Day Twenty-Five

Well I have been on blogger all day, working my butt off trying to get caught up. Now that I am finally caught up I feel so relieved, but my internet started acting up lol

As I was reading a few notes from my story and rough draft, I have noticed that my story is coming together and making a lot of sense. Every thing is flowing correctly and sounds good. I like the way my project is coming together. I actually feel like an author and editing my paper. It is a lot of work involved but I feel like the work and my story is good.

The only thing I think I need to add is a little more about Chinese culture. I need to have the culture connect with my book a little more, besides that it is all going very smoothly. I hope to get a good grade for all of the hard work I have put into this. :)

Day Twent-Four

I have finally reached the climax of my story. It took me a while and it took a great time of writing and thinking power but I have finally reached my goal. The climax is the most important part of any story. It is where the story unfolds and many things began to change and happen.

The climax of my story is the morning when the Shoemaker and his wife discover dozens of shoes that have been unexplainably made. The three men enter the store and purchase a pair of shoes. After they have fallen in love with the shoes, they will brag to the towns people about the shoes and shoes will began to sell like crazy.

The store will become well known and every one will purchase shoes from the Shoemakers shop and the shoes will continue to be made by the dozens. Then one night the Shoemaker and his wife will stay up and spy on the shop to see what is making such great shoes, bringing them all of there fortunes.

When the clock strikes 12 midnight they will see the fairy-dragons enter the shop and get right to work, making dozens of shoes by the hour. Then they will watch in disbelief as the fairy-dragons leave. When they leave the shoemakers will make them clothes so that the dragons can work comfortably. The story will soon began to unfold as the climax is revealed.

Day Twenty-Three

The social responsibilities in my story are pretty obvious, there are really only good characters in my story. There is really no bad character which leads to no conflict. The only conflict that my main character faces is the financial problems and non-happiness.

The shoemaker and his wife are always working hard in the shoe shop making shoes even though they are really not making any money or selling any shoes. They are always being kind and caring to others. They work hard every day by not losing hope and keeping their eye in the prize.

The dragons are also good character because they enter the shoe shop every night making shoes for the Shoemaker and his wife. They are kindhearted, generous, and helpful. They are all good characters. The three men that enter the shoe shop purchasing the first pair of shoes are also good characters. They are the 0nes that help the shoe store get recognition and attract people to the store. This is all based on good karma for the shoemaker and his wife.

Day Twenty-Two

As I was reading my story and the changes I have made from the original story, I saw a moral or theme in my story. The theme is "For those who do good to others, good things will come to them". It is basically about Karma. The Shoemaker and his wife work there butts off to get ahead in life but just can't manage to get a grasp on finances.

No matter what they push and work harder every day. They never lose hope and always wish for the best. The Shoemaker and his wife go to work every day and make shoes trying to sell them. They are the wishful and hopeful couple. When the fairy-dragons discovered there hard work and integrity, they wanted to help.

The fairy-dragons come in every night and make shoes that attract the attention of customers and buy them for an expensive amount of money. Since the shoemaker and his wife work so hard and push harder every day then the dragons came in and helped them. That is good karma and teaches a great moral and lesson.

Day Twenty-One

As I was thinking about my first sentence in the story, I was thinking about how a child would like to hear the book open. I wanted to start the book off with the a great climax but I do not want to use to many big words, trying to use the common child book.

I have decided to keep the original opening sentence that was in the book. "Once upon a shoemaker and his wife ran a small shoe store". It keeps the tradition of fair-tales and children books with the "Once upon a time". Also since my book is a fantasy, fairy-tale then it should be used in the traditional fairy-tale opening.

All of the great fair-tales start off with "Once upon a time" and I am working on making my story one of the greatest fairy-tales so I have to keep the tradition alive. It also gives the name of the main characters and the place the story is going to mostly take place, so it is a great way to start off my story.

Day Twenty

Any great child's book has to have illustrations. What is a child's book without pictures. Since I am not a great artist when it comes to drawing I am going to use pictures from the internet and I might also use a site to make my own illustrations.

I will use many pictures like shoes, shoe shops, a woman, a shoemaker, and three dragons, I will also have to search the web for a few chinese pictures that connects to my story. The pictures will stand out in my book and use many chinese colors like oils and writing. I will need to look for a picture that has a shoe shop in China. I will need to find pictures for chinese people. I have to make sure every picture is accurate and precise. I am confident in my work and it will turn out as a great children's book with great pictures.

