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September 2002 - Issue 41
Focus Your Writing Anytime a writer puts pen to paper or fingers to keyboard,
the scribe needs to have a point. It is this lack of focus that often
derails even the most unique storyline. Not only must there be a POV
character, that character must have a point of view. ALSO... Visit EmporiumGazette.com We have our guidelines available for your convenience and have posted our planned monthly themes so you can submit your writing to us. Even our back issues are available. Sign up to receive the Emporium Gazette monthly.
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CLUSTERING: A PREWRITING METHOD CHARACTERS IN CONFLICT DEAD MEN HAVE NO POINT OF VIEW FOCUS YOUR FICTION FROM ANOTHER ANGLE IS ROI IMPORTANT TO YOU? (Part 1 of 2) POETRY WORLD JUST AROUND THE CORNER
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This is the writing challenge for the month of September. If you decide to accept, only you will be the final judge. Fall is quickly approaching. Take a few minutes and enjoy the last of summer. Stroll through a park or woods, reach out and pluck a leaf from a tree or bush. Note: Don't do this if it is illegal! Take the leaf home and closely examine it. Put the leaf aside, out of view. Now, take a sheet of paper and describe that leaf to the finest detail possible. And the hard part? Include a description of the location where you found your leaf. Elaborate your details so anyone reading the paragraph would know not only where you found your leaf but could also point to the bush or tree. * * * * * If you have a quick or interesting way to break that writer's block and get your creative juices flowing, email us with it and we'll share it with others as a challenge.
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Clustering:
A Prewriting Method That Really Works My eight-year old granddaughter stood by the kitchen table watching me "draw a picture" of an article. I had an assignment from Women's News on indoor gardening and had just finished an interview with the curator of the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection in the state of Washington. I wanted to cluster while thoughts were still fresh in my mind. Not one to lose a teachable moment, I told her, "This story will be about bonsai trees. The circled word in the center of the page says 'bonsai' and all these little lines go to other words pertaining to it. These all represent ideas I may want to write about in the article." "This is Nana's favorite way to brainstorm," I added. "It's called clustering." "I know, Nana," she said looking almost disgusted to think I didn't realize she totally understood. "We do the same thing all the time in second grade. Only my teacher calls it spider webbing!" No matter what it's called, this clustering method is frequently taught in grade school and college writing classes. It's an invaluable prewriting technique that helps writers generate ideas. In addition it's an inspirational tool for anyone who likes to do things in a visual way, a strategy that can be used for anything you want to write whether it's an article, an essay or a short story. Even if you're writing a novel, you'll find it useful for "drawing a picture" of a chapter so you can "see" the chapter develop before you go to your computer. A woman in one of my "Writing Your Memories" classes once told me, "I just love it! I can sit down with my yellow legal pad and cluster away. Before I know it I've got ideas for all kinds of things I can write about. It really helps me think and keeps my stories more organized." The clustering method has even helped me generate ideas when preparing to teach a new class. I put the subject such as "English 101" in the center of the page and, before I know it, I've got an entire semester planned out on paper. When the clustering is finished, I can go to the computer and write the syllabus which then just seems to fall into place. Begin by writing your subject in two or three words in the center of a blank sheet of paper. Using the paper "landscape" style rather than "portrait" seems to give me more writing space. Then, as ideas and details come to you, write them in boxes or circles around the subject and draw lines showing their relationship to each other. Put minor ideas or details in smaller boxes or circles, using connecting lines to show how they relate as well. Clustering helps make your ideas more concrete. It gives you a clear and unwavering sense of direction before the actual writing begins.
* * * * * Gloria Burke
is a freelance writer published in Mature Living, Women's News, Bend
of the River, Writer's Market (2003) and the Toledo Blade. She is the
coordinator of annual Maumee Valley Freelance Writer's Conferences held
at Lourdes College, Sylvania OH. (Next one will be 8th annual--March
15, 2003) For past three summers she has taught "Writing Your Memories"
at the Chatauqua held at Lakeside, OH. Gloria is also a member of the
Language and Literature Department faculty at Lourdes College.
