Mar 7, 2013

Writing Updates

image201107290001 Well, let’s see its been nearly 2 months since my last confession.  My first story has had three rejections and currently its spending time in solitary, contemplating how it could be better.  I know I should have sent it out again, but in the intervening time I have picked up a part time job that has all but killed my time and motivation. 

I did, as you will have noticed rediscover poetry in February which resulted in my writing a speculative fiction poem that I have submitted for publication in an online magazine.  So I haven’t been totally sedentary.  It’s called Bad Ground and has an Australian/Cthulu-esque vibe. 

I tell you though if you think its hard working out submission requirements for short stories, well poetry guidelines seem to be even more nebulous and seem to amount to make sure it’s good and if you write traditional poetry ie metred verse with rhyme, make sure it’s bloody good.

So do I think I have a chance…no idea. 

I am not a big fan of free verse, I prefer the likes of Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost. Or maybe it’s the quality of the free verse I have read?  For I can be put off by wrenched rhyme and clichéd turns of phrase as much as the next person. 


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Comments (4)

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I once submitted a poem to a few places. I am not a poet. But if you're keen to try submitting yours elsewhere, might I suggest Star*Line? If nothing else, it was a nice rejection. ;-)
My recent post New Booksies
3 replies · active 627 weeks ago
Thanks for the recommendation. I have found submission guidelines a little sketchy at a number of places. The work I have seen them print tends toward free verse which I am not too keen on. Then again I can see that they would probably get an abundance of "naive" poetry, in traditional rhyming patterns.
I'm not that big a fan of verse that's too free either. Without some sort of structure, it often just feels like prose with extra line breaks. On the other hand, The Sunlit Zone by Lisa Jacobson (Stella longlisted verse novel) opened my eyes a little to what can be done with free verse. (Link to my review should be below)
My recent post The Sunlit Zone by Lisa Jacobson
Then there's the argument that some free verse isn't really free, its just light on metre and rhyme. I think you need to be bloody good to do free verse well. I will check out the sample of the Jacobson.

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