Plotting with Catalyst Events and Elements

Today I’m going to talk about a particular approach to creating plots- the use of catalyst events and elements, which is just my term for any event or element that moves the story along. Normally, the grand skeleton of a story comes to me of their own accords but I find this catalyst event approach quite useful for filling up a particular plot arc. For example, I might have decided that a particular plot arc involves my protagonists adventuring in a desert and then I could just consult my list of catalyst events in order to fill up what the protagonists actually encounter during this desert plot arc. It also comes in handy when I’m particularly stuck on what happens to the protagonists next.

I was going for completeness of coverage for a fantasy story when I created the list and in total the list has about 100 items.

Roughly, they fall into 6 groups:

  1. Related to nature: natural disasters (famine, drought, earthquake, tidal wave, volcano eruption, typhoon, flood), weather related events that could have interesting interactions with the terrain and hinder protagonists’ movement (storm, blizzard, rainfall, fog, nightfall), other bad events (avalanche, pestilence), good events (bounty)
  2. Societal changes: “threats” from outside a society (war, different plane [of reality], divinity, alien sentience, breakout of ‘evil’ sealed in), change in authority (just ruler coming on, tyranny), within a people/group (dissension, corruption, conservatism, a break of tradition, a forbidden rule broken), discovery/rediscovery of knowledge, discovery of old/ lost civilisation
  3. Related to people, relationships and personal fortunes: life class, widening of social circle, growing apart from friends/lovers, increasing intimacy with someone, maturing/growing up, moving on versus stuck in the past, losing all/going on a brand new start, unemployment, sudden fame, personal loss, memory abnormality, minor illness/injury, reincarnation, being lost, being trapped, indecision, oversight, travel to foreign lands, mutation, exiled, poisonings, enslaved), power dynamics (old bloodline versus a new power), layers of truth (misunderstanding, misconception, mistaken impression, rumour/gossip, lie/untruth), character actions, not necessarily that of protagonists but all characters in general, I sometimes think actions by other characters besides protagonists are more interesting catalyst events (reunion, union of lovers, lovers who missed each other, a promise kept/broken, revenge, past trauma, family feud, oath/geis, family heirloom/duty, penance, personal sacrifice, act of generousity/mercy, act of small malice, act of curiousity)
  4. Sources of dispute: treasure, relic of power, legacy of power, ill begotten wealth, new ability that surfaces, racial/ethnic feud
  5. Symbolic elements and other standard troupe of fantasy: prophecy, dream/vision/oracle, illusion/mirage, a fortune telling, local lore, legends, curse, secret, portal, non-aging (effect of the Ring on Bilbo and Frodo in LoR, fountains of youth etc.), possession by ghost, secret meeting, duels, hauntings, sacrifices (as in cult sacrifices ala Indiana Jones style)
  6. Chance encounters: chance meeting/stranger, chance acquiring, mysterious note, overheard conversation

Moonlake’s Lyrics (12)

What is your ultimate pursuit in life? Everyone has different answers. For me, it has always been something internal that I seek so the lyrics that I’m going to share today chimes with me particularly.

The title of the song is Extraordinary Bum. It is the theme song for a HK drama whose protagonist is an advisor to the Emperor in the Qing dynasty but who acts like a bum most of the time (in the story, the protagonist doesn’t have an official rank but goes by the title of “personal assistant” of the Emperor). Of course, it is wholly made-up without making use of any historical reference whatsoever but I rather like the central theme of the drama and the theme song which is really about having low desires of fame and status.

The actual lyrics is as follows:

*Not greedy for rise in official ranks and the attainment of nobility
Haven’t seen such achieving anything
Maybe a bum is bound to be looked down upon
Never sought to outshine you                   with endless depth in terms of handling affairs

Don’t laugh at me                                            I no longer have the heart for competition
Only one leisurely like me                            can discover love
If one does not have the inborn ability for leisure
Who would know how to let go

Don’t be envious of working for the Emperor
Maybe it’s ultimately a dream
Not greedy of fame and the claiming of accomplishments (*here specifically referring to those that allow one to climb up in status)
Inappropriately dream of riding phoenixes and dragons

If you’re arrogant of inborn intelligence and show off your prestige
Maybe you will be ultimately fooled
Only one wise can think through (fame and status)

Repeat *

Notes: riding phoenixes and dragons is a term that refers to climbing up in rank, specifically through sucking to those already in a high position

Writing Challenges

This is the made-up post that I had promised earlier for the post I had skipped due to sickness. In this post, I’m going to talk about writing challenges. How are these different from writing prompts, you ask? Well, not different at all in essence as they are both meant to spark off ideas. It’s merely that this is what they are called over at my virtual writer’s home that I’ve blogged about previously (since they are challenges thrown out by specific Strolenatis) so I stick to the term.