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Ten (10) completely original pieces that span and combine the genres of music with interesting twists: Ireland Down Under: Ireland with a
touch of Australia All are available to preview
in either Real Player or Windows Media Player format. It's a free listen
or you may purchase your copy of the audio cd format online!
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Characters
in Conflict In mid-August I attended the Willamette Writers' Conference in Portland, Oregon (www.willamettewriters.com). There were over 600 writers, editors, agents, and producers (for screenplays) in attendance. As always, it was a heady experience. Writing can be such an isolating activity, and spending time with other writers, especially whole ROOMS full of writers, was an emotionally exhilarating adventure. The creative energy level generated over the course of the three day conference was awesome. Among the many excellent workshop sessions I attended was one called "Characters in Conflict," presented by Al Siebert, PhD. Dr. Siebert is a specialist in the survivor personality, and "wrote the book on the subject," appropriately titled "The Survivor Personality: Why Some People Are Stronger, Smarter, and More Skillful at Handling Life's Difficulties...and How You Can Be, Too." He has interviewed and counseled hundreds, if not thousands, of survivors, including several from the recent September 11 terrorist attacks. One of the things he has determined is that the typical survivor makes it through not just because of luck, or fate, but something about their psychological make-up gives them an edge. According to Dr. Siebert, the typical survivor isn't a "Rambo" type character as portrayed by Sylvester Stallone, he's more likely to be a "Hawkeye Pierce" character, as portrayed by Alan Alda. He's both strong-willed and easy-going, trusting and cautious, independent and dependent. As Siebert describes it, this balance is like having a "reverse gear," which allows you to back up when you need to. Although best known for his research into the survivor personality, Siebert has gone on to research how each of us have psychological profiles determined by both internal and external influences which shape how we will react in a given circumstance. Your gender, and where you are in the birth order in your family, is one example. A daughter with older brothers is likely to be very comfortable around men when she gets older. In the same way, a son with older sisters is likely to be very comfortable around women. The first-born child is likely to be assertive and self-motivating. The youngest child is equally likely to be used to receiving direction about when and how to act, so they'll have more trouble with self-motivation and may find themselves waiting for someone to tell them what to do and when to do it. These are, of course, generalizations. No one person exactly follows any sort of personality archetype. However, knowing what the personality archetypes are can help you to create believable, identifiable characters which your readers will readily relate to. Especially when it comes to putting characters in positions of conflict with other characters. As Dr. Siebert says, perception is a matter of conflict. A character's antagonist will often have traits which are diametrically opposite of those he possesses. For example, I've got a reputation for being organized to the point of being compulsive. I'm always early for appointments. I live by lists and my calendar/planner. If you were to put me in a story, you could create a character with some opposing traits such as someone who is unorganized, always late, unable to focus and perpetually disrespectful of other people's "space." I guarantee you that person would eventually drive me to homicide. In the same way, look at the major characteristics of your story's protagonist. Give them an antagonist with some opposites and you'll be assured the sparks will fly when you put them into conflict. Interestingly, Siebert also said that we're most likely to fall in love with someone who we find unique in a way which we find fascinating and intriguing. That may mean qualities opposite from yours, but it may also be someone who is very similar to you and represents what you love most about yourself. I've been looking at my husband with quizzical eyes over the last few days. Hmm. Putting your character into a situation of conflict always generates good writing material. Jean Auel, author of the "Earth Children" series of books, created her character Ayla, who has a Cro-Magnon brain. In the first book of the series, "Clan of the Cave Bear," she throws Ayla in with a group of humans who are Neanderthals. How does a Cro-Magnon communicate with a Neanderthal? As Elizabeth Lyon, Dr. Siebert's co-presenter in an earlier workshop said wryly, "that pretty much describes my dating experience." It's certainly great material for stories, as the success of the Earth Children series will attest. Dr. Siebert gives some concrete tips on some actions/reactions you can use in your writing:
(Adapted from Chapter 11, "How to Handle Yourself With Angry People," The Survivor Personality, by Al Siebert, Ph.D. Website: http://www.resiliencycenter.com. Used with permission from Dr. Siebert). Thanks, Dr. Siebert. Great stuff. No one wants to write stereotypical characters. They're boring and one-dimensional. But by using traits from established personality profiles which will help you determine how your character is likely to react in a given situation, you can create more believable characters. That's good, focused writing. * * * * * Terrie Murray is a nature and travel writer from Portland, Oregon. She is a contributing writer for "The Bee," a local Portland paper, where she writes on outdoor subjects. She has also been published in numerous regional and national newspapers and magazines on a wide variety of subjects ranging from backyard birdwatching to legal ethics. She is currently working on a series of nature-themed novels for middle-grade readers. You can contact Terrie via her website: http://www.aviellasinkwell.com.
