Storybook Plan

The main theme I have for my story is retelling the legend of Dante's Inferno, but setting it some time in the 1980's with a character (for now known as Michael) who is the distant descendant of Dante Alighieri from the original tale. This will go through the same nine circles of hell once Michael goes over to his ancestor's country of Italy and will feature instead celebrities and figures from the era to represent each ring instead. If this idea seems to narrow, I can be convinced to setting it in other era.

For the episodes of this storybook I was planning on doing nine or ten, which sounds like a rather large undertaking, but it would be shorter sections that each cover one of the circles.

Some resources that will potentially be useful:

http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/index2.html
http://freebookapalooza.blogspot.com/2016/06/macgregor-stories-from-dante.html
https://historylists.org/art/9-circles-of-hell-dantes-inferno.html

Topic Research: Dante's Inferno

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2017/07/project-idea-dante.html

Topic: Dante's Inferno

Map of Hell from Dante's Inferno

I chose to research this topic after brainstorming last week as it a legend that can be retold so many different ways as it comes down to the main principle of going through the various rings of hell meeting figures who represent that ring in some way. With that said I still would like to set the story in a different era and I think that that would be a unique take on this legend. The first idea I have would be for the retelling to be set in the 1980's and the people Dante meets in hell would be adjusted accordingly. The second idea would be to set it in today's world, but this feels slightly more played out as many legends are retold in the modern day. Despite this, a retelling of this legend in modern day could be a fresher take than I am giving it credit for. The last idea I have for retelling this legend would be to keep the legend in its era, but change the main character from Dante to another Greek historical figure. This idea came to me when writing about Homer's Illiad seeing many different interesting characters that were mortal ancient Greeks.

Topic Brainstorm

The first topic that I am interested in is the legend of Robin Hood as I always loved the Disney movie growing up, even dressing as Robin Hood for Halloween as a third grader, and always was interested in the story. I do not have much knowledge of the formal legend, but am familiar with a good amount of the plot and most characters. I would like to learn more about the original Robin Hood myth as it's a story that I have only heard a retelling of so many times. As for stories for stories I would like to tell is potentially a retelling of the original Robin Hood story using the characters from Disney's adaptation. I have heard anecdotally that the Disney adaption was not necessarily accurate so I think that would be a unique way to retell this story. '
(Link: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-ballads-of-robin-hood.html)

The second topic that I am interested in for this project is Dante's Inferno as I had heard about it towards the end of my time at private elementary school before switching over to public schools where we did not have an assigned Religion class. The only knowledge I have of this tale was that there were multiple levels to hell, where each level was represented by a deadly sin. I would like to learn more about what all of the levels specifically entail and what the protagonist experiences at each level as I know all of the "deadly sins," from my days in Religion class. I think an interesting way to retell this story would be to set it in a different era. Despite seeing in the UN-Textbook that there was previously done I first thought when I saw the topic to set it rather sometime in the 20th century, but I am undecided as there are many routes to go from there.
(Link: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2017/07/project-idea-dante.html)

The third topic I find interesting is Blackbeard as it is again a character that I have heard about, yet never known what all they were actually famous or in his case infamous for doing. I only know of the character of Blackbeard as a mythical pirate from the days of pirates in Gulf of Mexico. I would like to learn about what all of Blackbeard's supposed exploits were when he terrorized the seas. Despite his terrifying status I think it would be a unique way to retell his story with Blackbeard being a current era captain of a ship either commercially or a fisherman for example. His exploits could then be adjusted to fit the theme for a fun take on his bloodthirsty legend.
(Link: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2017/07/project-idea-blackbeard-pirate.html)

The last topic that I think would research for this project potentially is an urban legend/Native American legend from my hometown of Alton, IL. The story of the Piasa Bird was prominent growing up as every time we would drive into town we would pass by the cliff drawing by the Mississippi River. I know that the general premise of the story is that the Bird was attacking villages until it was slain by the Ouatoga tribe. As for stories I could tell, I would have a hard time adapting the legend to a different era/setting, but I think a good idea would be to make the legend more in-depth by adding characters and more of a plot line on top of the current legend.
(Link: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Piasa-bird)

The Native American Drawing of the Piasa Bird