March 2010 Hub Challenge

I started my personal Hubpages Hub Challenge already, on March 1st 2010. I intend on publishing at least 60 articles or Hubs at the Hub Pages website, from March 1-31.

To date, I've published 6 hubs, so I'm feelin' pretty good about the start and pace of the writing-on-demand style. Luckily, I set up a bit of a time and writing schedule for the month of March, and I'm right on schedule, with a plan to never get more than 2 published hubs behind schedule. Two (2) published article hubs per day should see me through the month of March with 60 hubs by end-Month.

The weekend is approaching, which gives me more time for writing, and time to 'catch up' since I am 2 articles behind schedule (but not behind in research and drafts!) with 6 hubs published. It's almost 2am Friday morning, so technically, I haven't had my full day yet, for publishing to a total of 10 hubs.

My hubs so far include a start on my "Final Girl" series, naming movie "final girl" personas Lila Crane from Psycho, Nancy Thompson from Nightmare on Elm Street, Sidney Prescott from Scream, and a FINAL GUY! Paxton, from the gore-slash-horror movie, "Hostel."

I've also begun my "Archetypes" series, and have 2 hubs published so far: "About Archetypes" and "Archetypes: Willing and Unwilling Hero."

Here's the full list so far:

Mythbuster Hub Challenges - (1) Final Girl: Lila - (2) Final Girl: Nancy - (3) Final Girl: Sid - (4) About Archetypes (General info) - (5) Archetypes: Willing and Unwilling Hero - (6) Final Guy: Paxton

Any suggestions for archetype personas or final girl characters will be considered. If you have a favourite final girl or archetype character you'd like me to research and write about, drop me a line!

I've planned a hub series on "Shadow People" as well, but that one is scheduled to be published a litter later in the month.

Hub 8 in the Hub Challenge: The Goatman of Maryland

http://urbanlegendfolkloremyths.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

The Goatman of Maryland is a hominid cryptid creature said to have originated in the Maryland, U.S.A. region.

The Goatman is part man, part goat, but there are different tales available about how the man came to have half man features as well as the body parts of a goat.

Some say The Goatman was into Black Magic and turned himself into a goat. Other stories differ and say a man was part of a strange medical experiment in a remote area of Maryland. This latter experiment went all wrong and a man ended up as a freakish hybrid man-goat who stalks the Maryland area still today. Most accounts tell of a hard-working goat-farming man who was overcome by a natural disaster, science experimentation, government/scientific projects, or black magic. Afterward, it seems the man survived, but not as a whole human being - rather - as a half human, half goat creature.

Some accounts give details about the Goatman's insanity

Hub 10 in the Hub Challenge: The Jigsaw Puzzle

A creepy little story called The Jigsaw Puzzle is what I selected to place on hub number 10 for the Hub Challenge.

The Jigsaw Puzzle falls into a theme with a 'lingering stalker' in the tale, but some will classify the urban legend as another 'axe-murderer' tale or 'murdering madman' legend.

Actually, this urban legend fits into a number of categories, including 'cautionary tale,' but this time, teens aren't being warned not to have sex. In this instance, for some reason, the elderly are being warned about something.

Here's how it works:

Basically, the elderly woman in the story SHOULD NOT be exercising her independence. She SHOULD BE living somewhere that is not so isolated, and she should be living with other people. Due to her independence and insistence on living alone after her husband dies, her insistence on retaining her home, the woman ends up in a "killer" situation...or - she is going to die at the hands of a killer.

Some of this legend is likely an attempt from the society who made this urban legend - to say, "Hey...a happy MATURE couple has two people...a man and a woman who grow old together. If one of these personas is NOT in place, the picture is not right." Basically, if one of a pair - if a mate dies - the remaining individual has to give up autonomy. And YES...this legend may have been told to aging people in order to get them to give up isolation and move into certain kinds of care facilities...more likely, the urban legend is told to people of all ages, to instill the idea that the 'societal norm' should be that old members of society need to turn toward living in extended care facilities (nursing homes) rather than living alone once a mate dies.

Read: The Jigsaw Puzzle on my hub

* Tip - close the blinds/curtains of your windows before you read this, particularly if you're reading after dark!

Hub 8 in the Hub Challenge: The Goatman of Maryland

Okay, I'll admit it right now - I have "Goatman-a-phobia!"

I have no trouble telling freely that I had to stay up and both read a funny story and watch silly cartoons after making the Goatman hub - for about 3 nights in a row...

I also admitted right on the hub already that the Goatman scares me...

Now that the hub challenge is over for me, I can say I'm glad I put together The Goatman of Maryland hub during a time of 'writing on demand,' for a personal challenge contest, because this allowed me to push forward quickly and get to researching on other urban legends and related information...so I was able to 'forget' about how the Goatman legend unnerves me.

The Goatman is very much related to "lovers lane" scares and falls in the heading of 'blatant cautionary tales for teens' The purpose of The Goatman Legend may be primarily to scare off teenagers from engaging in sexual activities in remote, private areas (lovers lanes), but the 'cryptid' form - the half-man/half-goat form of the Goatman is particularly unnerving for me.

