A Few of My Favourite (Writing) Things

Compiled from a grimoire grocery list of plot powders, worldbuilding extracts, and eye of newt, here are a few of the ingredients that combine to form my sense of poetics.

My Favourite Things - Photo by Ellie Morris

Ivy on tombstones

And carvings on trees,

Ghosts in the attic and dolls left unseen,

Old love letters stuffed in bedsprings,

These are a few of my favourite things.

Schoolgirls in love that meet in discretion,

Teeth-gnashing, jaw-clenching,

Fright and depression.

Siblings that bicker, twins in despair,

These are the things that you’ll find in my lair.

Homes left to rot and dangers that loom,

Nightmares from dreams,

And creatures from tombs.

Secrets, dysfunction, conflict, and strife,

These are the scribblings that take over my life.

When the block hits,

When the fog comes,

When I’m out of luck,

I simply remember these writerly things,

And then I don’t feel so stuck.*

*Disclaimer: This is obviously a silly parody of The Sound of Music's 'My Favourite Things' lyrics.  

The Glimmering Room by Cynthia Cruz: First Impression & Poetry of Place

The Glimmering Room by Cynthia Cruz

“And us girls, with our pink plush
Unicorns, smashed on Paxil at the edge."

        – ‘Strange Gospels,’ p.17.

Associations can play an important role in the reader’s immediate impression to a writer’s creative work. At first, I did not like The Glimmering Room due to what I associated it with. The associations I had made these poems feel stale and ingenuine.

The juxtaposition of violence with pretty, girly things felt like it was just for the sake of it, almost like it was written with the ‘kinderwhore’ aesthetic (popularised by Courtney Love) in mind, and not much else. Girlhood, cake, ribbons, drugs, and so on… It almost lacked sincerity. Using a certain aesthetic/subculture for imagery or a theme in creative writing isn’t always a bad thing, in my opinion, but paired with the upsetting themes of eating disorders, child sex abuse, drug addictions, prostitution, etc. it initially bothered me and made it hard to read. Maybe that is my own sensitivity, as a reader, coming through.

My opinion changed when I read more about Cynthia Cruz and her poetics through an interview with The Rumpus. I realised that my initial impression had been premature. By looking at these poems with a different perspective – as poetry of place, or a type of social commentary, perhaps intertwined with the personal experiences of the poet – I found myself liking them more and more. 

The Glimmering Room subverts expectations in two ways:

1. The contrast of sweet, girly imagery with violence.
2. Presenting a side of California/America that people may not have thought of before, or want to think about. 

1       Pairing the cutesy, bubblegum-like images of childhood with dark themes is something that can shock and possibly alienate readers. I found myself alienated at first, but then I discovered that the imagery in The Glimmering Room helped push the core themes throughout the rest of the poems. It gives a sense of tragedy; that terrible things are happening to innocent young girls, when the most important thing happening in their lives should be getting an education, playing with friends, enjoying themselves – not being hooked on drugs, hospitalised, and exploited… 

Some people view California and the American Dream through rose-tinted glasses, especially people here in Europe who may not have been to America before. The vision can be like a sugar-coated fantasy – see Katy Perry’s song ‘California Gurls,’ as a perfect example of expectations for Californian life (along with Disneyland and the Silicon Valley). 

Cruz’s version of California is explored through the lens of a young girl trapped in an adult’s world, making it doubly as jarring to those that may not have considered the gritty realities of people who are living the complete reverse of the American Dream.  

Thoughts on The Best of BE Festival

On a Wednesday evening a bunch of us from the Creative Writing/English departments took a trip to The Lowry in Salford, to see a show that most of us were ‘looking forward to’ in a sickly, nervous kind of way. None of us knew what the show was really about. None of us even knew the exact name of the performance. And nobody wanted to witness an accidental on-stage lobotomy on the off chance something DID go wrong.
This video was all we had to go off.

Best of BE UK 2019 Tour from BE FESTIVAL on Vimeo.

