Poet and more?

[CharleyH]

I know all of us have more talents than simply poetry, and I bet we post on lit more narratively. In fact, I have discovered the erotic author Champagne! I knew of Lauren and Angeline and Liar's turn on of stories, and of course my own.

Do poets, when they write narrative, more erotically and poetically describe things more than perhaps the non-poets of Lit?

Do YOU write stories?

Share.

 

[annaswirls]

I wrote a few stories, the first of which I got many comments like-- I thought you must have been a poet. Not sure if that was a compliment, though.

neonurotic and 4degrees are both writers whose stories burn as hot as their poems, that is for sure.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Do poets, when they write narrative, more erotically and poetically describe things more than perhaps the non-poets of Lit?

I think that it is very noticeable when someone who is a poet writes prose, and usually that influence makes itself felt in very positive ways. I don't think the most important difference is any added lyrism on the way things are described, though. I'm not even sure if that would be a positive thing, in most genres.

The most important tools that poetry give us when it comes to write prose are the respect for and the knowledge of language. As poets, we are used to be precise with each independent word we us - each word counts and must add something to the whole. That precision and attention to every semantic and semiotic implication of every word and every phrase used are devastatingly powerful tools when applied to prose. That's not to say that non-poetry authors don't possess those same tools, but to poets, it comes easily and naturally.

 

[CharleyH]

I wrote a few stories, the first of which I got many comments like-- I thought you must have been a poet. Not sure if that was a compliment, though.

neonurotic and 4degrees are both writers whose stories burn as hot as their poems, that is for sure.

I am certain it was. Why do you think it was not? Out of curiosity.

 

[Du Lac]

I use my attempts at poetry to strengthen my prose. The use of the mind and eye to describe a moment, person, nature etc. in poetry using as little rhetoric as possible IMO helps a writer of prose create qualities that seduce the reader into identifying. While I feel my prose here at Lit is very immature I feel it was a great way to learn how to express so many details of life. I always seek to learn and find that poetry does just that for me.

du lac~

 

[Rybka]

When I look at the prose I wrote before I fell back into writing poetry (my first creative love) it is much stronger and basic. I like my new stuff, but others don't because it loses 'bite' for 'flow'. ???

 

[Tzara]

Do poets, when they write narrative, more erotically and poetically describe things more than perhaps the non-poets of Lit?

Without reading a random sampling of stories by "poets" and "non-poets" I wouldn't be able to say. I rather doubt that simply writing poems necessarily makes one a better fiction writer. Lauren is correct that poets (at least good poets) have to pay attention to every word, but then so do good short story writers. The craftsmanship is different because what is being built is different. Poems work differently from stories, which in turn work differently from novels, which in turn work differently from plays, and so on.

Do YOU write stories?

I tried to for many years. I kept running into a small problem called plot. As in, you kind of need one to write a story and I am really lousy at coming up with them.

Besides, it is enough work to get 65 words into the right order at one time. Even a very very short story is ten times that many words. I can't control that--it gets too messy.

 

[Angeline]

Yes, I have written some stories and I've published lots of nonfiction in my various careers, but I seem to be hopelessly hooked on poetry.

 

[bogusbrig]

I just wonder how good poets are at plot, which is something they don't have to deal with in the same way fiction writers do. Plot is an artform in itself and not to be under estimated.

I've written quite a few stories which got criticised for lack of sex and one was criticized for getting the qualifications of the leading character wrong who was a librarian and therefore in the eyes of the person who left a comment and who was a librarian, decided the whole story sucked. But she talked bollocks, well she would, she was a lousy librarian, it was a good story with a good plot. OK this has nothing to do with the original question but its allowed me to get this off my chest.

 

[Liar]

Well, when it comes to storytelling, I'm a playwriter first andd foremost. Which is pretty much the oppoistite of poetry. All structure, dramaturgy planning and plot tempo, but no narration voice, no elocution.

When I write prose, I bring both that and what I've learned from writing poetry to the table. it seems that about half the time, I manage to combine the best of those worlds. The other half of the time, I get one part (either plot and dramaturgy or language and style) all wrong or even flunks both.

Those are the storys that never goes further than my hard drive.

 

[mojo_cat]

Ehehe, as my new sigline reveals, I do both - i find i do both equally, though i do think it's funny that my stories get panned much more often than my poems, which is funny to me as i think my prose is uniformly better than my poems - it takes me sometimes a year or more to write a poem, whereas the prose flows much more easily.

*shameless plug* you can read my story and judge for yourself! *shameless plus*

just kidding...but I do think it's generally easier for poets to transition over to prose than vice versa - look at Leonard Cohen's Beautiful Losers. And there are some who are awesome at both - I'd cite Tom Robbins here...lots of variety.

 

[champagne1982]

I know all of us have more talents than simply poetry, and I bet we post on lit more narratively. In fact, I have discovered the erotic author Champagne! I knew of Lauren and Angeline and Liar's turn on of stories, and of course my own.

Do poets, when they write narrative, more erotically and poetically describe things more than perhaps the non-poets of Lit?

Do YOU write stories?

Share.

<smug>I'm an erotic author!</smug> I have always done both. Am I biliteral? Seriously, I think it's possible to move through different media and not lose your identity to any. I don't mind being known as the author who writes poetry or the poet who came up with a decent plot. Check out some of my Snippetsville contributions. I think that those exercises helped both forms of writing.

The writers in the survivor contest here on Lit need to move in and out of all genres including poetry and illustrated stories. I wonder, if someone sang lyrics and posted it as an audio poem, would that count? Anyway, back to my point--

Prose, poetry, photography, illustration and music are all arts and as artists, we should explore every form so that we can make an educated choice as to where our strengths lie.

I haven't been bitten by the prose muse lately, but I'm going to give NANO a try, (again) and see how it goes this year. I may not have a short story after November, but I may win NANO.