#writers and poets
The First Word
i am the me between Demeter and deter,
the spine in supine absent you,
i am the gap in Agape,
the age in language after you.
i am the war in swarm,
the arm in swarm,
the vows inherent in vowels,
the asp writhed from grasp,
the tor at the top of the storm.
i am the i between deify and defy,
this axis aching inside
the migration of starlings,
the i between vapor and viper,
between mire and more,
i am the sword interred
between expire and explore,
i am that Eve—
she who broke
a fever to forever.
-Kalliope Amorphous
your absence— severed hands decaying in the hollow of a skinned drum.
Wether it’s the hope of love
The grief of love
The lesson of love
Or the regret of love
Once you have loved
It always remains
༄
You know what you’ve done
But to say it out loud
Is too brutal a reality
It would be suicide by honesty
And you are such a coward
༄
When I look back at my life
I only recognize it for a moment
And then it’s gone
༄
The day will still come
No matter how hard you close your eyes
The night will kiss the day goodbye
Painting colors in the sky
Welcome the darkness
Embrace the light
Don’t fight against the up’s and down’s of life
༄
If forever is a place
I hope I go there with you
But I know that heaven will sigh
When you arrive with tears in your eyes
Wishing you could face the fire
Just to bring me too
༄
The truth is
I am ordinary
This realization is equally painful
As it is liberating
༄
I have waited long enough to feel you, the animal inside me has become restless since the day I saw you.
let me unleash my darkness onto you, take you, pull you in and devour you.
My whims are nothing more
Than passing fancies
My thoughts no more than a sprout
…
My dreams are nothing more
Than strange realities
My melancholy no more than an out.
-s.r.f (if we were poets)
The mountains fallen with sleepy purple
And over the garden wall.
A giant’s castle in the clouds,
The blackberry scent of fall.
Softly bleed, and close your eyes,
Night tapping on the panes.
The glowy aura of the moon,
And the homely sound of rain.
-s.r.f
The moonlight pours through the blinds and penetrates the air like a sharpened blade.
My frosty fingers gently reach for the window, sliding the glass to reveal a winter breeze.
The luminescent moon touches my face and caresses my cheeks like a lost lover.
I take a deep breath, and my cold hands stroke the beds’ woolen blankets.
I am pulled back into the safety and comfort of slumber, and I remind myself I will be okay.
Ocean Vuong, “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous”
i sense your inner vanity:
silver, polished, shining
and see that self-reflection
is priority, not self-hiding
so learn about your hollows, love
learn about your flaws
find the darkest parts inside
and place the spotlight on your core
because within you is a human
just trying to be good
and i think
sometimes
that little selfish heart
is sorely misunderstood
i attribute the candles to a conspiracy of minds
attempting to conquer the night:
a bumbling hoard of humans, lost,
to the lure of a flickering light…
a ruin of poets, fumbling with fire
inspired by its shadows, to write.
a single act spirals into overthinking;
if this, then that… but
you cannot let it overwhelm your senses, or
have you learnt nothing all these years?
there is more to the story, so
forget the blame and
abandon your regret, the
mistakes made in moments of weakness,
sacrilege committed against the heart,
engineered in iron will
tabernacled in your soul…
abbreviating history from its whole
–
abandon your regret, the
abbreviating history from its whole
there is more the story, so
you cannot let it overwhelm your senses, or
a single act spirals into overthinking;
sacrilege committed against the heart
tabernacled in your soul…
forget the blame and
mistakes made in moments of weakness,
engineered of iron will
if this, then that… but
have you learnt nothing all these years?
i’m legless; a stumbling stupor of a someone
trying to stand on their own
falling, failing
finding enough courage once more
learning my legs can be borrowed
when i can’t find a thought
because inspiration is a collective;
not individually caught
Happy Valentine’s Day from @thesecretofthehouseofbourbonbook.
A Guide to Slashing Word Count
A while back, I posted a compilation of advice that I’d received from other writers before trying to cut down my 120,000 word YA fantasy manuscript. Six months later, it’s at 100,000 – a far more acceptable number. It was a brutal task, but a necessary one and I’m here to share the key strategies that helped me cut the big chunks:
- Cut Characters – Big cast? Remove subplot-only bois and mains who either don’t influence the plot or whose role could be carried out by another.
- Cut Scenes – If they don’t directly advance the plot, cut completely. If they serve some purpose, try merging scenes to reduce intro/outro/location content. One long scene is shorter than two short scenes.
- Reduce Locations – Within a chapter, visit as few locations as possible to avoid extra descriptions. This is also relevant across the book, as you won’t need to go into detail about a location more than once.
- Cut Pre Scene and Post Scene – This can either be by starting the scene later (getting straight to the point) and ending it earlier or condensing the pre and post scene content. As a rule of thumb, a pre-scene should be 500 max.
- Have Clear Motivations – If your characters’ motivations are too complex, explaining/showing them will take up too much space. Nuance can grow over time.
- Get to the Heart of Your Story – Carrying on from the last point, maybe try writing a pitch and synopsis so that you better understand what’s at the heart of your story, that way you can whittle down anything outside of that with the brutality needed for reducing word count.
Now, go forth and kill your darlings!
Then come back for part 2 where I’ll be talking about the line-level (micro) cuts that really do add up!
There is such uniqueness about taking public transport. You are in this kind of ambulant ephemeral something until you reach your final destination, and you don’t feel the necessity to share anything because let us be honest, isn’t everyone streaming within their heads already?