ASSIGNMENT IS NOW OPEN!

SUBTEXT

We're putting the brakes on Adaptations to focus on Subtext! The lifeblood of all stories, despite how tricky it is to grasp!

Where To Begin…
Subtext is probably the most difficult topic to cover yet it’s crucial for forming a narrative. Since a lot of you may not be too familiar with it, I won’t go into too much detail and will try to break it down as simply as I can! For this sake, this will only be a cursory glance at the topic

Subtext is the underlying tension of a narrative, and in most cases the driving force behind someone’s actions in a story.
Nearly every single piece in the world has subtext in it – what’s written can remain the same but the tone can change its meaning. For example, say a student is turning in their exam paper and the invigilator asks them, “are you ready to turn it in?” On the surface, it seems the invigilator is asking a simple question before the student leaves; the subtext could be that the student isn’t ready to turn it in and thus their confidence is being tested.

Therefore…
On a larger scale, subtext is underneath the text. In other words, while the text is the plot, action and the speech, the subtext is the mood, tone and emotion. Therefore, subtext is the meaning of the text.
Subtext can be tucked away in a person’s line of dialogue of their action. When reading it as text, we tend not to question these actions any further than surface level, but in reality, there’s subtext in everything that happens in a story. Subtext act as little clues to figure out a character’s motif – a writer will be able to spot it (because they’ll have written it!) but a reader wouldn’t typically.
However, subtext can also act as a device for a character realising something they don’t know about themselves before on their journey. This is the heart of comedy and of suspense, of drama and of horror. It is the fuel that progresses your story.
It doesn’t even have to be in a novel either. There’s plenty of examples of subtext in films, with visual elements to demonstrate it, such as a facial expression that contradicts a person’s dialogue, or vice versa. For example, a married man might be looking to book a holiday to which his wife might act impassive about and fiddle with her wedding ring. The subtext here can be implied that she doesn’t love him anymore or maybe wants to split with him.

So Why’s It Hard Again?
Subtext often fails when people make their character’s actions and emotions blatant and obvious throughout. The dialogue can be on the nose, the intention behind the actions made too soon or at inappropriate moments or reaches above the surface before the actual character development happens.

Externalising The Internal
What I mean here is by taking an emotion and showing it through actions.
In other words, bringing back our favourite device; show, don’t tell!!!
You’re allowed to have subtle nods to what a character is feeling that might contradict what they’re saying. With the right actions and expressions, it can work!

The task for this month is to come up with a prompt and write it, showing (not telling!) the subtext behind it.

CRITERIA:
- 300-500 words.
- Give a short description of what the scene is about and the subtext behind it.

DEADLINE = 03/11/2024

MY EXAMPLE: TBA (Sorry!)

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Literature Lecture!

Story Shake-Ups!

We're back! And to start off the club's comeback... A fun exercise with Rory's Story Cubes!

Who's Rory? And What are story cubes??
What?? You're telling me you've never heard of them?? Maybe it's just a muggle thing...

Put simply, Rory's Story Cubes is a game composed of several dice (typically around 9) Each dice has an image or a symbol on each side. When you roll all 9, you'll have 9 images rolled face up - it's then up to you to generate a story using those 9 images!

Is There a Reason For Them?
Yes, and a few good reasons at that!

First and foremost... They're great fun!

They're perfect to test our abilities to think of something on the spot! If you're able to come up with a short story, a scene in a script or a poem using limitations and criteria, then you can practically write anything!

They're also great for the one thing writers are plagued with constantly... Writer's Block. I have my own set of Story Cubes at home and lemme tell you... They've gotten me out of more blocks than I can count on one finger. They've even helped me cure a block for a thread or two.. 👀 Sometimes even the silliest thing can help provide a fun but endearing twist or turn to a tale.

They're also good practice for a type of poem you can write that also uses set end words! But we'll touch more on that next month when we return to poetry next month

The task for this month is to come up with a short story using Rory's Story Cubes, or any random word/picture generator! Put your creative flow to the test!

CRITERIA:
- 300 words max.
- Your piece should include at least 6 randomised words/pics
- If you can, add a lil' screenshot or list off the words/pictures you got
Here's some handy dandy links to help you:
https://randomwordgenerator.com
https://davebirss.com/storydice/9dice.html

If there's any issues with the links, please let me know! But they should be easy enough to find online

DEADLINE = End of May!

MY EXAMPLE: Images are in the reducio:

Reducio

I Ain't Afraid Of No Ghost

Sean the snake was up late that evening. After sailing on his boat out in the sun much of the day he left very little time to finish his report before Monday. He sat in his chair dejectedly, staring at his documents like he was in a contest. It wasn't the most flattering way to end his day, but work had to be done.

