Poetry

There are two sides to me as a writer. One side wants to hold onto the traditions of the past, capture the old way of speaking and writing of the great writers of our history. The other wants to break every rule created. It's a fine balance in writing but I believe that a mix of both leads to the best kind of writing, writing that catches you in its current and pulls you under until you are left breathless and with a lasting impression. 


Poetry is a method of writing that breaks through all barriers and it's where I find most of my inspiration. My favorite poets are John Keats and e.e. cummings. They both represent the old and the new in beautiful ways. 


Bright Star by John Keats


"Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art-- 
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,And so live ever--or else swoon to death." 


e.e. cummings "i carry your heart"


"i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
                                  i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)."


What are your favorite poems for inspiration?

Writing Emotion

Not all emotion in your story has to come about through description. Sometimes, like in Jane Eyre, its all about your choice of words.

"Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton? a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup?


Do you think because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! I have as much soul as you, and full of as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty, and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is me to leave you.


... I am not talking to you in mortal flesh...it is my spirit that addresses your spirit..."
  ~Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

I think this version of Jane Eyre does this scene splendidly.

What are some other ways to express emotion through words?

Quick Challenge

First line challenge...

Rewrite "Call me Ishmael." Add a knife and a balloon.

White's Elements of Style: #1

        1. Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's

The pronominal possessives hers, its, theirs, yours, and oneself have no apostrophe.

How many times have you confused them? I know I have.

Inspirational Quote 4/17/12

Stuck in a Rut: Writer's Block

For a couple days I have felt stuck in a writer's rut. It was like writer's block but I just couldn't move forward until I figured out an essential part of my plot. But no inspiration was coming.

I was looking through the web for some inspiration when I read that the best way to overcome writer's block is to write.

Write.

An obvious idea right? But its so true. On your first draft of any novel, write with no one looking. You have to write anything that is in your head and worry about whether its good or not later.

So write your first draft  as fast as you can knowing you'll have another draft to make it sing.

How do you overcome writer's block?

4/15/12