Firstly, I have to admit that I’m quite “picky” when it comes to writing prompts. That is, I have to find the ‘right’ writing prompts for me so that I could write. As for writing challenges, at the least they’ve prompted me to create a submission for the Citadel which is usually less than 2000 words but tend to be longer labours of love than the random passages that I tended to write off any other prompts. So in this post, I am mainly going through those writing challenges I encountered that inspired me personally. They include:

  • The Bizarre Lifeform Challenge- based on the premise that in theory, anything could be the sustenance of a particular lifeform. Personally, I came up with the Sheen Leech which made a ‘diet’ of sheens as part of its mating process. As for the physical appearance of these creatures, I came up with the idea that they look like caterpillars but have frog-like tongues that have a suction-cup located at the tip that they use to capture flies.
  • The Red Herring- not the standard term for detective books but referring to some item utterly useless to standard adventurers starred in fantasy. For this I came up with the idea of Fools’ Gems that are coloured due to exposure to magic but would very quickly lose their colouring when ‘mined’ and taken out from where they are found.
  • Placeholder Gods- the idea that standard gods had left a realm, resulting in a new set of unconventional Gods to step in as replacements, meant to be silly in nature really. My personal contributions include Zxtkvf, God of the Unfathomable and Unbelievable and Setam, the Goddess of Nerves. Both of these I had written a neat 100-word snippet for. Both are fun ideas but I’m not quite geared for silly/humorous pieces for that’s the most I want to push out for these ideas.
  • Archaic Words challenge- did anyone know the special name given to the “miniature reflection of himself which a person sees in the pupil of another’s eye on looking closely into it”? no, well, it’s called babies-in-the-eyes. Based on this term, I came up with a method of fortune telling purely revolving around gazing intently at the babies-in-the-eyes reflected in the fortune teller’s eyes.

Btw, there are heaps more writing challenges actually on the Citadel if anyone is interested in them. I’ve given out the link before but here it is again for new followers: http://strolen.com/main. It is a fun community for writers really, especially fantasy writers (there’s a fair amount of sci-fi as well). So visit it and join if you are as keen on fantasy and writing and improving with honest feedback as I am.

Worldbuilding- Moonlake’s Favourite Elements

This post is somewhat inspired by the post of Berkeley Kerr that I’ve reblogged under this same category some months back but compared to his very extensive article, mine is more modest in scope. I’m merely talking about my favourite elements in world building aka things I like to include whilst building my own fantasy world. In no particular order, they are:

  1. Lore (including creation myth): personally, this is the element that always draws me to fantasy. Whether it’s stories/poetry/ballads about past ages, lost races, fallen empires or plain creation myths, they fascinate me. I’m less interested in treasures and tales of dragons except on a light reading basis. Anyway, for me, lore adds complexity and depth to a world and is an integral element of building up the history of my world. In fact, I’ve personally found that it is way easier to construct these relative to actual history of a fantasy world (probably because I never actually care for history myself)- sometimes they even come to me of their own accords.
  2. Speculative biology: basically the creation of fantasy fauna and flora. Personally, I tend to create more fantasy plants in the process of world creation for my novels- don’t know why, just happens to be. These are just tidbits that I drop in to spice up the world.
  3. Constellation: personally I always create constellation that embodies a particular culture’s values and ways of living
  4. Cultural adverbs & fantasy vocab: something I always create despite myself, I use them both as spices and to reveal the underlying culture that I’m writing
  5. Social customs: this encompasses things like special festivals, various habits in daily life, gestures etc.

Again, I stress that this is not meant to be comprehensive in nature, merely a discussion of my favourite elements when constructing my own fantasy world. And that’s all for today. And oh, I haven’t forgotten that I’m still owing a post. I will make it up shortly.

Moonlake’s Lyrics (11)

This set of lyrics that I want to share is about breaking up. Moreover, it’s about positive breaking up and that’s what I like about it. It’s from a Cantonese song about ten years’ back.

The song title roughly translate to “good start, good finish”.

