A story that is well-formatted with the right literary elements in correct places becomes a well-intended tale. Many countless hours could be spent under such a wise banyan tree of storytelling. To be distracted by the great craftmanship and skill at work is every writer’s dream come true.
The story is made up of distinct kinds. Some gallop and some amble along, while some are like the lost and found, missing objects, some are like straight lined plots heading precariously to their denouement. Each had fun of their own to experience.
Our childhood fancy for happy conclusions could be reasonable. It is not to condone all adults with sad endings and tragedy though! But, when the grown-up believes in successful conclusion then, I feel the desire for stories turned into a fetish? Staying faithful to the books as the sole solitary companion requires some sturdy mindset.
Master-Key to All Doors
Getting stuck in this magical world of words and being satisfied in such solitary activity can only be a voluntary action. I am diverted by the written words on the calendar quote, which goes something like this:
Go within your little person and you will find the key which opens all the doors. ~ The Mother (Puducherry)
A passkey that opens all doors! OMG! Thinking of which wakes up the urge within a human to open all closed doors with an all-pass key. There could be two reasons for opening the closed doors – one is curiosity as to what’s in there or unwillingness to be shut out.
The loneliness that follows a shut door, which wouldn’t open even a crack, seems to be so frustrating encounter in life. As much as there are doors in this world then, the desire to open them will always remain.
Doors and Windows of Stories
The doors and windows of stories bring with them innumerable surprises for the readers. You feel that you are close to home. The type of stories that are told or heard gives the feeling of being at home. The age-old riddles of lives seem attainable and become the cozy warmth of a blanket in the winter.
The window view into the house could be a short story; while a door invites the reader to browse around the house. It is like Alice’s House of Card. Imagine the Mad Hatter hosting a precarious tea party, in an unstable house. Every time they move around the table the house of cards comes down.
Life has a funny way of entering those secrets spots, especially in the throbbing human heart when a book is read or read out aloud. What seems unachievable would seem so easy in a book. That is when you know for certain that the writers’ craftmanship is truly a treasure to behold and to cherish.
Currently Reading | The Canterbury Tales
I’m currently reading The Canterbury Tales written by Geoffrey Chaucer. It is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English, between 1387 and 1400.
This work is a middle English classic and first published in local dialect. The challenge that Chaucer took on was unsurmountable given that his introduction was quiet detailed. When you read it there is some magical quality that is emitted from the work. It reminded me of the fireplace stories.
The Pilgrimage of the Faithful
Reading the middle English “The Canterbury Tales,” presented with present day spelling has a nice turn of phrases in it. It was before the first printed Bible by Gutenberg in 1455. The stories were told by the thirty pilgrims traveling together towards St. Thomas Becket’s shrine in Kent. The language is more conversational and easy flowing with some Middle English twist of lemon to it.
Chaucer had planned for 120 stories to be told by thirty people (4 stories per person – 2 to Kent, two from Kent). There are only twenty-four stories in total and against his plan it might have been incomplete. It will catch the interest of any reader who seeks to understand fireplace stories. Here is a huge gathering of people while being entertained to overcome the tedium of travel.
Chaucer took the invocatory gods from the Roman myth like a beginning of stories back from those times. The characters were around Roman lifestyle with a couple of knights thrown in. Then, the author jumps back to England plebians with facile handling.
I Love Fantasy Genre
The One Show that I am watching and it’s on air is: “Till the End of the Moon”
Native Title: 长月烬明
Director: Kuk Kok Leung
Screenwriters: He Fang and Luo Xuan.
Genres: Romance, Wuxia, Fantasy
Country: China
It has been adapted from the web novel “Hei Yue Guang Na Wen BE Ju Ben” (黑月光拿稳BE剧本) by Teng Luo Wei Zhi (藤萝为枝).
(Source: https://mydramalist.com/693513-hei-yue-guang-wen-na-be-ju-ben)
It is still distressing to watch main leads and support actors throwing up blood! Not averse just worried for the character. It is different from the Martial arts movies. Like Jackie Chan’s movies where impossible stunts are done. He really breaks his bones and springs up cheerfully smiling with such tenacity of character.
Indian Fantasy Are Mythological Stories
Fantasy genre has a way of getting into our thought system. Most of the fantasy are based on mythology from the collective and traditional past. My watchlist has been slowly growing from 2020 onwards.
The Korean dramas were sentimental and have a predefined format, the Chinese dramas are more structured and stricter, while the Taiwanese and the Thai dramas are closer to home grounds. One thing was similar that made us all human enough to have the same sense of humor.
Today’s Modern English Will Be Tomorrow’s Archaic English
While reading works from the past there is this wonder that the English that was in vogue then, is now archaic version of the English language or take any language for that matter! The Traditional Chinese, the Simplified Chinese, and the Mandarin languages – all though they sound same to me, but the script changes for each of them. They are endearingly cute Pictionary marks.
Of course, Mandarin sounds vastly different from the other two versions. It is comparatively facile even for the phonetically unschooled ears. It was the one science paper in my BA. Chinese scripts are pictogram at its best!
Learning a language without a proper tutor’s guidance gives way to erroneous learning. Yet, learning language is surely a fun activity! Even if you end up learning just a couple of greetings and a handful of questions through repetition. Priceless possession that is worth the effort to do so!
Itinerant Storyteller 