Sunday, February 15, 2015

Comment Wall

(My cousin and I)
Leave comments here, y'all!

20 comments:

  1. First of all, I really like your page design! The fox eyes at the top are a great addition to the overall feel of the page. The introduction is well-written and easy to read. It's also clear that a fox is talking, although you did a nice job of creating a human feel with the way she is talking to her lost lover. The intro does a good job of setting the tone for the rest of the stories you will be writing without giving away what direction you are planning on going with them. The background information you gave adds to the personification of the fox and sets the scene for exactly why she is so convinced she needs to get revenge on who killed her husband (is that the right term for fox families? Haha). All in all, I think you've really set yourself up for a super interesting and immersive storytelling experience in the coming stories!

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  2. This sounds like it will be a fantastic theme! I was immediately drawn in with the introduction. I just read another story that involved personification. Tales told by animals are very welcome in contrast to all of the human stories I've read this semester. So is each new segment in your storybook going to be the next chapter of her revenge plot? With the last story climaxing with the wolf's death or the death of his lover? I'm excited to find out!

    There was a lot of action in your introduction. Maybe in later segments you could add descriptions of the setting? Where exactly does the fox live? You could even play with the seasons. Maybe Tod was killed in the winter, and her revenge could take place in the summer? Who knows? I really enjoyed how you started off the storybook though. Your audience is officially captivated! Good job!

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  3. Hey, Renae! Firstly, I want to comment on how much I love the format and design of your storybook website!! The fox eyes at the top are entrancing and really grab your attention, and the mix of fonts goes well together, forming a cohesive but varied design. The choice of colors and sparkly-looking background all work together with the imagery and photos to create a mysterious and intriguing appearance to introduce your storybook.

    The sentence/saying at the top at the top of your introduction again works to draw the reader into your storybook—it promises disaster, heartbreak, all the hallmarks of a great tragedy/drama. As for the tale, the flashbacks in the story really highlight the past versus the present, the happy life once lived versus the current life dominated by heartbreak and sorrow. The imagery you use really emphasizes the happiness, pain, and shock in turn, and I just loved the style of this tale. Great work! Can’t wait to read more as it goes up!

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  4. Hi Renae!
    I think I’ve mentioned this before but I’ll mention it again, I really like the layout of your blog. The color scheme is really fun and bright and even though it has those bright colors, it’s contrasted well by the dark text and easy to read font. On your Foxtastic page though, it was really difficult to read. I barely saw the text at the bottom of the post that said, “Come read about a journey of a fox who avenges her husband’s death with the use of her cunning and sly skills.” I think that sounds really interesting and like a good theme to go off of but it’s difficult to see the text. Same thing goes for your navigation bar. The pink font against a pink background makes it difficult to read. Aside from that though, I think you have a really great topic to work with and I look forward to reading more of your stories.

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  5. Okay, so… I love your story. I love foxes, and I was immediately attracted to the title of your storybook when I saw it. I was definitely not disappointed. Your story is engaging and very fun to read, and I desperately want the fox to succeed and avenge her husband. The introduction was definitely pretty heart-wrenching, so good job on that! I thought the fox teaming up with the dog and the cat showed how compassionate she is. Not only does she want them to a) live and b) be happy at home with their master, but she also doesn’t belittle them or use them in any way. She wants to help them, and simply asks for their help in return. I love that. Your character development is so great, and I love that you wrote these stories in the form of letters to her husband. I would make sure all the text on your page has enough contrast to be easily read, but other than that, I think it’s great!

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  6. First thing, I absolutely love your background on your website. I knew immediately what animal the story was going to be about and I think it fits in so well. The picture on the cover is really good too. I read your introduction and your first story so I will start with the introduction. I loved it. I could instantly see the emotion in the fox. You could see how much Rose loved Tod. You did a really good job at showing what the stories are going to be about and I really liked that she was doing this for her love of Tod. Now on to the first story. I liked how the characters are going to work together in order to help them all out. The fox is going to get help in avenging her love's death and the cat and dog are going to get help with dealing with their master. I liked how they became a very odd team. Overall, I really liked your story and I want to know how it ends. Can't wait to read more!

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  7. I don't know how I feel about being called a kiddo... Anyway, your storybook was really good. I had a bit of trouble reading the navigation pane on the left there. Both the background and the font are light shades of pink, so they somewhat blend together. Of course, this doesn't detract from the content of your storybook; I really liked how everything was set up as letters. It's a style that I've never personally been able to do, but I think that it works really well for you! I also like how the thing (quote? sentence? I'm not sure what to call it) at the beginning of your introduction really sets the stage for what's about to come. The content of your (Rose's) letters was really good, and it's really cool how the story is about foxes going up against a wolf. Great job on your storybook so far! I really enjoyed reading it!