Then he spotted something strange in his computer screen. Looking over his shoulder he spotted a ghost... Floating towards the biscuits!

That darn ghost... Those were Sean's biscuits!

Sean leapt from the chair and scrambled to the kitchen table where the phone was. He wrapped it in his tail to ring for help. Except the phone was out of battery. Drat.

The ghost was millimetres away from the biscuit tin. Thinking on his tail, Sean grabbed a nearby book and hurled it towards the ghost. It passed right through it and hit the kitchen counter with a loud thump, startling it. In an instant the ghost retreated out of the house.

Sean recovered his biscuit tin, heading over to the sofa and munching away at his bourbons. After all that, he deserved a break. Those documents could wait a little bit longer.

Fin.

Aliens and... Bigfoot?

Reducio

My words were:
Tower
fountain
turtle
magic
alien
bigfoot
drama
plane
home

Literature Lecture!

Poetic Forms

We're taking another dive back into poetry for this month! This time, we're looking at a few specific forms that ought to test your ability to execute your rhythm, rhyme, to show and tell without abstractions!

Everything Poetic

Did you know that there are approximately 18 different forms of poetry? I know! That's quite a lot, isn't it? That's almost as many marshmallows my friend tried to eat at once back in school one time!

These forms come in all sorts of shapes and sizes; some rely on rhymes, others don't. Some are long, others are short. Some are playful in how they're written, others are crafted to evoke a very specific feeling mirrored in a very fixed structure.

Many of these are centuries old, such as limericks, epics, blank verses, canzones and so many more!

However, we won't be covering all 18 of them! So you can all wipe the anxious sweat off your forehead!

This month, I want to draw particular focus to the Shakespearean and Petrarchan Sonnet, the Villanelle and the Sestina.

Next month, we'll dive into the shorter and sweeter ones!

Sonnet

I think if I were to ask you and your neighbour, you'd all be able to tell me what a sonnet was!

However, as this is a Literature Lecture, I'm contractually obliged to tell you anyway!

Sonnets are a 14-line poem written in iambic pentameter (ba-DUM, ba-DUM, ba-DUM rhythm with 10 syllables in each line). Usually at line 8, there is a change in thought or emotion in the poem. We call this the volta. The volta separates the sonnet into two parts: the first 8 lines (Octave) and the last 6 lines (Sestet).

For a bit of history, the sonnet was first invented by Italian poet Giacomo da Lentini in the 13th century. The sonnet was then popularised by Francesco Petrarch who used it to express feelings of unrequited love. We call this the Petrarchan Sonnet.

The English Sonnet was introduced by Thomas Wyatt in the 16th century, whom translated the Petrarchan works from Italian. Wyatt's form of the Sonnet introduced a few changes to the original rhyme scheme, which gives it the modern form we see today.

The Sonnet is incredibly popular and holds quite the legacy. Not just by the fact that the poetic form gifted us William Shakespeare's iconic "Shall I Compare Thee To a Summer's Day", but also introduced a wide range of variations of the sonnet form, including but not limited to:
- The Occitan Sonnet (CDCDCD rhyme scheme)
- Caudate Sonnet (The same structure with a "coda" (concluding stanza) at the end)
- Spenserian Sonnet (ABAB BCBC CDCD EE rhyme scheme)
- Curtal Sonnets (6-line stanza, volta, 4 and half line stanza)

Remember!

Shakespearean Sonnet = ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme
Petrarchan Sonnet = ABBAABBA (Octave) and CDECDE or CDCDCD (Sestet) rhyme scheme.

Villanelle

The Villanelle is a 19-line poem which follows a strict structure, containing five tercets (3-line stanzas) followed by a quatrian (4-line stanza) at the end.

Prior to the 17th century, the term "villanelle" was used to refer to a style of lyric verse that was similar to a ballad and did not have a fixed form. The term simply carried the connotation of "country song." In 1606, however, the French poet Jean Passerat published a poem entitled "Villanelle (J'ay perdu ma Tourterelle)," which translates to "Villanelle (I lost my turtledove)" and followed the form described above—five tercets and one quatrain following an ABA rhyme scheme with two repeating refrains.

In the mid-1800s, two-and-a-half centuries after the original publication of "Villanelle (J'ay perdu ma Tourterelle)," a handful of minor French Romantic poets rediscovered Passerat's poem and, mistaking its form for a traditional one, began to mimic it in their own writing. In the 1870s, the English poets Edmund Gosse and Austin Dobson adopted the form, and since that time most villanelles have been written in English.

