31/1/18 - Random Monthly Post - Story Dice

Hello everyone! Today marks the end of my first month on this blog and in order to honour the passing of such time, I decided to create a new monthly segment to discuss other random things I have happened across during the month, or answer a question posed to me.

So what is the topic of January's Random Monthly Post? 

Story Dice! - Yes, Story Dice! 

Anybody who knows me outside of the realm of screens would be aware that I am a great fan of Story Dice. My best friend gifted me with my first pack of dice for Christmas two years ago as a Secret Santa gift. Since then I have been hooked on the infinite possibilities that can derive from a roll of the dice. 

I was then gifted with another box of dice, and actively give the dice to friends for birthdays and Christmas' because the idea of accumulating such a vast variety of ideas from such handy tools is something that need not be looked down upon! 

In order to demonstrate my point, I will be showing you a ten-minute freewrite that derived from a roll of the story dice! 

Shelf, Drops, Pull-ups

-_-_-_-

No matter how hard she tried, Tia couldn’t reach her mother’s medicine. The pot of pills was painful for her mother to reach for since the accident but Tia couldn’t wake Dad to fetch them.

She frowned, clambering onto a chair and stretching toward the high shelf.

“Tia, are you ready for school yet?” Her mother called.

Glancing at her pyjama clad body, the young girl sighed. She was nowhere near ready for school. She whined at the injustice of it all and got down, heading to her bedroom to get dressed.

-_-_-_-

Tia hung from the monkey bars in the bottom playground, looking wistfully at the bigger kids who put in very little effort to cross from bar to bar. She needed to get taller so she could get her mother’s medicine. She had to.

-_-_-_-

The next day was filled with shouting. Tia had managed to snag the pills from the high shelf but in doing so she had fallen off the chair and landed funnily, her leg in indescribable pain. Her dad heard her crying and yelled.

Her mum wheeled in and started to cry, seeing the medicine in her young daughter’s hands. She managed to speak through choked out sobs, “I got them down for you Mummy.” 

-_-_-_-

It is actually that easy to come up with a story! This started off with three dice and ended up as a short story about a young carer! It is so cool what can happen with just a roll of a dice! 

Thanks for reading! I hope you will consider purchasing story dice, they are very helpful! 

And remember: 

Per Ardua Ad Astra!

- Imogen. L. Smiley

31/1/18 - Film Review: Coco

Hello everyone! Today is the second instalment of another segment I am implementing. Once or twice a month I will be writing and posting reviews of films that I watch. Some may be older, having been released years ago and others may be new cinematic releases. Throughout this year, I hope to share my opinions of films with you and hopefully persuade you to give the film a watch if you haven't already!

Great! So what exactly will I be discussing in these reviews?
Plot
Character and their development
Viewer Engagement
My favourite moment
My least favourite moment
Anything else!

So... which film is going to be the subject of my second ever Film Review on my blog?

Disney & Pixar's Coco (2018)

These reviews will contain SPOILERS! 

I watched this film in the cinema yesterday with two of my friends. We were all itching to finally see what this film would be like! And we were most certainly, not disappointed in the slightest! This film was brilliant! 

We found ourselves sat in the cinema, praising the recent development in Disney in terms of their representation, particularly in regards to racial representation. If you look at the recent phenomena from Disney, a pattern is emerging now. In 2009, they released The Princess And The Frog, where the characters are black. And it took until 2014 for a next big hit that contained racial representation, Big Hero 6, which is set in a futuristic hybrid between San Fransico and Tokyo, San Fransokyo. However, it has since only been two years to split Big Hero 6 and the next racially representative international phenomena by Disney; Moana, which told the story of a Polynesian Princess. And from then, only two years dividing Moana and Coco's UK release. 

Plot

I found the plot of Coco interesting, I was intrigued about whether this piece would be too similar to The Book Of Life, as both tell stories that relate to Dia de Muertos. I was glad that in Coco, the story focussed more on Miguel's dream and the story of Hector, instead of the lore. 

However, there were several plot holes which my friends and I picked out. For example, the fact that Miguel was absent for the entire night of Dia de Muertos, something his parents, and extended family were very much against. His entire family spend the night looking for him, meaning they are also all away from their homes on the night of Dia de Muertos too, which was something they did not want to have happened - and yes it can be argued that living family comes before the deceased family but regardless of which, his family do not question the new knowledge Miguel acquires after a night away from home. We found it very hard to believe that they would have absolutely no questions about where Miguel got information that only the dead could possibly know. 

