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.) You can find a past list of interviewees here. Now, let's talk writing!
Writer #1:
dietcocainedrunken gospeldearly-beloved-we-are-gathered-here-today to witness
the redemption of a burdened soul from the fires of hell
through the blood and body of a man long gone.
but,
"you ain't no preacher, our saviour was a man"
they tell me that my convictions are impossible,
even though i feel it boiling up inside of me like
the Devil hisself is trying to get out -
sipping white wine from a gallon jug that leaves
the taste of pennies floating on the back of my tongue,
i cry dirty tears from tar pit eyes,
breeding concrete conviction in every generation.
see,
my daddy, he thought he was a preacher-man five drinks in,
he damn near raised the roof with his holy-rollin' -
frothing at the mouth, he'd snort another line and read another verse
til he'd made (temporary) peace with his almighty.
deep down, i know that i am crazy:
my lifelong fear is that someone will find out.
UnholyI found you first among the pines, standing sentinel,
breathed the scent of your sweat, unmasked and heady,
until the wind shifted and became tinged with petrichor,
and I wished for a moment that would never end.
I waited for you to pin me down on the hardwood floor
between the pews, among hymnals and empty tithe envelopes,
but the only love you proclaimed in that chapel was for your God,
and I was left burning with the fires of my unholy lust.
thinnerwhy are white women
stick thin in magazines
and on television,
where everyone can see?
sometimes
i wish that i was a black woman
because even fat black women
are graceful and confident,
beautiful.
and if i was so thin
so skinny-thinny that my
collarbones were like wire hangers
and my ribs a xylophone
it would never be enough --
i would want to be
thinnerthinnerthinner
until i was
nothingnothingnothing --
just ash and bone.
things I love about your motherhe hasn't touched me in two weeks &
after we have sex my ears are ringing &
bambambam on the door -
turn your fucking music down!
"yes, mama" - but she's already walked
away and cussing out your brother
& he'll be home in a few minutes
so I have to go, kiss you one last time -
she's standing in the kitchen and
stops her tirade long enough to kiss
my cheek, come back and see us,
babydoll; drive carefully &
I can't help but laugh as I start the car.
at home, the lights are all off,
he's already asleep, & I don't even care.
What inspired you to start writing?
I don't really remember, to be honest. I guess I'd have to say that it was reading that inspired me to write. The first thing I remember writing was Nancy Drew fanfiction - although at the time, I didn't even know what fanfiction was. I was 7 or 8 at the most, and I was a HUGE fan of Nancy Drew - so it only seemed natural to me to write Nancy Drew stories of my own. I've been writing in one form or another ever since.
How much do you feel you've improved in the last few years?
Well, I don't know necessarily about improving, but I have definitely learned a lot in the last few years. For one thing, I learned that you have to know the rules - and know them well - before you can break them. Not only the rules of writing, but in life, too. I learned what a Mary Sue was, and I can honestly say that that has helped me to improve drastically. I learned not to take anyone too seriously - including myself. I've also grown a much thicker skin since joining deviantArt... and I've learned when to not hide behind that thick skin. I learned to take advice, even when it's not always posed in the nicest way. And you can never stop learning. (:
Why do you post your writing to deviantArt?
For feedback, mostly. I know that as much as I love writing, I am not a very strong writer - at least, not in the ways I want to be. And I want to share, I want to reach out. If there is any chance at all that I can touch someone with what I write, that I can make them feel or think or remember - then I've accomplished my goal.
Do you write with pen and paper or do you type on a word processor?
It depends on where I am and what I'm doing when the bug bites. If I'm at home, or have my laptop with me wherever I am, then I use Notepad. Otherwise, I jot things down on whatever comes to hand.
What was the first piece you ever wrote?
Ever ever? Refer back to question 1, haha.
What room is your favorite to write in?
My living room is my base of operations. I have my armchair and my bookshelf and my windows and to be honest, I don't really move very far from my chair when I'm home.
What is your favorite place for thinking?
Bit of a toss-up between my car and my bathroom. When I need to escape from everything, I drive somewhere. Just get out of the house for a while. When I can't do that, I lock myself in my bathroom until I've had time to sort things out.
How do you beat out your writers block?
Aaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa, I wish I kneeeeeeew. Seriously, I'm having the worst case of writer's block right now and I can't beat it. In the past, though, I've found that when I can't write something of my own, the next best thing is to read, read, read.
Do you listen to music when you write?
Very seldom, actually. I love music almost as much as I love reading and writing, but I find it extremely distracting when I'm trying to do either. I've found inspiration in music, though.
Writer #2:
DamonWakesFace of Glass: Chapter One
The boar was like a thing of legend. Its nose and tusks churned the earth like water. Its hooves sank into the ground like stakes. Its breath rushed like a stream in rain. Even at a respectful distance, concealed in the scrub, ParuMe found it terrifying to watch. He tried not to rattle the bundle of arrows as he trembled: the hunters would be rightly angry if he made their presence known. SutaKe, as honour demanded, drew his bow first.
How the chieftain could see through his mask to shoot, ParuMe didn’t know. Formed from a single, flawless piece of stone, the mask was a marvel that no craftsman could copy. It had been a gift—the Storyteller said—intended for the moon itself, and he could well believe it. The mask was the perfect likeness of a human face, carved and polished into sacred stone, and in many ways it was better: that black mask would never show any spasm of pain or look of fear. But for all its beauty, for all its impossible fla
GolemWe remember when you dug us from the riverbank, but we forgive you. The water was cold and the people had need of us.
We remember when you divided and shaped us, but we forgive you. We were without form and the people had need of us.
We remember when you put us in flames, but we forgive you. We were soft and the people had need of us.
We recall the day when you sent us against swords. This we forgive. The people had need of us: we would not desert them when foes were near.
We remember when you broke us with hammers. Even this we forgive. The battle was won, and the people had no more need of us.
But though shattered, we remained on the hillside, for no people came to sweep the shards away. This too we forgive, for our eyes remained littering the ground and it allowed us to see.
We saw you crowned and we rejoiced though our own heads were shattered. We saw rings on your fingers and we applauded though our own hands were lost. We saw robes on your shoulders and we were glad, though our o
(TM)“Do you think this is funny?” Big Harry leaned forward in his chair, pressing a sausage-like finger against the table. “Is this some kind of a joke to you?”
“No, no!” Gus tried to lift his hands in a “No way!” gesture, but it was kind of hard with them duct-taped to the chair. “It’s not like that!”
“Then what can I do but take it as an insult?” Leaning back again, he gestured to Elbows McCain to join them at the table.
McCain slipped a hand into his suit pocket. When it came out again, it was wearing brass knuckles.
“Okay!” Gus said, hastily, still not sure what he’d done. “Maybe...maybe I did think it’d be funny.”
“Ah. Well, I like to think I got a sense of humour, and I’m sure Elbows here don’t want to waste his time with no funny guys.”
McCain nodded, slinking back into the shadows. Gus breathed a sigh of relief.
“Funny guys is more Vince
Never Look AwayWe lost Jerry when he went out to feed the generator. At first, it just seemed like one of those sad, unfortunate things that comes with working in the Alterworld. We figured his lantern must have cut out. He’d stepped away from the safety line for just a moment, then realised he’d left his emergency flare back in the hut. With the door closed and the blackout shutters dropped all the way, there was no way he could have found his way back. Everyone knows that wandering off is the last thing you should do. Everyone knows that if worst comes to worst, you stay put, you wait for someone to come find you. But in practice, it’s hard. The total darkness, the total silence...it gets to you. Jerry wouldn’t have been the first to lose it, just walk off into the dark with his arms out in front of him like there was something to touch out there. But he didn’t. At least, not because of the dark.
They say there’s nothing alive out here in the third layer. They sa
What inspired you to start writing?
As far as I'm aware, I never really did start writing. I've always been telling stories, and writing them down, so at some point it must have just become something I developed a knack for. In terms of starting to write full-length books, Brian Jaques Redwall series was quite an inspiration. His books tell tremendously effective stories with comparatively simple characters and straightforward plots.
How much do you feel you've improved in the last few years?
A lot. And at the same time, not much. I made some great progress while studying English Literature at university--literally rewriting quite a bit of my earlier work--but it also made me realise how much further there was to go. Since leaving, I've still been improving: the difference in quality between my Flash Fiction Month collections for 2012 and 2013 is pretty striking.