Though most modernist poets in the 20th century had very little respect for the villanelle (regarding the strictness of its form as stifling to their creativity), many poets of the 20th century continued to write villanelles." - LitCharts.

The rhyme scheme used for a Villanelle is ABA for the tercets and ABAA for the final quatrian. However! The Villanelle is incredibly unique with its rhyming.

Villanelles are composed of Free Lines and Refrains. The Refrains are the first and third line of each tercet and repeat and alternate between each stanza. In the last stanza (the quatrain) these two lines appear again as the final two lines of the poem. In between these Refrains are Free Lines, which change every stanza to allow the poem to progress and potentially add or change it's purpose or meaning.

Example:

Do not got gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light

- "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night", Dylan Thomas (1951)

Key:
- The sentences in Blue and Red are the Refrains.
- The sentences in Black are the Free Lines that fill the spaces in between the Refrains. They maintain the rhyme scheme alongside the Refrains.
- The words that are Underlined and in Bold follow the ABA rhyme scheme.

Sestina

The Sestina is another long, complex poem, standing at 6 stanzas with 6 lines in each followed by a 3-line "envoi" at the end.

The most striking feature about the Sestina is the use of its end words. The 6 end words used in the first stanza are used repeatedly in different orders throughout the rest of the poem, with all of them being used in the final 3-line envoi.

Example: My first stanza looks like...
"Emily hopped up the staircase and stumbled upon Scout,
who sketched drawings of Zyair with the pen forged from her heart.
A streak of white skidded on by, who else but Colin with a newt
lodged between his teeth, eyes full of mirth when he tackled the badger
with speed so violent yet arms so gentle as he held his girl close.
The vistas of love persevere within and beyond the soil and skyline."

As you can see; Scout, Heart, Newt, Badger, Close and Skyline are the 6 end words in the first stanza.

In a Sestina, these words and these words only must be used in a different order each time around. For the full rotation and sequence for each stanza the end words are used in, I've provided the structure below:

Stanza 1: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ,6 (Scout, Heart, Newt, Badger, Close, Skyline)

Stanza 2: 6, 1, 5, 2, 4, 3 (Skyline, Scout, Close, Heart, Badger, Newt)

Stanza 3: 3, 6, 4, 1, 2, 5 (Newt, Skyline, Badger, Scout, Heart, Close)

Stanza 4: 5, 3, 2, 6, 1, 4 (Close, Newt, Heart, Skyline, Scout, Badger)

Stanza 5: 4, 5, 1, 3, 6, 2 (Badger, Close, Scout, Newt, Skyline, Heart)

Stanza 6: 2, 4, 6, 5, 3, 1 (Heart, Badger, Skyline, Close, Newt, Scout)

After the 6th stanza are the 3-line envois. The last three lines must gather up and deploy the six end words, two words per line: one in the middle and one at the end, (and you can do this in any order).

For example, using my 6 end words, I could write:
"Slippery as a newt, Colin runs rampant to follow his heart,
while the pen is brandished where Scout follows him, earth to skyline,
chasing him with fury and spite, close to catching him after he makes off with the badger".

Summary of a Sestina:
- It is a poem of 39 lines.
- It has six stanzas of six lines each.
- This is followed by a tercet or envoy of three lines.
- All of these are unrhymed.
- The same six end-words must occur in every stanza but in a changing, set order.

With all that information, here comes your task... Write either a sonnet, a villanelle or a sestina! There'll be brownie points for anyone who takes a crack at 2 or all 3 of them!

CRITERIA:
- At least one of the set forms - But if you'd like to try 2 or all 3, be my guest!
- If you choose to do a Sonnet, you can use either the Shakespearean or Petrarchan Sonnet. When submitting, make it clear which form it is.
- While it's not uncommon for poets to break the rules of poetic structures, please try to stick to the rhyme schemes and metres (rhythm) you're given: A Sonnet has ten syllables in each line, so try and keep it in ten syllables. Pay attention to your rhyme schemes. Try your best to stick to the sequencing of the Sestina end words etc.
- There's no word count for any of them but it's in your best interest, for practice sake, to stick to the rules of the poetic structures.

For more examples of the different set forms, I've provided a few articles you can take a look at for inspiration and further guidance:
https://interestingliterature.com/2017/ ... sh-poetry/
https://interestingliterature.com/2020/ ... sh-poetry/
https://poemanalysis.com/poetic-form/sh ... an-sonnet/
https://poemanalysis.com/poetic-form/petrarchan-sonnet/

If anyone is experiencing issues with these links, reach out to me through Owls!

Due to the recent site changes and transitions currently ongoing, and since these types of poems are quite hefty to write, the deadline will be extended to next month.

DEADLINE = 15th July 2025