Chien-Huei’s World

Assignment 2: Story Proposal  

The StoryMy story proposal for transmedia storytelling plan will be loosely based on my mother’s life experiences. The major character, Jee-Ling was born into a wealthy family in the early 1900s. Her life was forced into the turmoil of the Sino-Japanese and Chinese civil wars. The separation from her family, hunger and poverty struck Jee-Ling hard but she never gave up her hope and dignity as her father’s daughter. What makes a helpless young woman to survive and flourish into becoming an extraordinary person? What possesses a person to never give-up and be positive in the face of adversity? 

Reason / PurposeI chose to write this story because I always thought that my mother was the most inspiring person I have ever known. Growing up listening to the stories and experiences my mother encountered during the war, I was so fascinated by her courage and perseverance to be an upbeat and caring person.  

I have been crafting the draft story about my mother since my early 20s, finally now I have the determination to put it to words and share it with the world. I believe writing this story would be an emotional experience for me, however, I hope by sharing my mother’s life experience and some of her stories, others will draw the same inspiration and strength as have I. 

Genre / Audiences The story will be temporally arranged as a fictional narrative that is based on mostly actual events and characters. The story will be arranged in a chronological order to document the main character, JeeLing, her life experience. The story is written for all audiences who enjoy reading an extraordinary person’s life story. 

Method of focalization 

There are four passes for this story: first pass will include text only; the second pass will add image with the text; the third pass will contain image, audio/video and text; the fourth pass will employ text, image, video, and online interactivity. The story will be told as a singular narrative (same story throughout) using a third-person perspective from the text through the multimedia stage. 

ChallengesThe main challenge as I can foresee right now are locating the audio/video elements for the story and creating their interactivity. I plan to use the Internet for period research and reference my living relatives who knew my mother as a contemporary.