Author Archives: moonlakeku

Chinese Lore- Legendary Chinese String Instruments (Guqin) (3)

Now, the last of this series: Pillar Circler Appearance & Characteristics: Its name came from a story published in a famous ancient text: a renowned female singer from the Han region in the Zhou dynasty who was travelling to the Qi kingdom but ran out of money half way and so had to resort toContinue reading “Chinese Lore- Legendary Chinese String Instruments (Guqin) (3)”

Moonlake’s Writing Updates (2)

Okay so I’m back but only to say that I want to extend my leave to end of September. I’ve gone through a couple of false starts but I’ve started on the short story for the epub project that I talked about in the last post and have just passed the 1000 words mark. ThisContinue reading “Moonlake’s Writing Updates (2)”

Moonlake’s Writing Updates (1)

Firstly, the good news: I’m officially part of the Strolenati commercial epub group and in the process of writing my first short story for sale (all right, I wrote and abandoned a short story before but that was basically a self-amusement project)! We are just starting and there’s now less than 5 members including myselfContinue reading “Moonlake’s Writing Updates (1)”

Chinese Lore- Legendary Chinese Broadswords and Knives (Dao) (2)

The broadsword that I’m describing today has really dramatic and awesome lore.   No. 7: Cold Moon Appearance & Construction: Forged by Madam Xu of the Warring States period before the Qin Dynasty.   Lore: There is a very grand lore surrounding this blade. Specifically, it goes as follows: Madam Xu was originally a scholarContinue reading “Chinese Lore- Legendary Chinese Broadswords and Knives (Dao) (2)”

Chinese Lore- Legendary Chinese Broadswords and Knives (Dao) (1)

Another of my Chinese lore posts and this time it would stretch across a number of posts. Pictures for some of the “weapons” in this submission can be seen at http://baike.baidu.com/view/795444.htm. What’s available are for no 4 up to no 9. Same as usual, I’m starting with no. 10 and working backwards to no. 1.Continue reading “Chinese Lore- Legendary Chinese Broadswords and Knives (Dao) (1)”

Character Sketches (1)

What I’m using to do these character sketches are based on my list of catalyst events and feelings that I had previously shared on this blog. Today’s entry was based on the following prompt: Feeling Composed amidst the Rise of a New Power. What I did was to brainstorm for 5 minutes on this promptContinue reading “Character Sketches (1)”

Chinese Lore- Legendary Chinese String Instruments (Guqin) (2)

Continuing from last time, here’s the next snippet and the last one of this series will be posted this Friday/Thursday. Scorched Tail Appearance & Characteristics: Made from a scorched block of wood from a Chinese parasol tree, its name is derived from the fact that the tail of this instrument shows visible scorch marks. Lore:Continue reading “Chinese Lore- Legendary Chinese String Instruments (Guqin) (2)”

Chinese Lore- Legendary Chinese String Instruments (Guqin) (1)

Over this and the next post, I will be covering the 10 greatest guqins in ancient China. Guqin literally means ancient string instrument. It is basically a musical instrument of the zither family (multiple strings stretched across a flat body). It typically has seven strings but there is a more ancient version with five stringContinue reading “Chinese Lore- Legendary Chinese String Instruments (Guqin) (1)”