Day Nineteen

For a short story I think my pastiche is long enough. It is long enough for a children's book or short story. The only thing that is really missing is a moral. My story really doesn't have a moral and I think that every fairy-tale or folk-tale should have a moral that many kids can learn from and take into there every day lives. I also would put more dialogue in the story between the elves and the Shoemaker and his wife.

I would have a moral like karma. My story explains how a hardworking person that never gives up and continues to work hard every day ends up paying off in the long run. It just doesn't really give that feel. But I would add that to the story in much detail with dialogue so that people would get the hint of the moral. The story is a great story and with a little depth it could make a great story or novel.

Day Eighteen

I was searching the web on a few Chinese folk-tales, I was surprised on how many there were to choose from. The Chinese culture has many folk-tales and fairy-tales that are really good. But then I realized again that the culture is a lot more complex then others. Many translate into American folk-tales but I haven't found any good ones so here are the three I read that I found pretty interesting.

The first one is called "The Spirit" it is about a poor kindhearted man that was a trade fisherman, he lived with his family of three in a straw hut on the banks of a river in the middle of a thick forest. One day while fishing he had realized that there were no fish in the river like they had just disappeared. He thought to himself, how is he going to feed his family. Then one night while he and his family were sleeping he heard a knock at the door. When he opened the door it was a dwarf bringing him a basket full of fish. He had to tell no one about who brought him the fish. The fisherman went out every night with the dwarf to catch fish. The fisherman sold fish to the townspeople and kept enough for his family. One night the wife stayed up to see where her husband was getting all the fish and she saw the dwarf. The next night she set the basket on fire that the dwarf would carry and the dwarfs spirit died. The husband was very outraged for his wife had took away there fortunes and happiness. This fairy-tale connects to my story in many ways.

The next fairy-tale I read was "The Fairy Grotto" it was about these two boys Liu ch'en and Yuan chao who were cousins. One day they were in the forest and amazed about the forest beauties when fairies came out and blossomed flowers. The fairies wanted the boys to stay with them but they refused so the fairies gave them some reeds to take home with them. When they arrived home they realized the fairy appointed Liu Ch'en the god of good luck and Yuan Chao the god of ill luck. This story also connects with mine in many ways.

The last story I read was "The Story of Hok Lee and the Dwarfs" it was about a man in China named Hok Lee he was always hard at work and never giving up. He loved to help others and work hard but he was never happy financially. He had a past of stealing but he was a changed a man so these dwarfs granted him every wish he wanted to help out with his finances and happiness. This story connects a lot with my story.

All of these fairy-tales connect with my pastiche in some way and the Chinese culture. As you read this blog and my other blogs you will see the similarities and the culture as a whole.

Day Seventeen

Today I have read another fairy-tale by the Grimm Brothers called "Faithful John". They have many fairy-tales to choose from so I just randomly picked "Faithful John". The story was about a man named Faithful John, he was real close to the king when the king died. When the king passed over his son took his thrown. Faithful John made a promise to the king that he would always be faithful to his son and look out for him. Faithful John became in love with princess named Marry. She was beautiful and elegant and stopped at nothing to marry her. He brought her gifts of gold and killed a wild horse made of jewels. When one day the princess fell out and almost died he pulled out a jewel and stabbed her with it so that she would come back to life. He was mistakenly accused of trying to murder the princess he was turned to stone. While the king was full of stone he told faithful John to prove his faithfulness and kill his children. As Faithful John was beginning to kill his children the king yelled stop and became un-stoned. Faithful John had proved his faithfulness and they all lived happily ever after.

This story is related to "Shoemaker and the Elves" in many ways. Faithful John would not stop at anything to win Marry's heart. As the Shoemaker stops at anything to keep his shop going and making shoes. Faithful John is always sweet and kind with Marry just like the Shoemaker is to his wife. They both are always there for each other and full of hope.

Faithful John was always showing his faithfulness to the King and his son, the elves were always showing there faithfulness to the Shoemaker and his wife by making shoes for them every night. Both characters are very helpful and generous. They remain faithful to the people in their life and always want to help.

One of the most important similarities in the story was the ending they both had happy endings that showed karma is a good thing. If you are always pushing hard and helping others, good things will always come to you and help you.

Day Sixteen

Voice in a character explains a lot about each character in every story. If a person has a sweet, gentle voice then you can assume that character is a nice and good character. If a character has a deep, dark voice then you can assume that character is a bad character or keep to himself a lot.

