Sunday, March 21, 2010

Dialectics: Short Story and Poetry Writing

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.

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