After Monday's conversations about genre in fiction, and what it means for the writing styles we might adopt, I was thinking about an article the novelist Elmore Leonard published a while back. You can check out his 'Ten Rules of Writing' online here.
What do you think?
Wednesday, 31 January 2007
Thursday, 25 January 2007
Sphinx
This is were it all began, chasing rainbows taking a chance on dreams, I am a creator, inventor, adventurist who is both unassuming and a self- approval seeker.
Trying to keep this flame alight at times it burns brightly
The slightest heavy breath or sigh and you can put it out
Ideas buzz in the head pulsating as though connected to electrodes
For electric shock therapy, wincing and fading as the power of thought is disconnected,
Inspiration waxes and wanes as I wax lyrical
Insipid day dreamer and dream catcher trying to weave their magic,
Head stretching to the clouds, god like muse, the art of distraction is no art at all
Struggling to shake off the day’s lethargy and the banality of existence,
Rage, reason, revolutionary renaissance and rebirth
Your inner critic accustomed to failure,
The antithesis of this being the creativity that smoulders beneath the surface, vapour like and evaporates like steam or mist.
Hair, eyes, hands looking at the world from a higher plane, shaman like
Invisible to the individual Unassuming contortionist, who has always been outside the box, deconstructionist who reconstructs, assimilates and makes connections to both word and image, the illusionist who contorts escaping the straight jacket.
The ebb and flow of intelligence,
The brain which is contained in the skull
An antechamber encased in flesh and bone, sphynx like,
A mask of beauty hides and suppresses the voice of truth
A well that has been nailed over with brute like force, its mouth devoiced
Hope springs eternal photosynthesis begins a regeneration drip by drip the cracks disappear the healing process begins,
Once again this well will spring and burst forth with glacier like vigour
That created landscapes of the mind and trees that breathed,
Amazing creatures used to gather at this place
To drink its intoxicating elixir
Where fairies such as lavender, the fairy queen, and fawns dared to dance,
live and breathe.
Trying to keep this flame alight at times it burns brightly
The slightest heavy breath or sigh and you can put it out
Ideas buzz in the head pulsating as though connected to electrodes
For electric shock therapy, wincing and fading as the power of thought is disconnected,
Inspiration waxes and wanes as I wax lyrical
Insipid day dreamer and dream catcher trying to weave their magic,
Head stretching to the clouds, god like muse, the art of distraction is no art at all
Struggling to shake off the day’s lethargy and the banality of existence,
Rage, reason, revolutionary renaissance and rebirth
Your inner critic accustomed to failure,
The antithesis of this being the creativity that smoulders beneath the surface, vapour like and evaporates like steam or mist.
Hair, eyes, hands looking at the world from a higher plane, shaman like
Invisible to the individual Unassuming contortionist, who has always been outside the box, deconstructionist who reconstructs, assimilates and makes connections to both word and image, the illusionist who contorts escaping the straight jacket.
The ebb and flow of intelligence,
The brain which is contained in the skull
An antechamber encased in flesh and bone, sphynx like,
A mask of beauty hides and suppresses the voice of truth
A well that has been nailed over with brute like force, its mouth devoiced
Hope springs eternal photosynthesis begins a regeneration drip by drip the cracks disappear the healing process begins,
Once again this well will spring and burst forth with glacier like vigour
That created landscapes of the mind and trees that breathed,
Amazing creatures used to gather at this place
To drink its intoxicating elixir
Where fairies such as lavender, the fairy queen, and fawns dared to dance,
live and breathe.
Tuesday, 23 January 2007
And here's one I prepared earlier...
In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans:
Marry in haste, look after the pennies, feed a cold.
Every dog is in the eye of the beholder, and a bird
In the hand is soonest mended. The one-eyed
Man is king, but you can’t make him drink.
Half a loaf blows nobody any good, and every dog
Has two heads. The devil keeps the doctor away
And beauty makes work for idle hands.