The Shoemakers wife, Xi Wang, has a sweet and gentle voice. Since she is the motivator of her husband, Po Lang, then this voice fits her well. She is always full of hope and happiness, she is also always there for her husband and stands behind him no matter what. Every one that enters the shoe shop loves her voice and her personality. She is a sweet, kind, and caring person so this voice fits her very well.

The Shoemaker, Po Lang, has a deep but gentle voice. He has one of the voices that you hear on the radio late at night when there playing slow, love songs. He has one of those voices that every woman loves to hear. For lack of better term, he has a romantic voice. He is the character that is always seeing the brighter things in life and never giving up no matter what. He is always pushing forward and hoping for the best. So this voice fits him very well also.

The leader fairy-dragon, Tie Xie, has a deep masculine voice. He is the first dragon to enter the shoe shop and always keeping track of the two little dragons. He is like the father figure or royalty of the two younger dragons. He has a voice that when spoken loudly and clearly, he would sound like a god. Since he is the leader and aggressor then this voice fits him very well.

For the goofy, hardworking dragon, Cheng Nuo, he has a high pitch annoying voice. He is the dragon that is very clumsy and goofy but always working his butt off. He is the dragon that needs to be watched over very closely, because he is hard working he is also very clumsy. He reminds me of the fairy-dragon in the story Milan.

Last but certainly not least the last fairy-dragon, Guan Xing, has a high pitch, cute, sweet, gentle voice. She has the voice of the chipmunk in the second chipmunk movie. She is the dragon that is caring and very careful. She is the cutest and youngest dragon so this voice fits her very well.

Here is a short dialogue about weather between the Shoemaker and his wife:

Po Lang: Today is going to be a great day, it is very sunny and full of happiness.

Xi Wang: I know I love the sun but I wish it would rain, it gets very hot in the shop.

Po Lang: Well I could just turn the air on babe.

Xi Wang: That would be nice but what about the high bill.

Po Lang: Oh It'll be fine we'll get it paid like every other month.

Xi Wang: Ok well I still wish it would rain I love to watch the clouds afterwards.

Po Lang: Well if it does I'll go outside and watch them with you.

Xi Wang: OK

Day Fifteen

I have not done my Pecha Cucha yet but I am working on it.....When finished Ima get back at you!!

Day fourteen

Today I am taking time out to put my story in chronological order or think about the order of events my story will be in. I know the dragons will enter the shoemakers shop every night at 12 midnight. My story will only go over a course of a week. It will not be told day by day but it will have a lot of detail.

The story will start off on one sunny Monday morning. The shoemaker will be at his shop with his wife, like every other day, and he will finally realize that he is not making enough money no matter how hard he works and make shoes. Then he will get into a brief discussion with his wife about there misfortunes and bad luck. Then his wife and him will make a wish that they could become wealthy and make great shoes that will sell a lot more.

That night when the Shoemakers grandfather clock strikes 12 a magical smoke will appear in the air and a Buddha figure will hit an instrument when three little dragons jump through the far left window in the back of the shoe store. The dragons will grab a few supplies and get to work on making shoes. When the Shoemaker and his wife wake up in the morning and open up the store, three customers that are tourist will enter the store looking for a pair of shoes.

When the three customer spot out 12 pair of nice shoes that are on a counter, they will ask how much for the shoes. The Shoemaker will be stuck because he will not know where the shoes appeared from. He says a price and the tourist purchase the shoes and leave the store. Then the Shoemaker will ask his wife where the shoes came from. They will both look confused and stuck. Then for about 3 days the shoes will keep appearing as the shoe store attracts more customers.

One night the couple hears a sound in the middle of the night and hear little people talking, thew will see the dragons hard at work and look amazed. Then they will watch all night until the dragons leave. They look astonished and full of joy. Then the story will start to unfold.

Day Thirteen

As I was thinking about my story I was wondering if it had a moral or lesson to be learned. My story really does not have a moral but it does have a message. In my story "Shoemaker and the three lucky Dragons" the Shoemaker always strives and never gives up no matter how many times he fails. He always gets up every morning hoping to be and do something better everyday. When the Dragons realize the Shoemaker is in need of help and he has done everything he could by himself then they decide to help.

The message is to never give up no matter what and always strive to do the best you can. Always do your best at anything you do. The shoemaker gives a perfect example in my story. I think the reader will take this message in consideration, especially for the young generation that could read my story. It has a good, positive message that everyone could learn from.

Day Twelve

When writing my story I have discovered that my story crosses over into different types of fairy and folk-tales. The main component of my story is fairy-tale because I have magical characters, magical dust, and magical smoke. The Shoemaker and his wife also make a wish that they could become wealthy and dragons appear that night to help them out.