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Dead Men Have
No Point of View Have you ever come across a novel where the character is telling the story and suddenly, he dies? Instead of picking up with a new point of view, the author continues to tells the story using the perspective of the dead man. Have you ever stopped, scratched your head, and wondered, "Is this possible?" The answer is, of course, no. It's not possible. Why not? Because usually, you need an animate object to contain a point of view. Said object would be a human, an animal, a plant--something that is living. So now you know that living, breathing things can have a points of view. Exactly how does that pertain to writing? Point of view, or as it is commonly called, pov, is contained within the person who is telling the story. There are several povs to chose from, but in modern fiction, it is better to place your pov inside of a character rather than assuming an omnipotent viewpoint where the author narrates the story. Character pov pulls the reader into the action, placing him directly in the line of fire. In first person point of view, he can slip inside the character's skin and dodge bullets along with him. He is inside that character for the ENTIRE novel or story and so his perspective is limited. He must go where that single character goes. In using third person multiple, the choice of pronouns--he, she, it--create a comfortable distance between the reader and the character. Here, he can join into the action as an observer and watch the bullets fly through the eyes of different characters. Establish pov immediately. Decide which character is going to tell the story and stick with him. The novice writer will usually try to show what each character is thinking and feeling rather than constraining himself to a single viewpoint within a section or chapter. This pov jumping is like a bad game of tag. One character airs his feelings and thoughts and then another character comes in to hawk his own ideas and opinions. Suddenly, another character enters the scene and the reader is now trying to sort out who is interpreting the story. Any time you find yourself slipping out of one character's thoughts into another's is the time to apply the safety to the gun. Pov jumping creates a confusing mess. It causes unnecessary work for the reader and that's something you should avoid. Unless your character is telepathic, then he can't know what another character is thinking unless that other person relates his thoughts in some manner. He can do this through action or speech. Your character, just like a regular human, can only deduce what is on the mind of another person, but he can never really know for sure. He can have his own opinions, his own interpretations of situations, and his ideas about how the other person acts, but he simply can't know any hidden truths. If your character knows things he shouldn't, then your point of view is leaking. Don't clog the issues and confuse the reader by having too many point of view characters. More than three or four povs in a third person multiple viewpoint book is enough! Trying to expand more characters than that makes it hard to get a clear picture of the most important personalities. Remember, not every character needs to have his own pov, and minor characters NEVER need a point of view. Point of view establishes voice. Author voice is how the story 'sounds' in the mind of the reader. Is your main character a cocky, self-centered twit or a dark-hearted villain with murder on his mind? By knowing your character, you can impart voice through the vehicle of point of view. How does your character tell the story? How does he think? What does he think of others? What words does he chose to describe himself and the world around him? Staying within point of view means not allowing any intrusion by another character or by the author, and proper use creates a stronger story by enhancing every phase of the technical structure. Learn to use point of view properly. It will transform you from the wannabe writer to the selling writer, especially if you remember that dead men have no pov. * * * * * Denise Vitola is the author of 12 novels published by Berkley, Putnam, and TSR. She is also a digital artist whose works span the sci-fi and fantasy genres.
