This is the first week of a new semester, so I apologize for the minor blog slacking. I'll try and get things under control super quick and get back to our regularly scheduled program.
In the meantime, I'm taking a couple classes that I think may be of interest to the writerly/artistic type. I'm taking 1)symbolic anthropology, 2)writings of Isaiah, 3)American folklore and, best of all, 4) J. R. R. Tolkien.
I'll start of with a cool bit of trivia that I learned in my Tolkien class this morning: The word Hobbit comes from a combination of the words hobgoblin and rabbit. Isn't that awesome?!
Anyway, not much time today, but I'll leave you with that. Hope your new year is going splendidly, and best of luck with the writing!
Sarah Allen
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Showing posts with label Writer Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writer Review. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Poet of the Day: Thomas Hardy
One of the best ways to improve your own craft is to learn from the experts, so I figure looking at some expert writers--authors, poets, lyricists, screenwriters, etc.--will help all of us aspiring writers. In one of my classes we recently studied Thomas Hardy, so I figured he was a good one to start with.
Thomas Hardy
Though you most likely know him as the author of Tess of the D'Ubervilles, I'd like to look at his poetry. First of all, poetry is shorter, second of all, Tess of the D'Ubervilles is just...not easy. So to give you a glimpse of his poetry here is a snippet of one of his best poems, 'The Darkling Thrush'
'At once a voice arose among
the bleak twigs overhead
in a full-heated evensong
of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
in blast-beruffled plume,
had chosen thus to fling his soul
upon the growing gloom.'
Why I Love Him
Almost everything he writes is negative or pessimistic. Sometimes it is just so refreshing to hear someone really say how they feel, but what I love about his sad tone is that it is so passionate and intense; he is almost desperate to the point of hopefulness. Like in the poem, it talks about this frosty, grey, gloomy, hopeless place and the frosty, grey, gloomy, hopeless character in it. And then this little ragged bird starts singing, and you get the feeling Hardy is desperate to find someone or something that feels hope, even if he can't feel it himself. Its sort of a desperate pessimists cry for optimism, and even though he is so pessimistic, that makes me happy. In another one of his poems, 'Neutral Tones', he writes the line "alive enough to have strength to die", and I think that describes Hardy's level of hope. He has enough hope to live, but just barely. And thats where I get the desperate voice that draws me in so intensely.
He is such an incredible crafter of words. From the one word level (how great a word is 'Darkling'), to phrases--'fling his soul.' Every word is emotionally fraught and meticulously chosen.
His insight on humanity is incredible. In 'Tess,' even the way he describes her mouth is insightful. Tess' lover is describing her lips, and he says, "Perfect, he, as a lover, might have called them off-hand. But no--they were not perfect. And it was the touch of the imperfect upon the would-be perfect that gave the sweetness, because it was that which gave the humanity." How awesome is that? It makes me feel so much better about myself and life. And all he was doing was describing a country girls mouth.
Why I Don't
Almost everything he writes is negative or pessimistic. Sometimes its just really difficult to get through it. It can just be so depressing, because there seems to be no hope. But you can find hope if you look hard enough.
Some of his dialogue is a little ridiculous. Not that I'm in any position to really critique the writing style of Thomas Hardy, and I'm sure every word of his dialogue was purposeful, but it can just be frustrating sometimes. Which, I'm sure, is exactly what he wanted.
Have you read Thomas Hardy? What did you think of him? If not, if you feel up to the challenge I think his brilliance is worth the temporary depression and difficulty.
Happy reading!
Sarah Allen
Thomas Hardy
Though you most likely know him as the author of Tess of the D'Ubervilles, I'd like to look at his poetry. First of all, poetry is shorter, second of all, Tess of the D'Ubervilles is just...not easy. So to give you a glimpse of his poetry here is a snippet of one of his best poems, 'The Darkling Thrush'
'At once a voice arose among
the bleak twigs overhead
in a full-heated evensong
of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
in blast-beruffled plume,
had chosen thus to fling his soul
upon the growing gloom.'
Why I Love Him
Almost everything he writes is negative or pessimistic. Sometimes it is just so refreshing to hear someone really say how they feel, but what I love about his sad tone is that it is so passionate and intense; he is almost desperate to the point of hopefulness. Like in the poem, it talks about this frosty, grey, gloomy, hopeless place and the frosty, grey, gloomy, hopeless character in it. And then this little ragged bird starts singing, and you get the feeling Hardy is desperate to find someone or something that feels hope, even if he can't feel it himself. Its sort of a desperate pessimists cry for optimism, and even though he is so pessimistic, that makes me happy. In another one of his poems, 'Neutral Tones', he writes the line "alive enough to have strength to die", and I think that describes Hardy's level of hope. He has enough hope to live, but just barely. And thats where I get the desperate voice that draws me in so intensely.
