Let's Talk Writing: Issue 21

Let's Talk Writing is my news article featuring five different writers that I've discovered here on deviantArt. It will be published every Friday. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to note me. I will take them into consideration (which means I'll most likely accept them.) Now, let's talk writing!



Writer #1: Synesthi
The Green of my Heartbeats5: Red, rude, a bully.
She was bored, propping her face up on her palms. Her teacher, high-voiced and chirping in fuzzy green flurries, was writing rows of sevens on the board. White chalk. The sevens were glimmering in turquoise, and she smiled.
Sevens were nice, friendly. Seven would never eat nine. Nine was just a baby, like her brother at home.
She was only five. Fives were bullies, nasty. Bright garish red, like B. B was red, but he was not as rude. He forgot things though. Like his keys. Impatient.
She sighed, her head slipping and resting on her wrist. She could feel her pulse on her cheek.
"Seven!" said her teacher, continuing to fill the board. "Say it with me. Seven!"
Later, they got to practice identifying numbers. She had learned before, at home. Kindergarten was not meeting her new knowledge expectations.
Sitting at the table, she strived to make conversation to ease the ache inside her brain. "I like sevens. Aren't they the prettiest color you've ever seen?"
They boy next InkYou found me as
A mess of sharp corners
And smudged,
Wrinkly fingerprints.
Someone had wadded me up
And shoved me in the corner,
Trying to forget about
Our shared past.
I guess you were curious
Enough to take a second look,
Smoothing out the worst of the
Wrinkles
And speaking soothingly.
You said you could fix it.
And for a while, you did.
I became smoother,
Less wrinkled,
And some of the rips knitted together.
I was still a bit smudged
By my past,
And had some sharp edges.
They made me
meghan.
And I had a crazy personality,
An odd writing style,
And a habit of not looking
People in the
Eyes.
Those made me
Meghan.
But you
Had other plans.
You made me blunt my corners,
Straighten my lines,
And rip clean my ragged edges.
You made me look at you,
And made me bleed down
To the horizontal blue lines
Of my soul.
Red ink washed the lines away
And grew formless in your hands.
I displeased you,
And you crumpled me up,
Still bleeding,
And shoved me in my old,
Dark corner.
Why couldn't you realiz Do you know the taste of the universe?One day, when you’re five years old and made out of fractured sunlight and mirror shards, you sit down on the bench of the MAX train. You’re dressed in your winter coat and boots that are too big and one of your parents has pulled your hat too close over your ears.
You’re sitting next to your mother, and on the other side is a man that smells like loneliness, something that you’ll later know as cigarettes and alcohol and homelessness. He’s crying quietly into the top of his jacket and you’re scared to look because you’ve never seen an adult cry.
The train ride goes on for five minutes, which is a long time to you, and eventually you sneak a look at the crying man who smells like Portland and loneliness, and he sees you. He leans down until you can see the red lines in his eyes and he whispers to you.
“Do you know the taste of the universe?”
And you look up at him with your little-girl eyes and shake your head because you can’t The Beech Tree (Part One of Two)Her mother was alone when she birthed her, alone in the house her father had built with his own two hands and the shoulders that were never quite even. Alone except for the dairy cow and it’s sire that lived between the houses and the two pigs. Her neighbors, the only house for miles, were in town to buy seed. They had been gone nearly a week, and she didn’t know when they’d return.
Her husband was dead, and she was alone.
Outside the window, a few dozen paces from the house, grew a beech tree. She stared at the trees as she labored, focusing her mind on the bare branches and not the human child born too early from her womb.
The child would be born before the neighbors returned. They were an older, childless couple who lived not a hundred feet away. When the wife came over, she found the woman hunched over the too-small baby, cleaning it in the tin wash bin with the dent and the chip near the rim.
“When was the birth?”
“A few hours ago,” the mo

What inspired you to start writing?

I was a big reader as a child, and my reading was well above grade-level (Shakespeare by seven, Pride and Prejudice by eight), so I often found that I didn't have materials to read that I wanted to read, especially while at school, where the options were much simpler and less interesting. So, I started writing my own stories as ways to keep myself entertained. If I couldn't find what I wanted to read, then I would just have to write it, wouldn't I?

