#need more poetry/sonnets or some historical fiction

[missygoesmeow]

ive been listening to john sinclair: demon hunter and so i just picture raphael running around with a gun most of the time tbh which is endlessly entertaining (its really good though i recommend!)

and this is the ref i used

[wintersongstress]

Writer’s Questionnaire

tagged by: @a-shakespearean-in-paris - Whew, girl, this tag was hard. I don’t think I’m smart enough to do it but I love talking about writing more than actually doing it so strap in...

EDIT [1/5/19]: @the-darklings Thank you for tagging me as well! 

Short stories, novels, or poems?

POETRY?! #TRIGGERED 

Ya’ll I want to talk about poetry. That Illuminati Cryptology. 

On the one hand, I’m actually quite decent with writing poetry. I like the poems I’ve written. I’m proud of my sonnets, sestinas, villanelles, and free verse. Albeit, the restrictions of closed forms and writing in iambic pentameter grinds the gears in the computer science part of my brain, but I can do it. Some of my best lines are poetry. Poetry is what resonates the deepest, what loops through my head when I think about writing. Its the ultimate mastery of words that makes your work endure.  

Look at Peonies at Dusk by Jane Kenyon. Nice poem, right? Lovely imagery, the tone is somber and sweet. But, you have to remember, poetry is a puzzle. You have to put the pieces together to understand the picture. 

Kenyon arranged her poem in tercet stanzas to link it to the Holy Trinity. (???)This was because she found God during the time so wrote this poem and wanted to pay tribute to how it grounded her life by grounding her poem the same way. In the final stanza, the narrator bending to smell the peony is supposed to be the narrator bending over to take care of someone who is bedridden with cancer. Propping them up with stakes and twine- taking care of a sick loved one. Peonies were also known for their medicinal properties, as well as them withering being an omen for disaster and death. The fading of light and the dusk is all blatantly symbolic. JUST. POETRY PISSES ME OFF SOMETIMES. AND I HATE THAT I KIND OF LIKE HOW CONVOLUTED IT IS ONCE I FIGURE IT OUT. 

tl:dr; I prefer short stories and novels when it comes to reading for the obvious reasons why we love novels. Ya’ll already know why novels are good. When it comes to writing I usually do short stories and poems. I haven’t been able to tackle a novel yet. 

What genre do you prefer reading? 

I’ve always enjoyed fantasy, historical fiction, and of course, romance. I like a good contemporary every once in a while, too.

What genre do you prefer writing?

Same as what I prefer to read. I absolutely love exploring settings and writing the relationships between characters and how they transform and develop them.

Are you a planner or a write-as-I-go kind of person?

I like to make an outline at the beginning of a new project just to have some semblance of order and to know what the journey is going to look like. This helps a lot in my Research stage because I’m able to identify what I don’t know and what tools I’m going to need. 

What music do you listen to while writing?

Video game soundtracks mostly. They’re designed to keep you engaged and I don’t want to focus on anything else but my work, I just need a little white noise. Jeremy Soule’s compositions are great for setting the mood, as well as Debussy. I also like those nature ambiance videos on YouTube, crackling fire, forest/river sounds, etc. 

Fave books/movies?

Amazing. This question never fails to make me forget every piece of media I have ever consumed. 😂

I’m kind of at a stand point right now because I’m 20 and I don’t read YA books anymore and that’s the bulk of my personal library. (Sorry Sarah J. Maas and Cassandra Clare!). I used to read a COLOSSAL amount of YA; I’m talking 15 books a month, 2 books a day sometimes and I used to do arc (advanced reader copy) reviews through Macmillan for Miss Literati. Looking back now though, there are some novels I read that I still stand by.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness - amazing, stream of consciousness writing at its best.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - my favorite writing style. Period. 

Half Bad by Salle Green - just brilliant.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway - fight me okay.

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

Passion by Lauren Kate - This book was just, everything I wanted. 😭

The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix - the first series that REALLY got me into reading.

List of my favorite films I like to tell people to impress them:

The Sixth Sense

The Last Samurai

Brokeback Mountain

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Rear Window

 List of my favorite films when life is sad:

Confessions of a Shopaholic

The Mummy

Star Wars

Back to the Future

Some Like It Hot

The Princess Bride

Forrest Gump

Romancing the Stone

As you can see,  I’m not a huge film buff (though sometimes I wish I were...)

I’m sure I’m forgetting some...

Any current WIPs?

gee let’s look at my documents folder... 

This is gonna sound silly but  the majority of my personal WIPs are actually games I want to write. I know, I know, but I want to go into narrative design, possibly even creative direction. Much to my mother’s chagrin. So I don’t write novels per say, I write scripts and game concept documents. I do write short stories but my longstanding projects I am not talented enough to start writing.  I write ideas for scenes while I let the rest stew in my head, like a bubbling cauldron of ideas that is constantly simmering. I’ll get there, eventually. 

If someone were to make a cartoon out of you, what would your standard outfit be?

My standard get-up is high-waisted jeans, Blundstones, and an over-sized knitted sweater. God I love winter.

Create a character description for yourself:

Hi,my name is Isabell. My worst nightmares include getting C’s, being late for work, and getting back together with my ex-boyfriend from 9th grade. 

Do you like incorporating people you actually know into your writing?

The best writers are thieves, and I steal a lot of details of real people into my writing. Patterns of speech, outfits, unique traits, that sort of thing. I pay a lot of attention to the people around me, especially strangers. So I don’t incorporate actual people I know, rather, the strangers I see and who I think they are or could be in the context of story. 

Are you kill-happy with characters?

