Monday, October 29, 2012

Blake


Why do I love Blake's work? Probably why I love Yeate's work. They both believed in inspiration of the writer tapping into the devine and being the conduit. Writing is hard work, but when it flows, it's marvelous. The one thing that I have noticed about my own writing, is that my characters are becoming more substantial. It's as though they are become as real as I am.

Now that's an idea, isn't it. A writer puts so much substance into their characters that their own substance is deminishes causing the paper creation to become real and the author to become the paper creation.

I thought I would include some pics that a marvelous artist, Natasha Lavigne drew up for "Memories of My Youth", by Bill Halkett.  Wonderful.








Thursday, October 11, 2012

Rhetoric and climax

I don't know about you, but climax is really important, and people love it. I'm not trying to make a Freudian slip here, I'm just trying to extol the virtues of climax.  People like reason, they like order. Just think about it, there's always order in music, no matter what type it is. All music has rules, all writing has rules. Now, let's apply some of those rules. Shakespeare, or whoever he/she was, tapped into it in Macbeth. Remember the scene at the beginning of 'the Scottish play,' when the witches are brewing away. Here we have the Weird Sisters singing their sinister song: "When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning or in rain?" Here we have pattern and we love it. We get all squirmy inside.  Try the same line with four: "In thunder, lightning, mist or in rain?" It just doesn't feel right does it?

Well, let's fit climax into the concept of threes: big, bigger, biggest, and watch the crowds go crazy. They love it.  Try this on for size. "After losing the love of his life sadness turned to grief which turned to inconsolable lamentation."

So, if you use Climax, do it in threes, because four is just a wee bit much.

There is also something for experimentation. Try working the climax backwards. "His terrible exhaustion took him from gasping for breath, to breathing harshly, to finally the realm of slow control breath where only defeat lived."

Climax rules!