I've also always been really good at telling improvisational stories. I'd tell stories to my brother that I'd literally make up on the spot when we were really young, and I was also really good at retelling things in a funny manner. Both those things also worked their ways into my writing.

How much do you feel you've improved in the last few years?

I think a lot, really. I've only been on dA just over a year and a month, and before that I never really sought out people's opinions on my work. That's been a huge thing. I wrote without an audience for the longest time, and the register and tone I used was completely...I'm not sure how to say it. Vacant? Absent? I was always very aware that no one would read what I was writing, so...presentation didn't matter as much. And that all has changed, and I think that's been very crucial to my development.

Why do you post your writing to deviantArt?

Originally, I was just reaching out tendrils to see if I could find other people with synesthesia out there in the big wide world of the internet. Now, it's much more complex. I feel like a person full of words, but I'm a shy person and I'm not good at using my words when I feel anxious. Also, some days there are so many ideas in my head that I feel like I'm going to explode. Both these things are relieved through deviantART. It's a free, safe place where I can experiment without worrying about the anxiety. Also, I really love the responses I get.

Do you write with pen and paper or do you type on a word processor?

It depends. When I talk about writers block, I'll explain a little more about why I absolutely must use computers, but in general I work best on paper. It's the synesthesia. It doesn't look quite right on a screen.

What was the first piece you ever wrote?

Ever? When I was in first grade I wrote a scary story about a skeleton that lived in an attic. It turned out to be a child skeleton who was sad because in life, he was afraid of the attic. I don't recall how it ended.

My first POSTED piece on deviantART was written a long time ago (when I was eleven).

I think the first piece I wrote FOR deviantART was The Green of my Heartbeats, which is one of my two DD pieces, and one of my personal favorites. Everything before that was sort of old material to get used to dA.

What room is your favorite to write in?

At home, my living room. We have these crystals that hang from the window that cast these rainbows around the room, and it always feels really peaceful. Also the stained-glass window is just really fun to write under, what with the colors all over the place.

Now that I'm at college, I only ever really have my dorm. I don't write in here a lot. I tend to write outside more.

What is your favorite place for thinking?

Here at college, the Hampshire Tree. It's the tree that our school logo is based on, and requires a bit of a walk through the woods. You climb a ladder to get into the tree, but it's a lovely view, especially now that New England autumn is upon us.

How do you beat out your writers block?

I get two kinds, the typical kind and the illness-induced kind. For the typical kind, I go on runs. Nothing gets my head wanting to write like being away from my writing materials. Staring at paper has never gotten me anywhere. I don't sit down to write until the idea is literally percolating inside my blood.

My illness-induced type is much different. For starters, I usually can't write afterwards, and so I have to use a computer, which frustrates me. For that, I use the program Audacity, and record myself speaking to myself about anything going on. After half an hour, I stop it, and listen to it. Usually there is something to work from in there.

Do you listen to music when you write?

Never. Completely distracting with the synesthesia. I can't handle that many colors at once. However, if I'm trying to come up with an idea, and I can't run for whatever reason, I might listen to some music. That depends on my mood though.



Writer #2: raspil


What inspired you to start writing?

I don't remember.  That was about 30 years ago.  The most I remember was being in 3rd grade, writing a story.  Was it for class?  Don't know.  As far as being inspired now, I don't need inspiration to write.  I just need a deadline.  I make things happen, I don't wait around.

How much do you feel you've improved in the last few years?

This will sound egotistical to some but I don't care -- if you compare my first Daily Deviation to my 7th, you can see a difference.   I don't speak for what I do, I let my work speak for itself.

Why do you post your writing to deviantArt?

There's no better place I've found on the internet to post writing that will get feedback.  I believe I started posting my writing in 2004, the literature community here and their support has basically helped me become what I am today.  It works.  It takes time, but it works.  If there's a better website than dA for writing, I've not found it, but that's because I'm not looking.

Do you write with pen and paper or do you type on a word processor?

It depends.  I do the majority of my writing in Word but I'll get ideas for lines or themes or whatever and write those by hand and expand upon them when I get home from work.  I've written by hand and transcribed before but it's pretty rare I do that anymore.

