To My Wife
Oscar Wilde
I can write no stately poem
As a prelude to my lay;
From a poet to a poem
I would dare to say.
For if of these fallen petals
One to you seem fair,
Love will waft it till it settles
On your hair.
And when wind and winter harden
All the loveless land,
It will whisper of the garden,
You will understand.And there is nothing left to do
But to kiss once again, and part,
Nay, there is nothing we should rue,
I have my beauty,-you your Art,
Nay, do not start,
One world was not enough for two
Like me and you.
Poetry
✒️ Writers’ Wisdom ~ Creating an Antagonist
“How much more chilling is the bad guy who has a strong argument for his actions, or who even engenders a bit of sympathy? The crosscurrents of emotion this will create in your readers will deepen your thriller in ways that virtually no other technique can accomplish. The trick is not to overdo it—if you stack the deck against your villain, readers will feel manipulated. Start by giving your antagonist just as rich a backstory as your hero. What hopes and dreams did he have? How were they dashed? What life-altering hurt did he suffer? Who betrayed him? How did all of this affect him over the course of his life?”
🌾 Today’s Poem ~ The Presence of Love
The Presence of Love
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
And in Life’s noisiest hour,
There whispers still the ceaseless Love of Thee,
The heart’s Self-solace and soliloquy.You mould my Hopes, you fashion me within;
And to the leading Love-throb in the Heart
Thro’ all my Being, thro’ my pulse’s beat;
You lie in all my many Thoughts, like Light,
Like the fair light of Dawn, or summer Eve
On rippling Stream, or cloud-reflecting Lake.And looking to the Heaven, that bends above you,
How oft! I bless the Lot that made me love you.
✒️ Writers’ Wisdom ~ Beginning Your Novel
It’s hard to begin a novel. Heck, it’s even hard to begin a blog post. Why? You only have a few lines to grab a reader and draw them into your world, and the pressure is on.
While we often obsess over plot, pacing, and other mechanics of storytelling, the open is one of the most important (and difficult) elements to master. It’s a promise that you offer to your reader. Nail it and readers will stick with you, even if other elements of your story aren’t perfect. But if you don’t start your novel off in the right place, readers will grow bored or get confused and eventually give up. Not good.
A lot of writers make the mistake of starting out with background information, but you should delay that until later on in your story. Don’t spend time with too much preamble. Plunge your reader into the heart of the action to hook them right away.
🌾 Today’s Poem ~ somewhere I have never travelled
somewhere I have never travelled
e. e. cummings
somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose
or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands.
✒️ Writers’ Wisdom ~ What is a Point of View?
Point of View
A point of view is the perspective an author uses to give a glimpse into the world he’s created. The reader may experience this world directly through the inner thoughts of a character or distantly from the perspective of an objective observer. Point of view is an important literary device for exploring a story. The point of view an author chooses can determine how the reader understands and participates in the story. Point of view can be used to express the feelings, thoughts, motivations, and experiences of one or many. It is the angle that the story is viewed through.
🌾 Today’s Poem ~ She Walks in Beauty Like the Night
She Walks in Beauty Like the Night
Lord Byron
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
✒️ Writers’ Wisdom ~ 5 Writing Tips
5 Writing Tips
- Use writing prompts to work your way out of writer’s block.
- Write for your readers not for success.
- Avoid adverbs whenever possible. Adverbs tell and don’t show because they draw a conclusion. Here are a few examples of adverbs: Sweetly, beautifully, hatefully, and suddenly.
- Avoid using dialects or phonetic spelling. It takes the reader out of the moment.
- Cut it if you, as a reader, would skip it.
🌾 Today’s Poem ~ My Delight and Thy Delight
My Delight and Thy Delight
Robert Bridges
My delight and thy delight
Walking, like two angels white,
In the gardens of the night:My desire and thy desire
Twinning to a tongue of fire,
Leaping live, and laughing higher;
Thro’ the everlasting strife
In the mystery of life.Love, from whom the world begun,
Hath the secret of the sun.Love can tell and love alone,
Whence the million stars are strewn,
Why each atom knows its own,
How, in spite of woe and death,
Gay is life, and sweet is breath:This he taught us, this we knew,
Happy in his science true,
Hand in hand as we stood
‘Neath the shadows of the wood,
Heart to heart as we lay
In the dawning of the day.
✒️ Writers’ Wisdom ~ The Three-Act Novel Approach to Writing
Adopt the three-act novel approach. In this first act, introduce plot and character. In the second act, develop both your characters and the plot. In the third act, tie up loose ends.
