Poetic Repetition

By C.M. Mayo www.cmmayo.com

As of this year, the second Monday of the month is dedicated to my writing workshop students and anyone else interested in creative writing.


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Unintentional repetition of a word or phrase in your writing is rather like going out the door with another sweater clinging to the back of your sweater -- uh, dorky. Or smiling wide-- with a piece of spinach stuck between your front teeth. It's the sort of thing we all do on occasion, and that is why we need to revise, revise, revise.

Intentional repetition on the other hand, can bring in the bongo-drums of musicality! Here are some examples of this powerful poetic technique:

"Man lives in the flicker, Man lives in the flicker."

-- Mark Slade, "The New Metamorphosis" Mosaic 8 (1975), quoted in Marshal McLuhan, "Man and Media," transcript of a talk delivered in 1979, in Understanding Me: Lectures and Interviews (MIT Press, 2005).

wanting, wanting...

"Wanting to be read, wanting the recognition, whether its Jacqueline Susan-style, all glitz and limos, or sweeping the gland slam of literary events, is not a crime."

-- Betsy Lerner, The Forest for the Trees

book my only book...

"You have also never said one word about my poor little Highland book my only book. I had hoped that you and Fritz would have liked it."

-- Queen Victoria (letter to her daughter, 23/12/1865)

money, money, money, money....

"Tancredi, he considered, had a great future; he would be the standard-bearer of a counter-attack which the nobility, under new trappings, could launch against the social State. To do this he lacked only one thing: money; this Tancredi did not have; none at all. And to get on in politics, now that a name counted less, would require a lot of money: money to buy votes, money to do the electors favors, money for a dazzling style of living..."

-- Guiseppe di Lampedusa, The Leopard

In a previous post I talked about reading as a writer. One thing to notice as you read is where the author repeats a word or phrase-- if you judge it effective.

P.S. Oodles of free resources for creative writers on my workshop page, including "Giant Golden Buddha" & 364 more free 5 minute writing exercises.

> Your comments are always welcome. Write to me here.

 Diction Drops & Spikes

Blast Past Easy: A Permutation Exercise with Clichés

"For the Vivid Dreamer": Notes on My Travel Writing Workshop 

in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Virginia Tufte's ARTFUL SENTENCES: SYNTAX AS STYLE

As of this year, the second Monday of the month is dedicated to my workshop students and anyone else interested in creative writing.

While I increasingly rely on the Internet for reference—I’ll more likely type a word into my on-line dictionary or thesaurus than pull a wrist-breaker of an old tome off its shelf—there is still no substitute for a writer’s reference library—real books on a real shelf, at-hand. And among the most useful works in my own reference library is Virginia Tufte’s Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style. 

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From the catalog copy:

“... Tufte presents—and comments on—more than a thousand excellent sentences chosen from the works of authors in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The sentences come from an extensive search to identify some of the ways professional writers use the generous resources of the English language. 

“The book displays the sentences in fourteen chapters, each one organized around a syntactic concept—short sentences, noun phrases, verb phrases, appositives, parallelism, for example. It thus provides a systematic, comprehensive range of models for aspiring writers.”

But Artful Sentences is not only for aspiring writers. Having written more books than I’ll bother to count, I still find that an occasional review consistently yields inspirations.

Where, and for what effect, can I limber up my writing? Perhaps I need to work in shorter sentences. (p. 9) Bright little ones! 

Or perhaps, I could play a bit with what Tufte terms “Catalogs of modifiers” (p.100)-- basically, a bunch, a spew, an avalanche of adjectives. 

Or perhaps, I might try an adjective as an opener.” (p.160) Open doors, don’t they seem more inviting?

Artful Sentences elucidiates the immense range of possibilities we have in the English language to arrange our sentences, and within them, the sounds and rhythms of words, the better to sharpen and strengthen what we mean to say. And that, my dear writerly reader, is power.

P.S. You will find more recommended reading on my workshop page. 

