Topic Research: The Witches of Oz

I would like to do a storybook that tells about the four witches of Oz: The good witches of the North and South and the evil witches of the East and West, from their perspective. I would like to add dimension to the witches and let them tell "their side" of their origin story or possibly how they interacted with Dorothy. I think to get a full breadth on all the witches I would need to read parts of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), The Wicked Witch of Oz (1993- Payes), Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (1908), The Unknown Witches of Oz (2000-Hardenbrook), and possibly Glinda of Oz (1920).


Resources:
Wicked Witch of the West
Wicked Witch of the East
Good Witch of the South
Good Witch of the North

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Topic Brainstorm

The first project that would interest me is based off the novel The Unknown Witches of Oz by Dave Hardenbrook. This book is about the Good Witch of the North Locasta and the Adepts, who go to Oz and fight for good. I have always loved The Wizard of Oz and had no idea that there was such a collection of books about Oz. I would love to do a project that delved deeper into such an intricate land and this sounds like a new and original way to do it. I would like to tell a story about a lesser-known witch for each of my stories, and tell how they are tied to Oz and where they came from. It would be fun to also not just do the good witches but maybe some bad witches too.

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The second project of interest for me is to do a storybook about the Hawaiian goddess Pele. She is the goddess of fire and who created the Hawaiian islands, and there are tons of legends about her. I would love to create a personality for her and then tell some of her legends from her point of view. I love the Hawaiian culture and both my parents lived there growing up so I have always felt a connection to Hawaii. A good resource would be Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes by W. D. Westervelt which has a lot of legends about Pele.

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A third project involves the Lady of the Lake. She is mysterious and is involved in a lot of powerful roles in stories from a time when women did not have much power. I do not know much about this era of literature but would like to know more. I know she was able to trap Merlin in a tree even though he was considered to be psychic and almost all-knowing, and I think that is pretty awesome. I would love to write a couple of the really famous stories from her point of view.

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The Lady of the Lake in Lancelot Speed's illustration for The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights (1912)

My fourth project idea involves Amaterasu who is the solar goddess of the Shinto religion. From my readings she rules the sky and is a primary goddess in this religion. It seems she has had some disputes with her brothers and I think that could be a fun and different topic to write upon. I could title it "sibling spats" or something like that. Again the Shinto religion is something I literally know nothing about so I would love the chance to be exposed to this culture.

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