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merlynh
Member
since 1999-09-26
Posts 411
deer park, wa

0 posted 2003-09-25 04:49 PM


Free verse knows no bounds because it is the free expression of the writer. It is the first choosen chose of free writing which may or may not lead to something else. Editing is preparing for publication or presentation, as by correcting, revising, or adapting. A lot of posts are not even in the rewrite stages they are just ideas. Some writers here are not into rewrites in their writing lifes yet. The most important thing a writer must learn is the value of the creation first, and learn that the rewrites are for the english purpose of understanding. If a writer doesn't understand this and gives him or herself to the creation, and worries about english it hinders the outcome. Don't take my word for it read the book by Stephen King, "On Writing." It is one of the best book I've read on writing in twenty years.

Insprition from:
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by vlraynes

© Copyright 2003 merlynh - All Rights Reserved
LiquidMidnight
Member
since 2003-09-24
Posts 50

1 posted 2003-09-25 08:08 PM


All good points, but then one must start to ask the question of what is truly "right" and acceptable in literature. Is it a predetermined set of rules established by a high school grammar book, is it compared by the current standards of what mainstream popular art is, or is it purely phenomenological and what matters is how the person perceives it?

In music, by all accounts and definitions, Jazz harmony is considered "incorrect" by definition of Classical harmony. Still, Jazz harmony allows deeper and more unexpected twists in the melodies and forms. The music is much less diatonic, which allows the performer to venture out into more abstract (even sometimes downright dissonant) territory.

I had an advanced theory instructed who had a very unique approach to harmony and melody. It was all about using rules to understand how sounds are created, not using rules just for the sake of using rules because they are "right". It really got me thinking outside of the box in terms of music. I was taught that any scale could be played over any chord as long as I had a certain context in mind.

I do the same when I write. I've used a little bit of my poetic license   to break certain rules. I remember one instance I used an adverb as an adjective on purpose, just because it helped convey something I had written. I think that breaking the rules occasionaly is a good thing, but doing it constantly can be passe. If I used the adverb and an adjective once in a while for artistic merit, it shows that I'm creatively breaking the rules for arts sake. If a guitarist plays a tritone over a major triad once in a while, it could very well what he's trying to convey. If I constatantly misuse adjectives and adverbs, it's going to appear that I don't know squat about grammar; likewise a guitarist who constantly plays tritones, probaly doesn't understand music enough to play in key.

[This message has been edited by LiquidMidnight (09-25-2003 08:10 PM).]

merlynh
Member
since 1999-09-26
Posts 411
deer park, wa
2 posted 2003-10-02 01:51 PM


LiquidMidnight, you have a lot more insight to writing than most.  This may help you to understand even more.

"The grammarian is often one who can neither cry nor laugh, yet thinks he can express human emotions"--From the journal of Henry Thoreau.


Essorant
Member Elite
since 2002-08-10
Posts 4769
Regina, Saskatchewan; Canada
3 posted 2003-10-02 03:05 PM


In order to create you must be to express an idea coherently to you first, and understand it well in you.  Language is a symbolic behavior with which we express and with which we embody emotions, instincts and reasons, and inquire into them.  Grammar is there to prosper the language, and make it more conductive to constructiveness and ability to express.  If you have perceived grammarians as being opposed to being able to express with easiness and naturalness, than you have misdeemed the grammarian.  Just like school is there to aid learning in general, grammar is there to aid language in general and make it easier to use.  It is there because when it is used correctly it enhances language, not because it hinders it.


"For ever it was and ever it shal bifalle
That love is he that alle may binde;
For may no man for-do the law of kind"
--Chaucer

[This message has been edited by Essorant (10-02-2003 03:07 PM).]

miscellanea
Member Elite
since 2004-06-24
Posts 4060
OH
4 posted 2004-09-16 11:04 PM


Thanks for the tip about Stephen King's   "On Writing"  If I have a chance, I'll take a peek at it in the next few weeks.

         miscellanea

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