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TAX - FINANCIAL WOES? Have your income taxes given your checkbook the financial equivalent of writer's block? e-mail your tax questions to James G. Rogers, C.P.A., a 26-year veteran of the tax code and an author himself. Mr. Rogers knows the problems authors and others face dealing with this annual chore. For a $5.00 fee, all of which goes to support the Gazette, you can have your answers e-mailed back to you promptly so you can get back to writing. You can even pay by credit card at our secure server. Go to: http://www.23house.com to leave your question.
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NEED A WRITING CONTEST
JUDGE? Sue Long Turner is an award-winning author who has been writing professionally for more than forty years. "I kept three children and a goldfish fed writing for a variety of publications in addition to working full time for television and ad agencies. Now that I'm retired, I enjoy helping others do what I still love to do." Ms. Turner provides brief but thorough critiques for a reasonable fee or honorarium. Her comments are objective, encouraging to the experienced writer, and compassionate to the beginner. All categories, including poetry. Contact: sueturner@texasinternet.com
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Focus Your
Fiction
The focus of your fiction is your plot. Well duh, you say. But stop a moment and consider this--if your plot is your focus, then every word you write, every scene you describe, every character you create must be a component of or an advancement of the plot. Sounds pretty obvious doesn't it? So why did I bring it up? There are those who do not get it. Have you ever started reading a novel, gotten interested in the plot and characters only to get lost in page after page of location description or a long list of characters and their eccentricities? If you have you know how frustrating that can be. Even if all the characters described seem to have something to do with the story, you spend your time trying to keep all the characters straight and you loose the thread of the plot. Once you loose the plot, I'll bet you put the book down and never pick it up again. Right? Well my friend, as a writer that's the one thing you don't want to happen. Never, never let the reader put your story down until they've seen the last period on the last page. Getting readers lost in descriptions will lead to the same problem-they'll stop reading. Oh, no! We can't have that. If you've ever tried to read novels from Seventeenth Century British literature, you know about getting lost in description. Two novels from that century still sell today, but they are tough reads. Both Tom Jones and Molly Flanders are rollicking, ribald tales, but you have to read through a lot of description to find the fun. Today's readers don't have the time the folks in the Seventeenth Century had. It is important to get right to the details. The beautifully carved headboard in a bedroom isn't as important as the couple rollicking between the sheets-unless, of course, the couple turns up dead and the headboard is splattered with blood. A dead couple turns the bedroom into a crime scene and, therefore, the details of the room become vitally important to the police investigators and the readers of the murder mystery that details the couple's death. And this brings up the importance of making your descriptions do double work for you. Don't just describe a room to give your readers a sense of place, describe the room to set a scene AND a mood. If the room will host a positive encounter for two characters in your plot, then set the scene with a sunny, positive mood. If there is to be a negative encounter, set your scene with dark colors and eerie shadows. It is also possible to plant a clue or introduce a plot point as part of a scene description. How? Think like a movie/TV director. Remember Murder, She Wrote? Very often when the main character stepped into a room to meet another character important to the plot/mystery, the camera would come into the room as if looking over her shoulder. The camera would focus on the actor in the room with a walk-paced zoom that took in a bit of the surroundings. On these occasions the camera was either showing the audience something about the character or spotlighting an object in the room that would play a part in solving the murder. For instance, if Jessica (the main character) walked into an office area and you, as the audience, couldn't help noticing an unusual glass paperweight, you knew there was a good chance that paperweight would turn up as the murder weapon. See? The camera lens directed your attention to "focus" on a clue. As a writer, you can do the same. It is up to you to direct the readers' attention to plot points and clues in the story. This will make your place description work overtime to "focus" on your plot. Instead of just giving your readers a sense of place, you provide them with scene setting, mood setting, and a plot point. Wow! Now that's the way to make every word work for you. WARNING! "You're a jerk!" Stephanie yelled. See? One paragraph covered what it would take the word "angrily" and two paragraphs to accomplish. P.S: Did you notice the paragraph also told the reader something about the character of Tom? RECOMMENDATION REMEMBER * * * * * Lucile Davis is a freelance writer and author of 18 children's non-fiction books. She does freelance work for newspapers, magazines, businesses, and organizations. She is also an instructor for The Institute of Children's Literature, an accredited correspondence school advertised through Writer's Digest and other sources.