Character

I absolutely adored the characters in Coco! I found myself previously invested in the story that due to following an artist on instagram that was heavily invested in the character of Miguel! I found myself falling in love with the ambitious boy from the start of the film and was captivated by his journey, to the point that he was so emotional, that he cared more about Hector than going back to the land of the living. 

I found Hector's character equally compelling - the idea of wanting to be remembered after having passed away is a common issue when alive - hoping that our memory will live on and the idea that because of something out of your control takes place, your memory can be completely voided. The concept is heartbreaking and leaves you to root for Hector, hoping that he will not undergo the second death in the afterlife as his daughter nears death. 

Viewer Engagement 

I was greatly invested in the story in Coco. I found it easy to follow and predictable enough to expect the outcome but was still powerful enough to evoke viewer upset toward the end of the film. 

Despite being older than the intended target audience of the film, I found it brilliant, and incredibly funny. For example, the repetition of parallels, particularly with Ernesto De La Cruz. I found the repetition of the bell hysterical, as did my friends. Which was very awkward when there are three teenagers in the middle of the cinema howling with laughter and everyone else is silent! 

My Favourite Moment

If I said the bell scene, would I be deemed an awful person? Yes? Okay then... not the bell scene! ((Yes the bell scene)) 

My Least Favourite Moment

I guess it's more of a physicality thing which bugged me for hours at the end of the film; how, despite the contrast in physiques, could Miguel mistake Ernesto and Hector? It seemed absurd that Ernesto managed to acquire the same build that he had in life, are we expected to believe that in the family photo, Hector was wearing huuuuge shoulder pads in order to give off the impression he is Ernesto De La Cruz? I would have made their builds slightly more similar in order to justify the mistake on Miguel's part. 

Anything else? 

The soundtrack was amazing! I have had it on loop for hours and hours! La Larona is such a pretty song oh my gosh I loved it so much! 

Thank you for reading my review and I hope you give this film a watch!
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Asta
- Imogen. L. Smiley

31/1/18 - Writing Advice Wednesday!

Today, 31/1/18, is the third instalment of a new series of posts; Writing Advice Wednesday, where my advice to new writers will be shared once every two weeks. 

It is important to remember that my opinions are not law in any way, shape, or form! Not everyone has the same experiences as I do in this field but it is valuable to share opinions on topics to try and help others!

Today I will be discussing poetry and how I managed to make the UniSlam team in just over a year of writing poetry! - Of course there are basic bits and bobs like practising but there are other things that I found important in reference to how much progress I managed to make during a short space of time!

The basics that need not need an extended justification are the following: 

• Keep writing - every poem you write adds another experience to your list - you only gain from writing them! 
• Practice - I gained a lot of confidence through the process of performing in an active routine. It was once I had confidence in my pieces that I began to expand my performance venues etc. My goal for the academic year was to perform at every single spoken word event in Derby at least once, and I managed to do that by the end of October, a feat I was ever so proud of!

Now for the actual substantial advice: 

1. Make sure you have a small notebook on hand at all times to write strong lines you come up with on the fly - it is always a great moment when you are stricken by an idea and even better when the concept is backed up by a killer line! The best way to store these lines is in a small notebook that is practical enough to be carried along with you at all times! I currently have two - one which every single line is placed in and a second, bigger notebook, where the strongest lines are filled in! 

2. Perform wherever and whenever you can - this was a piece of advice I was given by a fellow poet in Derby, Jamie Thrasivoulou. He encouraged me to go to as many events as possible in order to learn from poets from different scenes in the city! Prior to him giving me this advice, I had primarily performed at Twisted Tongues, and by the time Jamie provided me the advice, I had also performed at Poetry Speaks, She Speaks and LGBQWERTY. After he gave me this advice, I attended and performed at Subverse, City-Zen and Word Wise before going off on a limb and deciding to audition for the Derby Slam Team! 

3. Take on as much feedback as possible - I will not pretend that the auditioning for the UniSlam Team was an easy experience; when I went into the process, I was made aware that almost every judge had heard every single piece that I had ever performed throughout my spoken word career. I was also aware that I was in a position that my fellow competitors could have been at a greater advantage due to this. In order to strive for the best audition possible, I attended every single pre-audition workshop that the team captain hosted prior to the audition. I found myself being under scrutiny due to being an exemplary party to reflect upon. The captain already knew my weaknesses and made sure I knew of them. In response to them, I did my best to better myself and perform strong pieces that went against most of the issues I had acknowledged. I was later praised for being a team member that could take on correction very quickly. 