Why do you post your writing to deviantArt?
I kind of owe you guys. I started putting my work out there online in the hopes that it would draw people to my self-published books, and deviantART was the first place I really developed an audience. The first chapter of one of my novels got a Daily Deviation soon after I joined, and that put me in touch with a whole load of people. The Literature community here is great, and it's amazing to see so many people going out of their way to share the work they love.
Do you write with pen and paper or do you type on a word processor?
Word processor all the way: I'm pretty sure I learned to touch-type before I could tell the time. My handwriting is more or less illegible to anyone but me, and writing on paper is just so slow. Also, I constantly edit as I write.
What was the first piece you ever wrote?
I have absolutely no idea whatsoever. It probably wasn't very good, though, so I don't really care.
What room is your favorite to write in?
I'd say I don't have a favourite room for writing, but looking around that's probably not true. My work has taken over my bedroom to the point there isn't even a bed in it anymore. I'm in the process of organising everything, but in the meantime I've ended up sleeping either somewhere else or on the floor.
What is your favorite place for thinking?
It's not a place, as such, but I find I get most of my thinking done while walking, or sitting in the car/train/bus. I don't have a smartphone or an iPod, so I mostly just think. I come up with a lot of ideas while I'm a little bit bored.
How do you beat out your writers block?
I don't really get writer's block. On any given day, I've got more ideas for stories than I've got time to deal with. But if I'm struggling to carry on with one particular story--especially if there's some reason I need to get it done--I'll go for a walk in the woods. That sometimes helps.
Do you listen to music when you write?
Constantly. Unless I get really stuck into what I'm writing and forget about it. I listen to a ridiculously wide range of stuff and it rarely has any relevance to the story I'm working on. I answered these interview questions while listening to Nine Inch Nails and Oceanship. Though not at the same time, obviously.
Writer #3:
BlackBowfinAnother Skythe seeds in your skin
needle their way
toward the surface
but stop just
shy of the air
they contemplate
and quantify
what of you
wants to remain
and what of me
wants to capture
what's trying to leave
and my nets
hang from beams
and bridges, only built
to convince you
that a sky exists here
but another sky
and the soft purr
of another timeline
calls home
your energy
the strings tying
you to this rock
are never cut
they simply pass
through your matter
as your seeds
open, catch wind
and take flight
These Mechanical Sonscurrents, tides
suns and moons
are to me
what these mechanical sons
are to each other
ready as Cain to slay
willing as Abel to die
each are field drawn
geometrically driven
sin scuff-sharpened
solar tides
call out to seas
of commuters
they call to me, and my worship
is it pleasing?
god placed my brother
here to test me
and lord, which dead
broken brother am i,
the walking
or the fallen?
What inspired you to start writing?
It was a good outlet for teen angst and depression. I wasn't particularly good at it, but it felt right and empowering. I truly got hooked in college, when I started reading E.E. Cummings.
How much do you feel you've improved in the last few years?
I feel that I’ve made great strides since January of this year. Before that, most of my work was pretty much unshared and totally unrefined. I’ve also tried to write some happy things too- as part of paying the universe back for the good it’s given me. I have a "Happy Hopeful" folder in my gallery that is less populated than I'd like, but it's a good start.
Why do you post your writing to deviantArt?
There’s a pretty broad collection of tastes and talent on dA. There is also a strong sense of appreciation and community here. My work likes the exposure, and I like the exchange of feedback. Plus, it’s a cool place to hang out because there are a lot of good writers and there’s a lot of good stuff to read.
Do you write with pen and paper or do you type on a word processor?
I can type much more quickly than I can scrawl by hand, so I almost never use pen & paper any more. My preference is a desktop PC, then a tablet w/keyboard. I'm a big fan of format-free text editors like Notepad.
What was the first piece you ever wrote?
Probably some bad punk song lyrics- back in the late 80s. I don’t really remember and that’s probably just as well. One standout moment was my HS senior English teacher reading my work out loud to the class: f-words and all.
What room is your favorite to write in?
My bedroom, by far. Although I just wrote Another Sky riding in the passenger seat on a mid-day rural road trip- which itself felt quite surreal.
