Author's Notes on Whispers · 3:19am Sep 21st, 2018
IN WHICH I GO FULL EMO (IN-CHARACTER)
Hello and thank you for reading my latest story. I really don't know how much I can say about this one. But I may as well attempt to explain it past the jump. I hope you enjoyed it. I did in fact enjoy writing it.
Okay, so, this is yet another stab by me at being experimental. I said to myself -- aloud, as I do, because I'm almost as crazy as poor Rarity in this work (I don't know if it can really count as a "story" per se) -- "I think I'll see if I can write a story entirely in poetic verse."
So I did.
After I finished the first ten sonnets, I tried to come up with a decent title for the collection. I'd already planned "Musings in Iambic Pentameter" for the chapter title and didn't think it would work blasted on the main page. So I decided to riff on my favourite Studio Ghibli film thus far, Whisper of the Heart. I think it fits what Rarity's doing pretty well, although that's far from the only part of her body whispering at her.
I chose the sonnet form as I've always enjoyed writing those. I'd like to say I have an affinity for them, but honestly they're just as crap as my prose if not more so. Which, incidentally, makes them seem more like they were written by a teenage girl, so props to me there, I guess.
As this piece of fiction doesn't exactly have any narrative structure, I hope I don't get blasted by the mods. It is over 1000 words (1350 to be exact, and that was pure luck on my part -- ten sonnets equalled exactly 1110 words and I barely had to do any word massaging for either total). I'm reasonably certain the number of syllables, at least as I'd pronounce them, is exactly 1,680, as it should be.
As to the forms of the sonnets themselves, you'll notice I switched between English style and Italian style just to make the poetry seem a bit less repetitive.
Yes, I did consult my rhyming dictionary on multiple occasions and my thesaurus at least once.
Rarity's second sonnet is written in full-on Early-Modern English (and I'm pretty sure I got it right, or else I owe CoffeeMinion a BIG apology, as I helped him with EME in a fantastic story he wrote last year). Why? Because I felt like it. And I think Rarity would be the type to try it. Of course, the sonnet is a very serious form of poetry, and that is precisely the one thing I've NEVER done when being poetic -- I wrote a sonnet in my Junior-level Poetry class about the 2000 Election that just so happened to be during the thirty-five days when the winner was undecided.
I've said before that my mother has been very insistent to read something I've written. Well, I wrote the last two sonnets directly on this site so she'll never see them; she can read the other ten.
My biggest regret is that none of the dozen sonnets I wrote offered an easy opportunity to use "betwixt"; I love that word. I did get to use "sot" in a proper context though. I decided to use that Old English word about five seconds after I wrote "thot". Rarity would never use such an urban word. I believe of the Manes, only Rainbow Dash would.
These poems didn't take as long to write as you might expect. I had the first ten cranked out within a week. Then I wrote the first third of the eleventh a couple days later, but got distracted until tonight when I figured I needed to finish.
Like with my "Rarity Goes Insane And Murders Sunset" story from last Halloween (which does receive a mention here), I do not name either of the characters here. Unfortunately, I was unable make it clear she was writing about Sunset except by context clues and callbacks to previous stories.
If you think I ought to add links within the poems to the stories they reference, please let me know. As longtime readers of this blog know from my eight-part Pinkamena synopsis, I'm not above linking if need be.
So… that's all for now. I sincerely hope you liked my bad poetry. If not, well, I have two more stories in the pipeline, neither of which are poetry, but rather contain my usual "quality", for better and worse.
Peace out!
You're incredible at writing poetry. I just can't do it without a lot of effort. :O
Also I love "betwixt" too.
Poetry has never been my cup of tea. I was impressed by the amount of detail from previous chapters in there.
4941345
I can believe it. :O
4941338
I regret this work wasn't your cup of tea. However, these poems needed to happen, so I can't apologize.
Sometimes a self-imposed challenge can release our greatest creativity. Sometimes it can create our biggest cock-ups. Sometimes both. It wasn't always easy to do the references within such a strict structure. Not all of the dozen poems reference an earlier story, but many do.
I'm honestly surprised no one has yet noticed or at least pointed out that Rarity is, at this point in my timeline, pretty much batshit insane from how much I've jerked her around on the romance front.
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I wouldn’t expect an apology, probably shouldn’t have even mentioned my predilections regarding prose vs poetry. As for Rarity drawing closer to being mad as a hatter I kind of felt that a given since the only variant of her taking decisive action so far was murder.
4941372
In my case it snuck up on me because I’m used to feeling intensely awkward and frustrated about any social interaction, let alone Romance. Plus a certain amount of ‘been there, felt that’ (which fortunately didn’t end in murder either :p)
First off, it was well written and a stab at something that I've not seen on this site. So any criticism I could give on the structure and rhythm would be strictly speaking from my jealousy that I not only wouldn't be able to write this story, but didn't even think to try.
Honestly, I would compare Whispers of the Heart more to poems such as The Highwayman or Rime Of The Ancient Mariner more then I would any of Shakespeare's work. However I prefer both of them to the bard so take that as you may. Either way, it captured the dramatic flair and repressed romanticism that our beloved Element of Generosity loves to indulge in and captured her voice perfectly. You are a skilled writer, more skilled than most, not as good as others, which is a great place to be because then you are aware of and self critical enough to further your own improvement, As I said, I enjoyed this as I have enjoyed all of your stories, I am one of your followers for a reason after all. You have a good narrative voice, listen to it, and if any others decry you it's obvious they are mere haters and can be safely left to their jealousy. Good Job!
Oh, and do be a dear and find a way for your mother to read this in its entirety, you only have one and you will regret the missed chance when you no longer have it. I know I do.
4941403
It's funny you mention Rime of the Ancient Mariner, because I was thinking a couple nights ago that the next time I attempt proper poetry on this site, I'd go in that direction.
Thanks for the kind words, by the way!
4941492
It's no problem, you like all true writers are hardest on themself. I fall into that myself, it's why we tend to be "unhappy" or "difficult" people. Personally, I enjoy being the way I am, and you should enjoy being the way you are, because those differences inspire us to create the lies that show others the truth of things. Value who you are, because that will always be enough.