Reading Notes: Twenty-Two Goblins-Part A

 

(Green Goblin from Flickr)

For the Twenty-Two Gobblins Unit, there were so many different aspects of the story that were captivating and gave me different ideas to incorporate into my own stories and writing. This unit had a good introduction that sets up the whole unit and gives the background information to understand why the king was in the cemetery looking for the goblin. I then really enjoyed the way in which the goblin began to tell riddles to the king. These seperate stories in the unit all went together but each had very different aspects. The way in which this was done kept me wanting to continue reading and see what the next riddle would be and if the king would answer correctly. I also found it funny that the goblin character was not compliant with the king and even would run back to where he was found. I think the character set up was strong in that the king was a protagonist to an extent and the goblin the antogonist, yet they did not seem to be completely fighting and instead just going back and forth with one another in a banter type of way.

For my own writing, this story may not fit in with my theme of beauty that I am going for. However, I think I can come back to this story and draw from its many different aspects that may not be typical for a romantic story. I am curious now to work toward mixing up a romance story with two characters that maybe go back and forth with one another, or even a character that is forcing the other to solve riddles or something such as the goblin does to the king here. It would be interesting to flip the script especially because mose romance type stories have a hero and the girl. Possibly even creating a story where the girl is forcing the boy to answer everything correctly to win her over.

This story is part of the Twenty-Two Goblins unit. Story source: Twenty-Two Goblins, translated by Arthur W. Ryder