Storybook Plan: The Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man: Before the Wizard

The Wizard of Oz (1939) by twm1340. Web source: Creative Commons. 

Today I am going back into some ideas for my characters of Oz themed story book. As I mentioned in my last project post, I am going to focus the stories on Baum's characters the Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man (Lionel, Crowder, and Timmy, respectively) on their journey through college at the University of Oz. The three are roommates and friends long before they take that famous trip to meet the wizard. My storybook will feature a defining story for each of the characters that happens on one night at a party. 

In my last post, I planned out some pretty specific episode ideas for each of the three character's tales, so today I will go more in depth about what I want to get across in each story and what techniques I might use to do that. 

Stories: 

The Lion- Why is he cowardly?

This story will explain why the Lion, Lionel, goes on to become cowardly and how that has an impact on his future in Oz.

 The story of Lionel will focus on how your personal definition of courage does not have to match anyone else's. I may also add some backstory the Lionel about how he is the oldest in his family and has always carried the burden of having to be brave, so when he is called cowardly, it is completely devastating to him. 

The Tin Man- Or Tin Can? 

Timmy the Tin Man is very particular about order. Like I talked about before, he is going to have an incident at the college party that makes people call him "Tin Can" for years to come. 

I think that I may also incorporate a new backstory that combines elements of Baum's original character. One idea I have is that Timmy ex-girlfriend had a curse put on him to turn him to Tin because his heart was guarded in tin-like armor. I think this gets the same botched love story point across as the Tin Woodsman's original story, but it is a little less tragic. 

The Scarecrow- Straw for brains. 

Crowder the Scarecrow's episode will cover why he feels like he is not intelligent, and continues to struggle with his identity as a scarecrow until many years later when he meets Dorothy and reunites with his old college roommates to visit the Wizard of Oz. 

As I will talk more about below, he is going to be the one to begin and end the story. His character will be the one who keeps the others together as friends. I also think that think that his struggle with perfection and intelligence is something that is very relatable to college students, so I will put some focus on that in his stories.

A Beginning and an End, Sort of: 

In addition to the three main episodes detailed above, I want to start and end the storybook in very different ways. I think that I will have the end and the beginning told from the point of view of Crowder the Scarecrow. It will start out detailing how the three roommates are distant and they don't know if they are going to get along throughout the school year. Crowder will describe their first interactions and how uncomfortable they are. 

After the stories of the three guys are told, I want Crowder to tell a first person account of how they went from being strangers to becoming more like brothers. 

Overall themes and storytelling ideas: 

The main thing that I want to come across through this storybook is the importance and power of friendship. Like I detailed in the story ideas above, each episode in the book will come from a first person point of view of one of the character. I think that the first person style is especially important when telling the defining stories of the three main characters because it makes the characters more relatable to the reader. This storytelling style allows the reader to see the fateful night of the college party through the eyes of the Lion, Tin Man, and Scarecrow separately, so there is personal bias in each telling. Crowder the Scarecrow's beginning and ending stories will connect the character-specific ones in between.

Bibliography

In addition to the resources that I gathered last week, I found some other general materials that I think will be helpful in the creative process.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Study Guide by Jeffery Somers. Web source: Thought Co. 

What is courage? Lessons from the Cowardly Lion by Stephen A. Diamond. Web source Psychology Today.

The Tin Woodman of Oz by Frank L. Baum. Web source.