There was once a time I considered myself a novel writer and a novel writer only. It was what I wanted to do and it was my comfort zone. I will probably always be happiest when lost inside the numerous drafts it takes to construct a novel. I’m confident with this form of writing, and a few years ago I would never have considered any other.
Of course, that attitude had to change when I started publishing. I soon noticed that all authors had a blog or website and I shyly embraced this as a way of sharing my writing and gaining followers. It took me a while to get into the spirit of it, but it’s fair to say, once I found my feet, I began to relish writing my blog posts, and most of the time I’ve been fairly good at writing on a weekly basis.
As my attitude to blog writing changed, so did my attitude towards other types of writing. Back when I considered myself just a novel writer, I would never have considered trying my hand at writing articles. But somewhere along the line, I gained the confidence and started submitting articles about writing to Author’s Publish. This style of writing did not come naturally for me and I spent a lot of time reading and analysing their previous articles in order to work out what was wanted. When I had the first few accepted, I was over the moon. It was a real confidence boost.
Short stories were another form I once dismissed. I write such long books, that writing something short just seemed impossible. However, when someone mentioned writing short stories to compliment your books, I did get excited. This eventually led to Bird People and Other Stories, and now that I’m more practiced, short stories are a regular thing for me and I hope to have another collection out this year.
Screenwriting was another form of writing I never would have tried a few years back, despite how much I’ve always longed any of my books to be made into films or TV programmes. In fact, I often write as if imagining a real scene and pen my dialogue this way. Last year, when I had the new material for The Boy With The Thorn In His Side filling my head, I was reluctant to do anything about it but decided writing the material in screenplay form would be quick and fun and would help get it out of my head. It became ridiculously addictive! I read a few books about screenwriting and downloaded Scrivener, and off I went. Writing the book as a screenplay first was so much fun, and as I carried the notebook around with me everywhere, I got it done really quickly. Just recently I completed a free Introduction To Screenwriting course with Futurelearn, and I absolutely loved it!
And just lately, I’ve been playing around with another form of writing I once turned away from. Poetry. When I was a young teenager, I did go through a poetry and song-writing phase. But I was put off by the poetry we had to study at school. It was so wonderful and complex, it just made me feel I could never compete, so why bother?
Poetry was not my thing, or so I told myself. But something weird happened very recently. I started getting ideas, or thoughts, quite randomly, which were really all just things I wanted to say. They were too short, random and weird for blog posts, articles or short stories though, so I started writing them in note style, like poems. I also starting re-reading a Bukowski poetry book I have, one of the only poetry books I’ve really enjoyed, and his style encourages you to have a go. I don’t think he followed any rules or was ever taught how to structure a poem, he just did it. He just wrote what he thought and felt. There is something really raw and beautiful about that and I think people should be encouraged to do it.
Once I started writing, more started to flow. I’ve nearly filled a notebook now and I’ve even decided to put some of them in my next short story collection and make a short story and poetry collection instead. I don’t try to force them or rush them, and they all seem to come from an emotional place, rather than a descriptive or rational place. Which is weird, and interesting.
I thought I would be really brave and share two of them with you today. These are two of the really early ones that came to me when this poetry thing started. These are first drafts and I’ve not messed with them or edited them since I wrote them, so please bear this in mind! I’m looking out for a local poetry workshop to go to, as I’d like to learn more and get my poems as well crafted as I can.
As always feel free to comment and share! How do you gain the courage to try new things? Do you have a comfort zone you wish to edge out of?
Murder
The crows were pissed off today
Fury in their hacking call
Feet pounding, heart racing
Breath hissing
Because I am not as young
As I used to be
The crows took flight
Reluctant, squawking rage
Lifting and falling
Silhouettes in the black bones
of trees
The crows were pissed off today
Do they plot murder?
They say they hold funerals for their fallen
If this is true
What might be in store for us?
The crows were pissed off today
As I ran on
But I am not the one
Who shoots them with a gun
So that they live their lives
With one eye trained down
No wonder they screech and cry and hack
I’m pissing them off just being here
On the way back
A rasping sound
Like they are dying
Maybe they know
That everything is
Things You Don’t Want To Do
What’s that tangled mess in your belly?
For no reason
‘Cause nothing is wrong
Yet, it’s there like a disease
Writhing and tightening
Til you can’t breathe
With the weight of it all
Following you around
Maybe it’s just the fear
Of the unknown
Of death in a metal mess
Of breathing your last
Ragged breath
Or maybe it’s just
All the things you don’t want to do
Fabulous poems, Chantelle! I always thought you were a natural poet 🙂 I have been writing poems myself for years, used to be just the odd one, but have written a lot more in the last few years and now have a respectable-sized collection! It is one of those projects on the back burner to put them into a collection sometime, as well as those from people in a group I started on FB for people with long term health problems and disabilities. Would be great to put a collection together from that group. Just never seem to find the time or energy! Poetry doesn’t sell, mind, like short stories don’t. Looking forward to more of yours 🙂
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Thank you so much Kate! I’m not sure what I think of them yet. I’m just really enjoying writing them, and they come at such randome times. Sometimes, nothing for weeks, sometimes loads in one day. I think it’s a great way to quickly get rid of or sort through emotions and reactions to the world! This collection you’re talking about sounds great!
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Thanks Chantelle! It’s only talk at the moment!
But absolutely agree about a quick way getting emotions on paper, like an impression. I also feel that shorter things like poetry, flash fiction and short stories will be a more of a necessity for me because of my compromised energy but they also lend themselves to today’s market where people have only limited time and so much bombarding them on social media and competing for their attention.
By the way, loved that imagery of ‘black bones of trees’
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That’s very true! Oh and thank you!
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