The other type of folk-tale my story resembles is the Beast folk tale. My story really does not have a moral it just has a happy ending where the good characters are rewarded. The ending is really good but just not has a moral. The story will be a great fairy-tale that will resemble both these types of folk-tales, which I hope the reader enjoys.

Day Eleven

Numbers, Numbers, Numbers!!! Many fairy-tales has a significant number throughout the story. I chose to stay to the tradition of the fairy and folk-tales. The only two numbers that show up a lot in my story are the numbers 3 and 12.

The number 3 shows up everytime the fairy dragons enter my Shoemakers shop. There are three little fairy dragons that enter the shoe shop every night. Every dragon has a unique characteristics that demonstrates there character. There are also three men that enter the shop and buy a great pair of shoes that were made by the dragons which receives the shops credit. The three men go and brag about the shoes and that is what starts the Shoemakers wealth.

The number 12 shows up a lot through out the story also. When the clock strikes 12 midnight that is the time when the dragons enter the building. The number 12 is the most important number in the story because that is when the time when the dragons enter the shoe shop and get to work. The number 12 also shows up when the dragons make the first 12 pair of shoes which gets the store recognize. Each number has an important role.

Day Ten

I have answered every blog up to day ten, every blog that I have posted has been detailed and thoroughly explained. It is describing my story in great detail and it will help me in the future with writing my story. Blogging is real helpful and it will become very helpful when writing my fair-tale. The experience of blogging is great because people get to leave comments, when leaving comments its like peer editing someones paper allowing them to make critique and personal comments.

Writing blogs instead of a paper will benefit me when writing my paper because I can take ideas from my blogs into my paper. when people leave comments it will help me write my fair-tale a little better. Most people leave great comments that will benefit me greatly and the experience has been fun and educational.

Day Seven

My main character is the Shoemaker or Po Lang. Po Lang is a middle aged chinese man where his ancestors trace all the way back to the Han dynasty. He is a tall, slinky man with long hair. He stand about 6'3 and 180 pounds. He has long, slick, black hair that he always keeps braided. His hair is always in one long braid. He has a long, slick, black beared and long eyebrows. He is a honest, hardworking man that always strives no matter what.

He is a man that is very religious and believes in Buddha. He is a soft spoken man that is full of care and hope. He has a wife and no children. He went to school but dropped out at the age of 15 to help out family financially. He had no brothers but two little sisters. His father died when he was 17 due to a deadly disease. Soon after married his wife and started his own business which is the shoe shop. He is now a hard working man at his shop with his mother.

Day Nine

In my story "Shoemaker and the Elves" I added fairy dragons. The dragons enter the Shoemakers store around 12 midnight everynight when the grandfather strikes 12. My story will have an old antique chinese clock. So everytime the clock strikes 12 it will have a buddhist hitting an instrument releasing a magic dust into the air. After the dust is released into the air the dragons will appear in the far left window.

After the shoes are made the dragons will release a spiritual smoke into the shoes, the smoke will draw peoples attention to the shoes. The clock, dragons, smoke, and dust will all be an example of fantasy. Each fantasy symbol will stand for a certain thing. It will go with the story great. All of the symbols will represent a certain chinese culture.

Day Six

I have thought very hard and I have done a lot of research on the Chinese language. The chinese language has many ethnic backgrounds and family languages. The language my story is going to use is the Han language which comes from the Han dynasty. Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and, by most modern definitions, the largest single ethnic group in the world.

Han chinese constitute about 92% of the population. The Han Chinese are a subset of the Chinese nation. An alternate name that many Chinese people use to refer to themselves is "Descendants of the Dragon". So here are many ways to say things in Chinese:

1.)

2.)

3.)

4.)

5.)

6.)

7.)

8.)

9.)

10.)

Day Five

Today in class I was wondering what the name of all my characters were going to be. I need names for the Shoemaker, his wife, the dragons, and other characters throughout the story. Here are a few names I came up with and why I chose them. For the Shoemakers wife I chose to name her xi wang which means hope in chinese. Since my fairy-tale is located in China I am going to use chinese names. I chose "hope" for the wife because she is always hopeful for her husband and her to become wealthy and sell shoes. She never gives up and she always pushes her husband everyday. I decided to name the Shoemaker po lang, which means "Brave the Waves" in chinese. "Brave the Wave" in china means to not be afraid of problems, troubles, or misfortunes. In my story the Shoemaker always having trouble making money or selling shoes, but instead of quitting he strives harder everyday to make more and more shoes. So this name will fit him well.

