Tag: writing prompt

poetry

A Chapbook Underway

carolyncordon

If you don’t know what a chapbook is, I’ll tell you – a chapbook is a small volume of poetry, usually somewhere around 15 to 40 pages, and in a size smaller than a common paperback size. They are a handy size to fit in a pocket, and usually sell for $5 or so, or are given away at times.

I’ve been thinking about putting together my first chapbook ever since I became aware of them, but until now, have never had a theme I could decide on, that seemed suitable. Until now. Now, I have a theme, I have a title, and at the moment I have 10 poems I am happy with, and hope to have at least one or two more poems before the end of the day.

I have written about this proposed chapbook on another of my blogs, the most relevant blog for this proposed book. Here is the link for that blog post. I plan to have this small book ready to send off for possible publication by the end of the month.

I know I can have a good book launch, in Gawler, where my writing group meets every week (usually), and where two of the group members (I’m one of them), hold a monthly poetry reading. All of this fun happens at the P/A Hotel on the main road in Gawler, and we have had many happy times with poetry there.

The idea of having a theme for a poetry collection always seems like a good idea to me, as it helps to hold poems together in some way, even if, as in my proposed collection, there are different poetic forms. Some of these poems are rhyming, others not. There is one page of Senryu (a Japanese poetic form, similar to Haiku). Some of the poems are serious, others not so serious.

The theme is very personal to me, as it relates to my most pressing thing for me right at the moment, the theme is my broken right ankle, which happened at the end of September. It happened on a date I will always be able to remember, it was the day of the AFL Grand Final, and it happened after the game was finished.

I suspect I should write a poem about that … Hmm, Yes, definitely, it will be a kind of wryly amusing poem, I suspect … I’m enjoying doing my wryly amusing thing, if feels right for me, and this kind of thing goes down well when reading poems to others, a bit funny, but not too much, something to connect with people without overwhelming them.

So who would have thought a broken ankle could lead to a new poetry book? Actually it isn’t that surprising. I’m a poet, I’m having to spend lots of time just sitting around at home as I heal, and my ankle and immobility are taking up a lot of my attention.

They say ‘write what you know’ and I sure know “Broken ankle”, now! I’d appreciate any thoughts about this project! It won’t be a morbid little book, I have a bit about having a Stoic attitude in there, and I’m aiming at wry rather than wretched …

 

poetry, Uncategorized

Some Poetic Forms

carolyncordon

There are many different ways to write poetry, or ‘poetic forms’. Here are a few you may have heard of, but never tried to write, or have written in the traditional form, but not in a new, stripped back form.

I like playing with different poetic forms, and am always happy to try something new, when it comes to my attention. My poetic attempts may interest others, or maybe they won’t it doesn’t matter. Trying these things out, using my own knowledge in different ways is good for my brain!

Give some of these forms a try yourself, and see whether your own brain feels pleasantly stretched in new ways! Firstly, I love sonnets, short poems of fourteen lines. They are distinguished by very strict rhyming schemes, in several different styles, as below:

  • Spenserian sonnet. 3 quatrains and a couplet – “abab bcbc cdcd ee”
  • english(shakespearean) sonnet. 3 quatrains of “abab cdcd efef” followed by a single couplet.
  • italian(petrarchan) sonnet. octave of “abba abba” then a sestet of “cdc cdc”

I have written in these three styles, having had some of my poems published in books, and online, and am proud of my work in the form. But today, I found a brand new form of the sonnet, and I hurriedly ‘gave it a go’!

This new form is the Monosyllabic Sonnet. I found it in an email, sent by a poetic friend, with details of his own poetry blog, https://playground.poetry.blog/ I strongly suggest you go there and explore the many poetic forms Paul has on display on his blog. I have a few of my own attempts at the forms Paul talks about, and encourage you to have a go too, and get involved in what Paul is doing, sharing poetry with the world!

So with the Monosyllabic Sonnet, the poet is to stick to the rhyming schemes for sonnets, as I have put above, but instead of writing in iambic pentametre, you are to write just one word of one syllable only, for each line, instead of longer lines of far more syllables for each line. You are also free to use the title of your poem to fill in more meaning to the poem, by indicating what it is about to aid with clarity.

Here is a new poem I have written to demonstrate what is meant:

On bringing meaning, by sharing your wisdom.