> Your comments are always welcome. Write to me here.

Blast Past Easy: A Permutation Exercise with Cliches

Dispatch from Palo Alto: A Joy in this Multivariate World: 

Edward Tufte's Presenting Data and Information

A Visit to the Casa de la Primera Imprenta de las Américas

in Mexico City

One Simple Yet Powerful Practice in Reading as a Writer

I'll be giving my annual one day only workshop on Literary Travel Memoir at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, Maryland this April 22. [Learn more and register online here.] New in ye olde packet  of handouts for this workshop is "Words I Like," my name for a powerful yet simple practice that you might think of as Feldenkrais for your vocabulary. 

"WORDS I LIKE"

As writers, albeit human creatures of habit, we tend to use only a woefully limited portion of our vocabularies. Hence our first drafts may be stiff, dull, and vague. To add verve, freshness, and focus, it helps to loosen up our mental joints, as it were, and reach for a greater variety of words.

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The challenge is not necessarily to expand your vocabulary --I am not talking about trying to sound fancy-- though perhaps you or one of your characters may want to do that-- but to bring more of your writerly attention to words you know but do not normally use.

Towards that end reading is vital-- but not reading passively, as a consumer of entertainment, nor reading for facts and concepts, as would a scholar. Instead, read as a writer, with a pencil or pen in hand, noting down any words that strike you as especially apt or somehow, for whatever reason, attractive to you. 

These might be simple words such as, say, brood; caprice; crackpot; pall; nougat; persimmon. 

When I read I keep a notebook, PostIt, or index card handy so I can jot down any words and phrases that I like. I used to worry about keeping all these notebooks and bits of paper in some semblance of order, but I now believe that most of the benefit is in simply noticing what it is that I like; and second, writing it down. (In other words, when it comes time to declutter, I will, as I have, and so what?) Of late I toss these index cards in a recipe box that I keep on a shelf behind my desk. When one of my drafts needs an infusion of energy, I pluck out a random batch of cards, shuffle though them, and see if anything might be of use. Often it is. 

From another card plucked out at random:

shrewd; sagacious; "intrigue and shifting loyalties"; surmise; astute; console; relentless; do not relent; never relent; pout; nuanced; verdict; deadly; banal; banalities; dejected; munificence; fail to grasp; thieving toad

Thieving toad! I don't know why, that makes me laugh. And it makes me want to start (or perhaps end?) a short story thus:

She failed to grasp that he would never relent, he was a thieving toad.

I also note phrases and sayings I like, e.g.:

"Trust in Allah, but tie your camel."

"Birds of prey don't sing"

"the apostles of -- " 

"camarón que se duerme amanece de botana" (the shrimp that sleeps wakes up as an appetizer-- that's a variation on the old Mexican saying, "the shrimp that sleeps is carried off by the current.")

Bonhomie! I love it! Why? 'Cuz!

From that second index card pictured above: bonhomie; obviate; banal; decrepitude; penumbra; chronic; salient; pieties; vim; dour; bouyancy; bouyant; circumlocutions.

Why these words? Because I like them. You might not. The point is, as you read, write down whatever words you like.

Well now, I hear Henry James' Muse yelling! 

So many salient pieties... In the penumbra of his chronic bonhomie, she felt at once dour and bouyant.

>> Workshop Page 
>> Resources for Writers
(Includes Tips & Tools; On Craft; On Editing; On Publishing; On Digital Media & more) 
>> Giant Golden Buddha & 364 More Free 5 Minute Writing Exercises
>> For more on reading as a writer, see my archived blog, Reading Tolstoy's War and Peace.

>> Your comments are always welcome. Write to me here.

P.S. Still working on Marfa Mondays Podcast 21. Twenty podcasts have been posted so far; listen in anytime here. 

