In Part B, my attention was caught by one fairy tale in particular, Uraschimataro and the Turtle.
This story was so tragic, and it made me think of how much I would miss my own family if something like this happened to me. I think it's so strange that the lesson of this the tale is that Uraschimataro loved his parents so much that he gave up life in the underwater palace with the princess. If he truly loved them that much, then why did he stay in the palace in the first place? I get that time passed strangely there, but he also seemed very unconcerned about getting home until he suddenly got caught up in his feelings.
A more interesting take, however, could be that the beautiful princess was actually evil. That could be fun to write from her perspective, or as I mentioned in my previous reading notes, to write in third-person but skewing towards her as the main character. She could be a siren of sorts. A mermaid would work as well, but I don't love the idea, it's a little Disney princess-y. Alternately, I could leave her good, and just write her as incredibly lonely. The sea creatures are nice, but she wants a human to love. I lean towards zooming out from Uraschimataro and exploring her character as a woman that is trapped under the sea, unable to leave her palace but able to bring others to join her. I rather like the idea of a series of vignettes detailing the visitors she has and the ways in which they come and go, and what she remembers of them. Some she tricks, others come willingly, and the sea creatures help as much as they can. Gender doesn't particularly matter, nor any other factor, so long as they keep her company. That's not an issue though, because they all fall in love with her.
Yeah, this is definitely what I'm doing this week.
Image: Underwater Palace. Source.
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