What was the first piece you ever wrote?

Back in 3rd grade, it was a story about a group of girls doing something.  That is all I remember.  My first novel was when I was 16, about an overachieving, rebellious high school senior who plotted to kill his sadistic English teacher.

What room is your favorite to write in?

I don't have one.  I write at my desk.

What is your favorite place for thinking?

Anywhere and everywhere.  I am always thinking.  Whether it's conscious or not, it's always happening.  Ideas are everywhere.  A person just has to have the right kind of mind to let them in.  What is a good idea at the time might not translate to a good piece later.  What seems like a crap idea now might be genius at another time.  That's why you write them ALL down.  Something you thought of a year ago might not have been right to write at that moment but now might be ideal.  You never know, so never let them get away.  A lot of my plot-bunny slaying happens when I'm in the shower.  I fixed another of my story problems on the way to the quickie mart yesterday.  Sometimes at work something will come to me.  So yeah, anywhere and everywhere.

How do you beat out your writers block?

I don't get writer's block.  I talk when I have something to say and I write when I have a story to tell.  Neither happens all the time and I'm okay with that.  Otherwise, I'd be a self-loathing, hyperanalytical, neurotic mess.

Do you listen to music when you write?

No.  It is distracting.  I prefer the rain channels on YouTube.  They also act as a timer, which is also cool.



Writer #3: MisfitableGrae
what you bring to the tableyou know, today i read that humans
are made out of stars
and i found that really interesting
because we all look up to celebrities so much,
like they’re sent from the heavens
when it turns out,
we are too.
your mom gave birth to you and
i think that’s beautiful—
the way one living thing can make
another living thing
and the second be completely different and unique
from any living thing that has ever lived before it.
but i also think it’s beautiful the way
you are made up of things older than
you can dream to be and it doesn’t define you
and it doesn’t break you and it doesn’t really change you—
you could have been a dwarf star or someone’s sun,
but now you can be anything you want and if you’re lucky
someone’s world can still
revolve around you.
worship yourself. love the bend in your spine
when you’re carrying a backpack full of your future,
the squint in your eyes from staying up too late,
your feet that without suicidal.it’s like she’s toeing the edge of  a cliff and
she’s smiling and she’s deadly
and you’re standing too far back to save her
and it’s just too late because she’s about
to jump.
---
if you want a list of reasons not to commit suicide,
here it is.
1. you have two dogs that will miss you.
they were wagging their tails and smiling
last night when they took you to the hospital
and i couldn’t find the words to tell them
that they should be quiet.
2. you have a car that you cried when you got
and you roll the windows down and blast music
whenever you pick me up from school
and i’m sorry i never sang along, but this is just to say
that you have things that still make you feel alive.
3. you have a sister that is nice about fifteen percent of the time
and loves you the rest of it. trust me, she does.
she does not remember the last time she hugged you
but she wrote about you when her teacher asked her
who her hero was.
4.
4.
4. mom should things i wish i could tell my dog1. waiting and watching the door
won’t make them come back any sooner,
trust me on this one.
2. i know sometimes you yell as loud
as you can and people just tell you
to hush. sometimes you can scream your heart out
and no one will pay attention to you.
3. puppy dog eyes won’t get you through
school.
4. why the hell did you go and make me
the center of your whole world?
(i’m sorry i can’t do the same)
5. i know i’m good at leaving
but bad at coming back.
you’re good at staying.
6. the rabbits you dream about are brown,
your tail is always right behind you,
the delivery man doesn’t really want to kill us,
you’re a good dog.
7. when you’re sad, don’t eat chocolate.
lay down and wait for things
to be better because eventually
things get better, but sometimes
you have to watch the change to really
notice it.
8. if you ever find yourself on the street,
staring down the road hom the 'd' wordwhen i was seven years old, my mother, tear-streaks
drying on her cheeks, fingered her wedding band
and told me, “love hurts, sweetie,
that’s how you know it’s a good love.”
two days later, my father came back home.
he was missing his wedding ring
and when he left again,
he left a handprint on my mother’s cheek
that she carried with her even after the bruise was gone.
i grew up without a father influence in my mother’s world
and without a mother influence in my dad’s.
neither of them got remarried.
they had found each other and that was enough.
they had found each other and that was too much.
i grew up a thin string attaching one man and one woman
together in a way arguments and resentment could never snap.
they met in restaurant parking lots and in the bleachers
of my soccer games the way soldiers meet on battle fields,
trading me across the asphalt and steel like a
deadly weapon, a bullet hurdled back and forth.
he took me out to ball games b

What inspired you to start writing?

