How do you write a traditional tale?

Answer 1

It is not something that is very easy to do; a traditional story always has to have some sort of message in it, and while the ancients where very adept at weaving into the story said message, modern day books and movies don't have messages woven into it. By "woven" I mean the following;

In the Chinese story "The Journey West" something like this is said in the story;

"a Buddhist monnk went to a village, saw a dragon there, then, he pulled out his sword, and killed the dragon. Later on, another Buddhist priest went to a city, and then, while there, he killed the dragon."

What that is, is an insidious way of saying that Buddhism is superior to Daoism; the dragon is in fact more a Chinese symbol long before it was taken over by Buddhism, in fact references to dragons exist in ancient Chinese tales long before the arrival of Buddhism. For a Buddhist monk to so easily be able to kill a dragon as if though the dragon were a piece of garbage, and the language is deliberately being set up in a manner to make it appear that way, while the story does not overtly say Buddhism is superior, the easy slaying of a dragon strongly implies it. That is what I mean by "weaving" a message into a story.

A modern book or movie would just overtly say that Buddhism is superior, but not imply anything. A traditional story has to have a message, once again, WOVEN into it, the message must be implied, but never overtly said. This skill was used by ancient writers of old to brain wash the masses, the earliest forms of brain washing was not political Propaganda Joseph Goebels style (Goebels was Hitler's propaganda minister and many of his methods are still being used in the United States today), or even Korean War era Chinese torture, but rather they were insidious messages cleverly woven into a story, sometimes even, as is the case with the Hebrew Bible, even people's biographies. Because people's minds are so absorbed in the story, they can not detect, nor are they aware of the fact, that they are being manipulated. The ancient Levite priests who creatively edited the Hebrew Bible have pretty much played the entire Judeo Christian world like a fiddle, even long after they're dead.

I can't tell you, nor advice you how to write such a story; it is ultimately up to your own creativity, your skill with the English language, as well as to how many ancient and midieval stories you may have read. Additionally not all ancient stories were made to manipulate the listener, sometimes they were put into stories simply to remember events. Indeed it has been argued that mythology is indeed in fact history, history that is, that has been embellished. Indeed, I think in his opening lines Herodotus, the famous Greek historian is the one who created the term "Mythologia," to separate embellished history, from history written more in a Philosophical, formal tone. Make no mistake; the Trojan War happened, and both Hector and Achilles existed.

Good luck; writting a traditional story will prove difficult, and expect a lot of restarting.

Answer 2

To write a traditional tale, start by identifying key elements such as a moral lesson, archetypal characters, and a simple narrative structure. Use vivid language and imagery to set the scene and engage the reader. Incorporate familiar themes like good versus evil, transformation, or the hero's journey to create a timeless story that resonates with audiences.