By all means, I will put them in near death circumstances and give them critical injuries. However, I rarely kill them. So, no. I don’t happily kill my characters. 

Coffee or tea while writing?

Self-proclaimed Chai tea slut.

Slow or fast writer?

Slow’er than the molasses in January. 

Where/who/what do you find inspiration from?

Ideas strike anywhere, anytime. I could be standing in the check-out line at the grocery store and get an idea. However, most of my inspiration comes from consuming other stories. Video games have honestly been the most inspiring and immersive mediums for storytelling. I find inspiration from learning new things, especially in history. A lot of stuff from myth and history inspires me. 

If you were put into a fantasy world, what would you be?

I’d like to think I would be an adventurer, but let’s be real I’d probably be an Alchemist’s apprentice. Or a sculptor. Maybe even a tutor. 

Most fave book cliche? Least fave book cliche?

Hero/Villain Ships. Enemies to lovers. dYING CONFESSIONS OF LOVE.

Wait, are those cliches? As for what I hate...Oh, I don’t know. I hate the reckless heroine. I just hate reading about girls who make stupid decisions and think they’re the right ones. Not to say they can’t make mistakes, but you know, other characters are like, don’t do the thing, and they do it anyway. 

Fave scenes to write?

SMUT. FIRST KISSES. Yeah. Been writing that sort of thing since I was 11. I had one of those notebooks with a cover that made a zippery sound when you scratched it and it was my first foray into fanfiction and smut lmao. Good stuff. Pandora’s box, though. 

I love writing scenery descriptions. I’m acutely tuned to setting and creating atmosphere and I love determining the specific details that take you exactly where I want the reader to be. The mise-en-scene, if you will.

Most productive time of day for writing?

Dead of night or the wee hours of morning, when the world is quiet. 

Reason for writing?

Because when I write, I feel like I belong. I write because I have a certain taste, and I’m the only one who knows how to capture that. I write because storytelling is intrinsic to me and a part of myself I can never deny, forget, or neglect. I write because my mind has always been full of ideas and worlds I want to explore. I write because deep down I know I’m meant to. 

_

Tagging: 

I’m gonna keep it chill because this tag takes more than 2 minutes to do, but I would love to see your guys’ responses!: @shadows-echoes || @sunstrain || @connorshero || @deviantsupporter

This tag is totally 100% optional! 

[primusdemoniccreatrix]

Dear Tumblr, I am opening commissions (long post)

Hey everyone! 

So, basic story, 

I love writing and really want a job with writing. I am planning to become an author but I need to make money for tuition at university and my family needs some money to pay off a loan, and I am still looking into jobs but am most probably not going to be able to balance a constant workshift and volunteering shift. I also have some friends who need donations so in honor of them I am also making commissions so I hopefully have money to give them some too. 

I am offering writing services in fanfics and original works. 

Here’s what’s on the lot: 

Fanfiction: 

Fandoms: 

-Supernatural

-Transformers (G1, Prime/RID, Bayverse, Animated, MTMTE/LL, more to come soon) 

-1-800-MISSING

-Assassin’s Creed

-Murdoch Mysteries 

-Doctor Who

-Hawaii Five-O 

-NCIS 

-Disney

-Celebrities 

-Avengers

-Kane Chronicles / Percy Jackson 

-Harry Potter (book or movie) 

-Lord of the Rings

-Marvel and DC (Wonder Woman, Batman, Man of Steel, etc)

-The Mummy (original and 2017 remake)

-World Mythologies (Egyptian, Mayan/Incan, Native American, European, Roman/Greek, Indian, Urban myths, etc) and more coming up soon.

-World History (Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Queen Zenobia; I will write historical fiction stories)

(PS this includes villains, I am quite partial to them)

If you have a fandom I have not listed and wish to commission me, pls message me so we can discuss the character or fandom. 

Prices: 

Basically, my rule of thumb for prices is 1 cent per word, but prices ARE negotiable. Also, if you wish for more than one story on a certain topic (a saga or trilogy), please let me know. Please message me if you would like to discuss prices

Works I offer: 

Poetry: haikus, standard poems, diamante, sonnets, etc. ***

Storywriting: short stories, one shot, epics, fables, plays (yes, I will write plays) etc. 

***I will also write for greeting cards, wedding cards, obituaries, write a toast for you, etc. I love writing and this will be great for me as a job and I can assist you with your endeavors. 

Tutoring/Editing: I will edit work for you if you need. My specialties are in English and History if you need some kind of knowledge on it. Please message me for this service. 

Rules: 

Do’s:

-Sfw 

-Fluff 

-Romantic and Platonic

-LGBT

-Poly-amorous 

-Reader death, character death, all the angst feels

-Original Characters

-Breakups

-Pregnancies/Parental

-Domestic Scenarios (eg being sick and taken care of, enjoying a trip, etc)

-Your OC’s with a character of your choice and fandom (give me info on them)

-Crossovers with different fandoms (eg Kane Chronicles and Five-O, Percy Jackson and Marvel, etc)

Don’ts:

-NSFW (I’m uncomfortable with it right now, but I will do it for Transformers because I am more comfortable with it right now than normal activity. I will do implied and perhaps limes; please message me if you’d like to request NSFW)

-Rape/Non-Con/Dub-Con

-Incest

-Pedophilia 

-Anything that has to do with domestic violence or abuse (I will write mention and recovery but not being in it; I have too little information on it and I don’t want to put a trigger. If you have suffered and want a story to help with feeling a little better or getting inspiration to motivate yourself, that is a different story. Please message me if you would like this)

-Political propaganda (I will write that the OC or Reader as rooting for something political or their opinions but I will not write in favour of a true political agenda or anything that may sway political opinion with the purpose of swaying support for a party or candidate). 

