Ovid Writing Journal Entry

Why did you choose the characters you did for your myth?

I knew I wanted to write my myth about some object that is very common in our modern-day world. I decided to write a myth about lightning rods, and it was only natural to include Zeus in my story. I always think of birds perched on top of lightning rods, so I thought I would include that imagery in my piece, and incorporate nature. Because of this, Daphne was a character that also seemed natural to include, as she was a nymph who turned into a tree in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Did you find the employment of metaphor in your piece challenging or natural?

The employment of metaphor was not very challenging to include in my piece. I like to use metaphor a lot when I write creatively, and once I had chosen what the main subject of my myth (lightning rods) was going to be, the rest came fairly naturally.

How did your choice of point of view from which you told the myth impact the telling of it and what response do you expect your readers to have because of it?

I think the point of view for my story will prove interesting to many of my readers. The story is written from a first person omniscient point of view, and sometimes the narrator switches to first person or second person. The narrator of my myth is the son of a goddess himself, so we know that he is at least part god. His mother is also a friend of Zeus in this story, so I think the point of view makes the reader side with Zeus, and wish that Zeus could find some way to save Daphne from Marcus. I believe that my readers will feel as though the son of Ceres is actually telling them this story, which would mean that they, too, know this god in some way.

Why did you choose to or not to include dialogue between the characters in your piece?

I chose to include dialogue when Marcus stumbles upon Daphne in the fields where she picks flowers. I did this because the scene from Hawthorne’s Demeter/Persephone myth in which Hades steals Persephone away inspired this similar plot development. I liked when Hawthorne used dialogue between Hades and Persephone in his retelling of the myth, as it made it easier for the reader to make conclusions about what kind of person the characters were. I also think that dialogue can make a story more interesting, as the dialogue itself can speak to the reader rather than having a narrator retell the story.

What was the most challenging part of this assignment?

The most challenging part of this assignment was the length restriction. My myth is over two pages, and if I wanted to, I think I could really flesh out this piece and make it even longer. Even though my myth is a half page over the suggested length, it was very hard for me to keep it shorter than three pages.