Poetry Project: Sestinas!

Sorry this edition is late, I was spectacularly busy.

I've found that my method of selecting poems was a bit too random.  So, I've decided to do a different theme each week.  This week, it's sestinas.

A sestina is a poetic form in which the last word in each line is rotated in a set pattern.  There are six stanzas, each containing six lines, and there is an envoi at the end consisting of three lines.  It creates some interesting effects, but is difficult to write, particularly because the line endings can sound repetitive.

I read a few sestinas this week, and the best one was probably A.E. Stallings' "Sestina: Like".  However, Algernon Swinburne gets an honorable mention for being amazing/crazy enough to write a double sestina, 'The Complaint of Lisa'

I have tried writing sestinas myself and, if you are brave enough to attempt one,  I've found that the sestin-a-matic is a really useful tool.  It will keep track of how the line endings change.

Poetry Project: Week 2

I know this is late, but please enjoy If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda.

Poetry Project: Week 1

I've recently decided that I'm going to commit to reading one poem everyday.  I want to read more poetry, particularly from writers or movements that I haven't explored before.

I thought I might share my favourite poem that I read each week, because life is better with more poetry.

So, without further ado, this week's favourite is "The Café Filtre" by Paul Blackburn.

Just in case you missed me...

Hello there,

It's come to my attention that I haven't posted in ages, and I have been flattering myself, thinking that some of you are actually kind of sad about that.

In my defense, I have been incredibly busy, as I am writing and editing a magazine and we just launched our first issue.

If you want to check out our blog, where you can find the articles in our latest edition, some bonus reviews, and a print archive of all the previous issues, you can find it below 

Shakespeare Cinema Sins

One of the courses I'm taking this year is about Shakespeare, and it looks at both the text of the plays, but also how they're adapted on the stage and screen.  As a result, I've been watching a lot of different films based on Shakespeare plays.

While I've really enjoyed most of them, and I might make a recommendations post at some point in the future, this is not that post.  This is the post were I complain about things that so many of these films get wrong, and that really get on my nerves.

So, without further ado, here are my Top 3 Shakespeare Cinema Sins.

Book Review: Fire and Hemlock

As a fan of fantasy novels, I was always a little bit embarrassed that I had never read any of Dianne Wynn Jones' books.  However, after having read Fire and Hemlock, I think I was a bit hard on myself about it.

The book opens with the protagonist, Polly, looking at a photograph, and realizing that she only has a vague sense of how she got it and the events that followed.  As she looks back and tries to remember, she uncovers many new memories; about the photograph, about Thomas Lynn, and about stories that start to come true...

The book's concept was quite interesting, and supernatural aspects of the novel were very well integrated. I thought the world-building was excellent.  Unlike most fantasy novels, most of the "rules" of the world aren't revealed until very late in the plot. However, there was still a sense that the world had always operated according to those rules, and they didn't have a deus ex machina feel to them.

I thought that the characters were reasonably well written.  There were some complex, dynamic ones that I really enjoyed, but there were also a few characters that were just a bit too flat given their relative importance in the book.

I would have to say that the prose itself was the weakest element of this novel.  It just seemed really clunky.  The dialogue sounded like it was from 1940, even though the book is probably meant to be set in the 70's or the 80's.

I was kind of disappointed with this book, so I think I'll end this review on a question to all the Dianne Wynn Jones fans out there.  Have I got it wrong?  Is Fire and Hemlock just not her best novel?  Which book would you recommend?

Chance of finding it in my imaginary bookstore? 65%

In Defense of Nanowrimo

I've been reading a blog called The Literary Mercenary for a while now, and normally I think it's interesting and I tend to agree with a lot of what he writes. However, he recently wrote a post about Nanowrimo which was generally really negative about the whole concept.  I was going to write a comment about why I disagreed with him, but then I realized that I needed more space to fully articulate what I had to say.

As some of you know, during the summer I participated in Camp Nanowrimo, which is basically Nanowrimo in July.  I enjoyed the experience, I thought that it was useful and I think that my writing benefitted from it.  I don't agree with the idea that people who've never done it before have to be "warned" about it.

His main issue seems to be with the word count; he says that 50,000 words is an arbitrary number, and that most people just end up writing words for the sake of getting the word count.  I take issues with this on a number of levels.  Firstly, yes, 50,000 words is arbitrary, but it's not ridiculously arbitrary.  Most novels do come in at around the 50,000 word mark, and many have much more.  The Great Gatsby is generally seen as a relatively short novel, and it has about 47,000 words.  Secondly, at least in Camp Nanowrimo, they have introduced a new facility which allows you to chose your own word count goal.  Finally, I think that there are benefits to having to reach a certain word count, even if it is a tad arbitrary.  I'm a perfectionist, and I could probably spend the rest of my life on the rough draft of a novel, and it still wouldn't be good enough for me.  So, for people like me, it's actually helpful to have a sense that you just have to put words on paper; it doesn't matter if they're perfect, just as long as they exist.

He also takes issue with the fact that Nanowrimo doesn't give you time to go back and edit your work. Now, while they don't really advertise the fact that much, Nanowrimo is really supposed to be just a rough draft.  If the novel is good, then you can go back and edit it, and if it's not, then it's not a complete disaster; you've only spent a month on it as opposed to half a year.

The other issue he has is with the "spirit" of Nanowrimo.  He claims that people feel that Nanowrimo is a way to churn out a novel to earn some quick cash.  Although I've personally never experienced this, I am willing to accept that this attitude exists.  However, I think he is wrong to suggest that this is an outlook that Nanowrimo encourages.  I have never found anyone from the organization suggesting that novel-writing is lucrative or easy.  If some individuals have latched on to this idea form who knows where, then that's bad, but Nanowrimo isn't responsible.  If anything, it does the opposite.  Anyone who starts out thinking that this is going to be a walk in the park is going to be sorely disappointed.

Finally, he claims that Nanowrimo doesn't make you a better writer.  Everyone's different, my personal experience is that it has improved my writing.  The novel I wrote this year is significantly better than the one I wrote last year.  Novel writing (like most other things) is something that you need to practice to get better at.  Writing short stories and poetry isn't automatically going to make you a good novelist; they are different art forms.  Nanowrimo provides you with an opportunity to get that practice.

Nanowrimo isn't perfect; but it isn't the bucket of excrement that he claims it is.