-Substance Abuse (I can mention it but I have too little information on it...)

That just about covers it. If you would like to commission me, please give me an email at powerpsych50@gmail.com, tasfiaz@yahoo.ca, and if you have Quotev (@SparkmateofPrimus) or Wattpad (HetepheresRosslyn) or Tumblr, you can use those too. Also, I will have a few slots open at a time and I will post announcements for commissions under the tag #commissions to keep your eyes peeled! Commissions will take time and if you wish for updates and sneak peeks, let me know. I will leave 5 slots open. I will also have giveaways and coupons on stories under the same commission tag. 

If you would like examples of my previous work, they are on Quotev. Some of my best work: 

Transformers Prime: The Flower  (this story is a collab; On the chapters where my icon on Quotev, @SparkmateofPrimus is at the top are the chapters I wrote), Ma’at, Isfet, Back to the Crib (one of my older works), Play a hand at fantasy and more. 

Let the Storywriting Begin!

[victor-d-lopez-blog]

Smashwords Author Interview

Published 2015-05-07.

Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?

Yes. Alas, it is lost along with much of my early work done on typewriters with no backups. I will rewrite it some day as it still speaks to me and, like many of my later stories, it delved into the interplay between the conscious and subconscious mind, life lessons and redemption. My second short story, Eternal Quest, survives in my latest short story collection, Mindscapes, and is still a favorite that is little changed from the one written by a young old man of 19 who had already learned some of the most vital lessons about the things that matter that he would ever learn. My philosophy, too, has changed little over the intervening decades.

What is your writing process?

For both my fiction and non-fiction I tend to compose at the keyboard. I do no outlining and seldom work on plot lines ahead of time. Also, my first draft is usually also my final draft with only minor changes. During the day, I almost always have a cup of coffee on hand as I write. At night, it may be tea, diet Coke or Pepsi or a glass of wine. Less often, when writing late into the morning, especially after a particularly good or bad day, the glass of wine may be replaced by a snifter of brandy or an Absolut vodka martini with olives. (No more than 2 drinks a day on average as a rule, though.) 

I like to work in significant blocks of time without interruption other than fetching coffee or pestering my wife during very brief breaks until she yells at me and I slink back to work.

Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?

I'm not sure what the first story was but it was certainly Disney and about Donald Duck. (In my native Spanish--just like my first Superman comic books and child's version of Homer's Odyssey). I still love these, though I have not read a Superman comic since I was 12 or 13. 

My love of fiction was inspired by Disney, Homer, Hans Christian Anderson, Aesop, and blossomed into an even greater love of Shakespeare, Milton, Dickens, Poe, Wordsworth, Keats, Blake, Niven, Zalazny, Koontz, King, Clarke . . . in a gloriously meandering line that is the only yellow brick road I ever need to walk.

How do you approach cover design?

I like to use my own photographs when possible. Even when using stock photographs or public domain designs, I like to incorporate a photograph that I've taken that means something to me. I've done that in my book of poems, my intellectual property book and in two of three short story collections. (Even my latest audiobook collection cover incorporates one of my photos in the montage of individual short story covers.) Of course, I don't have that luxury with the trade books and textbooks through my traditional publishers--on the upside, they do a far better job of editing my work than I. :)

What are your five favorite books, and why?

It is impossible for me to answer this. So I'll just list the first five that come to mind that have had a significant impact. 1, Intimations of Immortality by William Wordsworth. I love Wordsworth above all other poets of all times--even more than Shakespeare and Milton. This lengthy Ode encapsulates him for me, and links him to my favorite philosopher, Plato. It has had a profound influence as the first among my beloved Romantic poems.

2. Bleak House by Charles Dickens. "If that is the law, the law is a ass." What more need I say? (A case that drags out for generations until the last farthing is spent and then is finally resolved. That's not fiction. That's an ETERNAL TRUTH! And yet I still went to law school. Maybe I should list Freud next.)

3. Plato's Republic. (And the Socratic Dialogues.) There is Plato's idealism, Aristotle's realism and the rest is largely a historical footnote.

4. Shakespeare's complete works. The comedies. The tragedies. The sonnets. The inferiority complex for the rest of us who dare write anything at all after reading him.

5. Roger Zelazny's Amber series. I know, I know. It's absurd to list it here but it is still my favorite fantasy series of books from one of my favorite writers. I've read thousands upon thousands of pages in favorite fantasy series, including every word in the trillion page (it seems) absurdly long "Sword of Truth" series of books by Terry Goodkind (whom I love). At times I literally screamed in frustration at the repetitiveness GET TO THE F*^%$*#G POINT! George RR Martin (another favorite writer) in his lengthy Game of Thrones series of books (all eagerly digested--likewise the HBO series) also made me squirm and/or skip ahead from time to time lest I tear out the few remaining hairs on my head. I will buy the next long-overdue installment as soon as it is available, though. Likewise many other favorite authors like Stephen King (I almost died of boredom on my way to the Dark Tower on many occasions) -- and on very, very rare occasion even Dean Koontz whom were I pagan I would worship as a demigod. But Zelazny never had that effect on me, especially in his Amber series. Not a single skipped word. Not a single needless, redundant description. Were it not nearly 2:00 a.m. and need I not get up in less than six hours to attend Commencement ceremonies I'd probably rummage through my library for my Book Club two-volume Chronicles of Amber right now.

What do you read for pleasure?