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From Another
Angle FIRST, THE CONTRACT Publish in haste and repent at leisure Yaaay! You sold a book. "Let's celebrate." Whoa, not so fast. It's time now to focus on a contract. Get one! One of the dangers repeated time and again occurs when a publisher says, "Yes." At that point, a new author frequently forgets all practical sense of business. Writing a book is a business, but that fact gets lost in the flush of a victory ego trip we all experience. Why insist on a contract? Nancy Robinson Masters -- you know, that author / speaker / entertainer who gives you a "Masters" degree in writing and marketing -- has a few words. "Book packager, John Matthews, taught me early on the most important reasons to have your agreement in black and white before you give them anything in black and white. The person you are dealing with may leave, get fired, lose the position of having the authority to negotiate, or even die." According to Masters, remember that you are contracting with THE PUBLISHER and not the editor you've worked with for months. If you have no contract and anything happens to the editor, the Publisher is not obligated to follow through with the project. "Many horror tales are told of editors who left a publisher and took someone's manuscript with him. There's no record of what happened to it." Nancy adds this footnote. "If you must provide a completed manuscript to an editor without a contract, take every precaution to clearly identify the person you sent it to and who received it -- date, time, place, etc. Keep a copy of all correspondence regarding the manuscript and the editor's request to see it. I know this sounds elementary, but elementary is good business." The Author Publication Agreement arrives on your desk. "Now let's celebrate." Nope, not yet unless you really, really want to publish in haste and repent at leisure. Assuming you're working alone and not with an agent or attorney, read and study that Contract carefully. If your manuscript isn't completed, is the delivery date within your abilities? Don't promise what you can't deliver. Make certain you understand what the Publisher expects from you and what you're getting from the Publisher. John Dunne writing online for "Worldwide Freelance Writer" advises that International rights are becoming increasingly important. Concerning the start of his career, he says, "Over-enthusiastic and eager for every sale, I endangered my own income by ignoring my Rights." A reputable publisher will have a clause that gives the author fifty per cent of Net Receipts from any subsidiary rights including book club or foreign language editions of your Work or abridged or condensed or electronic versions of the Work. Now you can sign that Contract and celebrate. The writers who publish in haste and repent at leisure won't include you. * * * * * Susan Long Turner is co-author with Russ Turner of "Wings Born Out of Dust" which is available now from 23 House Publishing and is also available in trade paperbacks and hardback at other major online bookstores. Visit her Website
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Are you Creative? NO !?? Then hustle to The Haven for Creativity Websites now available
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Is ROI Important
to You? According to the Dictionary of Modern Economics , Return on Investment (ROI) is "A general concept referring to earnings from the investment of capital, where the earnings are expressed as a proportion of the outlay." This is the "economically correct" term, which can also be represented by the following equation:
So what does this have to do with writing? A lot. Let's take this down one notch. ROI can be considered as a financial "measuring stick" you must utilize while progressing through the publishing process. To view this yet another way, consider Mark's school of marketing definition: "Define your plan, set a budget, and stick to it -- realizing that in the real world (as opposed to textbook theory) -- your plan is a fluid document that can and should change throughout the process." Writers are painfully aware that we write to either entertain or educate the reader, and if we're lucky, we'll make a few dollars along the way. As you progress down this path however, you must be careful not to fall into the trap of throwing money at the process in a desperate attempt of finding the golden nugget. Let's break the process into the following basic steps:
