<EmmyIsAZebra> We created this group as source of inspiration, believing you can never get enough of it. Currently, we develop prompts taken from candy wrappers, fortune cookies, and messages in bottle caps. We hope to create a fun environment for others to get their creative juices flowing.
<EmmyIsAZebra> We’re currently pulling together a prompt hub of sorts. We’d like to provide a list of other prompts that our members, and the lit community, can use so that they’re never short of inspiration. So if you have any prompts or favorite prompt groups, we would love to hear about them. Send us a note!
<MagicalJoey> EmmyIsAZebra: This is a good group to have around for NaPo. Did you think of that when starting it?
<EmmyIsAZebra> MagicalJoey: Oh! No, but that would be nice to help boost out some prompts for members participating.
<Skadoske> Why do you give only one prompt?
<EmmyIsAZebra> Skadoske: Currently, we just dish out one a week. but I was considering starting new themes outside of candy prompts.
Sure! We're a relatively new group, experimenting with the theme of super-short literature: micropoetry of just two words, and three-word haiku and senryu. We held our first poem-a-day contest in April, as part of NaPoWriMo.
We are! At the end of this Word Wars, we'll be opening a new folder at minimalit: Four-Word Microprose! Flash fiction and six-word stories have become tremendously popular on dA; we're eager to see how well everyone handles an even shorter prose challenge.
<drippingwords> HaveTales-WillTell: Do you get discouraged when people call #minimalit out because they don't think that poetry can consist of two or three words?
<havetales-willtell> DrippingWords: It's not to everyone's taste. I don't have a problem with disagree-ers, so long as they're not haters or trolls.
<grimface242> DrippingWords: i don't. they're just people that don't understand something new and don't want to give it a chance
<shadowedacolyte>HaveTales-WillTell: why glorify minimalism?
<havetales-willtell>ShadowedAcolyte: It's not so much that, as trying to pare poetry down to its bare essence. I love sonnets and epic poems as much as haiku.
<lombregrise> HaveTales-WillTell : will you open new folders like "4 words poetry" or "one syllab sonnet"?
<havetales-willtell> lombregrise: We'll see what the future brings. ^nicswaner made an interesting suggestion, which we'll be looking into.
<thorns> HaveTales-WillTell: Cassildra: do you have any tips or tutorial on how to create EFFECTIVE micro prose or poetry?
<cassildra>thorns: I think the point of micro prose/poetry is to craft something, not just slap words on a page. I will point again to Hemingway's famous six-word story. It's easy to write something fast in a few words, but it takes time to craft something that is effective.
<havetales-willtell>thorns: The biggest tip I can think of is to think about your words: what makes one stand out more than another.
<shadowedacolyte>HaveTales-WillTell: I don't mean to sound...err, overly negative. "glorify" was perhaps a provocative word. Why celebrate the 'bare essence?
<havetales-willtell>ShadowedAcolyte: I believe tight writing makes for better writing. Even without a restrictive word count.
<shadowedacolyte>HaveTales-WillTell: but is there a point where "tightness" morphs into "curtailing"?
<havetales-willtell>ShadowedAcolyte: There could be. But nobody's required to attempt a micropoem; it's one of several ways to challenge oneself.
<shadowedacolyte>HaveTales-WillTell: what makes a three-word poem a haiku vs. a senryu vs. neither?
<havetales-willtell>ShadowedAcolyte: Haiku vs. senryu comes down to theme: nature vs. philosophical. But is any three-word collection a poem? No; there has to be a juxtaposition, a balancing-point, in the same way that a plank isn't necessarily a see-saw.
<shadowedacolyte>HaveTales-WillTell: that sounds...neat, I suppose. And I promise I am not trying to provoke or troll or anything, just understand. Looking through the #minimalit galleries I am not seeing that fulcrum in many of the pieces gathered there.
<havetales-willtell>ShadowedAcolyte: That's a fair assessment. As an experimental style, a lot of what's being written can be considered a work in progress.
<shadowedacolyte>HaveTales-WillTell: I know a point of contention among the distressingly popular "six word story" movement is the role of a title, and whether it says too much, or even belongs on a piece of minimalist literature. How does #minimalit feel about titles?
<havetales-willtell>ShadowedAcolyte: Having learned from SWS's title issues, we've adopted their policy: there's no restriction on a title's length, but the piece must be able to stand on its own without it.
<shadowedacolyte>HaveTales-WillTell: again, that doesn't seem to be entirely true of the galleries
<havetales-willtell>ShadowedAcolyte: And it doesn't always work out in practice for groups like SWS either. But it's a goal to work toward; and it's better to encourage steps in the right direction than to slap someone down for not being perfect from the get-go</havetales-willtell></shadowedacolyte></havetales-willtell></shadowedacolyte></havetales-willtell></shadowedacolyte></havetales-willtell></shadowedacolyte></havetales-willtell></shadowedacolyte></havetales-willtell></shadowedacolyte></havetales-willtell></cassildra></thorns></havetales-willtell></lombregrise></havetales-willtell></shadowedacolyte></grimface242></havetales-willtell></drippingwords>
Date: Friday, April 19th
Time: *9:00 PM EST (USA)
[What time is that for me?]
WordWars's Chatroom: chat.deviantart.com/chat/wordw…
*Staff would like to note that they all really do have Friday night social lives. We're not sad, social outcasts if we have no plans on one Friday night!
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