Everything. But mostly science fiction and fantasy--classic and new. I also enjoy non fiction, of course. Just finished Killing Patton by Bill O'reilly, and Charles Krauthammer's Things That Matter. (Krauthammer is a national treasure. All of O'reilly's books are good reads and his Killing Lincoln, Jesus, Kennedy and Patton books are really terrific.) Now I'm working through a couple of anthologies and listening to the audiobook version of Dean Koontz's "Tick-Tock."

What is your e-reading device of choice?

I don't own a dedicated reader [no longer true]. I use a couple of Android tablets that can read anything out there and downloaded audiobooks too. A small laptop works well too.

What book marketing techniques have been most effective for you?

Book giveaways have been best at generating interest in my books. I do very little marketing other than an occasional Goodreads ad campaign and short story giveaways through Smashwords from time to time.

Describe your desk

Cluttered.

Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?

Queens, New York mostly. The working class neighborhoods exuding the incredible diversity (ethnic, racial, lingual, political, cultural) that exists everywhere in New York City have enriched my life and broadened my perceptions beyond anything that would have been possible had my parents raised me in their native, homogeneous Galicia (Spain) of the 1960s and '70s. 

My writing reflects the vast multicultural soup in which I was thoroughly steeped and slow-cooked. So does my trilingual upbringing (Spanish, Galician, English) with their separate rich roots and very different cadences, sensibilities and predilections. These have informed my poetry, fiction, non-fiction and life in indelible ways at levels beyond conscious thought.

When did you first start writing?

Almost as soon as I learned to write. I was writing (bad) poetry when I was eight years old, and "stories" before that. I kept a journal before I knew what a journal was--and burned it when what it contained was too painful, troubling, embarrassing, or simply too real to deal with at a tender age. I wish I had not for I can't remember what that precocious child found too troubling to keep around. This (no longer precocious) adult would like to know--and smile (mostly) and perhaps shed a tear or two for the unrequited love, frustrations or deep truths learned too young in life to process in a more productive way. 

I wrote a lot back then. Doubtless it was full of sound and fury, signifying nothing (apologies to The Bard). Some things don't much change.

What motivated you to become an indie author?

There are a number of factors that led me to explore the indie route after publishing two trade books and five textbooks with traditional publishers (Irwin/Mirror Press, McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall, McFarland & Co. and Textbook Media Publishing).

First, I wanted to publish a typically short book of poems for which there is essentially no significant market and which no traditional publisher would be likely to consider. Along the same lines, I wanted to publish a short story collection. Because I am not known for my fiction or poetry, I knew that finding a traditional publisher to take on either project would be a very difficult task, if not an impossible one. Most traditional publishers these days won't even read manuscripts from unagented authors, and I was not likely to find a good agent to handle my fiction and poetry without a past track record of success in these fields. Agents that charge up front reading fees (or any fees, for that matter, other than a percentage of the book's royalties/advances) are not agents I would consider in any case, any more than I would consider publishing through a vanity press masquerading as a small press. (Any publisher that requires an author to purchase a minimum number of books at a "discount" is a vanity press by any other name.) I could easily find an agent to represent me as to my non-fiction, especially my textbooks or law-related trade books. But I do not need representation as to these since I've never had difficulty interesting traditional publishers in such projects. When I complete my first novel, I will very likely search for a literary agent as it is a prerequisite for submitting it to most of the leading publishers today. For other projects, I'll go it alone or self-publish. 

But I digress. During the summer of 2011, I needed a break from my heavy research agenda that included research for a scholarly article and work on the instructor's manual and test bank for one of my new textbooks. So I decided to collect selected samples of my poetry spanning some 30 years and my favorite short stories written during the same time period and self-publish two books. I used CreateSpace to produce the paperback versions of my first two indie books and Kindle Direct Publishing for the Kindle version of these, later also ported to Barnes & Noble and still later to Smashwords for even wider distribution. Moreover, I wanted to experience complete freedom to publish precisely what I wanted and charge a low price to encourage as wide a distribution as possible. I also wanted to offer the book in both paperback and eBook formats. That was a particularly important consideration for another work that I was working on that summer, my intellectual property general reference work. Ultimately, I published all three books. Finally, I wanted to experience publishing on my timetable with complete editorial control for the first time. There is no question that all three books would be better had they undergone the vetting of the traditional editorial process; I am not the best editor of my own work and without question each work is less perfect than it would have been with an editor to help guide and rein me in when needed. Although it is equally true that at times even the best editors can be difficult to work with, especially when their preferences conflict with a writer's style and voice. The perfect is indeed too often the enemy of the good.

What are you working on next?

I'm winding down a sabbatical leave as I write this. This semester I completed research on usury laws in all 50 states and how these are in effect undermined by federal law. The research was started last summer and completed in late January, with a paper completed in early April and presented at the NEALSB annual conference in late April. It is now out for a first round of reviews in selected first-tier journals and law reviews. I am also currently in the process of researching "good Samaritan" statutes in all 50 states, a project that will continue beyond the summer and will form the foundation for a paper completed before the end of the fall 2015 semester. 

This summer, I will also work on a new, expanded 3rd edition on my Business Law and the Legal Environment of Business for my current publisher, Textbook Media Publishing. It should be out early next year. Not much time for fiction or poetry projects in the coming year, I'm afraid, nor for work on my first novel that has been mostly on hold in mid-stream for the better part of a decade due to time constraints.

[anneboleynresearch]

Thomas Wyatt and Courtly Love

“Courtly love was an integral element in chivalry, the complex of attitudes and institutions which was central to the life of the Tudor court and the elite...the idiom of chivalry enabled society to say many important things and regulate many important relationships...