What is your favorite place for thinking?
Wherever I happen to be when the coffee starts kicking in. Sometimes in the car, in the shower or, if I’m lucky, sitting in front of my home computer.
How do you beat out your writers block?
Every now and then I put myself into a near meditative/hypnotic state and try to tune into the undercurrents- the echoes and remnants of memories and dreams. Sometimes I'll just set a metronome to slow, close my eyes and just sorta let the words type themselves. This usually doesn't produce a finished work, but I often find a jewel of a concept or starting point buried in the result. That’s usually the hard part for me- finding that concept or starting point. I also keep a folder of half-cooked stuff that I can pull ideas from. This helped a lot during NaPoWriMo.
Do you listen to music when you write?
I usually listen to music when I write. However, I don't usually listen to anything new or unfamiliar when writing, because I find it distracting. If I’m trying to write in a particular voice or mood, I’ll use music as a slight influence more so than an inspiration. It's usually just background noise and ambiance.
Writer #4:
hopeburnsblueThe Way I See ItBeyond the train window,
vague impressions of buildings
fly past,
but they might as well be
mountains in Colorado.
I can see Christmas lights
best when they’re tangled;
they’re like fireflies,
glittering
in all their splendor.
A silhouette
is all I need to know
about a person;
I see no blemishes.
I’ve always wondered
why height, weight,
skin color,
or disfigurement
ever mattered to anyone.
We are
perfect
in our imperfections.
You see,
you may see the forest
for the trees,
but I see it
inches at a time,
and though I sometimes
mourn my loss of sight,
I find the world is
wondrous
the way I see it.
Atychiphobia"I'm afraid of failure,"
you confessed to me
through crackling static on the phone.
It rolled off your tongue
like a simple afterthought.
Though that was years ago,
I've never forgotten it;
it's echoed in
things you've said
and haven't said,
things you've done
and haven't done.
When push came to shove
and you fell down,
I offered a hand
to help you to your feet,
but you declined;
so I lay down next to you instead,
but you asked me to leave.
I did,
though not without reluctance.
For a year, I wept.
Sometimes, I still do.
For a year,
I've wandered obscure paths
in search of myself.
Somehow, they've led me back to you.
You've gone from lying down
to sitting up,
from looking in
to looking out,
but you still haven't moved.
Tough love, kid;
I want to pick you up
and throw you in the water
just to prove to you that you can swim.
But alas, a year has
tied my hands behind my back;
I dare not interfere
with an injured chrysalis,
lest I cause further damage
to the butterfly within
who is struggli
What inspired you to start writing?
This is such a hard question to answer, because I've been writing for almost as long as I can remember. I recall pounding stories about an alternate life as a mermaid into my Perkins Braillewriter as an elementary school student, since I was obsessed with Ariel; I wrote a sort-of song in fourth grade after a boy dumped me for the second time because people made fun of him for being the new kid with the blind girlfriend; and I began dabbling in poetry in middle school, though it was depressing, had bad rhyme, and leaned way too far into the abstract, so I wasn't exactly proud of it. As far as what inspires me as an adult and an all-around much more mature writer, anything can inspire me--life, love, humanity, trees, rays of sunlight ... the list goes on.
How much do you feel you've improved in the last few years?
Very much so. I've been coming more and more into my voice as a songwriter and poetess with time and experience, both on and off the page. My prose have regrettably fallen a bit by the wayside because I didn't have time for them in college and got out of the swing, but perhaps I can approach them again someday. I'm the sort who writes autobiographically, and I'm at a point in my life where I'd need to make a lot of decisions on what to share, what not to, what to alter while telling the same core story, etc. ... so I feel like maybe I'll be more comfortable with that when I'm older. In poetry and song, I can write deliberately about what's going on, whether it's in plain or figurative language, but storytelling warrants explanation which I don't feel I can give with regard to some things. I'm pretty sure, though, that I should be able to get the fiction ball rolling once I churn out my obligatory semi-autobiographical piece.
Why do you post your writing to deviantArt?