For finding names for the three dragons was the most difficult part for me, I had to be creative and really think about it. But I fought through it and came up with some really good names :).

For dragon number one I am going to name him ti xie which stands for guide or help. This dragon will be the leader, like the first dragon to enter the store and get to work. He is the leader and the dragon that wants to help the most. For the second dragon I chose to name him cheng nuo which stands for commitment, this little dragon is committed to helping the shoemaker and his wife and will stop at nothing to do it. He is the over working, hard working little dragon. For my last dragon I decided to namer her guan xin which means caring. Of course I had to have the little cute girl dragon, she is the sweet, caring dragon that cares about everyone she helps and her fellow dragon fairies. I have a few more names to come up but I am still hard at work....

Day Four

In my fairy-tale the "Shoemaker and the Elves" the setting is in the country China, located in eastern Asia. The main setting will take place in the Shoemakers shoe store, or shop. It will be located in the kingdom of Han. Most of the action will take place in the shoe store, where the shoes are made and sold.

The grandfather clock will be located in the shoe store in the back of the store where the shoes are made. Everytime the clock strikes 12 midnight the dragons will enter the store through the far right window. Since it is midnight, of course it is going to be dark at night time. This is going to take place in the fall season where the weather is always fairly nice.

Day Three

I chose to write my fairy-tale in the chinese Culture because China is one of the world's oldest and most complex cultures. The culture is dominant in regions like eastern Asia with customs and traditions varying greatly between towns, cities, and provinces. Traditional chinese Culture covers large geographical territories with each region is usually divided into distinct sub-cultures. Each region is often represented by three ancestral items. For example Guangdong is represented by chenpi, aged ginger and hay.

Since China has such a complex culture Im going to integrate all of them into my story. Im not going to make it too lengthy because I do not want my fairy-tale to be boring, I also dont want to lose the readers attention. China has a lot of customs and moral values that I would love to use throughout my story. I also want to integrate the different social classes and customs which include many types of religion, customs, and values in life. I think it is going to play out really well.

Day Two

The significant motifs that I have found in "Shoemaker and the Elves" are the Shoemaker and his wife misfortunes. No matter how hard they work and no matter how many shoes they make, they can never make enough money to be where they want to be financially. Also the store is not as credited as it should be, the store is not known. Other motifs have to do with the elves and them coming in every night at midnight. The Grandfather clock is also another motif, every night the grandfather clock strikes 12 the elves come in the store and start creating shoes. The elves symbolize help and elegance. The grandfather clock symbolizes the elves coming.

These components are important in the folk-tale that I have chosen, because some of the motifs that take place in the story also foreshadows what is going to happen next. There are many things that I would like to retain and few things that I would like to dismiss. I would like to keep the moral of the story and the order. The only thing I would like to change is the Elves. Since I am retelling the story in chinese culture I want the elves to be changed to dragons. In the Chinese culture dragons stand for many things. Dragons can also mean good things such as fortune. In the story the elves help out the Shoemaker and his wife by creating and making shoes. The elves bring happiness and help, they bring fortune. So I will have the dragons take that part. I will also have the wife help make shoes. There is still more to come and changes to be made.

Day One

I chose the "Shoemaker and the Elves" because I have never read this fairy-tale in my life. I was real interested while reading the story and it kept my attention. The story is about a Shoemaker and his wife, they have a shoe store where the Shoemaker makes shoes. No matter how many shoes the Shoemaker make, he is always broke. As the story unfolds they make a few pair of great shoes. Three customers walk in the store demanding a great pair of shoe. They began to argue over the shoes and bid on them. As they walked away satisfied they began to brag to the kingdom about how the Shoemaker and his wife make such great shoes at the shoe store. As the store became popular so did the Shoemaker and his wife. They finally made enough money to buy a few things they desired and needed.

Come to find out Elves were the one making such great shoes for everyone and the Shoemaker and his wife were very thankful and fortunate. I decided to rewrite this folk-tale in the chinese culture because many shoes and footwear products are made in China. Many chinese families work there butts off making these shoes and do not get a very good pay. Their families began to struggle and don't get the praise they deserve. When the elves step into the story this will be the gift for these people. Also china has rich culture that I can learn about and compare to this story. It will be a great learning experience and fun project.

Day Zero

The Fairy tale I chose was "Shoemaker and the Elves" by Grimm Brothers. I chose to do the folktale in the Chinese culture.