements and experiences from my life. 🪽 While contemplating whether I should purchase THE BELL JAR by Sylvia Plath, I came across the term Roman a Clef. 🐬 According to the MASTERCLASS website: 'Roman à clef is a French term that translates to 'novel with a key' and is a novel that takes some of its premise and characters from real life while fictionalizing certain details and identities.' 🦢 So, while this story is a fable, it reflects real-life incidents, traumas, and victories. 🪽 Sources: 🐬 Frame Story: https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/what-frame-story.... 🦢 Roman à Clef https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-a-roman-a-clef

• published: 16 Jul 2023
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