I originally started sharing my work on dA during a very rough time back in fall of '12, otherwise known as the end of the first semester of my senior year of college. I needed to get what I was going through off my chest, and although I had friends, family, and a new counselor supporting me, I didn't feel I could share a lot of my artwork with most of them ... at least, not yet. So I remembered that I'd started an account here years ago, only it was inactive because the site was so inaccessible to screenreader users, so I'd never been able to actually use my account. Screenreading softwares have since become more powerful, so I thought I'd give it a go. I remember staying up all through the night of November 29-30 fighting with the page to make it work. This was the result. I've found such community here and am so grateful for all of you, because were it not for art, I don't know where I'd be. I've always been a really creative person, but I feel like that particular bout of grief, plus the overwhelmingly positive support I've received here, have really cemented my identity and confidence as an artist. You could say, therefore, that the former influential factor was both the worst and best thing that ever happened to me.
Do you write with pen and paper or do you type on a word processor?
Oh my word, do I wish I could write with pen and paper (and do not feel badly for asking a blindie this question, because I totally don't care). I mean, I do know the print alphabet, but I write rather large and crooked lettering, ha, and then there's the issue of remembering what I wrote.
I and my best friend Caitlin, also blind, were just texting about this the other day, actually. I was in the process of conceptualizing "Sacrifice" and thought that jogging to the park for a swing session might help to inspire me, yet I felt like typing the poem's framework using the Braille app on my iPhone took away from the remoteness of it. I'm so grateful for technology, though, or writing and connecting with others would be next to impossible for people with visual impairments. I generally use a Dell laptop with the aforementioned screenreader which announces my keystrokes to me, my Braille Sense note-taker, or my iPhone with built-in VoiceOver and the aforementioned Braille app if I'm in a pinch. Every once in a while I write in hardcopy Braille, but not often ... Glory-Be-Project will change that, though, because I plan to create a print-Braille notebook by year's end so that whomever I exchange notebooks with can get a sense of my handwriting, if you will, since typed print is bo-ring!What was the first piece you ever wrote?
Whoops, I already answered this in my first question! I've been thinking on these a few days before writing about them, so I guess everything got kind of jumbled-up in my head.
I don't have any of my first writings, but I'm kind of glad of that. Lol! Probably some of the earliest writings I've posted here were dug up from 2009, though as I've said I've been writing for much longer ... I just wasn't proud of/connected enough with most of them to feel compelled to share. The first piece I submitted on here, as previously mentioned, was "Tenderly." As far as songs, the first original I ever had the ladyballs to post on YouTube was "Who I'm Meant to Be" back in 2011.What room is your favorite to write in?
Sometimes I actually miss my dorm room up at North Texas, so I've got my room here at my grandparents' house set up in kind of a similar way. The most important aspect of this setup is that my cardtable faces the window, because light or air from it refreshes and inspires me. There is a plant hanging just above that, and I like having it there, as well as taking care of it. At night, I sometimes experiment with different types of lighting, since I have light perception still. If my eyes are tired or hurting, I dim or extinguish all light sources, but sometimes I want the happy yellow glow of my lamp or the wakeful brightness of my overhead light. Oddly, light still really affects my mood, or I suppose my mood determines what lighting I use.
What is your favorite place for thinking?
You may have gathered that my safe haven is at the park. My grandparents have lived here for longer than I've been alive, so this neighborhood in general has been a constant for me. Because I now rent a room with them, I can jog--yes, jog with my cane a-swinging--four-tenths of a mile to the park, sit and swing while thinking and blasting my music, and then head back home. I stay there anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour and a half, sometimes even longer. I have a lot of memories there, particularly with another best friend, Thomas, who was quite recently also a boyfriend, so the place has very positive associations for me.
How do you beat out your writers block?
You know, I really don't have a method. If I don't have any ideas and am not working with any sort of deadline, such as a cover letter or volunteer article, I just let it rest until something comes to me. I think that's the best way. I hear about people who exercise the remarkable discipline of writing for a set amount of time every day, but that just doesn't work for me, personally. I really want to feel what I'm writing, because I feel deeply, so I want to write about things which inspire such passionate feelings. That's why a lot of my writing is particularly charged with any given emotion--I write when things are happening, good or bad.
Do you listen to music when you write?
