Shadow thief – art from words/words from art
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Category: writing
Art from words/words from art – liminality
Here the Magic Must Be The river was almost at its zenith, that tipping point between the heaving press of the sea from the coast and the thundering weight of dark, fresh water draining from the hills. It glittered and sparkled along its banks as if strung with fairy lights. The woman twiddled her handkerchief until it knotted and then pushed it into her pocket. Twice a day, every day, all of heaven and earth balanced here on this point, she thought. For reassurance, she felt for the handle of the knife that sat quiet next to the handkerchief and … Continue reading Art from words/words from art – liminality
Art from words – using narratives to make pictures and incorporating text
Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to make art on the basis of other people’s words – two to accompany poems and one a book cover – and latterly my painting course has introduced projects that require paintings drawing on narratives from stories. These can be news stories, fiction, poetry; anything that takes hold emotionally and inspires a composition. The projects also feature something called appropriation, which is when you take something, a photograph or print of someone else’s painting, and incorporate it into your own work, often without referencing the appropriated piece. This makes me uncomfortable as both the scientific … Continue reading Art from words – using narratives to make pictures and incorporating text
Poetry mnemonics – singing up your iambics
I am just getting round to the idea that rhythm in prose is a thing and that poetry might hold some clues as to how best to apply it. The trouble is, iambic means nothing to me no matter how many times I look it up; trochaic – same thing, and don’t get me started on anapestic which I still think of as a kind of wallpaper. Whoever invented these monikers surely wanted to keep the whole business in-house like a kind of holy catechism that novitiates have to prove they have learned before being allowed to voice any opinion. … Continue reading Poetry mnemonics – singing up your iambics
When it’s better not to be shortlisted
Recently, I failed to make the short list in a competition* I had entered. It’s not the first time by a long chalk, nor is rejection by publishers or requests for revisions to something I thought was fine in its first iteration (often it turned out better in the end which reflects well on the editorial critique), so when I say I’m actually quite relieved, it isn’t a defensive swipe at the ones that made it. Maybe you’ve found yourself in this position too: you enter in good faith, you’re shortlisted, you cheer. Then you read the stories you’re shortlisted … Continue reading When it’s better not to be shortlisted
Readwave and Scribd: places for writers & readers
Readwave is a well-presented site for writers-looking-for-readers and readers looking for something bite-sized to read. Anyone can post a piece of flash (800 words – longer pieces have to be broken up) and your stats are clocked up next to each entry. While I’m not sure that a ‘read’ always means what it says, you do at least know someone looked and that your treasured bit of prose isn’t all on its lonesome any more. Upload is a simple copy/paste process with boxes for title and short description, and a place to put tags. There is a limited range of … Continue reading Readwave and Scribd: places for writers & readers
Writing well and coathangers
You’ll recognise all those descriptions of how easy it is to write – ‘stare at the page until your eyes bleed’, that kind of thing – and they work for writers because we have been there. But what about the people who can’t? How do you describe the process in a way that puts them in your space? And what about really understanding it ourselves so that we can be more efficient about our own writing process? Bleeding eyes is not a good marker for success. Yesterday, struggling first to get ‘out of the room’ as it were, because someone … Continue reading Writing well and coathangers
‘Dance to the Wild Ice’
‘When Izzy’s eyelids got burned off, she had to watch all the time without blinking – apart from the frog-lick that slides across side-to-side, but you can see through that so there’s no escape and she’s been watching since Jinty started making the dance. ‘ In Lancaster university’s 2013 anthology of MA creative writing. Contributors are part time and distance students. ‘Dance to the Wild Ice’ is set in the same world as ‘All the Birthdays‘ and it’s on P5. Go on, unsettle yourself! Continue reading ‘Dance to the Wild Ice’
Car boot giveaway – genuine articles, no tat, honest madam!
I’m having a clear-out. Like my wardrobe, my short stories’ cupboard is stuffed with last season’s pieces which don’t match or have odd bits dangling off the hems. I’ll be starting my MA in October and it seems likely that the process begun with the Open University courses in 2009 and 2010 will re-frame my writing, how I think of it, and how I want it to appear. Not that I’m cringing about the stories that are already out in the wild (and still getting hits, thank you very much, opportunist passers-by!). I’m beyond embarrassment, having worked in the NHS for over 40 years … Continue reading Car boot giveaway – genuine articles, no tat, honest madam!
‘….As You Wave Me Goodbye’
I don’t like being miserable. For a start, it peels at least 20 points off my IQ, and at my age, that’s too significant to ignore. Second, it makes creative thinking well nigh impossible. It closes up the essential gaps between those bubbling, spontaneous irregularities that sit in my unconscious, and the conveyor belt of conscious delivery. Third, it makes my face look like a smacked arse, and frankly, I prefer it less baggy and more crinkled, when the crinkles are herded into place by an irrepressible urge to giggle. But today I am royally stuffed. My father died last week. One of my cats died this morning. His brother is on the blink (same … Continue reading ‘….As You Wave Me Goodbye’
Dr Suzanne Conboy-Hill 