“At a very basic level, chivalry was also a defence against boredom and vice. The mark of the gentleman was...being able to ‘live idly and without manual labour’, but there were still twenty-four hours in the day to fill. Chivalric convention therefore created as busy a lifestyle as ever would be experienced by future generations...This serious pursuit of entertainment was the only alternative to demoralization...

“Out of doors, when not engaged in war or training for the pseudo-war of the tournament, the gentleman was busy with its substitute, hunting. Indoors -- dancing, music, poetry, good conversation, and the game of courtly love. 

“The notion that courtly love was an antidote to boredom when the weather was bad or hunting out of season is hardly romantic. Nor is the idea that another of its functions was to constrain gender relationships within an accepted convention...property considerations were accorded more importance than emotional satisfaction when it came to making a marriage. When Anne Boleyn was proposed as the bride to James Butler, personal feelings were not consulted, but when they did surface, as in the case with Henry Percy, material considerations allowed them short shrift. In some...cases a relationship begun in property could grow into passion, but others were left to seek emotional or personal fulfillment with someone other than their spouse, not to mention those who were not yet economically free to marry, or might never be. The problem was at its most acute at the court, overwhelmingly masculine but not monastic, and with a queen and her attendant ladies at its centre. Courtly love was the safety device which prevented this critical mass from exploding. 

“The fictions of courtly love were based on the same ideal which disposed men to attend the king: service. The courtier...was supposed to sublimate his relations with the ladies of court by choosing a ‘mistress’ and serving her faithfully and exclusively. He formed part of her circle, wooed her...and if she was gracious enough to recognize the link he might wear her favour and joust in her honour. He might have a wife at home, but that was a separate life. In return the suitor must look for one thing only, ‘kindness’ -- understanding and platonic friendship. A lady might be...older than her ‘lover’, and she would then act as his patroness and launch him into court society. At a deeper level too, courtly love could be important psychologically, meeting the need for emotional ties...such a convention appears repressive, but it worked well enough to regulate gender relations acceptably. 

“Some recent writers have...questioned whether courtly love was ever ‘an actual social phenomenon’. Others would ‘deconstruct it’ and see courtly love in terms of a literary device. Such scepticism flies in the face of the evidence...Henry VIII himself appeared in numerous guises...”

“We also need to be less solemn. To most participants the convention of courtly love was a game, ‘pass the day’, an etiquette of flirting...

“We must...recognize that convention can be ambiguous. Most players of the game of courtly love may have not taken it too seriously, but the game was inherently sexual...A lady was expected not to give sexual favors, but they were there to gain, and the lover who offered service also threatened possession...

“Courtly love thus had an inner tension. In most cases stylized flirtation, in others it could also be a conduit for real passion...And this ambivalence is the problem with Anne and Wyatt’s poetry...The difficulty is well illustrated by the so-called ‘Devonshire Manuscript’...For almost a hundred years this has been claimed as direct evidence linking Wyatt with Anne Boleyn. The manuscript is a volume of poems associated with Anne’s cousin, the Mary Howard who in 1534 married the king’s illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy, duke of Richmond; her initials are on the original binding. Another person involved was Anne’s waiting-woman, Madge Shelton, and a third, the king’s niece Margaret Douglas...The manuscript was apparently lent quite widely at court, and borrowers repaid the loan by inscribing a poem they had access to...Some of these are undoubtedly biographical...About a dozen of the items are...by Thomas [Howard] or Margaret themselves. Wyatt is certainly present...If he had a relationship with Anne, she should be here too. 

“Evidence of Anne has been seen on a number of folios...

“...There is no evidence that Wyatt ever handled the Devonshire Manuscript; its Wyatt poems represent the taste of Mary Fitzroy and her circle. Nor is the evidence for Anne at all convincing...They are better understood as casual exercises...expressions of courtly love as stock as the greetings on any Valentine card.

“If a text as closely associated with Anne Boleyn’s entourage as the Devonshire Manuscript tells us nothing of Anne and Wyatt, it is a small wonder that many attempts to interpret isolated poems by...Sir Thomas carry little conviction. Apart from the conventionality of courtly love and deciding whether a poem is autobiographical, Wyatt’s active sexuality presents a problem...Thus only with the clearest corroboration can we assume that if any of his poems of desire, rivalry, possession, rejection, or retreat are autobiographical, the woman they refer to is Anne Boleyn. And corroboration does not include supposed allusions to Wyatt losing Anne to a higher bidder.

“Proper historical scepticism...leaves only four Wyatt poems where there can be reasonable confidence that he is referring to Anne Boleyn. The revealing 1532 poem about the journey to Calais we have already noted. Much less informative is an earlier poem...in the form of a riddle to which the solution is ‘Anna’...

“Even here, of course, it is a question of probability...but Anne Boleyn  is an obvious possibility. 

“We are on better ground with the sonnet which mentions ‘Brunet’...tells  of a poet falling in love again.

“Wyatt had the sense to suppress the indiscretion, but indicates that at least he had enjoyed the permitted courtly relationship with Anne of servant and mistress. 

“Caution is equally called for by the poem, linking Wyatt and Anne, and the only one which makes a clear allusion to the king. It is...inspired by a poem by Petrarch...but Wyatt twists ‘Petrarch’s meaning to suit his own more urgent and worldy interest’.

“What Wyatt appears to be admitting is being powerfully attracted to Anne...and having to break this by drawing back from her crowd of admirers, a sentiment close to the Calais poem. This time, however, he says that he had been only one of the hunt followers and by no means near the prey...and that his ‘travail’ had been ‘vain’...