Hugging each other with a smile                     till it’s time to let go
Let all the eyes on the street                             watch as they please
Pray and then pray again                                    that a sweet impression would be left
Making me feel warm                                          and able to recollect it later

*Having too much to say                                   but not able to connect up in speech
Haven’t opened my mouth                               there’s nothing more suitable for this time
Look fixedly and then look fixedly again      Departure is like this
Calm but long

Looking ahead                                                        see how bright the sky is
Each facing the future with each’s hopes
To love needs two                                                  to separate also needs two
Because of having loved once                            having a good start and finish
Will guarantee a calmness of heart even in separation

Thinking of how ideal it is                                   even my steps are light
Yet I did not expect that in the dark
Two streams of tears have stealthily appeared on my face
Pain have surfaced from within my heart

Did not hasten and chase after the other         to lay the truth bare
I am hurt slightly                                                      but haven’t lost direction yet
Look back and then look back again                   what if we meet again
We’ll still wave and say goodbye to each other

Chinese Lore- Tian Gou (Heavenly Dog)

Physical Description:

A fox-like creature whose head is white, said to be originating from a pre-histoical mammal.

Lore:

Originally seen as an animal that can counter evil, it somehow became the synonym to comets which are seen as bad omen in ancient China.

In particular, the Tian Gou eating the Sun or the Moon is a common story passed down through folklore, which was how the ancient populace explained the phenomenon of sun or moon eclipses. During such times, the populace often rang gongs, played drums or even used firecrackers so as to ‘scare away’ the Tian Gou. Closely related to this story is the legend that when Chang E stole the immortal pills rewarded to her husband Hou Yi for shooting down nine Suns (and thus only leaving one sun in the sky), Hou Yi’s hunting hound chased her all through her ascent up to the sky. Hearing its bark, Chang E hid herself in the Moon. Meanwhile, all the hair on the hound’s body stood up erect and its body kept on expanding. Then in one motion, it leapt up and swallowed the Moon whole.  When the Heavenly King and Queen heard about this event, they sent the Heavenly Guards to apprehend the black dog. When it was brought forth, the Heavenly Queen recognised it as Hou Yi’s hunting hound and gave it the title of Heavenly Dog and the responsibility of guarding the Southern Heavenly Door. As a result of the honour given to it, the hound spat out Chang E and the Moon. Thereafter, Change E made the Moon her home.

There is another story concerning how Chang Xian (an immortal in Chinese lore) shot the Heavenly Dog. In this story, the Heavenly Dog was obstructing the constellations from going to the mortal realm as children. When Chang Xian shot the Heavenly Dog and made it run away, the people were then able to get children and as a result, Chang Xian was known as “the children-giving Chang Xian”.

Moonlake’s Lyrics (10)

I had been sick for the last week so skipped the Friday post last week and the post yesterday. I got better but then it got worse again and I’m still very much plagued by a blocked nose so I’ve decided that the make-up post for last Friday will have to come later. Today’s lyrics is the theme song of a HK drama that is back in the 90s. It is yet another archaic Chinese themed song given that the series itself is set in ancient China in the Qing dynasty (or the last dynasty, the one ruled by Manchurians).

The title of the song is “The thought of love will forever endure”

The love of white clouds has used up everything I owned this life

Mending the mistake made by the grey sky at this moment

Even if I turn back            there is anything left except for a waft of clear wind

I am willing to clear the worries of the world

The whole of this life of mine is not enough to pay back this love

How come we meet amidst beacon smoke?

Raising my head in righteousness             leaving the love within my heart

Silently stepping towards fire                     crying within my heart

Within the millions of populace there is endless worries and difficulties

Let me take all the sadness or pain

My devotion will always hold despite waves of fierce flame

Within darkness there is destined to be dawn

Even if I turn to ashes                                    my dreams would be as they were

The thought of love will forever endure

Chinese lore- Pan Hu

I love lore and myths in general and so I figured that I will start a new series of posts on Chinese lore that I’ve collated and manually translated across to English. My followers and other readers can read it for inspiration or just for entertainment. Anyway, it will be stored under the Inspiration sub-category for Writer’s Craft for those who might be interested in searching for the new series later. Here’s the first one of the series, which will be on a mythical creature called Pan Hu.

 

Physical Description:

A dog that has five colours on its body: indigo, white, red, black and yellow.

Lore:

In the time of Emperor Ku, an old woman working in the Palace was suspected of having tinnitus (an affliction of the ear) and was treated of it when the doctor extracted a small worm from her ears. She kept this worm as a pet in a gourd that has been cut in half with a covering lid. Not long afterward, this worm has turned into a dog that has five different colours on its body. The Emperor Ku found out about this event and named the dog Pan Hu- Pan which means a large dish (as in the physical object, not a large serving of food) and Hu is a gourd.

Emperor Ku was waging war against the Western Rong, who had an especially capable general. After numerous failures, the Emperor declared that he will marry his own daughter to the one who was able to present him with this general’s head as well as giving him many monetary rewards. After a while, Pan Hu came forth with the general’s head in its mouth.