I can deal with "Hook"-like additions on a crazed madman, such as is notable in a similar cautionary tale-lovers lane scare legend "The Hook," and I can deal with a very angry man in the woods, like in "Skinned Tom," another lovers-lane-caution-against-sex-tale, but when men/man turns into a cryptid/half-man creature, I start to loose my cookies and my senses start to say "run like HELL."

For this reaction, I suppose that The Goatman of Maryland does precisely what it's supposed to do...scare the heck outta me to ensure that I never go out to a wooded area around Maryland to engage in sexual activities...nope, ya won't be seein' me disrobe near the woods in Maryland at all. EVER...

So why am I sittin' over 2000 miles away from Maryland, U.S.A. with my pulse fired up?

I dunno...I wonder if there is such thing as goatman-a-phobia...

If there is, I've got it!

Hub 4 in the Hub Challenge: Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan is the subject of my fourth entry/4th hub in the Hubpages Hub Challenge contest, which started May 11.

What can be said about Paul Bunyan?

Well - you name it - if it relates to "BIG" - and if you can strettttttttch a story's details, exaggerate like crazy, and run off on a tangent, then you'll probably both love Paul Bunyan tales as well as be great at telling them.

Hub Challenge entry Hub #4: Paul Bunyan

Apparently, Paul Bunyan is the reason behind everything from the great and numerous lakes in the Michigan area, all the way to inventing double-decker ice cream cones! That is, according to 'legend' promoted primarily by North Americans!

Hub #3 in the Hub Challenge: Accidental Survival in Urban Legends

Accidental Survival happens in a lot of Urban Legends. More appropriately this is called "LUCK," plain and simple.

Some people whose lives are spared in many stories haven't really 'earned' their survival. Stories that involve accidents, murderers and stalkers, animal attacks, freak storms and violent natural elements, etc., often also contain messages about being cautious, planning ahead for emergencies, making good moral decisions...

However

"Accidental Survival" often happens when the main character has failed to plan ahead, has made bad decisions and hasn't been cautious at all...somehow the person's life is spared, anyway, despite risk-taking behaviors, distractions, short-sightedness, etc.

Sometimes a person survives due to a miscalculation on the part of a stalker, killer or other sort of attacker in an urban legend. Sometimes a 'safe person' or authority figure shows up 'in the nick of time' to save a person who has been careless, forgetful, or cocky in urban legends. In any case, with accidental survival, the character in question (the one in the most danger) doesn't actively save him or herself - the survival/saving happens from an external force.

On occassion, the person in danger hasn't actually done anything wrong and ends up in the wrong place at the right time, thus placing him/ or herself in danger. This is actually quite rare, but can happen in stories/urban legends.

More often, even something as seemingly small and insignificant as a person driving at nighttime - when they've been at a legitimate function and have done no wrong prior to the time of danger - is actually considered a 'mistake' and 'fault' on the part of the person......in other words, the person should have KNOWN to drive during the daytime. A situation like this is found in a few versions of "Don't Flash The Headlights/Gang Initiation" where a person flashes but somehow the "gang" car malfunctions, sparing the life of the person who flashed the headlights. If the 'victim' has survived for such reasons, this is like an accidental survival. A survival that wasn't planned out or made possible by the victim's own skills.

My third entry in the Hubpages Hub Challenge is called "Accidental Survival in Urban Legends."

So far on the hub, I have shown the "Knife in the Briefcase" urban legend - a basic version as well as the "Good Samaritan" version which isn't the same story but is similar in end-result. Both stories contain a man whose briefcase is somehow left in a car. In one version, a woman escapes from a killer 'accidentally' because she is actually forgetful, believe it or not! In a similar story, in the "Good Samaritan" version, a woman is annoyed with a man and acts assertively - then finds out afterward that he was intending on killing her.

Enjoy the hub!

Concerns Re: Content Quality During Hub Challenge

Hub Challenge Content Quality:

I'm a little concerned, only a few days into the Hubpages Hub Challenge contest. I'm checking around, looking at the new content submitted as "hub challenge" hubs and although most hubs I'm reading are quite nice, I'm noticing more hubs that are short on content.

"Short on content" is about the best description I can find for what I see in the hub challenge. Many hubs are just really SHORT - limited in words.

I suppose the hubs containing fewer words are an attempt from some hub authors to keep up with the demands of the contest - that is - attempts to push out numerous hubs in a short amount of time.

Although I see the strategy here, in writing many hubs with limited words, I'm worried that such a strategy will eventually be bad for the Hubpages site. I sincerely hope that new viewers who come across the Hubpages site while the Hub Challenge contest is in progress, and while people are pressing out short hubs, will not assume that 300-400-word hubs are the standard.