“No doubt the search for autobiographical allusions in Wyatt’s poetry will continue, but the few demonstrable references to Anne Boleyn add up to much less than some have claimed. If we discount the ‘Anna’ riddle as a mere triviality, the remaining three pieces each point to the personal commitment on Wyatt’s part. However, in the Calais poem Anne did not respond. Noli me tangere portrays her as remote, and only the poem written to his mistress after Anne’s death can be read to suggest that she fully reciprocated his affection -- and then only be defying the requirements of poetic form. Wyatt’s poems alone are not enough to support the hypothesis that Anne and Thomas were lovers. They merely suggest that Wyatt became one of a number of Anne’s acknowledged courtly suitors, found himself emotionally involved but drew only a limited response.

“...The testimony of Wyatt’s grandson is not the only reason to believe that Sir Thomas was more taken with Anne than he later admitted. In 1530 Chapuys reported that the Duke of Suffolk had revived stories about a courtier who had earlier been rusticated on suspicion of too great an interest in Anne, and this could very well have been the poet. Admittedly there is no evidence that Wyatt was formally rusticated during Anne’s lifetime, but he did make a spur of the moment decision to join Sir John Russell on a diplomatic mission to Italy which can be dated to early January 1527...Since it was about this time that Wyatt must have realized that the king was now seriously in pursuit of Anne, he could well have been taking the chance...for a visit abroad to extract himself tactfully. 

“That Anne was fond of Wyatt seems probable. In 1533 Chapuys described the poet as one ‘whom she loves very much’ and particularly in her early years at court his attentions cannot have been unwelcome. Percy’s was the greater scalp, but even at 19 Wyatt’s enviable combination of physique and good looks, intelligence, an articulate personality, spontaneity, and good humour made him very attractive. Yet there was one absolute block to the relationship going further than friendship. Separated from his wife because of her adultery, Wyatt was in no position to offer Anne anything but a place as his mistress...Any feelings [Anne] had for Thomas certainly did not prevent a characteristically robust response to Suffolk’s scandalmongering in 1530. Anne immediately asked Henry to send Wyatt away. Soon he was interceding for Wyatt and persuading Anne to allow him back into favour...[Henry] evidently did not see him [Wyatt] as a skeleton in Anne’s cupboard. 1536 confirms this. Wyatt’s arrest in May shows that he could be linked with Anne; his release suggests strongly that the link was known to be innocent. 

“...the story is built on friction between Henry and Wyatt over Anne, and a rustication which parallels Chapuys’ reports...it would appear that the existence of some link between Anne and Thomas was not unknown in the City...why should merchants...bother with his previous behavior unless the poet’s interest in Anne Boleyn had been common knowledge, well beyond what his verse suggests, and that Wyatt left court because of it?

“Catholic voices had no doubt. Wyatt and Anne had an illicit sexual liaison. 

“...Cavendish goes out of his way to make the point that Anne was still a virgin when she married...It is a conclusion which commands respect. After all, it is difficult to traduce Anne Boleyn both for promiscuity before and promiscuity after marriage; if she had always been as lecherous as some conservationists wanted to believe, Henry was more stupid than wronged.”

[magnusmadssen]

5 New Non Fiction for term 2

Hi Kids!

Here’s some more new non fiction just been added to the Children’s collection. Books that will keep you entertained for the start of term 2.

Enjoy!

101 Dog Tricks.

Packed with step-by-step photos and training tips and techniques, 101 Dog Tricks, Kids Edition will teach you everything you need to know to involve your children in training the family dog.

      Poetry for kids: William Shakespeare.

A collection of thirty-one of playwright and poet William Shakespeare’s most famous verses, sonnets and speeches.

      Star Wars: Encyclopedia Of Starfighters and Other Vehicles.

Learn about over 200 of your favourite Star Wars vehicles, from the A-wing to the Y-wing. Want to know how the Millennium Falcon made the Kessel Run in such a short distance? Don’t know your X-wing from your Y-wing? Not sure what type of craft Slave I is? Look no further than the Star Wars Encyclopedia of Starfighters and Other Vehicles. Age 7+.

    If you lived here : houses of the world.

Features detailed, bas-relief collage spreads of dwellings in other world regions and historical times to explain how different people live and have lived, from a village house in South Africa to a floating green house in the Netherlands.

    When Paul met Artie : the story of Simon & Garfunkel.

Long before they became one of the most beloved and successful duos of all time, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were just two kids growing up in Queens, New York — best friends who met in a sixth-grade production of Alice in Wonderland and bonded over girls, baseball, and rock’n’roll.

    5 New Non Fiction for term 2 syndicated from https://paintballreviewsgun.wordpress.com/

[prussiantique]