Well, actually, when I was like, five, my sister McKenzie would sneak into my room because she was scared of sleeping alone, and would sleep in a pull out bed that I had. Eventually, I started making her pay to sleep there. So she would, like, tell me these wonderful fantastical stories and I loved them so much. She kind of taught me how to weave words into stories and then she taught me to love them. Then when she got really big into writing, I decided to follow her, because why not? I guess it was the classic, "anything she can do I can do better" (which isn't true in this case, but it got me started writing, and I haven't stopped since)

How much do you feel you've improved in the last few years?

Oh god, loads, man. I started pretty crappily. I mean, I guess the poems were good for a seventh grader, but looking back I can't stop cringing. They'd be really stilted and awkward and they'd always present the point before I could go into the metaphors. I think I've improved a lot. It's not something I can point to and be like, "There, that makes me five times better". I think maybe it's just that I now have more experience than my seventh grade self?

Why do you post your writing to deviantArt?

Well, that one's easy. I want feedback--honest-to-god feedback that I know I can't get from my friends or from family. dA is a, for the most part, friendly community that I can put my poems up and get almost instantaneous feedback.

Do you write with pen and paper or do you type on a word processor?

Well, actually. Funny story. I used to do all of it with pen and paper and type it up to dA later. I went through a stage where I wrote the poem on my arm and then copied it down later. I know, I know, but we all have our dark places. Actually, in eighth grade, I would write in this spiral-bound notebook but these boys would steal it and draw smiley faces and smiley faces and, ahem, vulgar things and when the year ended and I got my laptop for high school, I just decided it would be easier to do all of my poems on my laptop. But, in all honesty, a couple of days ago, one of the boys asked me for me notebook to read my "beautiful poems" and I got really nostalgic for a few seconds. tl;dr, microsoft word.

What was the first piece you ever wrote?

Oh, god. Like, ever? Can't really remember. Uh, I know I got into a big poetry phase in sixth grade, when my English teacher told me I was really good at it--I wrote this poem called "Siren's Song" and I don't remember most of it, except that it rhymed and it took an entire recess to write. While writing, I got hit in the head with a volleyball. Talk about writing probs....

What room is your favorite to write in?

Any room that I can instantly read what I wrote out loud. I used to do Speech and Debate, and I do a lot of reciting poetry, so one of the ways that I check myself is to read it out loud to see if it sounds okay. Usually this room ends up being my bedroom, at like, two in the morning, but sometimes it's my school's chorus room after school's out because my teacher is awesome and leaves it unlocked for me so I can just go in there and write.

What is your favorite place for thinking?

Uh, also my bedroom. Sometimes, I'm just talking out loud, keeping up this steady stream of consciousness and I'll say something and I'll just pause and go to this always-open Word document called "Pieces of Poems" and type it down before I forget. If I had to say, I'd guess at school, because there's so many different subjects around you.

How do you beat out your writers block?

I read other people's poetry, really. I just read so many beautiful poems that I decide to get back in the game. Sometimes I do the cliche, "hey choose a word." "uh, tree." "no not that word." Sometimes I'll be going through this really dry period where I just don't want to write and suddenly I'll read a sentence in a book or a newspaper or fanfiction or something and just something clicks back in place. I'll think, "Huh, I never knew someone could feel like that. Huh, POEM." I don't even know, man.

Do you listen to music when you write?

I try, but usually I end up pausing it because I get so distracted. Even, like, The Piano Guys or 2Cellos distracts me. When I'm editting I can listen to music, or, like, I'm listening to music right now. Music can be inspiring but I also always start listening to the lyrics of the song and start thinking about their song and then feel more like dancing around than sitting and writing.



