Writing - Interpretation

So you have created your first book/article/poem, and after editing and rewriting, it is ready to present to the outside world. The scary bit. After all, everyone's a critic or budding author. Irrespective of your marketing process, you need to prepare yourself. 

Most comments are very kind, but some may seem a tad barbed. Avid readers may treat you as if you have invaded a sacred place. I could list a number of comments that at best could be described as being 'cruel to be kind '. One attitude to adopt in self-defence is that people read for a myriad of reasons and an equally massive number of styles. Don't take it personally. 

I write poetry because it is intensely personal and the audience is incidental, as are their opinions. 

Even so, the stories we produce are our offspring, and it is natural to be protective. So be proud of your efforts and accept the fact that people are entitled to their opinions. You don't need to be offended,  after all, there are lots of folk out there who struggle to write in sentences. 

God Bless 

Poetry Thursday 91 - Folly Garks

 Definition: Folly Gark - a person of great wealth and influence who believes that capitalism matches well with politics in the delivery of services to the general populace, and can be profitable. 

FYI - those of this type usually leave politics poorer for the experience. 

Folly Garks

 

When the great and the good have gone,

when the infamous and celebrities have passed on,

after the glitter and gloss has tarnished,

and the liars and cheats have been banished,

who is left behind,

to remodel and unbind?

 

After all where lies their interest,

what motivates them to believe they are best,

why are we dazzled by confidence,

that allows them to exert influence,

when we are left behind,

to pay and unwind?

 

To them, your interest in politics is folly,

not another toy to make you more lolly,

and when you become bored with the game,

and channel your greed to a different aim,

have the bottle to admit that you’re  culpable,

for the mess to be cleared by the real people.

©David L Atkinson May 2025 

God Bless 

 

Writing - Planning

 Yours truly is addicted to consequences, which leads to planning. When writing, irrespective of the nature, it is important to consider the audience and the purpose. At that point, I would appear to be behaving in an hypocritical manner. I plan initially, but then the stories develop their own energy and direction. 

A hotchpotch 

The collection of sketches above is testimony to beginning with a plan but then ....!!! 

So I planned a face sketching exercise beginning with Julian of Norwich. That then evolved into significant people like Winston Churchill and John F Kennedy, which developed into people interesting to me. Roy Orbison, John Wayne and Charles Dickens, to name a few. 

In the end, I achieved my initial aim and produced a collection of interesting faces that allowed me to develop shapes and shading of a variety of character full faces. 

This exercise then led to something more focused. 

Roles of Mark Rylance 

One of my favourite actors who has played a variety of roles in some very different movies/TV series. I tried to capture his versatility in 3 such roles. So we have Maurice Flitcroft, the BFG and Thomas Cromwell. I could have selected others, but that may be overkill, and besides, people who may be interested could well research his other roles. 

This is why I plan loosely, because I enjoy the surprise consequences that become available as a result. 

God Bless 

Poetry Thursday - 90 - Another Year

 Another year has passed for me and what do I know that's new or different? 

Shrinkage

 

Your arms are shorter

Your legs are shorter

Your sight is shorter

Your belt is shorter

Your patience is shorter

Your temper is shorter

Your breath is shorter

Your memory is shorter

Your time is shorter

Your years are shorter

Your months are shorter

Your weeks are shorter

Your days are shorter

Your hours are shorter

Your minutes are shorter

You died

© David L Atkinson April 2025 

When I was young, the time was filled with recovery from WWII, and since then, over the next seven decades, there has always seemed to be some huge threat to human existence. Sometimes, we humans are the threat, and sometimes it is natural disasters. Increasingly, human choices such as capitalism before caring. 

Time Thief

 

You will never snatch a glimpse of him,

and not because the light is dim,

by the time you realise what’s been lost,

he’s long gone leaving you to bear the cost.

 

Not always clear what’s been taken,

years later it can leave you shaken,

when you realise what could have been,

and all the things you should have seen.

 

What were you doing when he stole your years,

was your busy mind befuddled by beers,

or was your attention wandering free,

unfettered, allowed to go ignoring me.