 

We

live, 

free 

give.

 

 

Wonder

much,

ponder 

such …

 

You 

know?

Do 

so!

 

Yell!

Tell!

 

If you like this poetic form please feel free to say so! If you wish, you can share your own attempt at writing a Monosyllabic Sonnet of your own.

 

Now a look at the short Japanese poems. The Haiku is the best know form of Japanese Poems. In the Western world, Haiku are often presented as being written in three lines, with five syllables in the first and final lines, and seven syllables in the middle line. This though is not quite what the Haiku is in its ‘native’ world, where the Haiku is an exceptionally short poem, usually of fewer characters than the English form indicates.

For this blog though, I am going to talk about a related poetry form, the Senryu. Where Haiku relates to poems written about Nature, and referring to the season, the Senryu is written about people, and can more than Haiku, be a funny poem, talking about perhaps a comical part of human nature.

The Senryu has the same form as Haiku, being a short poem, usually of three lines, short, long, short, as with the Haiku. I have written a new poem in this form, and hope you enjoy my words. Again, feel free to comment, and have a go yourself, if you feel so inspired! I love comments on this blog.

 

My Senryu:

 

Wisdom is

saying very little,

or staying mute …

 

 

 

 

Cozy Mystery, inspiration, Uncategorized

Talk to your Character

carolyncordon

A dear friend of mine, Martin Christmas, is a fine poet, and even finer human being. He is a doer, an encourager, and as I said, a dear friend. Martin knows of my current troubles (a fractured ankle), and he is making sure my brain is still good, even if my ankle is busted.

I appreciate his effort, and his ideas that it might be a good chance to work on my written work. I agree that is should be a good chance for that, I’m comfortably seated, my laptop on my lap, with plenty of power available. So why is there no action going on with my proposed series of Cozy Mysteries, featuring Meredith, my main character.

I want this to happen, this series of books. I did lots of work on them earlier, perhaps when I was in hospital? Or it may have been before that. Hmm, before, I think. My mind is a little befuddled with all of the pain relief I had been taking, over the past fortnight … but anyway, I did manage to have a Talloola township thought while in hospital. I thought that I had to have a hospital in my town in my books, Talloola, and there had to be a murder in the Talloola Hospital, for Meredith to solve that crime.

I haven’t got much further than that thought, consciously, but I hope my subconscious mind may have been fiddling with the idea. To that end, I am going to do some free writing, chatting with Meredith, and see where (or if) things go. Meredith and I are good friends, she is a bit like the me I’d like to be, taller, prettier, a working woman, with a hunk of a football player as her love interest. (that bit is not me, my love interest is the wonderful man who is looking after me at the moment (and always).

So excuse me, while I go away and talk with my main character. If anything happens, and I sincerely hope something will happen, well, I’ll come back here and talk about it! I am very grateful to have Martin as a good friend, am hope I can live up to his (and my) expectations of what I am capable of doing!

Writing a whole series of Cozy Mysteries was a big project, but if I can live through a fractured ankle, and do it well, there’s no telling what else I can do, Ciao!

Cozy Mystery, meaning in life

From Poet to Writer of Cozy Mysteries?

carolyncordon

OK, so I’m relatively well known, in certain circles, as a poet, with two published poetry collections, and single poems published in various places, as well as a good many unpublished poems written. I like writing poetry!

I also have a first draft of a novel for children, that may never go anywhere, which is a little sad, I think, but not sad enough for me to actually do anything about it, not at the moment, anyway. I also have an unfinished novel, a thriller, that I have decided, just a few days ago, that will never ever be sent to a publisher, and I am not unhappy about that, not at all.

I love my main character (Meredith Webster) from that unfinished novel, and I love my other characters, and I absolutely adore the setting. I just don’t feel the ‘thriller’ genre is one that will work for me, it’s a little bit too much for me, getting the thriller aspects written. It isn’t a genre I’m drawn to as a reader, so the idea of doing it as a writer was probably not a great idea.

I do like murder mysteries though, to read. I started my serious reading life as an eleven or twelve year old lover of Agatha Christie’s cozy murder mysteries, but never thought of writing anything in that genre, until just the other day, when I had a brilliant thought. What about, I thought, I have Meredith, my main character in my thriller, as an amateur detective, solving murders that happen in her little town of Talloola? This feels to me like I have a new meaning in my life!