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  8. Renae: Your introduction and story about the fox were both intense! I could feel Rose's anger through the letters she wrote to Tod.

    However, I still feel like it is a human writing these letters…the name's "Rose" and "Tod" seem quite human-centric to me, so I wondered about that. Also, I noticed that in the introduction you said that Rose fell to her knees in sadness when Tod was taken by the wolf…but do foxes have knees?!

    I thought your color scheme was good but the font was a bit large. I had to make it smaller on my computer, but that just may be an issue of one interface over the other.

    I do have one suggestion regarding character development: Although the sense I have of Rose's emotional state it quite clear, I'm very uncertain about John and Lucy. Also, the description of the wolf is somewhat sparse. That may contribute to an element of mystery early on, but I do think that a fuller description of the wolf would make him even more harrowing a character!

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  9. I think you have done a really good job with your post. I like how the stories flow together into days and are labeled accordingly. It lets the reader know that this is a continuation. It might be fun to play around with the width of your main page. Since it expands across almost the entire page, it is a bit overwhelming. As for your story, I thought it was a good read. It was nice to read your author’s note and find out why you made some of the changes you did. It was also nice to have a summary of the original so if people didn’t want to go back and reread it, they could get a brief overview right there. I liked that you chose the two wolf images that you did and explained it in the author’s note. Great job this week and I look forward to reading your other stories.

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  10. Your story topic is so unique – it is a wonderful idea! The introduction for this story was so touching – I was very impressed! I was instantly emotionally involved in the story line and felt the pain that Rose felt as I read the words and could see in my mind the scene playing out. The next letter (“Day 1: Plotting”) is also intriguing and well organized. I would move over the “love, Rose” from the far right side of the page to the middle of left side so it’s more noticeable. I like your choice in picture – it is very fitting. Besides the formatting issue, I had trouble coming up with something to fix. “Day 2: The War Begins” was well-written as well and the detail from the fox pretending to be sick to cheese wheels was very creative. I was very impressed at how you were able to weave together the stories so seamlessly to create a cohesive, larger story. I am excited to read your final story – keep up the hard work!

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  11. This week I reread your two stories from your portfolio and thought they were just as fun this time as they were the first time I read them. One thing I would like to see is a little more background on characters. Though I read about them, I want to know more about John and Lucy. You mentioned that their master wanted to kill them for being old but did something else happen that prompted the master to want to kill them? Another thing I think is interesting is the names you chose for the animals. John and Lucy both sound like human names but I have the tendency to use more human names for my animals too. I am looking forward to where your stories are going and hope to read more soon. I think I might have mentioned before but I still think you should play around with the margins and page width on your columns on blogger. It might make your page a little bit more browser friendly. Great job!

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  12. Renae, I thought your second story was a great continuation of the first. I love how you used key elements of the story to write your own version, and I’m very excited to see how the story continues. As far as grammar goes, I think you need to watch out for leaving out commas between clauses joined with a conjunction like when you said, “I made him stop in his tracks and he began to question me about the foods whereabouts.” There should be a comma before the “and.” I think there were a couple of other instances of this, so watch out for that. Since the letter format of this story is so important, I would advise moving your “Love, Rose” over from the edge of the right margin. It gets kind of looked over there, and so the story loses that personal touch. Overall, good job and yay, foxes!

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  13. Hey Rose!
    I really enjoyed your story book. I liked the background you selected of fox eyes. It is kind of menacing and determined. It fits well with you theme. I also liked the title you chose for you storybook “foxtastic.” It kind of reminded me of Fantastic Mr. Fox. I do not know if you have seen that movie or not but it is also about a fox.
    You introduction was well written. I really did not notice any grammar or punctuation errors. It sets the background of what your story is going to be about. It also really illustrates Rose’s loyalty and love towards her husband, Tod. Even though he is dead, Rose cannot stop thinking about him. She is even willing to endanger her life just so that she may avenge her husband.
    The picture that you selected for your story “Day 1: Plotting,” was spot on. It really portrays the story. It catches Rose spying on her enemy, the wolf. Good job Renae!