Ode to Hushabye Valley – Notes

Sweet and sincere; apropos for the good lady @hushabyevalley​ whose art inspired it, I should hope. Here’s the usual note that accompanies most of my poetry, and I must apologise: it’s long and while I would be overjoyed if one were to read it, I do realise it’s not particularly interesting. Nonetheless, I would like to explain the hows and whys of a dedicatory poem, so if you want to understand all the allusions of the poem, please read the bit up till the second line of ‘===’s. Under those will be a more technical look into the workings of the poem. If you happen to stick with me from start to finish, then you have my sincerest thanks :) === So, the poem begins with an invocation to Hushabye, the eponymous lady of both the fantastical valley and the castle that is situated therein. Please visit the good lady here or here. Now, world-building is a fundamental aspect of high fantasy and science-fiction, and the world of Hushabye Valley is, at least to me, one that is suffused with romance, timelessness, fantasy, and quiet pathos,– something which I find in all three of the good lady’s ‘tales’: Hushabye Valley (fantasy), Calabi Yau Forest (fantasy), and Ada (sci-fi, but otherwise suffused with the same charm as the others). While the combination is becoming far more popular these days, high fantasy and slice-of-life are not related genres traditionally, as high fantasy is predominantly preoccupied with grand narratives and quests (think C. S. Lewis or J. R. R. Tolkein) while slice-of-life is focused on the memorable moments of everyday life. I find the good lady makes them work wonderfully well, hence the rather odd turn of phrase in ‘complete with beauty, mild and grand’. ‘Mild and grand’ are not cognate ideas, but by placing them both as interlinked qualities of a singular ‘beauty’, it (hopefully) suggests the all-encompassing nature of the splendours that Hushabye portrays in the valley. Puns and allusions are important in an ode of this kind: in a celebratory poem, it should be evident to the addressee exactly what it is that they have done or created that has garnered said praise. In equal measure, if one is sincere about one’s praise or admiration, one’s writing should show a certain amount of knowledge and love of that which is spoken. Some of these are, admittedly rather straightforward, such as ‘misty’, which alludes to the good lady’s tumblr ask: ‘Throw a question into the mist’; ‘a face of marble’, to the rather adorable groundskeeper and main character of Hushabye Valley, Marble; and ‘the archways of a bygone year’, to the banner of Hushabye Valley’s Patreon page. The last one is a little tenuous, if I had to be honest, as the emphasis in the banner is on the four plinths that flank Marble, but I felt ‘archways’ scanned better poetically than ‘plinth’. If I had to use ‘plinth’ instead, I’d have rewritten the line as a hexameter one thus: “Between the plinths engraved with words long worn away;” ‘Queer’ is another word I chose due to its double meaning, due to both its more traditional sense of strange or unusual,– and thus apropos to describe the faerie aspect of Hushabye’s ‘tales,– as well as the presence of yuri/girls’ love therein. I do realise that queer is a complicated word today, but I hope the phrase ‘love sincere’ dispels any doubts regarding which side of the fence my sympathies sit regarding the matter. The word ‘art’ ties into the idea of magic and fantasy as magic, like alchemy, was considered a branch of learning historically, and thus described in the same way we would talk about liberal arts. Of course, Hushabye herself is an accomplished artist of the visual kind, making this another fairly straightforward piece of wordplay. ‘Enfold me in your art’ is just something that I ask of good narratives: I like being immersed in something if I sincerely enjoy it. This ties into the last line and my word choice therein. Castle Hushabye is ‘a fonder home’ to the speaker of the poem, and it’s important to note the use of ‘fonder’ quite specifically. ‘Fonder’ is a comparative adjective, and when considered alongside the context of the speaker, who is evidently a traveller, it suggests that home or haven offered by Hushabye is a place that the speaker finder more loving (not merely lovely) than wherever the speaker originated from. Considering the state of the world today, I would happily escape into the good lady’s worlds and narratives and stay there. While reading, I am reminded of one of Tennyson’s lyric interludes from The Princess: The splendour falls on castle walls                And snowy summits old in story:         The long light shakes across the lakes,                And the wild cataract leaps in glory. Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying, Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.         O hark, O hear! how thin and clear,                And thinner, clearer, farther going!         O sweet and far from cliff and scar                The horns of Elfland faintly blowing! Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying: Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.         O love, they die in yon rich sky,                They faint on hill or field or river:         Our echoes roll from soul to soul,                And grow for ever and for ever. Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying, And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying. Beauty and pathos mixed into one, much like the good lady’s tales. <3 === Now to the more dry and technical parts of the piece. If you’ve no interest in the mechanics of poetry, feel free to head off. I promise I won’t mind. I will admit, the poem was intended to be a far longer work when I first started work on it, but that was quickly whittled down when I decided it’d be an acrostic. Long poems are, in addition, generally not something that most people enjoy reading. As this was a poem intended to be read by the good lady herself, it had to be kept short. The main thing I am genuinely unsatisfied with is the unusual rhyme scheme. It’s not irregular, per se, but rather it lacks a certain symmetry that I would have liked to have seen in a poem for someone whose work I sincerely enjoy. The poem’s rhyme scheme follows thus (each letter representing a rhyme word): a b b a c d d c || d e e d f f The ‘d’ rhyme appears four times in the poem as opposed to the two times of every other rhyme, which is, from a poet’s perspective both incongruous and weird in a rather untidy way. Now, ideally, the rhyme scheme of the poem would have looked like this: a b b a c d d c || e f f e g g which would have been better as each quatrain is kept self-contained in terms of rhyme; or, alternatively: a b b a b c c b || c d d c d d would have been another acceptable alternative, slowly phasing through interlocking rhymes in a similar manner to Terza Rima or the Spenserian stanza. An acrostic does pose a challenge poetically as, if I may put it this way, not all letters were created equal from a poetic stand-point. Different opening letters can create difficulties, whether it’s finding words with the correct rhythm or finding words that have a relevant meaning to the poem. Very frequently, the primary problem posed by an acrostic falls into one of three categories: words that begin with the correct letter but have absolutely nothing to do with the contents of the poem; words that fit perfectly into the poem but begin with the wrong letter; or words that have both the correctly letter and meaning but do not fit the rhythm. This last point is actually the cause of a great deal of the metrical irregularity of the piece, with frequent trochees,– as seen in the first foot of lines 1, 7, 9, 11 and 12,– and more occasional spondees,– as found in the first foot of lines 3, 4, and 14,– beginning the lines of what should be  predominantly iambic poem. Just a reminder for anyone who is less familiar with the poetic terminology, iambs, trochees, and spondees are metrical feet or stress patterns in poetry: iamb: ˘ ¯ or unstressed-stressed  (e.g. To be or not to be) trochee: ¯ ˘ or stressed-unstressed  spondee: ¯ ¯ or stressed-stressed In a short poem like this, one good skill to have is the ability to juggle the competing demands of metre and expression without being gagged by them. While one needs to express an idea within a confined space and obey the rules at the same time, one has to do things tastefully after all. An example of this would be in line 3:   ¯          ¯     /  ˘    ¯   /  ˘         ¯      /   ˘   ¯ / ˘     ¯ such   things   I   ere   had   scarce   partaken   in. While it does scan properly, it also falls rather awkwardly from a modern tongue due to the fairly archaic, but more flexible, syntax. Now if we were to expand it and rearrange the line into something more commonplace today, we can not only see how poetry condenses and re-patterns thought, but also how we ourselves have to ‘translate’ archaic poetry mentally to properly understand it.  Thus: such things I ere had scarce partaken in can be expanded to: such things [that] I [before] had [rarely] [taken part] in and can be further rearranged to make: such things [that] I had [rarely] [taken part in] [before] Moving onto structure: although I’ve split it into two stanzas, I would like to argue that the poem could and should be read, structurally, in three different ways: as an acrostic of two words, Hushabye and Valley; as an ode, with an unequal tripartite structure of strophe, antistrophe and epode; as a sonnet, with a false volta in line 9, and a true volta in line 13. I need not go into the acrostic, I think, as it’s probably the most straightforward part of the poem. The ode is where the invocation to ‘Hushabye’ plays its part. Ode are explicitly poems that laud something or someone. In addition, the structure of the poem’s primary movements can be split into three, albeit unequal parts: the strophe, in which the speaker invokes ‘Hushabye’ and describes the initial wonder that he/she experiences; the antistrophe, directed instead to the ‘Valley’ itself, where the beauty that is lauded by the strophe is exchanged from more enduring qualities like ‘tenderness’ and comfort, ‘as suggested by the word ‘languid’. The epode is the sudden change from invocation to imperative as can be seen in the verbs ‘Enfold’ and ‘bid’. As a sonnet, we have to read the poem as a single stanza. The rhyme scheme, however, supports this as it can neatly separate the poem into three quatrains and a couplet, the very same as many types of sonnet. From this perspective, the four lines beginning with ‘Valley’ instead belongs to the same continuum as ‘Hushabye’ and ‘A face…’, rather than being a distinct stanza of its own. This final way of looking at the poem, as a sonnet, is perhaps the only one which also offers a reason for the metrical shift in the final couplet. Rather than being in iambic pentameter, the two lines are actually alexandrines, i.e. iambic hexameter, with a caesura or break in the very middle of those lines, as can be clearly seen in: ‘Enfold me in your art, || and bid me never roam:’ The alexandrine is fairly unusual in English poetry but, when used in a predominantly pentametrical context, serves to slow the pace of the iambs and to create a falling motion, a perfect technique if one wanted to finish a poem in a manner that suggests as much affection as ease. === Long way to go, but if you’ve managed to get here, then you have my sincerest thanks and affection~

