The Saturday Spotlight

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Special Recognition article for November 5th, 2011


Daily Literature Deviations is proud to feature this special recognition article!
You can show your support by :+favlove:
ing this News Article. We hope this gives you some insight into
the person behind the art.

Please comment and :+fav: the features and congratulate the artist!


Artists will be featured in a special news article every Saturday. Major points to =SilverInkblot
for doing the hard work and research that goes into these articles!

Today's featured deviant is:
:star:silverfleckedlullaby!:star:


:bulletred:

Questions

:bulletred:

1.      Tell us a bit about your writing.

 

 If all it takes to be a writer is to write just for the sake of writing, I've been a 'writer' ever since I learned how to read and write. I always had an overactive imagination, and along with my invisible friends, I made up stories in my head and acted out scenes behind closed doors. I tried to write out the stories, but would never get past the first few pages. I had several notebooks full of story-starts. When I was around 8, I wrote my first poem for a mother's day contest the local newspaper was holding. It was pretty terrible--something along the lines of my mom being nice, cooking rice and liking spice--but it did get featured in the newspaper. The year after, in third grade, we started exploring poetry. Suddenly I had books filled with poems instead of story snippets. I entered a few more contests--moving on to subjects like unicorns and phoenixes and waterfalls--and in fourth grade, my teacher sent my poems to the head of education of the district, who sent me an enormously long letter on writing and poetry, along with a collection of poetry by Christina Rossetti. I never stopped writing after that, despite several 'identity crises' and torn up notebooks, and I've always kept a notebook and a pencil handy for jotting down thoughts. 

Becoming a full time professional writer sounds dream-like to me, even after getting published in various magazines and the like. I'm not even sure I want it. I have so many interests, several of which would make for more practical and yet equally enjoyable career choices, and I don't want to limit myself to writing alone. I don't think it's possible to be just a writer--it's important to have something to write about, and my way of finding things to write about is a) living, b) learning and c) reading. 



2.
How do you feel about dA as a literature community? 

 

Well, it's quite common to see complaints around dA about the lack of recognition given to literature. Frankly speaking, though, I'm pretty much content with the way things are right now. The fact that writers are a minority on dA makes the literature community much more close-knit, and ensures (to a certain degree) that talent does not go unnoticed. The group system has definitely made a huge (positive) impact--I've had a couple of previous accounts, and there's a huge difference between the amount of attention given to written work before the group system came to be and after, and I think it's awesome that there are so many dedicated lit groups on dA. 

There are two things that bother me, though. The first thing is the fact that emotional pieces get so much more attention than well-written pieces (check out the most popular written pieces). I realize that a lot of people use writing as a way of dealing with feelings, but there is a distinct difference between a diary entry, say, and a piece of literature, and I don't think that difference is very well appreciated on dA as a whole. Secondly, I'm slightly upset about the whole news being swallowed by personal journals change, but I think enough has been said on that topic by deviants around dA, and there's no use flogging a dead horse. 



3.
Judging by your gallery, you have a definite preference for poetry. Is that what you naturally gravitate towards? Is writing prose difficult for you?


I'm rather ashamed of my lack of prose writing abilities. Poetry does come naturally to me in a way that prose just doesn't, and at times I try and coerce myself into putting in more effort and writing prose, but I rarely succeed. I've never been much of a narrative writer; I tend to get hung up on the little details and get carried away with describing things. I do hope, however, to try harder at writing prose, and maybe I'll get the hang of it some day.

 

4. Are there any authors you feel have been an influence on your work?

 

 

Oh, of course. Of course, of course, of course. And the best part about it is that there are writers on dA who've pushed me to break out of my comfort zone, to stretch my imagination and think out of the box, to reach for what is extraordinary and not merely good. Influential poets include Plath (of course, the teenage favorite), Sara Teasdale, Ted Hughes, Tagore, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Bishop, Langston Hughes, Ezra Pound and P.B. Shelly among others. dA writers--~saartha, ~KeanuWantRoomService, =zebrazebrazebra, ~Solaces, ~sliverofciel, =methylated-spirit and ~mesmeric-revelation among others. 

 

5. What would you say is your strongest feature in writing? Your weakest?

 

My strongest feature, I think, would be the descriptions--the imagery. It's also the most exciting part, for me, because art has so much to do with showing other people the way you see things. The weakest feature, particularly with respect to poetry is rhythm, cohesiveness and flow. Narration, as previously mentioned, is also a challenge for me. 




Poetry


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"Huddled Up In September" by silverfleckedlullaby


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"Afterlife" by silverfleckedlullaby
  

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"Grey Skies" by silverfleckedlullaby


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"Full Moons Are Waning Moons" by silverfleckedlullaby




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to be featured, please visit us at *DailyLitDeviations.

Thanks so much for supporting the lit community and this special feature project!

~ The *DailyLitDeviations Team ~


Prepared by: =SilverInkblot

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Comments5
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Carmalain7's avatar
"a) living, b) learning and c) reading."
The ABC's of writing right here.

Love it. :clap: