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Hey, y’all!
Is anyone here doing camp NaNoWriMo this year? Or has anyone ever done it before? I haven’t decided whether to attempt it or not this year, I am still trying to get back into my writing stride. I thought if peeps were going to do it then we could put together a writing group like they have on the NaNoWriMo website. Just like keep each other accountable and do some timed writing spurts and stuff. I don’t know, let me know what you think!
@hannah-c I did it last year. Now whenever I read the manuscript I have no memory whatsoever of writing it. It’s pretty fun, but I’ve just developed a writing schedule for this year (1/3 months) so I think I’ll pass this year. Good luck if you do attempt it, though!
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into daysThanks, @devastate-lasting good luck with your writing schedule!
@hannah-c Isn’t that some writing contest/spurt/thing in November? I entered a NaNoWriMo group on a site called Goodreads, but all I (think) I know is that it’s a writing thing in November, where you have to write something like 50k words, right? I think I’ll be doing it. I’ve planned for it, at least. I’ll be writing a very large poem. I’ve never done it before, though.
@Leon-Fleming you are right. NaNoWriMo in November is supposed to help you write like 50k words in a month or something by writing 2k a day. I am talking about camp NaNoWriMo in April and July which are supposed to help you get on track and practice writing that much for November. July isn’t as strict as November.
@Hannah-c Ah, I thought as much. I’ll definitely be doing some sort of thing in November, then. Though I’m not as much going by word count as by section. I’ve planned it out so that I’ll be writing ten pages of narrative fantasy poetry each day of the month, which adds up to thirty sections in total. Each section equals ten pages. I’ve averaged a number, based on previous sections for a lay I’m writing right now, which came out to 2,015 words per section (on average). Based on this, and if I stay consistent with the section writing per day, I’ll end up writing a 300 or so page epic fantasy lay coming out to a word count of 60, 450 words. But that may all change. I’ve got to finish the one I’m on at the moment, then I can begin working out the functions of the November storyline. Good luck on your writing…thing!
@Hannah-c Yes, well; I do like going through those calculations. Though I’m definitely not overly fond of math. XD
It isn’t a novel, though, at all. It’s part of the history of the fantasy world. It’s a poem/lay in a historical document-like form. Like Tolkien’s Beren and Luthien and, in rare form, The Odyssey. Though quite different, too, of course.
As for the poetical form, it’s mixed free verse. Something that I may or may not have contrived. Probably didn’t, though I did coin the type. Sometimes I’ll rhyme, and sometimes I won’t. Overall, I make sure it all flows. It’s not about the rhyme scheme, though, it’s about the story.
XD Sure!
@Leon-Fleming hehe who is overly fond of math? XD
I see what you are saying. I am afraid I have never read any of Tolkien’s works but I think I get the idea.
Its an interesting concept. I have a bit of a prejudice against prose (ok, ok a big prejudice, blame the snob in me) but it would be interesting to see both mixed together. Perhaps sometime you would be willing to post a sample of your work?
@hannah-c XD Yeah! Who is? Who possibly could be?
Nice; why the prejudice against prose?
That depends, I guess. I’ll most likely post a sample on my website after it gets published, but probably not here on KP.
@Leon-Fleming well calculus was created during a pandemic so…
Ah, because the literary snob in me says that prose is cheating in the same way that Dr. Seuse was equally cheating and a genius by making up words to rhyme with. In my mind, if it is labeled poetry it should rhyme and you should have had to suffer a bit to create it. 😜 Just kidding about the last part but it should rhyme.
Fair enough! I’d like to see it if you ever do post it.
@Hannah-c Yeah, I heard about that.
Umm…can you explain that whole cheating thing again? XD I didn’t really get it.
As for your opinion on poetry, that is very definitely an opinion. Definitively, poetry does not equate to rhymes on a page. Rhyme is only a natural tendency of people. For example, it has been deduced that meter and that theory of rhythm already begins to develop at the early age of infancy. For example, when babies refer to their parents as “mama” and “dada” they are using that certain meter.
Also, poetry is an art not understood merely by its rhyme. There are elements besides just rhyme that make up poetry and play equal parts in the poem as the rhyming does. Rhyme just stands out more because it’s more obvious.
For example: I could call this poetry:
The thoughts that I would take
Are ingredients I bake.
Just because it rhymes doesn’t make it a work of art. It makes it a small little piece of simple rhyming.
But then again, if I wrote something like this:
Ignorance, fallen like a shroud
Of mist upon an evening crowd
Whose minds can’t comprehend the thought
That mushrooms round them seek to plot
And tear their feeble selves away;
And from that field, they would stray.
This, in blunt, literal form, would seem like nonsense. But! There is meaning behind it all. The mushrooms could refer to certain people who trap this crowd in a state of life that they cannot escape from. In the very first line, there is a simile used, which, if not used, would make the poem (albeit, it is quite short) less impactful. In the second line is a continuation of the first line’s simile and turns rather into a bit of a metaphor. The third line takes the end of the second line and uses it for the furtherance of the rest of the piece altogether. The fourth line refers to the mushrooms (which are generally thought of as poisonous/unhealthy/not good) as being around the crowd of people; chaining them. In other words, holding them in confinement with the intent of tearing their lives from the life that they know into another. They throw that shroud, that mist, that ignorance, that false mask of goodness upon the crowd in order to take them over and turn them to other paths besides that field which they’ve been living in. Remember: there was never mentioned what TYPE of crowd it was. It could be a village of people. They are people who are gathered together for a common purpose: to live and function together as a working group. This could also be referred to as an allegory. Hence the use of mushrooms in place of the people intent on deceiving the crowd.