When in Rome, it’s an ill wind makes most noise.
Clean meat is better than no bread, empty vessels
Spoil the broth, and blood never fattened a pig.
Every dog can lead a horse to water.
In the kingdom of the blind, too many cooks starve
A fever. An apple a day is worth two in the bush.
Every dog has a silver lining, every cloud
Is thicker than water, and beauty never falls far from the tree.
Marry in haste, look after the pennies, feed a cold.
Every dog is in the eye of the beholder, and a bird
In the hand is soonest mended. The one-eyed
Man is king, but you can’t make him drink.
Half a loaf blows nobody any good, and every dog
Has two heads. The devil keeps the doctor away
And beauty makes work for idle hands.
When in Rome, it’s an ill wind makes most noise.
Clean meat is better than no bread, empty vessels
Spoil the broth, and blood never fattened a pig.
Every dog can lead a horse to water.
In the kingdom of the blind, too many cooks starve
A fever. An apple a day is worth two in the bush.
Every dog has a silver lining, every cloud
Is thicker than water, and beauty never falls far from the tree.
Perverbs
Folks,
good to see you all last night. Just to get you started on your perverbs, here are a few that occurred to me. Any other suggestions in the comments box...?
PS, just found this list of proverbs. Or, for the patriotic, this list of already surreal Irish proverbs.
In the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed man is king
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
Empty vessels make most noise
Clean meat never fattened a pig
The devil makes work for idle hands
When in Rome, do as the Romans
It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good
Every cloud has a silver lining
A stitch in time saves nine
Two heads are better than one
Every dog has its day
Marry in haste, repent at leisure
The apple never falls far from the tree
Look after the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves
An apple a day keeps the doctor away
Feed a cold and starve a fever
Blood is thicker than water
Cold hands, warm heart
Least said, soonest mended
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Half a loaf is better than no bread
Too many cooks spoil the broth
good to see you all last night. Just to get you started on your perverbs, here are a few that occurred to me. Any other suggestions in the comments box...?
PS, just found this list of proverbs. Or, for the patriotic, this list of already surreal Irish proverbs.
In the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed man is king
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
Empty vessels make most noise
Clean meat never fattened a pig
The devil makes work for idle hands
When in Rome, do as the Romans
It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good
Every cloud has a silver lining
A stitch in time saves nine
Two heads are better than one
Every dog has its day
Marry in haste, repent at leisure
The apple never falls far from the tree
Look after the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves
An apple a day keeps the doctor away
Feed a cold and starve a fever
Blood is thicker than water
Cold hands, warm heart
Least said, soonest mended
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Half a loaf is better than no bread
Too many cooks spoil the broth
Tuesday, 16 January 2007
First poem
Erica has posted the poem for discussion next week. Apologies if the linebreaks etc have been mangled. Erica, if you let me know what they should be I'll tidy things up asap...
The Ward
Looking left and right but mostly
right for my father,
I saw a man who looked like Spike
Milligan
sitting sleeping in a chair.He'd
quite long hair.
Coming to the end and not seeing
him I turned
and walked back double checking.
And it wasn't at all obvious to me
that the sitting sleeping man was
him.
Looking nothing like himself I was
confused.
Was I meant to believe
that the man I didn't think I knew
was the man I thought I knew so
well?
When he woke we spoke a little
reminding ourselves
who we were and after we'd sipped
a little wine
he said "you'd better go now."He
was right.
I left and never heard him speak
again.
Erica Leay
The Ward
Looking left and right but mostly
right for my father,
I saw a man who looked like Spike
Milligan
sitting sleeping in a chair.He'd
quite long hair.
Coming to the end and not seeing
him I turned
and walked back double checking.
And it wasn't at all obvious to me
that the sitting sleeping man was
him.
Looking nothing like himself I was
confused.
Was I meant to believe
that the man I didn't think I knew
was the man I thought I knew so
well?