I was a bit nervous, I’ll have to tell you. Visiting the circus or seeing a stunt performance is something most people enjoy, yet there is always something in the back of the mind that says, “What if this goes wrong?” A nasty voice that whispers, “Will I see blood tonight?” as you try to find your seat. I think these natural, very human anxieties are what the Best of BE Festival played with.

At the end of the night, there was nothing to fear. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we all came back with huge smiles and laughter, and that the performance continued to work its way into our conversations throughout the rest of the week. I enjoyed myself immensely.

Since all three acts in the Best of BE Festival seemed to be about provoking an emotional response in the audience, I will be sharing my personal thoughts and feelings on each one.

The first show was called ‘Take Care of Yourself’ and was performed by Marc Oosterhoff. In the beginning the performance reminded me a bit of an old-timey circus act crossed with a mime artist, as everything was silent with exaggerated movements and comical expressions. Oosterhoff silently put himself in danger and terrified everyone in the vicinity. He took twenty shots of whiskey and threw himself into backflips on the hard stage floor, threw knives and daggers around, and danced over mousetraps. Some people could not watch; I had to peek between my fingers at times! I think it’s human nature to be afraid when other people are doing things that are inherently dangerous, and this performance certainly gave me an adrenaline rush.

‘Someone Loves You Drive With Care’ by Tom Cassini came up next, and was equally as intense as the first act. If I’m honest I think this performance was a little bit too long for what it was, however. Perhaps the suspense made it feel longer.

Cassini spoke of his hands as being criminal. His voice was low, dark, and slow. When he wasn’t hammering nails into his nostrils or inserting a metal hook up his nose and into his mouth  ̶  uncannily resembling something out of a Saw movie at times  ̶  he talked about his melting home in the polar regions, of death, lies, violence, and his brother. Even his voice provoked a sense of anxiety in me, as I didn’t know what he was going to do or say next! It was unnerving, like listening to somebody you know to be a serial killer; even when they talk about mundane things, you know what they have done and what they are capable of.

This sinister persona Cassini put on could also be comical at times. When he told the audience to close their eyes, I felt like I couldn’t, as I was afraid to see something terrible when my eyes opened again. Fear, again, is something this performer used to play with his audience. One time we opened our eyes and he had moved to a new position on stage with his trousers around his ankles. The relief and absurdity made me laugh.

The third and last show by French performer Kulu Orr was my absolute favourite. ‘Control Freak’ was extremely popular with everyone I spoke to on the trip, and we couldn’t stop chattering about it on the way back to university, despite being utterly shattered by that point. There was a lot of laughter in the auditorium throughout!

The Control Freak persona was blunt and sarcastic, almost robotic in more ways than one, but incredibly funny and likeable. He wore high-tech suits which could control the stage lighting, sound effects, and a recording/looping effect, which he used to make music and generally look like some kind of rainbow-coloured, magical robot.

By bouncing balls and making certain movements, he created some really beautiful songs, some of which could be quite classical like harpsichord and organ music, some electronic in a style which reminded me of New Order’s music, and some psychedelic like 60’s/70’s music similar to Cream. At one point he lit himself up all colours of the rainbow and changed shades by movements of his fingers. It was dazzling, and I’ve never seen or heard anything like it before.

At points I was wondering “is this really real?”, and perhaps that is a testament to just how incredible it was! There was a very short technological error and Control Freak was left on a dark stage for a moment, which is understandable considering just how wacky and innovative the technology was. But Orr did not break character for a second. He said: “Just a minute,”… a couple of seconds later, “Just a minute…”, and then a few seconds later… “Just another minute.” I was nearly in tears of laughter and the issue was quickly resolved. 

I can’t recommend The Best of BE Festival enough! It was a perfect evening filled with adrenaline, daredevils, dazzling lights, and laughter.

Art Review: 'Allegro Strepitoso' by Carel Weight

Allegro Strepitoso by Carel Weight, 1932

Carel Weight's 'Allegro Strepitoso' was immediately my favourite piece of art at the Tate gallery in Liverpool. There's a kind of chaotic and comedic energy to this painting, something which made me grin in the gallery at the time, and still brings a smile to my face weeks later.

The exaggerated painting style and bright colours lends the piece a joyful, light-hearted feeling, despite the event of lions bursting from the cages perhaps not being so fun for the human visitors to the zoo. This must have been what inspired Weight’s friend to suggest the title of ‘Allegro Strepitoso’ for this piece, coming from the Italian words for ‘merry/lively’, and ‘noisy/clamorous’. If this painting could speak or make noise, I expect that it would make an awful row with screams, roars, chattering birds, and brass band music!

Weight’s painting was created in 1932 using oil paints and was inspired by childhood trips to the zoo with his mother. According to the Tate gallery websites’ description of this piece, the two women running from the lions were also modelled by the painter’s own mother. Using childhood memories and day trips is an interesting way of finding new ideas to work with, whether it be for artwork or creative writing. ‘Allegro Strepitoso’ is a painting that could easily trigger a creative response in writers; in fact, I already have a short story idea bubbling away!

This painting was part of an exhibit in the Tate called the ‘Ideas Depot’. Ideas Depot was co-curated with school teachers in Liverpool, with the belief that art is an essential part of people’s lives, which can inspire intellectual curiosity. I really appreciated the fact that this exhibit was made to inspire visitors to the gallery. Beneath the descriptions of artwork were questions based around the theme of the work  ̶  perfect for creatives seeking new prompts and ideas. 

Under the Shadow (2016): Horror Tropes with a Twist

“A woman should be more scared of exposing herself than anything.” – words said to Under the Shadow’s protagonist, Shideh, after she was arrested for running down the streets without a hijab in the middle of the night, her young child in tow.

Shideh narrowly escaped being publicly flogged for her misdemeanour. She was sent back in disgrace to the near-abandoned apartment complex she shared with her daughter. But did anybody question what they were running from?

From IMDb: "As a mother and daughter struggle to cope with the terrors of the post-revolution, war-torn Tehran of the 1980s, a mysterious evil begins to haunt their home."

Set in Tehran, the capital city of Iran, Under the Shadow is prefaced by a statement about the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). We see Shideh, a woman forced to leave her university studies behind for the crime of being ‘politically active’ during a revolution, drive home fully-covered, where she breaks down after realising her dreams of becoming a doctor have been crushed. After tensions rise in her household, her medic husband is stationed in Elam, a place considered to be right in the middle of the fighting. Shideh and their daughter Dorsa are invited to stay with his parents in a safer part of the country, yet Shideh was adamant that they would be fine in the Tehran apartment and resolved to stay. As missiles fall and the rest of the occupants abandon the apartment complex for a better quality of life elsewhere, viewers are made to wonder just what it would take for Shideh to pack up and leave herself. If the wailing war sirens, missile threats, and isolation weren’t bad enough, the sound of the wind, ever present through the gaping cracks in the building, carries foreboding…

Viewers are made to question which is scarier; the harsh, dangerous reality of living in a politically-unstable warzone with nearly no rights at all; or the dark thrill of paranormal suspense?

Unsurprisingly, reality is scarier than fiction. Perhaps this is where Under the Shadow falls flat. Had the focus been placed on the horrors of the Iran-Iraq war, and the impact on family units being broken up for compulsory military services, I believe this film could have been more harrowing – especially for Western, modern-day viewers (myself included) who haven’t had the misfortune of living in a warzone, and therefore haven’t truly acknowledged just how traumatic it can be.

Adding the horror genre to this kind of wartime situation does have its own intrigues, yet once viewers get past the setting and historical context, the horror tropes become just that – an add-on. While forces from both this world and the supernatural world join to make Shideh and Dorsa’s lives miserable, I can’t help but feel like we’ve seen this kind of film play out before. For example, StanleyKubrick’s The Shining; a mother and her child battle the horrors of their everyday lives (an abusive father/husband in place of war), and are faced with paranormal terror, all whilst being trapped in a secluded building they are forced to call home…

The stereotypical horror tropes become numerous and cliché once counted out; family dysfunction, a mother or parent that refuses to leave the situation until the haunting becomes unbearable, children that are ultra-aware of the paranormal, lighting and cinematography to create tension, characters who are trapped, creepy basements and attics, doors slamming or being unable to open, and ghostly aspects that manage to be unnerving but are vastly overdone within the genre (no facial features to the paranormal being, rushing jumpscares, and jerky movements). It’s my opinion that the horror genre needs more innovative plotlines, and jumpscares are too overdone nowadays to really shock viewers of modern-day cinema.

That being said, the link between Shideh being trapped both by her cultural situation and by the Djinn attempting to take control of her daughter, is an aspect which interests me. While it’s my opinion that the paranormal plotline detracts from what really makes Under the Shadow frightening, I appreciate the parallels. After all, it was being arrested for forgetting to wear a hijab which forced Shideh back into to the apartment complex she was running from.

Overall: ★★★☆☆

Get Real: Flash Fiction Inspired by the Dogme 95 Manifesto

In the Reading the World module we have been looking at a variety of media from around the world; this includes books, films, music videos, gallery exhibits... anything you can think of, really. Some of my favourite films and stories originate from different countries around the world, and I always want to experience new cultures, so this module is ideal for me.

I had never heard of the Dogme 95 movement or watched a Danish film before, so learning about Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg's filmmaking manifesto was exciting. Their approach to film is raw and realistic, not sparing us any discomfort - and that isn't necessarily a bad thing!
I will be reviewing Festen (or "The Celebration" in English) in another post. Since it was my first taste of such a gritty, realistic film made entirely on a handheld camera, it gave me lots of new ideas on how to approach my own scripts and filmmaking.

The Dogme 95 manifesto could also be interpreted through fiction. As a group of storytellers, we came up with a set of rules called the 'DogReal Fiction Manifesto', inspired by the techniques of the Dogme 95 movement. The challenge is to create a piece of flash fiction that adheres to these rules!

DogReal Fiction Manifesto:
1. No happy endings
2. No magic unless it is the magic of dreams and nightmares
3. Only realistic locations/settings
4. Authentic speech including digressions, pauses, repetitions, verbal ticks etc
5. First person narratives only
6. No stereotypes
7. Linear timeline except when the protagonist experiences time differently
8. No Deus ex machina
9. No similes, metaphors, personification or other literary flourishes
10. Plots must be true to the character’s motivations and psychology
11. Author must not be credited.

My interpretation of this manifesto is that it must be true to real life. In that case, my flash (non)fiction will be written like a diary entry, no flourishes or embellishments allowed. Here is how I experimented with these rules:

I entered my house through the porch door.

“Bye, Nana. Thanks for going with me to the gallery. Bye! Bye!” I said.

“Hello, doggies,” I said. “I hope you’ve been good,” I said.

“See you later, pet,” my grandmother said. She closed the door behind her.

“Have you been good?” I said to the animals in the kitchen.

I placed my handbag and scarf on the dining room table. I walked to the kettle and flicked the switch.

“Tea,” I said.

I poured the water and let the teabag steep. Scrrpt. A noise in the hallway caught my attention.

I went from the kitchen to the porch door. Something colourful was in the letter slot. I knew the morning’s mail had already arrived. I picked up the paper and read it.

“Heh,” I said.

It was a flyer. What was written on the paper surprised me:

Conspiracy theory talk advertisements signed by a person called ‘Amazing Steve’.

“What even is this?” I said. “What kind of spam-?”

I folded the paper and put it in my handbag. An idea came to me, that I was being watched through the porch window as I read the flyer. That I had angered a certain amazing person by saying “heh”.

I closed the door.

“Indy,” I said. “Come here.”

I poured lactose-free milk from the fridge into my mug and added half a teaspoon of sugar. I sat at the kitchen table and read a book. 

As you can see, this sounds stilted, repetitive, and strange. The style of writing (and sordid gossip) in my own diary is more interesting than this, I believe. Writing in this way is very dry, but let’s see if I managed to stick to the rules.

1) No happy endings. There is no ending, happy or otherwise.

2) No magic unless it is the magic of dreams and nightmares. No magic either. There’s nothing supernatural about that boring segment of writing, unless ‘Amazing Steve’ has some magic powers that I’m not yet aware of.

