How Unpoetic

My topic is slightly unorthadox-it is a card game. But no ordinary card game-oh no, this is not your poker, your Texas hold'em. I speak instead of a fantasy card game, one that many people have not heard of, or, having heard of it, have dismissed entirely as something only a "nerd" would do. I speak of the game "Magic: The Gathering" (I believe I mentioned it briefly in a previous post. To me, this particular game is a huge part of my life. You make a deck of 60 cards out of a huge pool of cards, and pit yourself against opponents in a bid for...well, whatever's one the line, be it pride or something else. The ability to create your own deck, based on your own thoughts and analysis of the game is what makes it, to me, more interesting then the ever-the-same deck of Kings, Queens, and Jacks. To me, the most interesting part of the game is tournament magic. You meet so many different types of people-its spectacular. No matter their quirks, every person at the tournament is united by a common love and comittment to the game that one would normally expect to see in, say, football. Of course, no game could do so well without a savvy company to promote it, and for that you have the company "Wizards of the Coast." They not only release new sets at intervals to keep the game fresh and interesting, they, in their incredible commitment to seeing the game succeed, host tournaments of all kinds, up to and including the Pro Tour-yes, their is in fact a pro circuit. Of course, you don't need to be a hardcore tournament player to enjoy the game. A kitchen table can support the game just as well as a table in a tournament venue should you so choose-to many people (and to me, at times) the draw of the game is simply playing casually, nothing on the line, for nothing but laughs and fun (although theirs plenty of that in tournaments as well, believe you me). Yes, dynamic, ever shifting, a wonderful social exercise, and, to me, something to be treasured...to me, that is Magic.

Finding devices within poems

Success is counted Sweetest
By Emily Dickenson


SUCCESS is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple host 5
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory,

As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear 10
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear.

"http://www.bartleby.com/113/1001.html"

I chose this poem because it really stood out to me. The words seemed put together better then most other poems I have seen-in particular, the last two lines of the poem "The distant stress of triumph
Break agonized and clear" really made this poem unique to me-the "strains of triumph" can arguably refer to the strain of the battle itself, and hence, refer in turn to the death cry of another, who was probably also straining for the same triumph. This particular irony was, to me, quite well done.


The title of the poem, "Success is considered sweetest" is self explanatory. It relates the strugges of a person (probably a soldier, from the tone of the rest of the poem) who doesn't know success. It goes on to detail that
"Not one of all the purple host
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory"

One can take this to mean simply that even though someone may have achieved a victory, it may not feel like a victory-indeed, how could it? If you take the poem at face value, it appears that while one side is celebrating its victory, the other is lamenting its defeat with death cries. This is probably why the strains of victory break "so agonized and clear."


To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.


Here is a prime example of a metaphor. Prior to these lines, she speaks of people who never succeed. Hence, here she is saying that to really appreciate something, like success (nectar), you have to need it really badly (sorest need). This firmly establishes what the poem will be about, as well as what mood the reader can expect.



As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear.

This is the most powerful stanza in the poem, in my opinion, and a good example of imagery. The mental image of defeated, broken soldiers, lying forlornly on the ground is powerful enough, but to imagine such broken people being forced to hear the cries of victory from those who may have kill them, that is truly powerful.


The tone becomes quickly appearent as something very sombre and dark. It already gives a sense of foreboding when one begins reading, but it quickly turns to a dark thing when you reach the second stanza, and the subject of the poem becomes apparent. She creates the mood through use of powerful imagery, painting a vivid picture of fearful things in the mind of the reader.

Writing Territories

Every person has a passion-something that they always feel that they must get better at, something that drives them. For me, that is, as cheesy as it sounds, a card game. Not a normal card game-this is no poker I speak of, but rather a fantasy card game called Magic: The Gathering. (Incidentally, my love of fantasy novels probably helped to draw me into this). I first discovered the game when I was a very young child. A friend of mine introduced me to it, and showed me some very basic cards from the game. I was, to put it simply, only mildly interested at the time. I did not imagine then, what a huge part of my life that card game would become. A while after this, my mother (whom I had told about this) noticed an advertisement for a class about the game. I figured "why not?" and enrolled. I still remember the room where we learned. It was pretty bare bones, mostly grey. But they had several great huge tables throughout the room, and the instructor, who I remember only vaguely, informed us that if we did not have our own decks, we would each recieve what he called "a starter deck." Looking back on it now, the deck wasn't very strong at all, and needless to say, I lost nearly every game I played. Even still, I fell in love almost immediately. What wasn't too love? We got to battle our opponents with all magnificent arrays of creatures and spells! I soon began buying my own cards and creating my own deck, which, beginner as I was, wasn't very strong either, but I began winning, at least. I played off and on for a few years, until about seventh grade, when Magic became a fad at my middle school. Suddenly, everyone was playing! It was at about this time that I started getting interested in playing competitively...I don't know if it is an exxageration to say that if I hadn't had that experience, I never would have continued with magic as I did, but it definately contributed. Retelling my entire story would take hours on end to do, but suffice it to say that today, I still play the game every weekend, at a competitive level. It's a huge part of my life...but to be honest, I wouldn't trade it for the world. And I would definately do it all again, if I had to.

Myself as a writer

Truth be told, I like to read all manner of books, with the exception of auto biographies. However, my favorite books by far are fantasy novels. Something about the (oft tortured) hero going off on some epic quest to "slay the dragon" or whatever the author decides to call it just grabs me for some reason, even if it is a bit cliche'd at times. I've enjoyed books like that since I was very young, since I had (and have) a rather active imagination.

I like to write the same kind of stuff I like to read-anything supernatural or surreal is my niche'. I also enjoy (and, I think, am fairly skilled at) any sort of novel which involves a political issue, or a situation that arose because of politic (various wars, for example). Unfortunately, I have a bad habit of making my stories a bit too wordy at times, but I'm working on fixing that.

I don't write as often as I'd like too if it's not a school assignment...I always seem to get sidetracked. If I had better control of myself, I suppose I would write once or twice a week.

Post-play writing prompt

Actually writing a play was a liberating experience for me. It is certainly NOT something that I would ordinarily do, and I'm not entirely sure if I intend to repeat the experience in the near future. But I can say that it was different, and very interesting. I actually did not find the form irritating-far from it. The way you could imply the emotion present in the scene through a simple indicator, or through common sense (angry lines naturally seem angry etc) was very liberating, freeing the story from the sometimes tedious "said character X angrily" lines that are a necessity in other writing forms. However, as I said, I'm not sure if I'll ever be over eager to repeat the experience, and I certainly am not inclined to write any of its "sister art forms" (T.V. scripts, drama plays etc).

If I were to give advice to a younger person, it would be, very simply "Keep going." That holds more relevance then many people might think at first glance-certainly no one is going to deny that growing up in today's world is very difficult. The opportunity cost of growing up successful is in fact, higher then its ever been. Given the choice between a video game and school work, most people would choose the video game-I've seen many a person fall into this trap, and I myself have done that on numerous occasions. The key is to just keep going, and keep your eyes on the goal-simple enough, right?



I think what allows a great literary work to remain is very simply word of mouth. How great a novel is becomes irrelevant if nobody ever hears anything about it. One particular series comes to mind in this regard is the Elric of Melnibone series-at the very least, I thought it was on par with some of the other so called great novels of our time (read: Harry Potter). And yet, very few people have heard about this series? If one were to ask oneself why that is, the answer would have to be "because word of mouth never happened in this instance." I also believe that a so called great novel must deal with prominent issues in the current community. For example, To Kill a Mockingbird dealt with slavery and racism, issues that always have and always will resonate with the general community. I believe that if one is able to write on such a powerful subject well, at the very least, that author will enjoy at least a temporary "time in the limelight" if you will.