It really depends, actually. I know, another middle-of-the-road answer, but it totally depends on my mood. Sometimes I have music low in the background, whether that's my extremely diverse iTunes library or the local classic rock station on my little boom box. But sometimes, I just really need quiet so that I can semi-audibly piece my thoughts together in my head. Whether or not I listen to music while writing can be influenced by whether I've had a long day, whether there's a lot of activity going on at my house, etc.
Writer #5:
LookingGlassInk:thumb404190036:
The Dead MassesThey say that the eyes
Are the windows to the soul
But when I look at you
It just makes me feel cold
Your face is empty now
Just like the rest of them
Are you just dead inside?
Or do you feel regret?
Each day I see your lies
The life that holds no truth
I stare into your eyes
And know that we are doomed
This is the grave we dug
This is the world we carved
We are the dead masses
We are the souls that starved
Each person that I see
Upon the streets I walk
They have that vacant gaze
And speak that hollow talk
Like they're not really there
Nobody lives at home
We're all just empty husks
Made up of sticks and stone
We watch the cinders rise
Above the ash that's left
When all our dreams are burned
And all that's left is death
This is the grave we dug
This is the world we carved
We are the dead masses
We are the souls that starved
We live in our own shells
Where it's silent and dark
Pretend nothing is wrong
That we don't need a spark
This life is not enough
Why can't we be alive?
We'll all re
The EndHer eyes are crimson:thumb309379162:
But the blood is not her own
It reflects back upon her
She watches
The knives
The bullets
The abuses
Of a thousand, thousand people
To a thousand, thousand people
And more.
Her eyes are crimson
But the rage is not her own
It reflects back upon her
She watches
The wrath
The envy
The lust
Of a million, million people
For a million, million people
And more.
Her eyes are crimson
But the fire is not her own
It reflects back upon her
She watches
The flames
The destruction
The end
Of a billion, billion people
Of every single person
And more.
Her ey
What inspired you to start writing?
Pretty much my whole childhood, my dad was big into tabletop gaming (Dungeons and Dragons, etc.). He used to have his buddies over for game nights, and growing up, I thought that was just the coolest thing ever. He told me when I was 3 that as soon as I could learn to read and write and do math, that I could play with them. It didn't take me long, but the side effect was a love of writing and storytelling that's never gone away.
How much do you feel you've improved in the last few years?
In the last few years I feel like I've grown quite a bit as a writer, in large part because of deviantArt and the feedback that is available here. Out in the real world, it's difficult to get honest feedback from friends and family. Nobody wants to criticize. Here, though, it's easier to get the honest feedback you really need to grow as an artist.
Why do you post your writing to deviantArt?
The short answer is, that I love writing. I enjoy telling a good story, and I want people to have the opportunity to read something that makes their life better, even if only for a moment.
Do you write with pen and paper or do you type on a word processor?
I used to use pen and paper much more, but since I got a laptop, I've moved to a lot more word processor based work. Plus being able to edit stuff without those awful eraser marks is great.
What was the first piece you ever wrote?
The first piece that I recall was written when I was in first grade. The first week of school, we were given a creative writing challenge to make a story with at least three characters in it. I wrote a story about four kids who were on their way home from a Halloween party and were attacked by a horrible knife-wielding pumpkin-headed scarecrow. I'm still not sure where the idea came from, but to this day, I still like the concept. My teacher called it "creative" which I suspect was teacher-speak for "morbid".
What room is your favorite to write in?
If I had my way, I'd like best to write up at my parent's house. They have this arm chair that is just perfect to sit in and type. I tried it once while I was there pet-sitting and I spent almost ten hours writing in that chair without ever having to move. It was great.
What is your favorite place for thinking?
There's a walkway near my house that I love to go out to, especially with friends. I do most of my best thinking when I'm just BSing with people, and out on a walk seems to be the best place for me to do that.
How do you beat out your writers block?
I have a handful of inspirational movies and books that I can go to, when I'm really having a hard time. Even when I've seen/read them a hundred times, they still always seem to help get the creative gears turning again.
Do you listen to music when you write?
Sometimes. I like music when I am writing poetry. I have to be more careful with prose though, because I can get lost in a song and lose track of the point I was making. For some reason I don't have that difficulty with poetry, even if I'm writing my own song lyrics. Go figure.
Thumbstyles by SimplySilent | Skin by hypermagical