If you refer back to the original ROI equation, you'll see that I've just listed all the items that are one-half of the equation -- investments. Don't take this term lightly. An investment is much more than tangible items. It is your time, your expertise, and what you are willing to forgo, that will one-day help you obtain your final goal. The second half of the equation is up to you -- profit. What's the easiest way to forecast profit? First, you need to be detailed. As you move through each step, decide how important each item is to you and your book. With this decision made, add the known (or estimated) cost of each item. One investment that you will always be able to forecast the cost of your book from your publisher. In its simplest form, how many books do you need to sell to make money? Is it important for you to only break-even, or are specific events only "worth it" if you forecast a probable net profit? Only you can answer these questions. It is critical that even as you begin the research for your book, and while you're writing the manuscript, you begin making notations as to how you plan on traveling through the process. As an example, writing my 575-word introduction for my new book took me over one month. Why did this take so long? Because not only is the book itself going to be molded around the introduction, but so are the blurbs I hope to get, the proposal, and the entire marketing program. In my previous article regarding the writer's conference, I discussed the importance of being able to describe your book in as few words as possible. If a potential buyer does open your book, how much are they going to read? Probably no more than the introduction. Where are you going to get cover matter? From your introduction. As you finish the first few chapters and proposal, are you already thinking about getting blurbs? Those we seek endorsements from are at least as busy as we are, if not more so. Do you think they're going to take the time to read an entire 30-page proposal, or two chapters? They'll probably only read the introduction to see of the book is something they may be interested in. To be successful writers, we need to know more than how to put words in a sequence that eventually forms a sentence. We need to be an accountant, a project manager and a marketing director. Most importantly, we should ALWAYS be thinking and planning ahead. Next month, I'll suggest some tips as to how you can increase your
ROI percentage. Until then good marketing! * * * * * Mark Vass is the author of "The I’m Going in the Hospital Handbook," which is published in e-book format by 23 House Publishing (www.23house.com), and in paperback by 1st Books Library (www.1stbooks.com). Until last year, he worked in marketing in the computer field for over twenty years. Although he began his part-time writing career fifteen years ago, he now writes nonfiction full time.
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Poetry World Weaving the Magic in Fantasy Poetry Years ago, I had a wonderful English teacher who told me a secret: Poems are about experience. Sound familiar? For most writers it's a piece of advice as old as time -- write what you know. Since I have spent most of my life off in an enchanted land somewhere, weaving stories in my head, these words of advice best qualify me to write fantasy, and I have taken them to heart. If your life is a mystical, magical experience, then write fantasy poems. Here are seven clues that you might be destined to be a fantasy poet:
If that describes you, I would like to share a few of my ideas about how fantasy poems emerge from the mists of our minds. Fantasy is not a child of this world. It is born in a magical realm and I believe that you, the poet, must make the journey to that realm to seek the golden muse. Once there, you can touch enchantment. Then comes the hardest task of all, scooping it up it in the silver cup of your soul and bringing it back. Only when you have completed this mage's journey can you write a fantasy poem that resonates with its own magic. You can be seated in an ordinary office, your fingers on the keyboard, or sitting under a shade tree in a lush garden, your pen posed above a pure white sheet of paper. In either place, your spirit must be far away from the mundane things that narrow your vision, soaring to a higher plane where pure angelic voices whisper magical phrases in your ear. The essence of a fantasy poem is the creation of a mysterious, mystical experience for the reader. Fantasy is all about moving beyond the bounds of the ordinary and into the realm of the supernatural. It is about reaching the place where solid ground dissolves under our feet and the mists rise up about us to shroud our words with thick layers of meaning and every line resonates like a glorious cord from a magical harp. All poems evoke a certain atmosphere. Some are written in the hard, hot light of the noonday sun when emotions lay exposed on faces and harsh reality throws sharp shadows on the ground. But the fantasy poem should be born in the dawn of the day when the sun casts a golden glow over the fields and soft clouds cling to the hilltops, or at the twilight hour when the light begins to fade away in the shimmering shadows and the mountains melt into a violet sky, leaving the horizon bare except for the first bright kiss of the evening star. How do you leave this world behind and journey to a magical place? It is never easy. Wise men have long warned us to beware when we venture into the mists of the fantasy realm, for it is a world every bit as real as ours, a world that can capture us with its faery lures if we are not careful. It is