[char27martin]

Weekly Round-Up: Goodbyes and Good Books

Every week our editors publish somewhere between 10 and 15 blog posts—but it can be hard to keep up amidst the busyness of everyday life. To make sure you never miss another post, we’ve created a new weekly round-up series. Each Saturday, find the previous week’s posts all in one place.

Follow Your Dream

Congratulations to Jessica Strawser, erstwhile editorial director of Writer’s Digest, who is scaling back her role here to focus on her career as a novelist. Find out more in From One Writing Dream Job to Another.

Have you always wanted to write, but worry you should have started years ago and now it’s too late? Read A New Career as a Writer at Age 72 for a writing journey that began with retirement.

If you need some courage to take that step into writing, check out 5 Lessons from 5 Writers Who Inspired Me to Pursue My Dream.

Inspiration and Ideas

Yesterday was the day that the epilogue in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows took place. In celebration, try out a Harry Potter writing prompt.

For literary allusions, look no further than your favorite cartoon—”The Simpsons.” Read Much Ad’oh About Nothing to learn more about literary storylines and guest stars on the show.

Where do authors get ideas for content that aren’t just interesting but are also dramatic? Check out How to Find Content That Yields Drama for some advice.

Agents and Opportunities

This week’s new agent alert is for Meg LaTorre-Snyder of the Covisiero Literary Agency. She is seeking YA, NA, and adult fantasy, historical fiction, romance (with magical elements), space opera, steam punk, and thrillers (with magical elements).

Check out the latest edition of How I Got My Agent for a real world example of a successful query.

The world of publishing can be confusing. Check out an infographic on The Basics of Copyright for a simple explanation of an important publishing issue.

To learn even more about the world of publishing, read So, You Want to Work in Publishing: The Role of a Publicist.

Poetic Asides

Congratulations to the winner of the WD Poetic Form Challenge for the Curtal Sonnet! Read the winning poem and see whose entries made the Top 10 list.

For this week’s Wednesday Poetry Prompt, write a “second home” poem.

Check out Why I Write Poetry: Sasha A. Palmer and consider submitting an essay that shares why you write poetry.

The post Weekly Round-Up: Goodbyes and Good Books appeared first on WritersDigest.com.

from Writing Editor Blogs – WritersDigest.com http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/weekly-round-up/weekly-round-goodbyes-good-books