3) Only realistic locations/settings. Real life is mundane most of the time, and so is my kitchen and porch.

4) Authentic speech including digressions, pauses, repetitions, verbal ticks etc. Yes. Here you can see the embarrassing way I talk to my loved ones and pets, and how I babble to myself as I go about my day. These kinds of things wouldn’t ever make their way into my future memoirs, if I can help it.

5) First person narratives only. Yes.

6) No stereotypes. Am I stereotyping myself? Who knows!

7) Linear timeline except when the protagonist experiences time differently. To the point of knowing how I make my cup of tea. It’s so linear that it’s boring.

8) No Deus ex machina. Since there’s nothing here that needs a solution, there’s no Deus ex machina.

9) No similes, metaphors, personification or other literary flourishes. I tried to make it as plain as possible.

10) Plots must be true to the character’s motivations and psychology. A boring, everyday moment inspiring a paranoid thought through overactive imagination? That’s true enough to me, and probably most writers, I imagine.

11) Author must not be credited. Well, I won’t write my name at the bottom of this post then.

I think all of the rules have been stuck to in some way, though I don't think I'll ever be writing in the style of the manifesto again! Realism in film and fiction can be interesting, but not to this extent.

Why Write? A Manifesto of Sorts

Welcome to my new blog! This blog will mostly be focused around the reading and creative writing I do at university, however I will also use this space for my reviews and other things too.
Basically, it is an extension of my other blog, Ellie Morris Books (or Nocturne des Anges), which I haven't touched for a while, having had a blogging kind of creative block. Let's hope that my inspiration will come rushing back!

Books I collect - Photo by Ellie Morris

Manifesto
Here are my aims for 2019 and the future:

1. Develop a strong sense of my own poetics.
2. Gain knowledge of and experience other types of writing, such as poetry and scriptwriting. These can feed into my fiction writing, and vice versa. Scriptwriting always seemed intimidating to me before coming to university, so I'm glad to be learning it with the rest of my class!
3. Try out new genres and styles of writing. Before now I never thought I'd be writing a narrative gamebook, or enjoy reading speculative fiction.
4. Take more feedback on board and apply it to my work so that I can make it the best I can.
5. Meet more writers, see what inspires them, and have some opportunities to work collaboratively.
6. Experience the publishing industry. I have self-published before, but I want to try out the more traditional approach to getting my work out there. 

So, why do I write? 
I write because I have so many daydreams that fill my head at all times. I write because I love to read. I write the kind of stories I'd like to read. I write the things I don't want to forget. I write because it's a comfort, something I've always done. I write because I'm lonely. I write because it's fun. I write because it's easier for me to write than it is to speak. I write because I love making up worlds and characters. I write because I want to share my thoughts with others. I write because I feel like it's something I'm skilled at.

History
I first started writing proper stories when I was fourteen, six years ago. Before that I had dabbled in short stories and poetry but never really carried it on due to school being busy. At this age I didn't really have much to do, since I was sick constantly and spent a lot of time at home. I started reading more and found myself very interested in Stephen King. He is still a great inspiration to me.

One book in particular made me want to write. It was a long and heavy book with a whole laundry list of characters, many of which didn't add much to the plot. A very interesting character was introduced in one chapter and was killed off within ten or so pages, which frustrated me enough to write a 40,000 word story for him myself. In other words, I started off with fanfiction. From there, I was hooked.

Since 2013 I have written one novel and one novella, at a total of over 200,000 words. Currently I have a third novel in the works and am studying Creative Writing at university.
Being on this writing course has really boosted my confidence in sharing my work with others, as well as allowed me to see the areas in which my writing needs improvement. Before starting university I was very touchy about other people reading my work, but now I don't think twice about it!

♕

P.S. If anybody is curious about the name of my new blog, it's a play on a character's name from the Jeeves books by P.G. Wodehouse. Gussie Fink-Nottle's name amuses me when I read it, so I thought I'd give my blog a name that can make me smile, along with fitting in with the theme of nostalgia (forget me not flowers) and history that I like to incorporate in my work.

Ellie