Now: this poem didn’t have to be written with rhyme. It could have been written quite differently, mind you, and it would still convey the same meaning.
EX:
A mist of ignorance fell upon
The group of folk who’s ears were tuned
Unto the voices of deceivers,
They who wish to tear apart
That group away from common life,
Away and into dreadful bondage.
So, you see what I mean? Rhyming isn’t everything, but it does add a nice feel to the rhythm and meter of some poems.
Yes; though many times, it isn’t at all difficult to write poetry. For me, that is. XD
Alright! I’ll get to it!
@Leon-Fleming lol ok, so I see it as cheating to simply make up words to rhyme with the one you are using. Find a real word or change the word you are rhyming with. At the same time, the very things I think he was a cheat for I also see as quite brilliant. If you can’t find a word, make one! Confusing, I know.
I can certainly see why you decided to write an epic of poetry, you seem to be very knowledgeable on the subject! That was a well reasoned argument.
I agree that there is more to poetry than rhyming. If the flow is off it doesn’t matter how well your words rhyme. I also agree that prose has its place. In music and ballads for instance. I like most music to rhyme but there are many old songs that do not rhyme and tell a story to music that are beautiful.
Rhyming may stand out more because its obvious but like you said, meter and theory of rhyme develop at an early age etc. so perhaps its because there is something there that the human mind naturally gravitates to. There is some sort of security in a steady rhyme and rhythm. I think its the rhyme that catches people and drives the point home, like a period at the end of the sentence. It punctuates the point. Would Rudyard Kipling’s Law Of The Jungle have been half so memorable if it didn’t rhyme? Like I said, prose has its place, such as in the story you will be writing, but I think if you want to make a point or create a dramatic feel, rhyming poetry is the way to go.
I see what you mean about how poetry can be written two different ways but convey the same message. However, does it convey the same feel? Perhaps it is just me and my preferences but prose doesn’t give me near the same thrill as a good rhyme and rhythm does. I am sure a lot of this depends on personal taste as well. Now tell me, which type of poetry thrills you the most?
@Hannah-c I definitely get what you mean! That can be seen as cheating in a sense. But then again, all words are made up words. XD
Yes, well, the main reason I decided to write an epic lay was because I’d been wanting to do something of that nature for a while. The knowledge does help, though. XD
Okay; first, just to clarify, when you say “prose”, I’m thinking you are referring to “narrative” or story, right? Because prose (novels, books, non-verse, things that I’m writing now) is quite a different art than poetry. But both forms of writing can spin a yarn. So, this poem I’m writing is in called an epic poem, because it’s unusually long and it tells a story. Epic poems are classified along with ballads and lays (and I’m sure there are more): these are called narrative poems, because they tell a story. The poetry is just the form of writing, which adds quite a different array of effects than prose does.
Just a note: many people think of poetry as writing with rhymes. This isn’t true: they think that way from their brief experience of the art. There are, in fact, many different forms of poems that have nothing whatsoever to do with rhyming. That is just one way of looking at poetry, and even that, from an uneducated (meaning, those who think that way simply don’t know the full effects of poetry) point of view.
Yes, indeed; rhyming can be a very powerful poetic tool. But it is not the only tool, and is definitely not the primary tool in poetical writing. There are poems that drive home a point with much better effects and feel than they would with rhyme. I know because I’ve both written and read such poems.
“…but I think if you want to make a point or create a dramatic feel, rhyming poetry is the way to go…”
This is definitely an opinion. An opinion which you are entitled to hold. After all, this is a free country. XD But it isn’t necessarily true.
Again, poetry that doesn’t rhyme can carry just as much punch as a poem that does. In some cases, it’s better not to rhyme. Rhyme adds a happier feel to a poem (among other things). There are places for rhyming and places where it is better not to rhyme.
Yes, it does depend on personal taste.
Do you write poetry?
I don’t like modern poetry at all; or that poetry that many modern poets and poetesses are coming out with.
As for poetry that I do like: I like the poetry that I like…I can’t really explain it right now, because my brain is fried. XD I’ll think on that and get back to you.
@Leon-Fleming ha! Well that’s true in a sense although I don’t often find occasion to talk about Truffala Trees or Sneeds or Rare Who Roast Beast. XD
When I say prose I am referring to anything classed as poetry without rhyme. Haiku’s, for example. I am sure I am probably giving things a broader coverage than they deserve but that’s how I think.
I agree, there are many types of poetry. Some might say that a well flowing paragraph or two in a novel could be poetry. Then too, much of the Bible, while not rhyming, could still be classed as poetry. The Psalms, for instance, which were written as a type of ballad or music.
Well, that is just an opinion that my opinion was just an opinion. 😜 But as you said, its a free country.
“Rhyme adds a happier feel to a poem…”
This, I disagree with. I think a rhyme can add a very serious and indeed a ominous, foreboding feel to a poem. I will steal a quote from you, if I may, and say, ” I know because I’ve both written and read such poems.” 😉
And in answer to your next question, yes, I do write poetry. Although, perhaps not quite as extensively as you. Some of my poetry is here on Kingdom Pen, although not all of it my best. I remember learning all about meter and rhyme scheme long ago but I have forgotten most of it. I write basically by feel or how it comes to me now which I am sure is not technically proper in the least.
I cannot think of any modern poems I have read but I think I would probably agree with you were I to read any. Very little that is modern is good anymore.
Haha! I look forward to your brain being un-fried.
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