Language Overlay: A Technique of Fiction

On Seeing as an Artist or, Five Techniques for a Journey to Einfuhlung

(Remarks for the panel on Writing Across Borders and Cultures, 

Women Writing the West Conference, Santa Fe, November 2016)

Literary Travel Writing (From the Writer's Carousel)

Top 28 Posts for Creative Writers By Yours Truly

A bit belatedly, for this was meant to accompany the post on the occasion of this blog's 10th anniversary, herewith a compilation of my top posts for creative writers from 2006 through March 2016.

Most address questions from my workshop students and fellow writers on craft and publishing; a few posts were prompted by my own concerns: I wanted to work out what I thought about Facebook and writers' newsletters, to take two examples. 

May these posts serve you also, dear reader. 

ON THE CRAFT OF WRITING
+ The Secret Ingredient in My Writing Process

+ Writing Loglines and the Concept of the "Eyespan"
+ Language Overlay: A Technique of Fiction
+ The Arc of Writerly Action
+ 10 Juicy Books on Creative Process
+ On Decluttering Your Writing or, Respecting the Integrity of Narrative Design: The Interior Decoration Analogy

+ A Dozen Dialogue Exercises

+ Techniques of Fiction: The Number One Technique in the Supersonic Overview

+ To All the Many People Who Ask Me to Read Their Manuscripts

+ Top 10 Reactions to Henry James' The Ambassadors

+ 10 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Writing Workshop

> See also my article The Manuscript Is Ready --(Or Is It?)-- What's Next? 

> See also my blog Reading Tolstoy's War and Peace

ON PUBLISHING
+ Five Super Simple Tips for Better Book Design
+ Q & A with Independent Publisher Michele Orwin, Founding Editor of Bacon Press Books
+ It's Not Like Making a Peanut Butter-and-Jelly Sandwich, But it's Not Rocket Science Either, or, How I Made my PODs (And You Can, Too)
+ How I Published My Kindles
+ Why Aren't There More Readers? A Note on Curiosity, Creativity, and Courage
+ So How's the Book Doing? (And How Many Books Have You Sold? And What Was Your Print Run?)
+ Self Publishing for All the Right Reasons (Reporting on the Writer's Center's "Publish Now!" Seminar)

+ E-Mailed Newsletters: 6 Yucky No Nos, 6 Dos, and 8 Newsletters I Relish Receiving

+ Story Farm: Katherine Dunn's Apifera

+ Book Trailers: Some Categories

>See also my articles Answers to the 3 Most Frequently Asked Questions about the Writing Business and Out of the Forest of Noise: On Publishing the Literary Short Story.

ON BLOGGING

+ Writers' Blogs and My Blog ("Madam Mayo"): Eight Conclusions After 8 Years of Blogging

> See also my article Getting Started with Blogs and Websites


ON TIME MANAGEMENT
+ Podcasting for Writers: To Commit or Not (Or Vaguely?)
+ Adios Facebook! The Six Reasons Why I Deactivated My Account
+ 30 Deadly-Effective Ways to Free Up Bits, Drips & Gimungously Vast Swaths of Time for Writing
+ Why I Am a Mega-Fan of the Filofax (Also on "Cool Tools" blog)

+ Little Walls Against the Technium

+ Decluttering a Library: The 10 Question Could-Be-a-Flowchart

So when is my next writing workshop? Probably not until 2017 because I am at work on my book about Far West Texas. Look for more posts about Texas and, apropos of that book in-progress, my "Marfa Mondays" podcasts. Twenty of a projected 24 podcasts have been posted to date. Listen in anytime.

 Your comments are always welcome. 

CLICK HERE.

I post every Monday and oftentimes more often.

Newsletter? Yes indeed. 
CLICK HERE to sign up.

Resources for Writers Page

Writing Workshop Schedule

Giant Golden Buddha & 364 More Free 5 Minute Writing Exercises

The All New Workshop Page: For Creative Writers

Ye olde home page, www.cmmayo.com, which got started back in the Paleolithic, I mean, the summer of 1999, has been undergoing some super seismic shifts, one of which is a re-do of the Workshop page. It even has a new name: For Creative Writers.