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  14. Renae,

    I love that your story is in diary format. It is a type of story that most people can relate to and I love that as well. Your introduction is wonderful! I really felt the emotion of a grieving wife losing her husband. I also like that you gave a background of how the two wolves met and it made me fall in love with the characters. I like the aspect that she she wolf is now looking for revenge for her husband's death. It was definitely a different than what I expected. I really enjoyed the first plot. I though it was clever of the she wolf to plan out how she want to seek revenge on the wolf that killed her husband. The way you ended it left me wanting more with her planning to trick the wolf with the meat. How clever! You are doing such a great job. I cannot wait to read the next part to your story.

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  15. Home Page- I LOVE YOUR HOMEPAGE!!! Specifically, the eyes at the top, but I almost missed the text at under the picture of the beautiful fox. I do like that you have an introductory sentence to give the reader an idea of what they are about to read.
    Introduction- First off, the picture you included is SO cute! I also like how large your text is, so everyone can easily read it. Oh! The first sentence is fabulous and while the reader is reading it they see in the corner of their eye the eyes at the top of the page. So creative wonderful job.
    You did a fabulous job of tying the pictures to your story so well. I can see the strength and anguish in the eyes of the fox at the bottom of the page. I think this is a wonderful topic so deep and tragic.
    Day 1: Plotting- I wonder how long it has been since her husband died? The pups have grown, so a decent amount of time must have passed. I want to know what happens next! Does the plan succeed? I can see some holes in this plan, but who knows it might work.
    You are doing such a wonderful job on your storybook!!!!!!!!!

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  16. Hey Renae, I already commented on the first parts of your project, so I'm just gonna comment on the first and second stories you've done so far!

    Day 1: I really liked your story a lot! The way you updated how the pups are doing set up how far your story has advanced since the introduction. I liked how you used the original story to set up a feasible way for the fox to get revenge for her husband. Great work on this one!

    Day 2: the action in this story was great! The execution of the plan she has flowed perfectly, and we really got a sense of how the fox was feeling in that moment and the moments before and after. The addition of her mentioning the pups and how she feels bad that she hasn't seen them in a while really drives home how important it is that she avenge her husband's death.

    Great work with all that you've done!

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  17. I picked your story as my free choice this week because I had read the introduction and the first story and I was excited to read more of it. So for this week, I have continued to read your storybook and I have read the second story, Day 2: The War Begins.I love how dedicated Rose is to getting the wolf. It shows how much she loved Todd and how carefully she is planning this revenge. The story itself flowed very well and it was so easy to read. I liked how you incorporated the original story to have it fit into your storybook. I think it fit really well. I am really excited to see how your storybook is going to end. So far, I think it is great. The characters are well developed and I could get a really good sense of what the characters are like, mainly Rose.

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  18. I really enjoyed your introduction. I like how you made the story a letter to her deceased fox husband. This brought in much more emotion than if she was just explaining her loss to a fellow friend. You expressed her emotions very well and I like how you included the flashback of her catching the farmer's chickens with her husband. The introduction was very well written.

    I also really enjoyed reading your first story "Day 1." You brought even more emotion in the first paragraph explaining how well the pups are doing without him. It is actually really depressing haha. I also like how you brought in a cat and a dog as allies. These are two very opposite animals, but it worked with your story. It was great how you even gave them a background story so it developed their character. Overall, great job on your introduction and first story!

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  19. I just started reading your storybook project and I can tell you got some inspiration from 'The Fox and the Hound.' Tod is a very clever name for a fox. Does that mean the fox exacting his revenge is Vixie?
    I like how you incorporated many different tales from different places into your storybook project. A lot of times people will stick to just focusing on stories from just one source or region, but you've used a variety of different stories here. And they all culminate to make one good story at the end. Tales of love and revenge are very popular, and I like how you've put this into letter format in order to convey how much loss the narrator is feeling towards her late fox-husband. It gives the story a much more real-feel and makes the reader feel more a part of the story.

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  20. Renae,

    I really like Day 3 of your story! I am loving how this plan of Rose is really developing. First of all, I love how the plan gets more and more close to defeating the wolf every time. It will be interesting to see how he does get defeated if at all. I also like that Rose took the wolf the devour all the meat. I thought it was absolutely hilarious that the wolf could not fit through the window because he ate so much. Rose is also doing a good job of being so sneaky and not allowing the wolf to see her true motives. I cannot wait to read what you have in store for us on the next day!

    Also, I found one mistakes. In the last sentence of your second paragraph you put "to hard," but I think you mean "too hard." Other than that you did good.

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