The road to better writing is paved with......

Started by Nyra, April 27, 2014, 07:44:47 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Nyra

Recently, I had decided that since I am on here everyday reading, writing and creating stories with other like minded folk, that I would like to turn this daily indulgence into an equitable adventure for myself.  However, doing this for my own pleasure and doing this with the desire to make money at it are two highly different things.   On the one hand, pleasure affords me a freedom to write on a whim...whatever pops into my head is what is put onto the screen etc. On the other, to make money at this wonderful craft of mine, I can't just go out there on a whim and expect that my work would/ will be taken seriously without putting for a more conscious effort. 

Thus a blog is born!

With the desire in mind that I wish to improve upon my writing skills, from proper grammar to correct spelling and so forth, I created this blog as a space to start pumping out some prompts I have grabbed from various sources. They are as follows:


    Journaling Prompts
    Free Writing Prompts
    Poetry Prompts
    Prose Prompts
    Memoir Prompts
    Opinion Prompts

The oath I now vow.

Everyday I promise to spend at least 20 minutes writing on a prompt a day with the thought in mind that writing will become a more serious habit or more like an employment set up. While the rp's I am in can stand to wait a day or two for the mood to strike me, this is something a little bit more serious that will demand my attention on a daily basis.

I want to learn everything about my craft. I want to improve by leaps and bounds so that by the time I start working on the epic piece that has been whispering into my ear for the past week, I shall be able to do it justice and hopefully have the ability to get it publicized and enjoyed by as many people as it can. 


With that being said, feel free to add prompts or try the prompts out with me. We can journey and learn from one another in a bid to create wonderfully spellbinding master pieces of literature for all the world to see.
I need never make a promise because just saying something is the same as a promise.

Own your words and actions. If you don't feel comfortable being responsible for these, then do not do or say anything.

O/O's

A/A's

Nyra

#1
Writing prompt # 1

Write an Anaphora poem.

An Anaphora poem is " the repetition of a word or expression several times within a clause or within a paragraph." In poetry the repetition of the phrase can be just at the beginning of each line.

example: 

A few verses from the poem, Howl by Allen Ginsberg.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night,
who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz,
who bared their brains to Heaven under the El and saw Mohammedan angels staggering on tenement roofs illuminated,
who passed through universities with radiant cool eyes hallucinating Arkan- sas and Blake-light tragedy among the scholars of war,
who were expelled from the academies for crazy & publishing obscene odes on the windows of the skull,
who cowered in unshaven rooms in underwear, burning their money in wastebaskets and listening to the Terror through the wall,

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15308#sthash.EWAYAlty.dpuf

Obviously for this poem, the repetition is the word "who".

There is another way that these poems can be written, where the repetition can be at the end of each stanza. 

ie:

Tears, Idle Tears by Lord Alfred Tennyson

Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.

Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail,
That brings our friends up from the underworld,
Sad as the last which reddens over one
That sinks with all we love below the verge;
So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more.

Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns
The earliest pipe of half-awakened birds
To dying ears, when unto dying eyes
The casement slowly grows a glimmering square;
So sad, so strange, the days that are no more.

Dear as remembered kisses after death,
And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned
On lips that are for others; deep as love,
Deep as first love, and wild with all regret;
O Death in Life, the days that are no more!


The repetition in this one is "the days that are no more."

And she attempted to inspire....




Just Breathe, feel the air fill your lungs and swell within your chest.
Just Breathe, let the relaxation flow through your veins like a gusting wind.
Just Breathe, taste the currents upon your tongue and know the sweetness of life.
Just Breathe, let the negative go and welcome the positive deep within.
Just Breathe, it sounds like the oceans surf in the hollow of your throat.
Just Breathe, no matter what it is, nothing is more than this.

The inspiration for this poem came in the form of anxiety and sadness that was brought on after watching the most recent game of thrones episode.  Emotionally charged after the show, I started a mental mantra of 'just breathe' and the poem above is what came to life as a form to detach from what was causing the emotional turmoil.


Soft paws, massaging tense muscles,
Deep rumbling purr, bringing inner peace,
Wise sharp eyes seeing the realm of mystery,
My cat is relaxation.

Fluffy tuffs of fur between jagged teeth,
a smooth rhythmic motion lulling me to sleep,
sand paper kisses against my cheek,
My cat is relaxation.

Gentle sleeping weight upon my chest,
Happy warmth within my arms,
Companions dreaming peacefully til daylight,
My cat is relaxation.

I need never make a promise because just saying something is the same as a promise.

Own your words and actions. If you don't feel comfortable being responsible for these, then do not do or say anything.

O/O's

A/A's

Nyra

Poetry prompt:  write a free verse poem about sparrows.


I've been struggling with this one because I had no idea what a sparrow looked like, sounded like, where it would or would not be seen. Then it occurred to me that I don't need to know these things because I don't have to write about actual sparrows.  I can write about a painting of sparrows, a blanket, a carving...why was I limiting myself? Then again isn't that what these prompts are for? to broaden my horizon and make me think in different ways.


The sparrow

It stuck with me all my life, watching her intently at her craft with golden sun beams coloring snow white hair.  The way her eyes crinkled at the corners seeming to laugh and dance with a child's joy.  Fingers hooked and bent with age still deftly worked the scissors along the papers edge, so elegant and refined. I could have watched her for hours as she cut and glued those precious pieces one careful placement at a time, it was like going back in time and seeing the girl she once was.  She had made so many pictures like this, hanging upon the walls already framed and ready to be sold but this one..this one was special, this one was mine.

  A tiny little bird as bland as dust and cotton balls, perched upon a jagged twig, this was the picture she had picked for me and at first I had been sad.  Why such a bland little creature for a girl she said was special? Why no extravagant peacock or rainbow parrot like the ones that glittered on her walls?  Why not a jewel colored butterfly? or Bronze eyed tiger?  Of all the things she could have chosen why a single tiny sparrow?   I asked her of course, trying not to be rude or show my disappointment and she'd release her musical notes of amusement before embracing me warmly. " I chose the sparrow because it is tiny and sweet, because its feathers remind me of butterscotch puddings and the color of your hair, because its little round eyes are so full of innocence and its voice is as yummy as honey.  I chose the sparrow because its plainness is what makes you ask, while its easy to see the beauty in the scarlet feather mccaw, a sparrow makes you dig a little deeper and often leaves you in awe."    I regarded the picture my grandma had made, and no longer wished it was different because you see, the sparrow is me and so its a picture made perfect.
I need never make a promise because just saying something is the same as a promise.

Own your words and actions. If you don't feel comfortable being responsible for these, then do not do or say anything.

O/O's

A/A's