This is a page that I began over a decade ago for my workshop students at the Writer's Center (just outside Washington DC in Bethesda MD). It also served a class I gave at the Johns Hopkins Part-Time Writing Program, and later, workshops in Mexico City and for the San Miguel Writers Conference.

I've added to it through the years always with the goal of helping my students-- and myself, for in teaching and writing, I also learn.

The menu now offers:

+ HOME PAGE which includes a brief welcome and a bit about the "Orphic journey."

+ SCHEDULE
Info about my one day only Saturday October 11, 2014 Literary Travel Writing workshop at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

+ RECOMMENDED READING
Books on Craft
Books on Creative Process
Literary Travel Memoirs
War and Peace (Yeah! A whole blog about just that!)

+ PODCASTS FOR WRITERS

+ RESOURCES FOR WRITERS
Tips and articles galore

+ GIANT GOLDEN BUDDHA
And 364 More Free 5 Minute Writing Exercises

+ And the sign-up for my NEWSLETTER.

More news soon about the podcasts, including Conversations with Other Writers and Marfa Mondays.


YOUR COMMENTS are always welcome.

10 Tips to Help You Get the Most Out of Your Writing Workshop

The article is now a podcast (about 8 1/2 minutes). Basically, this is everything I wish I'd known when I started taking writing workshops, ayyy, 20+ years ago.

--> All my podcasts
--> My podcasts for creative writers
--> Marfa Mondays podcasts coming soon (follow @marfamondays)

Yes, I'm giving a two day only "Techniques of Fiction" workshop this February 2012, directly after the San Miguel Writers Conference, in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Find out more and register on-line.

More resources for writers here.

P.S. Updates on the Reading War & Peace blog asap. Whew, I'm on page 987! Moscow has burned to a charred mess, Pierre is in a pickle, and Prince Andrei has expired in a most romantic fashion.

One Day Dialogue Intensive September 27 @ The Writers Center

Save the date: I'll be offering a new workshop, a one day only "Dialogue Intensive" at the Bethesda MD Writers Center this September 27 from 1- 4 pm. The link to register should be on-line shortly.

DIALOGUE INTENSIVE

One of the most powerfully vivid ways to show character, relationship, conflict and/or mood is through the use of dialogue. For both beginning and advanced nonfiction writers, this workshop focuses on the use and misuse of dialogue, with a series of mini-lectures interspersed with brief exercises. The goal is that by the end of the workshop, your dialogue will be of notably higher quality.

INSTRUCTOR BIO

C.M. Mayo is the author of the novel The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire (Unbridled Books); Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico (Milkweed Editions), and Sky Over El Nido (University of Georgia Press), which won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. For more about C.M. Mayo and her work, visit www.cmmayo.com.

To All the Many People Who Ask Me to Read Their Manuscripts

Since I cannot read your mind, I have to guess why you have asked me to look at your manuscript. After some years of experience with this, my guesses, be they right or wrong, generally fall one of the following four categories:

#1. You say you're looking for a critique, but perhaps what you're really looking for is validation.
If so, please be careful: you're making yourself vulnerable to people who may say very damaging things out of their own ignorance, fear or envy. Don't let any one else pretend to tell you whether you have "talent" or "what it takes." Some spectacularly clumsy writers, after years of honing their craft, have gone on to deserved literary fame; while many of the most promising young writers end up wasting decades watching television / playing games, whether on the Internet or in pointless personal drama. All I know is, for an artist validation needs to come from within.

#2. You say you're looking for a critique, but perhaps what you're really looking for, if you can't get validation, is some encouragement.
If so, I'll let you in on the secret: though there are joys, a lot of days this business is about as pleasurable as crawling over broken glass. So if you feel the need for encouragement from me or anyone else, not only you but society as a whole would probably be better off if you were to spend your time doing something else. Think about it! You could keep bees, go to law school, run for Congress, plant tomatoes, save the whales, become a movie producer...

