I first started capturing her storytelling using the video mode on our digital camera, around about April, but she soon refused to let me film her. So I tried writing her stories while she told them, using pen and paper. That lasted for only a few stories too, before she caught on. Since then, I've been recording her using a mini MP3 recorder, which is pretty unobtrusive, and transcribing the audio later. She then objected strongly to this as well... Nowadays I use a combo of MP3 and video to record her before transcribing. I only manage to record a fraction of the stories she tells. I always have a backlog of stories on the recorder that still need transcribing, as it's impossible for me to keep up with her. To help new readers, I've marked my favourite stories with a star (*), so at least you have somewhere to start if you don't know where to begin. Don't forget to check the older archives too - there are some gems in there as well!

Sunday 20 January 2008

Map of her imaginary landscape, 2008-01-19

The first country is Woopwaja where Hook, the current main character in her stories, lives. The black lines are the roads and boundaries to the different countries. The red indicates places where characters live in (houses or camps/tents). Countries with green lines on them are forested, while those with gray lines also have sandy areas. There are no rivers or lakes in this land, but only the sea as you can see labeled.

Wootpotta, Wootwatta and Wootkakakakapotta are all uninhabited, but have various fossil footprints that show that once upon a time various beings lived there. Wootpotta and Wootkakakakapotta used to be inhabited by flamingos, but not any more. Wootwatta used to be inhabited by humans, but not anymore. Wood is where Hoott lives. Hoott and Hook are dinosaurs. All the countries are very rainy.

She drew everything, asked me to write in the labels for her...


From Bethany's Art...

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