Writer #4: OmnomnomSquirl
shotyou said
you're black and blue
but bulletproof
and you
told me to shoot

Mature Content

Some daysthere are days
when i can't look
anywhere
because
you-
you're everywhere
and i think about you
and feel the pressure of
your lips on mine
and i just
feel empty 021. melancholiai have
the most tragic blues
running through my veins
like rivers
they drown me
and you
are floating in my memories
i sink

What inspired you to start writing?

What inspired me to start writing? I don't really know, i needed a way to express myself. I think. I’ve always liked reading and it just felt natural, i guess.

How much do you feel you've improved in the last few years?

Not so much improved as well as changed my style. One thing that did improve was my vocabulary.

Why do you post your writing to deviantArt?

So i don't lose it, and for other people to read.

Do you write with pen and paper or do you type on a word processor?

It depends. Usually pen and paper because i have that with me almost always.

What was the first piece you ever wrote?

It’s a poem i made for Mother’s Day. it's Dutch and cliché and horrible.

What room is your favorite to write in?

My bedroom.

What is your favorite place for thinking?

My bedroom, on my bicycle, when I’m alone.

How do you beat out your writers block?

I don't really have a method…

Do you listen to music when you write?

I almost always listen to music. So yeah.



Writer #5: Laeneris
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Mature Content

What inspired you to start writing?

I started so long ago that I can't quite recall what inspired me to write in the first place! However, I know what inspires me to keep going (does that count?). The desire to put mental images on paper, to share the stories that develop in my mind, and to read how others transfer their thoughts into words... these are very important for me. It's a way to put my thoughts to rest.

How much do you feel you've improved in the last few years?

That's a tough one. I feel that I've definitely improved my prose, but poetry, not so much. I'd say that my grammar and spelling have improved as well. But sometimes I feel like I'm moving at half the speed because I try to work on two languages at the same time.

I only started to seriously want to improve about 2 years ago. Now, it's instant cringe when I look back at things I used to think were awesome, so I guess that means something has changed for the better.

Why do you post your writing to deviantArt?

My friend introduced me to this website. At first I never even thought about uploading anything, but she was the one who encouraged me to post my poems. It was probably for confirmation, a few encouraging nods here and there. Now I trust my abilities a bit more, so I post mainly to get feedback on things that worry me about my writing, and to share my stories and ideas. Also, because there's always a chance that your writing will attract a new friend, and I would love to have a bunch of writer friends!

Do you write with pen and paper or do you type on a word processor?

On paper if I can, but due to time restrictions and the fact that I hate copying my notes into a word processor, I mainly type.

What was the first piece you ever wrote?

Oh man! A story when I was 8 years old about 3 witches who locked children into their country and then proceeded to eat them (don't ask). A boy and a girl manage to defeat the cannibalistic witches by use of a magic pendant. I still have the original text, but it's better that it remains buried deep, deep under a pile of other stuff.

What room is your favorite to write in?

My own bedroom – or Creativity Cave as I've come to call it. I can lock the door to keep my meddling brothers out and there's little notes and scribbles everywhere reminding me of ideas I had. It's organized chaos, and I make sure nobody touches anything! Plus, I love the ticking of the radiator at night. So cozy.

What is your favorite place for thinking?

That's got to be either sitting in a train going home or in the shower. There's something about seeing the landscape flash before my eyes that helps me gather my thoughts. However, most of my ideas for stories have come to me when I was in the shower. It's happened more than once that I interrupted my shower to write something down.

How do you beat out your writers block?

I don't. I'm not under some time limit, so usually I wait until I get inspiration again. But on days when I feel the need to write (but have WB) I reread or watch things that left an emotional impression on me so try and learn what causes me to like it so much. Then, I take that idea and try to apply it to my own stories.

When that doesn't help I make up crappy poems as self-made lyrics for songs that I like. … Yeah.

Do you listen to music when you write?

Yes, always. I do match the music to the kind of scene I'm writing. It just doesn't feel right to write death scenes with happy music in the background. That said, it's usually acoustic music. I find that if I need to write in a quiet environment, my thoughts will take over too much and I'll start to write less and doubt more.

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