"In structuring my novel, I thought that I would utilize poetry to create thematic "stanzas" in which the plot and character interactions of each chapter/scene would correspond to what is transpiring within the poem."
I'm not ever planning on participating in National Novel Writing in a Month (or whatever that semi-acronym is), but if I were, I think it'd be more fun to just write something that would meld expressive poetry and realist prose into something that could be "true" but would feel stranger than the mundane.
Again, not something I ever expect to hear one of those would-be novelists to say about their works-in-progress, but perhaps I could be mistaken?
P.S. I am engaging in something far more rewarding for readers of this blog for November: There will be at least 30 reviews and/or commentaries this length or longer that will appear over the course of the month (not counting scheduled Faulkner review reposts on Fridays and Wednesdays of this month – and through mid-December). First half of the month will be devoted almost solely to reviewing the National Book Award finalists in Poetry, Young People's Literature, Non-Fiction, and Fiction (in pretty much that order; a few may be excluded from review due to lack of availability online), while the second half will cover books read in October marked as "review forthcoming" or a select few read this month that aren't National Book Award finalists.
I'm not ever planning on participating in National Novel Writing in a Month (or whatever that semi-acronym is), but if I were, I think it'd be more fun to just write something that would meld expressive poetry and realist prose into something that could be "true" but would feel stranger than the mundane.
Again, not something I ever expect to hear one of those would-be novelists to say about their works-in-progress, but perhaps I could be mistaken?
P.S. I am engaging in something far more rewarding for readers of this blog for November: There will be at least 30 reviews and/or commentaries this length or longer that will appear over the course of the month (not counting scheduled Faulkner review reposts on Fridays and Wednesdays of this month – and through mid-December). First half of the month will be devoted almost solely to reviewing the National Book Award finalists in Poetry, Young People's Literature, Non-Fiction, and Fiction (in pretty much that order; a few may be excluded from review due to lack of availability online), while the second half will cover books read in October marked as "review forthcoming" or a select few read this month that aren't National Book Award finalists.
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3 comments:
Not that I'm doing anything for NaNo, with all this academic work I have to do, but if I were, it would be for a novel that does not follow a standard narrative structure. I'm currently writing a novel that spans 9 different time periods, across at least three different lives, none of which remain in their specific moments of existence. So characters who otherwise would be dead (one character literally dies in his first chapter) or not born at all appear in the other storylines.
It's been fun thinking about how to make it work. :)
So like Cloud Atlas in some ways, but not necessarily with the quasi-reincarnations?
I guess, although I hadn't read Cloud Atlas when I started the project.
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