When he woke we spoke a little
reminding ourselves
who we were and after we'd sipped
a little wine
he said "you'd better go now."He
was right.
I left and never heard him speak
again.
Erica Leay
Thanks again for coming along last night - it was good to meet you all, and great to feel such enthusiasm. Long may it last!
I mentioned that I hoped we could use the internet to to broaden our discussions, publish our work-in-progress, and add a 'virtual' meeting-place to our weekly sessions. Hopefully the site itself will grow pretty rapidly. I've put in a few links over on the right, and I'd intend to build this element into a source of useful info and advice - not just on writing itself, but on getting published, freelance opportunities, writing competitions, and on the arts and culture in NI. Any suggestions gratefully received.
I'm adding your emails to the 'permissions' list, which means that any of you can 'post' pieces of writing, or ideas about writing, directly onto the site. I'm also going to draw the attention of previous members of the group, and others who write, have an interest in writing, or whose opinion I think you might find useful. They won't be able to post directly, but they will be free to comment. Hopefully these will encourage us all. And if you know of anyone who you think might be interested, pass on the address.
How will we use this? Well, as I said, it's a good place to try out new work, or to experiment, or to post the pieces we'll be discussing in the future. It's also somewhere we can discuss the progress or direction of the group, suggest ideas for future 'classes', ask for help or advice when we're stuck ... the possibilities are many, and it's up to us to use the blog as regularly and enthusiastically as we can.
Over to you!
I mentioned that I hoped we could use the internet to to broaden our discussions, publish our work-in-progress, and add a 'virtual' meeting-place to our weekly sessions. Hopefully the site itself will grow pretty rapidly. I've put in a few links over on the right, and I'd intend to build this element into a source of useful info and advice - not just on writing itself, but on getting published, freelance opportunities, writing competitions, and on the arts and culture in NI. Any suggestions gratefully received.
I'm adding your emails to the 'permissions' list, which means that any of you can 'post' pieces of writing, or ideas about writing, directly onto the site. I'm also going to draw the attention of previous members of the group, and others who write, have an interest in writing, or whose opinion I think you might find useful. They won't be able to post directly, but they will be free to comment. Hopefully these will encourage us all. And if you know of anyone who you think might be interested, pass on the address.
How will we use this? Well, as I said, it's a good place to try out new work, or to experiment, or to post the pieces we'll be discussing in the future. It's also somewhere we can discuss the progress or direction of the group, suggest ideas for future 'classes', ask for help or advice when we're stuck ... the possibilities are many, and it's up to us to use the blog as regularly and enthusiastically as we can.
Over to you!
Monday, 15 January 2007
Welcome to crescent writers
Using established workshop techniques, the Crescent Arts Centre creative writing group offers practical encouragement to writers of poetry and fiction. The focus is on group members’ own work (members will be expected to produce work on a weekly basis) which will be supported and enhanced through the discussion of the work of a wide range of contemporary writers. Martin Mooney is the award-winning author of three collections of poetry, as well as short stories and work for the stage.
The Crescent Arts Centre creative writing group meets on Monday evenings at 7.30. Meetings last approximately two hours, and will usually involve supportive-but-critical discussion of new work by members, some informal 'study' of the work of at least one contemporary writer, and when possible some hands-on writing exercises.
This blog exists to support the group by publishing our work-in-progress in advance of the weekly meeting, creating a forum for discussions on a broader range of issues than we can deal with in meetings, and generally letting us keep in touch.
The Crescent Arts Centre creative writing group meets on Monday evenings at 7.30. Meetings last approximately two hours, and will usually involve supportive-but-critical discussion of new work by members, some informal 'study' of the work of at least one contemporary writer, and when possible some hands-on writing exercises.
This blog exists to support the group by publishing our work-in-progress in advance of the weekly meeting, creating a forum for discussions on a broader range of issues than we can deal with in meetings, and generally letting us keep in touch.
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