Second Writing Prompt

1. Theme is unbelievably important in a novel. It gives a story direction and purpose. It hones the reader’s thoughts, guiding him or her to notice what is truly important. Indeed, it is theme itself that gives a story a reason for existing-for truly, what is a story without a theme but a random jumble of words with a convoluted message? More then that, theme allows the reader to get in touch with the book's characters. Can anyone honestly say they would (or would not have) connected as much with, say, Harry Potter, if not for the books (and his personality's) themes of optimism, friendship, and renewal? In fact, even great literary works like To Kill a Mockingbird is nothing-absolutely nothing-without a theme to drive it and make us think. The opposing viewpoint would probably claim that you could still develop characters without a theme, and that you can still have a respectable story. While I do agree with that to an extent, I would also argue that you would feel like something is missing-perhaps a character's motive, or a key plot difference.



2. One theme I might consider developing is very simple- the idea of war. What constitutes war, why do people go to war, why do people protest war? Given the current events, this is very important to me- I feel that, given the charged atmosphere we currently have in the country, a war-time play might be appropriate. War also gives characters a chance to interact in various ways that they simply would not in peace time. It has always been interesting, to me, to see how humans act in life threatening situations as opposed to peace time, and what better way to expose a character to danger then to put them in the very deadliest of conflicts.

3. War presents several conflicts intrinsically-such is the nature of the beast. Conflicts that could be developed in a play include a corrupt war, perhaps started by an equally corrupt government. It could show the nature of the populace in such times, and the attitudes of the soldiers. Alternatively, the entire play, or rather, much of it, could be set in the middle of the war itself, showing key battles and interactions. Perhaps a tragic story of two family members fighting on different sides, or a more light hearted story about a struggling drill officer that simply wants to move up in the ranks, or even a simple story about a rebelling soldier and his oppressive superior officer. Regardless, as I said, war presents several conflicts-as such their are just as many to chooses from for a war story.

Initial Writing Prompts

For alot of people, reading is just that-reading. However, for writers, they are much more then that-they are inspiration. A Book can give an idea for a character's name, a setting, or even a plot device. It may help you decide on the protagonist's goal, or help you decide on a character's personality. Books are also a form of research. For example, if you are writing a historical peice about say, the history of a religion, it is probably a good idea to read several established texts on the said religion, in addition to visiting significant sights (churches, if you were writing about Christianity, for example).

Something in this world that concerns me is politics-in fact, anyone who knows me can probably tell you that I'm very vocal about a vast majority of issues. It is interesting to note that although most people are also very vocal about specific issues, they often don't know more then the basics. It is extremely disheartening to begin what could be an enlightening, intelligent discussion, only to see it devolve into "Your wrong!" "No your wrong!" I feel very strongly that people should be vocal about politics-after all, that's how America is supposed to work. However, I also believe that a person must make every effort to fully understand both sides of an issue before they talk extensively on it...otherwise, they just continue to spread what could be skewed or downright incorrect information.


One book, or rather trilogy that has inspired me is the Riddle Master series (The Riddle-Master of Hed, Heir of Sea and Fire, and Harpist in the Wind being the titles of each individual book), by Patricia A. Mckillip. It is a fantasy novel, and it is admittedly cliche' at some points-a random farmer who knows little more then his profession awakens to a greater destiny, etc. etc. However, it is presented in such a way that evne the most cliche' parts of the story felt, to me at least, extremely well written. I felt that the world was extremely well developed, as were the characters, specifically the main character, Morgon. It was in the vein of the Lord of the Rings trilogy so much so that several connections can be drawn, and I don't feel that it is an exageration to say that it was on par with the aforementioned trilogy. This is important to me because, as you might imagine after reading this, my favorite genre is fantasy, and I can't count the number of fantasy novels that I have read that have blended together into one giant, retold story. It was extremely uplifting to see this little known series breathe new life into what many would consider a stale genre. Eventually, I hope to be able to duplicate such prowess, and produce my own fantastic series.