Monday, February 11, 2008

Themes and Motifs project

Hi.

Some friends of mine have a book. It's a reference book. In the book are listed all the themes and motifs of the stories in a science fiction magazine from the 20s and 30s. Here's the books title:

Science-Fiction, The Gernsback Years: A Complete Coverage of the Genre Magazines Amazing, Astounding, Wonder and Others from 1926 through 1936 by Everett F. Bleiler

I read an interview with Ben Marcus where he said he used to write stories by looking at a reference book of the themes and motifs from old fairy tales. Like, say he'd see an entry for a story about a witch who makes people fall asleep. He'd write a story with that theme, but in his own way.

I have a list of my favorite themes and motifs from this book of science fiction themes and motifs from the 20s and 30s. I'm going to start writing a story for each one. I'll do this once a week. I'll post them here.

There will be one later today. The theme/motif is: corkscrew causes pain, writing ability.

Until then, watch this very short film about riding the Empire Builder, a train that runs from Chicago to Seattle:

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