Emperor Ku was at a loss as to what to do given that Pan Hu was a dog and his retainers all opposed the keeping of his promise in this regard. In the end, it was the Princess who came forth and persuaded the Emperor that Pan Hu was not just simply a dog and therefore his promise should not be easily broken. Thus, Pan Hu brought the princess with it to live in Mount South after the marriage.

Pan Hu and the Princess together had six sons and daughters respectively and the siblings married each other after their father’s death. The Princess returned to the Palace and told the Emperor about his grandchildren. The Emperor sent an envoy to bring back his grandchildren but none of them wanted to leave the mountain, preferring its quiet to the noises in a city. The Emperor heeded the desires of his grandchildren and gave them land in areas with famous peaks and plenty of water sources and gave them the title of Man Yi. Their descendants, thereafter also known as Man Yi have since scattered and lived in regions such as Liang Han, Ba Shu, Wu Ling, Chang Sha and Lu Jiang.

In an alternative version, it was said that Pan Hu was a worm that fell out the Empress’s ears and it was the Princess herself that kept and fed it. After it defeated the enemy general, it suggested that it would be able to turn into a man if he kept himself isolated within a large bell made of gold for seven days. Yet, on the sixth day, the Princess accidentally opened up the bell in her concern for Pan Hu and thus Pan Hu’s transformation was incomplete- he had become a creature with a man’s body but a dog’s head. Despite this, Pan Hu and the Princess still successfully married.

As with all of my serial posts except for Moonlake’s Book Discoveries, the posts for this series will happen at irregular intervals aka according to the whims of the author.

Moonlake’s Lyrics (9)

Another set of lyrics touching on the archaic Chinese feel, theme song for a popular HK series around 5 years ago. To be honest, I didn’t like it that much while I was watching the series but started liking it when I heard it sung not by the original singer but by the male protagonist of the series instead. It really brought out the archaic feel of the lyrics. The lyrics themselves are not particularly meaningful or beautiful per se and it sometimes straddle the lines between archaic and modern but well,

The title of the song is called “Red Butterfly” and its lyrics is as follows:

Love will not be diluted by a cold wash of rain             will not diffuse no matter how the fierce wind blows

Even In between sad clouds and the moon                 still not lonely

Your eyes that are capable of *destroying cities are more brilliant than flowers and grasses

Yet your eyebrows and glazed eyes show absentmindedness and one filament of lament

*Flowing water clearly shows us through                        even paved with wind and snow the road on the way will be bright

A dark grey sky                                                               love gets admiration

What love in the love is considered pure                        you willingly become a red butterfly fluttering its wings

Tasted setbacks enough                                                having a bleeding wound is still not enough to whittle away or destroy it

What love in the love is considered pure                       exerting the utmost effort even if facing despair

Stay till the last together not afraid of experiencing adversity

Drinking merrily along the shores of a beautiful river       playing a tune that carries across thousand miles

The sunset carrying a clear wind                                      already faintly materialises

Your beauty is more beautiful that of clusters of different flowers  but my heart can only wish for it

(The sight of) Red butterfly flying across the sky is very beautiful I will remember it for life

Repeat *

What love in the love is considered pure                        you willingly become a red butterfly fluttering its wings

Tasted setbacks enough                                                having a bleeding wound is still not enough to whittle away or destroy it

What love in the love is considered pure                       exerting the utmost effort even if facing despair

Stay till the last together not afraid of experiencing adversity

*destroying cities= a phrase referring to great beauties, coming about because of known ‘historical’ incidence of a beauty contributing to the fall of kingdoms

Moonlake’s Lyrics (8)

Today’s lyrics is one that I like because of its “empowering women” theme. The chorus sort of turns the direction a little towards love because it is the theme song of a HK TV drama. Its title translates to “Mere (little) women, half the sky”

Don’t laugh at me for thinking like a man
Lofty aspirations originally belong to both you and me (here you and me refer to the two genders)
There’s nothing wrong with possessing such
The sky for little women is also broad
Like those for a man

Questioning the right and wrongs encountered while I float and sink in this world
Who can regulate over them? That is
Why I have to be independent
The heart of a little woman hidden within my eyes
Who can guess through it

No need to sigh over the quick turning in winds and tides
I will always give you more encouragements
No need to declare that I only know how to speak grand words
You will see how I make break throughs
Women are born intelligent and quick
Just like fire within water
Will provide help to you in secret
Also can support half of the sky
Distinguish between rights and wrongs
Always know what this world loves