a place beyond the cold logic of the analytical left brain, where the holistic right hemisphere can reign supreme and the intuition can open up to inspiration. Such a place is magical in a quite literal sense -- it has the power to ensnare the soul and transform us, so that we emerge forever changed. Only those who are willing to let go of reality, and open their hearts to the possibility of something more, ever find the gateway to this world. They are willing to let their minds see the universe around them in a new way. Some might call it a trance state, but it is really a form of deep meditation. Or you might call it a state of altered perception. It is a state that lies, I think, at the heart of all evocative poetry. It is a place where we shed the rational structures of our minds and let the childlike wonder of earlier days return, where we open our hearts and let the luminous world of magic emerge again out of the dry, dusty shell of everyday reality. In that place, the boundaries between our normal everyday world and the infinity of wonders that constantly surrounds us dissolves and we catch a glimpse of the marvelous way that our minds can shape and recreate the world. In that moment, in that mood, a fantasy poem can be born. If my words seem puzzling to you, it may be that you have never been there. A poem is, in the end, the communication of an experience, and so even the rational left brain might agree that in order to write a fantasy poem, you must sometime in your life have a fantastical experience. Such an experience is not purchased at the local Wal-Mart. Some have tried to purchase it, of course, with drugs of one kind or another. Like the deceiving shadows of the twilight, drugs give the illusion of removing the boundaries between the vaster universe and our selves, but it is an illusion only, and not the doorway to the true world of fantasy. In all the ancient tales, the world of faery is an elusive place. You cannot hunt it down. You must somehow stumble across it. Often it has always been there, but you must open your eyes to see it. These stories tell us that we must indeed alter our consciousness, free ourselves from our habitual ways of perceiving the world, and let our eyes gaze outward again as if we had never seen anything before. This takes a courageous spirit and an attitude of expectant waiting, often for a long time, until the vision comes. Once you have experienced the world of fantasy, you face another challenge. That challenge is mastering the craft of poetry, so that you can shape the words to express the magic you have discovered. To write a great poem -- and by great I mean a poem that expresses the essence of your experience-is a rare and marvelous achievement. First, you must have an experience that you long to express. Then you must learn to work with an instrument that other men and women have spent thousands of years creating and honing to perfection-language. Finally, you must choose the framework for your act of creation-the rhythm, the rhyme, the number of stanzas. Then you must take all of these components and fuse them into a coherent and inspiring whole. To help you with that struggle, I offer a few thoughts on dos and don'ts for writing fantasy poetry. Some of them, such as learning your tools, will take a lifetime to master. Others require a willingness to venture out beyond the ordinary. I hope you will give some of them a try!
* * * * * Jeanine Berry began writing fantasy poetry in study hall where she learned to escape boredom by traveling to distant lands in her imagination. Her poetry has been published in several journals and most recently online. She is also the author of two fantasy novels, Dayspring Dawning and Dayspring Destiny, and is currently working on a third called The Secret Sky. You can visit her website at http://clik.to/Jeanineberry
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Just Around
The Corner There was only one way to do this and I was committed to its completion. I stared forward, focusing at absolutely nothing beyond the prison bars of the window. There! On my left side was the movement I'd hoped for. From the corner of my eye I could see them; they darted in and out of my vision. My cellmate sat beside me but the back half of his head was a bit out of focus. Yet behind him, beyond that blurred area, I could see them. They scurried about. When they approached the back of my companion, at that edge of gray, they'd vanished into my peripheral vision. It was an extremely small sliver of viewing and I'd discovered it early in my life. During my youth I was amused by the actions I'd find there. I was never sure of what to call them and finally settled on 'The Corner People' to give them substance. It didn't take long for me to realize that only I could see them. My parents smiled and told me that they too had imaginary friends when they were young. My schoolmates and neighborhood friends just accepted my story as fantasy. It wasn't until shortly after I'd turned sixteen that the full realization of this phenomena hit me. Their