He is such an incredible crafter of words. From the one word level (how great a word is 'Darkling'), to phrases--'fling his soul.' Every word is emotionally fraught and meticulously chosen.
His insight on humanity is incredible. In 'Tess,' even the way he describes her mouth is insightful. Tess' lover is describing her lips, and he says, "Perfect, he, as a lover, might have called them off-hand. But no--they were not perfect. And it was the touch of the imperfect upon the would-be perfect that gave the sweetness, because it was that which gave the humanity." How awesome is that? It makes me feel so much better about myself and life. And all he was doing was describing a country girls mouth.
Why I Don't
Almost everything he writes is negative or pessimistic. Sometimes its just really difficult to get through it. It can just be so depressing, because there seems to be no hope. But you can find hope if you look hard enough.
Some of his dialogue is a little ridiculous. Not that I'm in any position to really critique the writing style of Thomas Hardy, and I'm sure every word of his dialogue was purposeful, but it can just be frustrating sometimes. Which, I'm sure, is exactly what he wanted.
Have you read Thomas Hardy? What did you think of him? If not, if you feel up to the challenge I think his brilliance is worth the temporary depression and difficulty.
Happy reading!
Sarah Allen
Thursday, November 19, 2009
What authors can learn from Stephanie Meyer
As a significant portion of our population waits with baited breath tonight's midnight showings of New Moon (which I will be going to, I admit), I figure it might be useful to see what can learn from this craze and the author of it, Mrs. Stephanie Meyer.
Let me start off by saying that regardless of anyone's opinion of her actual artistic ability, Meyer has done something right, and any writer wanting even a smidgen of the type of success she has had would do well to see what leafs we can take from her book. Here are a few that I've thought of.
-The Erotics of Abstinence: I can't remember where I heard that phrase, but I think it sums it up well. I think it could also be called something like 'The 90% Principle'. So many artists think that just laying it all out there and holding nothing back is what will satisfy readers. But what Meyer shows us is that by not giving the reader 100%, they are left pleasantly and addictively unsatisfied, and will keep coming back for more. And this can apply to more then just love scenes. As a general principle, by taking your reader only part of the way, it makes it harder for them to leave you.
-Gimmickability: Meyer created a world that can be expanded upon. The story can be made into Twilight dolls, music, posters, fanfic, stickers, whatever. In other words, its everywhere. I think gimmickability is a lot easier in the fantasy genre, and a writer can't build their piece around the hope of character barbies, but in whatever genre you're writing it may end up being a successful marketing strategy to have a few quirky symbols, images, characters or whatever that can creatively be used as marketing gimmicks. Look at it this way: even black book covers with white and red front images is now a Twilight gimmick.
-Fan involvement: From what I can tell Meyer is very involved with her fans. She answers their questions, encourages them to write their own stories, and basically just lets them be involved in her world. This way readers feel welcome and excited to be a part of something.
Hope this helps, and enjoy the movie tonight. It promises to be...interesting.
Sarah Allen
Let me start off by saying that regardless of anyone's opinion of her actual artistic ability, Meyer has done something right, and any writer wanting even a smidgen of the type of success she has had would do well to see what leafs we can take from her book. Here are a few that I've thought of.
-The Erotics of Abstinence: I can't remember where I heard that phrase, but I think it sums it up well. I think it could also be called something like 'The 90% Principle'. So many artists think that just laying it all out there and holding nothing back is what will satisfy readers. But what Meyer shows us is that by not giving the reader 100%, they are left pleasantly and addictively unsatisfied, and will keep coming back for more. And this can apply to more then just love scenes. As a general principle, by taking your reader only part of the way, it makes it harder for them to leave you.
-Gimmickability: Meyer created a world that can be expanded upon. The story can be made into Twilight dolls, music, posters, fanfic, stickers, whatever. In other words, its everywhere. I think gimmickability is a lot easier in the fantasy genre, and a writer can't build their piece around the hope of character barbies, but in whatever genre you're writing it may end up being a successful marketing strategy to have a few quirky symbols, images, characters or whatever that can creatively be used as marketing gimmicks. Look at it this way: even black book covers with white and red front images is now a Twilight gimmick.
-Fan involvement: From what I can tell Meyer is very involved with her fans. She answers their questions, encourages them to write their own stories, and basically just lets them be involved in her world. This way readers feel welcome and excited to be a part of something.
Hope this helps, and enjoy the movie tonight. It promises to be...interesting.
Sarah Allen
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