I've been a Hubpages member for over a year and most 'fan' lists that I am on are with authors who are writing a lot more original content than 400 words per hub. Most of my own hubs are well over 500 words, and - for the record - I intend to keep making sure that my hubs contain content of more than 500 words, despite having entered into the Hub Challenge contest.

I thought about the concept of 'content quality' just prior to the contest start date of May 11. The first information I read online about the contest was about the 100 hubs in 30 days, but after following a few more links around and checking up on this contest, I was happy to find a 30 hub in 30 days category.

I felt that 30 hubs in 30 days was more 'my speed,' and am awfully glad I didn't commit to building 100 hubs in 30 days now. Luckily, I'm not feeling much pressure to write short hubs in order to complete 30 of them in as many days. Actually, I haven't 'published' hub #4 yet, even though today is considered day 4 of the contest. I still think it's important to do some research for each hub, so I'll just keep plodding along this month, reading a lot, writing a lot, and see how I fare by the end of the contest!

Wish me luck!

Hub #2 in the Hub Challenge: The Exploding Cactus

"The Exploding Cactus"

My 2nd hub entered in the Hubpages Hub Challenge (which started yesterday, May11) is about an urban legend called "The Exploding Cactus."

In this incredible story, usually a family has been out of the country on vacation. The family brings back an exotic plant (almost always a cactus) that can't usually be found in their usual hometown or country.

Unfortunately, along with the exotic and rare cactus, the family unknowingly also brings back some other unwanted sorts of pets...which are somehow linked to the purchase of the cactus.

Read a version of the urban legend on the 2nd hub I submitted in the Hub Challenge at a website called "Hubpages."

Hub 2: The Exploding Cactus

Here are a few tidbits that aren't on the hub above yet...

One of the most important elements that makes the story, The Exploding Cactus, successful as an urban legend is the cactus itself, along with public ignorance about cactus plants.

(admittedly, I know almost nothing about cactus plants, myself - but knowledge of these items is not necessary for storytelling, either...)

Cactus or "cacti" are usually considered an EXOTIC plant. The care of these flora is necessarily different than that of plants that most people are familiar with. Therefore, not as many people KEEP Cacti as will keep 'ordinary' and more common plants.

This also means that people who know about cacti or cactuses have EXCLUSIVE information about their growth and care...

The average person who does not know anything or who knows very little about cacti can be easily taken in by the details given in the urban legend The Exploding Cactus. Those who know little to nothing about cactus plants easily assume that what happens in the story CAN REALLY HAPPEN!

Another tidbit: readers of this blog now have exclusive information about one of the most important things that makes The Exploding Cactus urban legend successful - because this tidbit has not been posted on the hub at all...

You see... 'logic' and plain 'common sense' of an average person who does not know anything about cactuses will actually MAKE THIS STORY APPEAR logical, true, plausible, etc.

Don't we live in a strange world? Where logic can actually allow a myth to perpetuate and spread?

Hub #1 in the Hub Challenge: Caller in the House

"Caller in the House"

...is the name of my first hub submitted in Hubpages' Hub Challenge, which just started today.

You know the story, don't you? (aside from several movies that have been made with the same 'babysitter stalked' idea).

Here's the basic stuff of the story...

A teen is babysitting at a house and everything is going fine. The kids are well-behaved, nothing is out of the ordinary - until the babysitter puts the kids to bed.

After the kids are in bed, upstairs in their rooms, then--

THEN - bad stuff starts to happen.

The babysitter starts to receive a number of very strange phone calls

Read more about this urban legend on my newest hub:

Hub: Caller in the House

Of course, there are several versions of this urban legend. 3 version are featured on my hub.

Enjoy...

Problems With Twitter

So, here I am getting all revved up for the Hub Challenge

New blog here, as suggested by the Hubpages Hub Challenge entry on the Hubpages blog...I've done a bit of topic research to get ready for building hubs, starting tomorrow, checked the coffee can to make sure I've got a good supply of java for the next few days - got my Twitter account all set up

...and then...

Logged back in to Twitter after taking a break from the computer for a couple of hours and...

My Twitter account has been suspended! (suspicious activity? after 2 updates?)

Well, hopefully, Twitter support will answer my support ticket...

Entering the Hub Challenge

I've created this blog to record what happens for me in the Hubpages "Hub Challenge" which starts tomorrow (May 11 2209).

My ID on Hubpages is mythbuster and most of my hubs are about urban legends, folkore, legends, scary movies, and similar topics.

I've studied folklore, mythology, religion & theology, and folk and fairy tales at the university level for 4+ years...

...in the real world, what does one DO with knowledge of how urban legends, fairy tales, religion, folklore and mythology work? What PRACTICAL purpose is in these topics? What kind of work does one do with folklore, mythology and fairytales?

Well...

Writing about these things beyond school assignments and telling/re-telling snippets of stories in story circles and at campouts garners me some decent marks on paper and some scares and screams around campfires...

However, taking these topics to HUBPAGES is starting to earn me more money than any real life application I've managed so far!

It only seems natural now for me to enter the Hub Challenge!