 

You’re aware of what you wanted to know,

that youthful developments come and go,

but still you allowed your mind to wander,

leaving you to regret inattentive squander.

 

He won’t allow you to rewind your time,

to revisit that which was there in its prime,

you have to live with residual memories,

and remain alert for future discoveries.

  

To keep the thief away from your door,

allow you to appreciate life’s wonders galore,

focus attention on living in the today,

value that which he’d steal in some way.

© David L Atkinson January 2021 

God Bless 

Writing - Detail

 Some people may write for their own amusement, some hoping for big sales, and others for a limited audience, but whichever it is, you have an audience. That group of people will have a vast variety of preferences, and a writer must try to appeal to various preferences. Having said that, it is impossible to please all the people all of the time. 

As we have a vast ocean of available data, there can be no excuse for not including enough data, which could be seen as another millstone for the aspiring author. When building the story, you don't want too much detail as that affects the pace of your story, but too little information can leave a reader floundering. Both of those situations can seriously reduce the size of your audience. That is the dilemma that writers need to balance, and it is the reason why some are more popular than others. 

The girl in the sketch above is, in some respects, detailed. Someone writing about her could talk about young, modern, sad, fashionable or even frightened. There is enough detail to elicit a variety of responses. If you are describing an issue in your writing, then if it is important to the story, there needs to be enough detail to establish a range of ideas. You are trying to appeal to wider groups in your audience. 

By comparison, the elephant is simple, has enough detail to be identifiable, but is fundamentally happy. You may disagree on the level of happiness, but there is no range of emotions. 

In some respects, using models like the two above is a tool that may help you decide as to what level of detail you are going to include in your writing at any one time. 

God Bless 

Poetry Thursday 89 - Fauna

 Animals give us lots to talk about and enjoy. At various times, I have 'had a go poetically', some of which appear below. 

Rhinoceros

 

The rhino is a serious beast,

careless of where it places great feet,

wearing its suit of grey armour,

a dimly sighted herbivore.

 

A private, keratin-horned creature,

threatened by hunter and poacher,

if we fail to curb the rhino abuse,

loss of the creature's what we’ll produce.

© David L Atkinson April 2025 

Night Lepidoptera 

 

No heavily beating wings at night, 

subtle shades that diffuse the ambient light. 

A whispered, feathery brush against cheek, 

resulting in a piercing, nervy shriek. 

 

Automatically drawn towards the light 

cooking themselves in suicidal flight. 

No reason to worry yourself to a froth, 

It is only a common or garden moth.

Duck 

 

A fowl which communicates in quack, 

allows water to flow from its back, 

that waddles, dabbles and paddles in equal measure, 

allowing the casual observer endless pleasure. 

 

Colourful or drab but always waterproof, 

charming, amusing never aloof, 

a delight for every quality cook, 

our garrulous, feathery and tasty duck. 

© David L Atkinson November 2015 

God Bless 

Writing - Relevance

Producing stories should ensure that the time period chosen is accurate according to the nature of the story. For example, if you are writing about WWII and the actors have mobile phones, it would not be accurate. Similarly, sources of information have developed rapidly over the last 30 years, and the information gathered should be factual rather than the opinion of others. 

There have been rapid changes in sources of information and how and where it is stored over the last 70 years. I remember frequent advertisements for The Encyclopaedia Britannica. My father used to buy compendia of historical events because he liked knowing factual information. 

Commodore Pet

In the early 1980's the government introduced computers into schools. At that time, there was no internet and data was stored on databases which could then be searched. The largest of this type of storage involved huge machines running data that was held on magnetic tape. Until Tim Berners Lee invented the World Wide Web. 

Along with the internet came search engines like Google and smaller data collectors like Wikipedia. I have used both of these when writing the Steele novels, and they have been invaluable. However, there must be a warning about the results of searches. 

When you ask a question of Google, you can get millions of responses, and not all of those are factual. They may be the opinions of other writers and researchers rather than the actual facts you are looking for. It is therefore important that the source of the article is checked for its authenticity. 

So keep it simple and make it relevant. 

God Bless