You could always use the stories in the Study section on this site. I'm new too, I just started the RtK sample yesterday. I found that the stories found here are not only a lot better than something I could think up, but it also saves a lot of work and time trying to make stories up, as well as providing the ease of just copy and pasting.

Maybe think 'four ninjas window faust'

The whole point of the stories is to have the keyword as the main part of the story. If you aren't doing that, you stories aren't correctly done so it's no wonder you are stuck.

What you are trying to do is to find the best connection between the keyword and the primitive elements of the kanji. Your story for 四 is really strange I just can't see how you could possibly have come up with that story based on the primitives involved. Personally for the kanji for numbers 1-10 I've just committed them to memory without any stories, but if you need to use something I'd suggest using some kind of pictographs. For 四, you could think of the four knuckles of a fist that the kanji sort of looks like etc.

For kanji in general, I would suggest either trying out using Heisig's stories or the ones on this site, to get a feel for it before you start making your own stories. Like Heisig says in the book, if you have started out incorrectly it can be very difficult to undo the damage, so you should stop and rethink your methods carefully before starting again.

I think the problem might be that you're picking the wrong story as your mnemonic. Given a bunch of primitives, you could make up as many stories as you like that link them together. Take plum 梅, for example 梅 = tree + every. You could say "every tree is green", or "everyone likes resting against a tree" or "trees harbour every kind of wildlife", and so on.

None of those stories is useful, however. What you want is to pick one particular story that links in the keyword, preferably as the main theme. In the end I went for the song everyone has heard (at least in Australia) "Give me a home among the gum [i]trees[i] with lots of plum trees".

Now if you're not getting stories like this, then you need use some imagination and some lateral thinking. And when you get stuck, have a look at others' stories in the study pages. You might find something memorable for you, or at least get some inspiration.

And yeah, follow Dr Heisig's advice in his book.

Whew, thank god. For a second I thought someone was actually that stupid, but I'm relieved you're just trolling. You had me a little worried :\

stupidgaijin wrote:

you people shouldn't be allowed to breed

'The whole point of the stories is to have the keyword as the main part of the story.'
i realise this,thus the thread
'If you aren't doing that, you stories aren't correctly done so it's no wonder you are stuck. '
YOU'RE SERIOUSLY SHOVING COHMPUGMUGMAMUH
'What you are trying to do is to find the best connection between the keyword and the primitive elements of the kanji.'
which i find quite difficult doing
'Your story for 四 is really strange I just can't see how you could possibly have come up with that story based on the primitives involved.'
can i have a list of normal thought patterns?
'For kanji in general, I would suggest either trying out using Heisig's stories or the ones on this site, to get a feel for it before you start making your own stories.'
there's no feel involved,it's very very simple
yet i can't to seem to connect the completely arbitrary keywords to these things
Read the introduction of the book over again. You're not going to get anywhere like this.'
no it isn't
it's complety fine up to the 'no keyword' part
and 'you're not going to get anywhere like this'
why...do..you..think..this...thread..exists
seriously?
it's like 'here,make a story out of this squiggly little picture' 'okay,got it' 'now add in this -completely neccesary yet random word-' 'um...'
'I think the problem might be that you're picking the wrong story as your mnemonic. '
i had a whole list of stories to 'pick from' and i decided on the wrong one
you're truely a guide through this wacky word of kanji
'None of those stories is useful, however'
no shit?
'In the end I went for the song everyone has heard (at least in Australia)'
the rest of us don't hang out in prisons all day
'Now if you're not getting stories like this, then you need use some imagination and some lateral thinking.'
all the imagination in the world isn't going to bruteforce it to be more effective for me
translation:all the imagination in the world isn't going to bruteforce the new story to be on par with the old one'

Lol. Your lack of imagination is astounding.

Imagine for second that you're locked in a square room, with a mirror on the ceiling. You search for an exit with no avail. After several hours, you get tired and fall out on the floor. You spread your legs out like you're making a snow angel. As you're laying there you take a look at the floor around you. You then notice there are four corners in this room. You even count them out to yourself. 1 here, 2 there, 3 over there and 4 over here. If you start all over you have, 1 here, 2 there, 3 over there and 4 over here. Now you look up. In the mirror on the ceiling you can make out your 2 legs and the 4 corners of the room. Keeping your legs in view you count again 1 here, 2 there, 3 over there and 4 over here.

There, now you've got a story. The more times you recall it, the easier it will be to simply and remove the unnecessary elements.

This may be difficult at first. But will come easier as you progress more and more.

Also,

You'll notice that I repeat the keyword a lot. A story without the keyword can only be recalled intuitively during review. By intuitively, I mean, the story gives a faint personal representation of the keyword. An example being 'bridges break an he lay slain' = war. It is possible, but building an intuition that can associate over 2000 keywords this way would take years upon years. And the meanings would have to be very personal.

This is mostly because, regardless of how vivid the image, there is little to associate it with but emotion and gut feeling. A very young child or person with synesthesia might have more luck with this method.

And more,

Please refrain from telling people what your brain won't do. Unless you have some sort of mental handicap, you can do this too.

Edit: I just re-read your Username. I do hope you are not wasting people's time.

Last edited by kazelee (2008 August 09, 11:39 am)