After reading so many short stories and poems over the course of the year, I have come to an inevitable, yet nonetheless illuminating, conclusion. The best poets and short story writers would never be as good as they are without each other. There is no stark, crisp line drawn between the two genres. Not at all.
From poets, short story writers (and novelists too I suppose) learn the art of precise language and the art of rhythmic writing. No one can say that short story writers do not have to read poetry because that's not what they do. It is just, plain false. When you read their writing, the words are put together like a masterpiece, the same way poetry flows with endless brilliance. Who do you think they learned that from?
From short story writers, poets learn the power of character development and story telling. Each poem is like a mini-story in and of itself. There's all of the emotion and conflict that a short story (or even full-blown novel) has. And their inspirations?
Seeing as I have written both this year (even though one is still in progress), realizing that both influence and inform each other will only make my writing that much better.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Blogging Around: Take 3!
1. Rachel's blog on Heart of Darkness Discussions
I definitely agree with Rachel on this. HoD could have been extremely confusing. But, it was really brought to life through our discussions. Things that I didn't understand in the night's reading, my classmates clarified, and things that they didn't understand, I could sometimes make light of. I don't believe that any of us could have read this novel without each other. Or, at least, if we could, we couldn't have understood it with the great depth that we did, without each other. Therefore, reading HoD was truly a class project.
2. Jordyn's blog on Ke$ha
I also have to disagree. I don't think that American pop music has "fallen" per say. I think that it has changed along with the times. Of course, people aren't singing with one mic and an old guitar about the sunflowers anymore because our society isn't like that anymore. Our technology is way advanced and, like Meghana said, we are now open to more open sexuality. Ergo, our music is more about sexuality. And, on the subject of the sounds being "dubbed" and such. I quite like the beat of the song, it's modern. The music of the 18th century is totally different than that of the 17th century or 16th century, and so on. Same with the music of the 2000s and the 1960s. In fact, if it wasn't different, I would worry. Our music shows the changes in our world and how we are progressing. If our music was the same, we wouldn't be progressing...
I definitely agree with Rachel on this. HoD could have been extremely confusing. But, it was really brought to life through our discussions. Things that I didn't understand in the night's reading, my classmates clarified, and things that they didn't understand, I could sometimes make light of. I don't believe that any of us could have read this novel without each other. Or, at least, if we could, we couldn't have understood it with the great depth that we did, without each other. Therefore, reading HoD was truly a class project.
2. Jordyn's blog on Ke$ha
I also have to disagree. I don't think that American pop music has "fallen" per say. I think that it has changed along with the times. Of course, people aren't singing with one mic and an old guitar about the sunflowers anymore because our society isn't like that anymore. Our technology is way advanced and, like Meghana said, we are now open to more open sexuality. Ergo, our music is more about sexuality. And, on the subject of the sounds being "dubbed" and such. I quite like the beat of the song, it's modern. The music of the 18th century is totally different than that of the 17th century or 16th century, and so on. Same with the music of the 2000s and the 1960s. In fact, if it wasn't different, I would worry. Our music shows the changes in our world and how we are progressing. If our music was the same, we wouldn't be progressing...
Monday, March 1, 2010
Best of the Week: Short Stories
Finally, we have started short stories. Although I find poetry interesting and captivating to a certain degree, I am not enamored with it. Maybe I don't understand it enough? Maybe some people just aren't real "poetry people." I can appreciate poetry, and I put poets in very high esteem. But either way, I much prefer short stories.
It's interesting for me to read them, because, I could see myself writing them someday. For some reason, in my mind, they seem more manageable than writing long, sometimes monotonous novels. I know that there isn't that much money in short story writing, which, in reality, should probably bother me, and maybe it will someday, but it doesn't now. I'm genuinely excited to start reading short stories, and my mind is absolutely teeming with ideas about writing my own (which I've been told we do...). I'm obviously not going to confess them all here, because where would the fun be in that? But, I will say, that reading these short stories, like Cathedral, is already helping with the undeveloped ideas swimming inside my racking brain.
It's interesting for me to read them, because, I could see myself writing them someday. For some reason, in my mind, they seem more manageable than writing long, sometimes monotonous novels. I know that there isn't that much money in short story writing, which, in reality, should probably bother me, and maybe it will someday, but it doesn't now. I'm genuinely excited to start reading short stories, and my mind is absolutely teeming with ideas about writing my own (which I've been told we do...). I'm obviously not going to confess them all here, because where would the fun be in that? But, I will say, that reading these short stories, like Cathedral, is already helping with the undeveloped ideas swimming inside my racking brain.
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