I did a little bit of study (ie, googled it) and discovered the name of the ideal genre for this, “Cozy Mystery”, and BANG! I had my answer on what to do with my failed wannabee Thriller, and all of the work I’ve already done with it. I have thousands of words written with my main character, other characters, and my setting, and if I can find ways to use them, I won’t have been wasting my time, I’ve simply been exploring my options.

So, at the beginning of this week, I began my proposed new career as a writer of Cozy Mysteries! I’ve got a list of over ten books, with ideas for most of them, and the order of publication organised for the first few books already. I’ve even begun writing the first two books, have planned how many words there will be for each book, how many chapters and how many words in each chapter. This feels like it’s going to work, and I’m excited!

I’ve been an avid reader of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone series of books, and I’m looking forward to becoming known as Carolyn Cordon, with my series of Meredith Webster books, set in the fictional town of Talloola in the mid north region of South Australia. If this sounds exciting to you, it feels a gazillion times more exciting to me!

I love doing this writing, it flows along easily, and I am so much enjoying my writing of this. I loved doing the little pieces I’ve been doing at my weekly writing group, my friends there were always interested to hear what I was writing using the prompts given at the group, that I would write about, thinking on how they could relate to my thriller main character, and others in that unfinished book.

So now I can think about possible cozy mystery ideas and Meredith from now on, and it will be an easy way to get bits of writing done, with stories fleshed out, and new ideas played with. I’ve change the point of view too – the thriller was in Third Person POV, the cozy thrillers are in First Person POV. I’m very much enjoying pretending I’m an amateur sleuth!

dog pet cute
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Some of Meredith is like me, some isn’t, but she’s someone I can imagine being friends with. We both love dogs, although she’s never actually had one of her own. She has  special way with them though, and that is an asset in her mystery solving, at times. It also means she has someone to talk through her ideas with, which means the reader, as well as the dog currently with her, can follow her thought processes too, as she works on finding out who done it!

inspiration, Writing

Looking for Something …

carolyncordon

When a writer is in between projects, or has let one thing rest, and is working towards thinking about it again, and deciding what might do next, they may be looking for the inspirational thing that will pump up the volume, and get them going hard again on their writing. They may look like they’re not doing anything at all, but deep inside their head, there could be mighty ‘thinks’ going on, unknown to the rest of the world, and unknown even to them.

analysis blackboard board bubble
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It can be a time of ‘fluffing around’, doing little bits of writing, bigger bits of totally non writing things. Gazing at clouds and trees and birds may occur. The dog could be let outside, and let back in again, with resultant non-literary work a welcome step aside back to the ‘ordinary’ world.

Then a thought may come, and another, and suddenly that half-written novel or poetry collection springs back into life and the words may flow as strongly as a flooding river! That time can be a glorious one of inspiration, and words, all flowing together in beautiful ways!

If you have ever been in this wonderful time of “flow”, you will understand, if you haven’t been there yet, if you keep on writing, it is sure to happen at some stage, perhaps when you are able to give uninterrupted time to your writing. Sometimes, afterwards, it might feel like the words were written by another person, but take joy in it all, these may be the finest words you have ever managed to write!

Or there may be some bits of dross, stuff that doesn’t make sense to you, but keep on with what you’re doing, it might all come together at a later time. Look for any gems of inspiration, and who knows, it may be that what you wrote is actually a quite different style, that might take time to come to terms with.

If you’ve been writing poetry, perhaps your brain decided to write a novel when you weren’t paying attention, in that state of flow. Look at your work, your words, and prepare to keep an open mind about what you’ve done! 20190618_142947

I find Nature inspirational, the trees, the blue sky and the clouds, lovely!

 

Writing is a strange thing to do, a solitary thing, working alone, as you prepare something you’d like to share with multitudes! So keep an open mind, as I said, and always be prepared to trust your writer’s brain, when things really take off, you never know where you might end up. Sometimes a writing prompt can work like this, you’re given something random to write about, and Bang!, something beautiful happens with your words!

This is what inspiration is, you can’t guarantee it will come, but you should make the most of it when and if it does! If you have a story of a time you were inspired, I’d love to read about it, leave a comment here, and tell us about it!