That said, if you are determined to write, help yourself to "Giant Golden Buddha" & 364 More Daily 5 Minute Writing Exercises. And while you're at it, why not take a writing workshop, join a writers association, or sign up for a writers conference? Attend a reading at a local bookstore (how about one of mine?), peruse a bookfair, go hang out at your local library. Read books about the craft of writing and the writing life. And write on.

#3. You really are looking for an honest, expert critique.
I do not do freelance editing, however, there are a number of freelance editors I can recommend, all of whom are listed on my Resources for Writers: Editing webpage. They vary in their experience, genres they edit, philosophy, and how they charge, as you will see on their individual websites.

UPDATE: If you are an expert on anything to do with Far West Texas, I might be willing to exchange manuscripts for beta-readings in late 2017/ early 2018. Write to me here.

#4. You've taken one of my workshops, and you want to share with me how your writing has improved.
If so, I appreciate your open-heartedness, I sincerely wish you well, and know that I am grateful to you and indeed, to all my students, because in teaching I also learn.

Adapted from the Irish blessing:

May your Muse give you...
For every block, a sledge-hammer of inspiration
For every tear, a bouquet of giggles
For every care, the laser-like ability to focus on the writing at hand
And a blessing in each draft.
For every conundrum a manuscript presents,
Le mot juste
For every sigh, a sharpened pencil,
And in the end, a string of words, beads of a narrative to enchant your readers.

>> Your comments are always welcome. Write to me here.
>> I invite you to subscribe to my free once-in-a-while newsletter here.

Thirty Deadly-Effective Ways to Free Up Bits, Drips,

 and Gimungously Vast Swaths of Time for Writing

Ten Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Writing Workshop

The Manuscript is Ready -- (Or Is It?)-- What's Next?

Literary Travel Writing One-Day Workshop in Mexico City

This January 19th, from 10 - 3 pm, in Coyoacan, Mexico City, I'm giving a literary travel writing workshop (in English, of course) via Dancing Chiva. For the full description, and to apply, click here. If you can't sign up for this one, I'm giving another at the Writers Center, near Washington DC, in February. And if you can't sign up for any of them, well, help yourself to the daily 5 minute writing exercises! As well as other resources for writers. More anon.

Mexico City This Saturday C.M. Mayo's One Day Workshop on "Techniques of Fiction"

Via Dancing Chiva. Sign-up closes on Friday before noon. Unless you beg. I need to figure out how many xerox copies to make for y'all. Missed this one? There's a one day "Literary Travel Writing Workshop" this winter. P.S. Wherever you may be, help yourself to the 365 daily writing exercises. More anon.

Taking Applications "Techniques of Fiction" One-Day Workshop in Mexico City

This October 27th via Dancing Chiva. A few spaces left. For more info about the workshop, click here.

Over at Leslie Pietrzyk's blog, Work-in-Progress

I'm the guest-blogger for today with my "10 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Writing Workshop". Thanks Leslie! Leslie, by the way, is the one who got me into blogging. I had the reaction many writers have when first hearing about blogs--- who has time? Where would I even start? Why bother? But here I am, blogging and avidly reading blogs for the past year and half. It's lickety-split fun--- but more than anything, it's a way of expanding community and finding about about the world. What's going on in Iraq? Juan Cole and Sic Semper Tyrannis. What's happening in the DC poetry scene? E. Ethelbert Miller's E-Notes and Deborah Ager's 32 Poems. What's up with the world's sweetest Tibetan Spaniel aka Prince Fluffy Butt? Alice and Pabu. French art, political philosophy, torture & fruit pix? The Phron. Click here to read my archive of "Gone to the Litblogs" posts. And here for my blogroll-o-rama of litblogs. More anon.

Techniques of Fiction Workshop in Mexico City

is scheduled for October 27th. It's a special one day workshop, from 10 am to 2 pm. More details anon--- and at my workshop page.