existence was finally confirmed to me when I took my driving test. The driving examiner had taken a pencil and slid it on a curved surface. He explained that it was to test my peripheral vision and measure my blind area behind me. I tried to explain that the pencil had disappeared but I could see the people moving. You should have seen his widen and jaw drop. "What people?" he'd asked while looking over my shoulder. "The ones walking in the fog where the pencil disappeared," I replied. He stared at me for a few minutes. We were in an cubical and there was only the back of the office behind me, no door or windows. He studied me quietly as if I were trying to trick him. We did the test three times and finally he said that my peripheral vision was extremely enhanced. He couldn't explain the phantom people, the gray colored humans with large eyes, that I claimed to see but he'd never tested anyone with my depth of vision. Out of curiosity he attempted to see what I was talking about and after a frustrating few minutes he gurgled that he'd seen something. For some unknown reason my examiner had a speech impediment from that time on. There was only one thing wrong with the test that day. Somebody or something had stopped and glared back from within that foggy world I'd quietly watched for years. A shiver crawled down my back then the watcher moved on. Since then, every so often, while I was watching, one of them would stop and watch me and make a hand movement in my direction. Suddenly, I'd close my eyes or look elsewhere and then they'd be gone. My Corner People were nowhere to be seen. I was sure that they didn't want me watching them, but I continued. Then they seemed to get nasty. Nasty? Yes. When I attempted to tell about the world what I'd discovered, the Corner People became very cruel. I knew I had to be viewing a sliver of existence from another world or dimension. Elaine was a classmate in college; we'd been dating. I'd described them to her and she confessed that she thought she'd seen them. They were humanoid, yet taller, paler and much thinner than me. The older Corner People had enormous eyes that pierced my very being when they stared at me. The younger ones appeared very much like us. But I digress. I explained to Elaine how she could see them when suddenly she creamed. That was the last sound she ever made. They placed her in an asylum and she hasn't uttered a sound in the last fifteen years. She just stares into the space in front of her. I visit from time to time. Still, I'd not learned my lesson. During my stint in the service I tried to show Harold, a Navy buddy. He grabbed his head, screamed and fell to the floor, silent. The medics carried him to the infirmary and I had to stand Captain's Mast, an informal shipboard court, to explain what had happened. Harold was given a medical discharge. They couldn't do anything for Harold. He, too, is quietly living his existence at an asylum. Me? They considered me crazy when I told my story. I was booted out of the military. I'd thought of going to some shrink but I figured the doctor would get me to admit that I was hallucinating in an attempt to gain attention. Why attention? Having been adopted, it was the open and shut case of love repression and guilt. You know, the stereotypical stuff. Had I completely learned my lesson? Not really. My neighbor, a few years later, had caught me daydreaming, his term, not mine. He wanted to know if things were okay. The first few times I was able to put him off, but that proved to be a short-lived relief and I was again forced to give a feeble explanation. He didn't scream. He didn't go crazy. "I see them," he whispered and then slumped over in the chair, dead. It was obvious. They'd tried to warn me; I was just too dense to understand. They didn't want anyone spying on them. The Corner People are watching me now. It's taken me three days to compose this message. Maybe you'll find this note, maybe you won't. If you want to see them, it's very easy. They're there. I think
they Just stare forward and let your peripheral vision consume you. You'll see them. Then be afraid, very afraid. I've warned you. Me? I know where I belong. They've spent many years trying to get my attention. I'm going home. All I need do is face forward, look sideways and turn - just around the corner. * * * * * Robert Nailor is Poetry Editor and Production Manager for the Emporium Gazette. His manuscript, Three Steps: The Journeys of Ayrold, is currently in the final stages of editing. He has short stories included in three ebook anthologies from 23House and numerous articles and poems elsewhere on the internet.
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Ron Jones-- Managing Editor Robert Nailor--Poetry Editor and Production Manager Elyse Salpeter--Fiction Editor Mitchel Whitington--Non-Fiction Editor James Rogers--Business Editor Terrie Murray--Travel Editor & Editorial Assistant Sue Long Turner--The Writing Answer Lady Mark Vass - Marketing Editor & Denise Vitola--Editor-in-Chief
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