The Difference - Neopian Poetry by noremac9 |  |
LENNY LIBRARY - There have been numerous poetry articles over the life span
of the Neopian times. And don't get me wrong - many have been good articles
with a lot of helpful information. But you could find similar information in
your local library. That's where this article comes in: it's specifically about
Neopian poetry.
Your poem may be about the game Swarm. It may be a very good poem and you
may have polished it to perfection. However, since Swarm is an old game there
are a lot of problems with writing a poem about it. Chances are a lot of other
poems have already been written about it, lessening your originality. Since
your poem is about an older subject, there's no real rush to publish it. Week
after week you'll watch as poems are written about new things, postponing your
poem more and more. Not to say this is a given, just very likely. There's one
other reason not to write about older subjects: they're dead. What do I mean
by that? It's pretty simple, really. Once a subject has had multiple poems,
stories and articles written about it, there are few new ideas left. If you
must write about something old, than put a new spin on it. Write it from a new
point of view or give it a twist ending. Get creative.
Some poems tell stories about certain events, pets, items, etc. that are completely
fictional. This gives the writer more flexibility and room for creativity -
something many writers enjoy. But, with flexibility comes more room for disaster.
The most common mistake writers make when writing a fictitious poem is letting
their poem become "un-Neopian". Since they have more flexibility, people tend
to end up with things like this:
"There once was a young Chia,
Who lived in the woods of old,
He lived there for many years,
Until his red house finally sold"
(Note: this poem is only written as an example for my point. It's not intended
to be a sample of my work.)
Now let's analyse this poem. It may seem like a good poem (erm, I hope not,
but let's pretend), but upon closer examination we see that it falls apart as
a Neopian poem. If we replace "Chia" with "boy" the poem still holds up technically.
This means it's not Neopian enough. Now we'll rework the poem (I'm actually
doing all the reworking; you get to see the result).
"There once was a green Chia,
Who lived in the haunted woods,
But every time he left his NeoHome,
He was attacked by pets in dark hoods."
OK, the new poem doesn't express the same thought, but that's because the
other poem wasn't Neopian enough. Now it's actually about something Neopian.
How do we know this? If we replace "Chia" with "boy" then the poem no longer
holds up. After all, there's no such thing as a green boy, a NeoHome or pets
in hoods. And, like I've said numerous times before, your poem will hopefully
be better than the above...
The most common question I get (besides "how do u get in") is "I can't think
of anything... What do I write about?". My answer is always "Try the news page".
The news page is teeming with subjects to write about. New items, characters,
Battledome challengers, events, and more. Even if a certain day's events aren't
worth writing about, chances are something that happened that week is. If you
don't want to write about something current, try the Neopedia. It too is full
of a vast array of subjects just waiting to be written about (though a lot of
them already have been). Personally, I believe writing about new events is your
best bet.
The biggest problem I usually see when I read the latest poems is consistency.
If you're writing a limerick, then don't suddenly break into a Haiku. If you're
writing a poem where every other line rhymes, then don't make every line rhyme.
It seems like a simple concept, but for some reason most people don't get it.
So, my advice to you is to keep your poem consistent. Even if that means changing
a thought or event in your poem, that consistency of style will make it a better
piece.
Submitting your poem is the most crucial moment of the entire project. This
is due to the fact that they'll never be able to publish your poem if you don't
submit it. In case you're unsure of where your work should be shipped off to,
the address for submission is poems@neopets.com.
Now that you know where, let's talk about how. The first thing you should
say is "Hello/hi/hey, It's ". Why is this so important?
Well, the success of the piece hinges upon this one detail, to say the least.
If you don't include your username, the staff gets to hit the button of utter
failure (the delete key to most of you). Next, tell them what your poem is about,
though this is not mandatory. Then tell them the title. Here's an example: "Swarms
of doom (Title)". And last, but far from least, put the poem in below the title.
It's best to include the poem in the body of the e-mail since poems are usually
fairly short. If, for some unknown reason, you decide to send an attachment,
make sure it's either a .doc or a .txt file. Also, a quick side note: make sure
you separate each quatrain. They won't do it for you.
And above all else, remember this: Writing is rewriting....
I hope you enjoyed my article! Feel free to Neomail
me any time, you'll get a response (unless you say something like "wazup!"). May
all your poetry be published and may Alstaf compliment on your work! |
