“Oi”, the dock worker stopped me, “where’s my money?”, his breath frosting out on “money” and stood solid before me in his grease-stained AC/DC T-shirt. This could be the first line of a thriller. It helps establish a setting without telling. It hooks the attention of the reader. Something that that may be difficult for … Continue reading Attention!
Writing poetry
The Song of the Sonnet
For thousands of years poetry has endured as an oral expression, holding up a mirror to the human condition. From the early poets of ancient civilisations to a modern slam poetry session, the tapestry of sound rings out in performance. Spoken rhymes and rhythms facilitate poetry’s power to move. Between English poetry and Western music … Continue reading The Song of the Sonnet
2019 Summary
If you recall my last blog finished with a mention of breaking rules but in an informed way. At the last session of the SaveAs Writers monthly meeting, I read out my sonnet Seen Through a Prism of People. This was an example of a new form of sonnet that I have devised with a … Continue reading 2019 Summary
The Volta
A sonnet may juxtapose two contrasting ideas to generate interest or emotion. Where can you place this join? Right at the end might work, like a punch line in a joke, a big reveal. Shakespeare did this to such an extent the trick was named after him. In this blog, let’s look at where else … Continue reading The Volta
First Version
You can write a poem in fifteen minutes. A common poetry workshop exercise is to start from some inspirational object or image handed around the participants. Each puts their hand into an envelope and pulls out a photograph. Of an ice-like quartz crystal. Of a misty water-meadow. Or perhaps of the Mona Lisa. Then each … Continue reading First Version