4. Don't be afraid to try something new - In reference to my slam team audition, I produced a piece of spoken word poetry on the day of the audition from the perspective of a fictional character on one side of a complicated romantic relationship. I used their voice to convey stronger emotions and used as many of my experiences as possible to make the piece sound as if the entire piece derived from my emotions - I found myself doing well as I acted out the poem as a character! It was a really interesting experience! 

Thank you for reading! I hope these tips helped you in any way, shape or form! 

And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra! 

- Imogen. L. Smiley

30/1/18 - Post Twisted Tongues

On 30/1/18 was the first instalment of Twisted Tongues of 2018, and the first public performance of the Derby Uni Slam team since our return from the competition late on Sunday night! We found ourselves back on much more familiar terrain!

For me, being onstage at Twisted Tongues is probably the most comfortable I am ever whilst performing. Twisted Tongues was the first ever spoken word event I attended back in my first year of university, and when was the only event I would perform at when I was still finding my feet in the spoken word community. The team and the crowd are very supportive of new and inexperienced performers.

I began performing there back in September 2016 and by September 2017 I found that I had improved at a rate of knots due to the support from the crowd. It was only as of the dawn of my second year at university that I began to pursue performance at other venues to learn from other artists, as advised by someone who later became a mentor for me as a slam poet; Jamie Thrasivoulou! He told me back at the start of October last year. He advised me that the best way to ensure that I continued to improve at a steady pace would be to expand the venues that I have performed at - for example, as of September 2017, I had performed at Twisted Tongues, Poetry Speaks' Intro To Freshers' Event, She Speaks and LGBQWERTY. But as of the end of October, I had also performed at Co-Conspirators, Subverse, City-Zen and Word Wise! These new spaces gave me the opportunity to experience a variety of different performance styles! If I hadn't acquired such great advice I wouldn't have made the slam team. But more importantly, if I had never performed at a Twisted Tongues event and been validated by such a supportive crowd, I doubt my poems would have developed from sounding like the 'woe is me' declarations of a Tumblrina instead of the better-formed creations of a newly established slam poet! So I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jamie, as a supporter of Twisted Tongues, and the Twisted Tongues Team for the belief and support you have given me since I began this journey!

I was beyond grateful, as part of Team Derby for UniSlam 2018, to get the opportunity to perform the pieces that we would have shown the other teams in the semi-finals, had we qualified. I was so glad to watch Aoife and Mole perform 'Call Me MH' at last! And  I hope that should I qualify for Team Derby next year, we will be able to perform some of the other pieces we would have performed in this year's semifinals in our bouts next year, and show the other unis what they missed out on this year!

Performing at Twisted Tongues this time around was an incredibly emotional experience, the idea of how much I had accomplished managed to swallow me up.

I got to perform my solo during last night's Twisted Tongues, and finally, the words of our team captain finally began to make sense. Originally, she said that our pieces were written, not just for ourselves, but for that one person in the crowd, who needs to hear it more than you did. Last night a member of the crowd approached me to thank me for performing my solo piece about learning to move past suicidal thoughts.

The image above was taken by my friend Emma, and depicts me performing my solo! I am so glad I finally got to share it with an audience that have supported me from the get go! It was such a great experience and am so excited to keep performing in the upcoming days!

Thank you for reading!
And thank you for the continued support!
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
- Imogen. L. Smiley!

30/1/18 - Happy Tuesday! University Inspired Writing Prompts!

Happy Tuesday! University Inspired Writing Prompt!

Today, 30/1/18, is the next instalment of University Inspired Writing Prompts. Since my first year at university, I have been compiling a collection of writing prompts inspired by my time studying in Derby. I hope that these prompts help you create your own works!

All of these prompts are dialogue based, and are inspired by real conversations I have been part of whilst at university.

Prompt Five:

"How in the HELL did you SNORT a CHAI LATTE?"

This was said by my friends after my friend Jenny had a coughing fit whilst laughing at something one of us had said. She had begun laughing midway through drinking her chai latte, which had a large amount of extra cinnamon in it. Amidst the laughing fit, the drink went up her nose and cinnamon powder ended up on her face!

Hopefully this prompt inspires something - even if it is just a smile
Thank you for reading
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
- Imogen. L. Smiley

29/1/18 - UniSlam Reflections

Today was my first day back at university, and the outcomes of the UniSlam Competition are only just starting to sink in! I absolutely adored the entire experience, despite how anxious I was throughout the pieces! This was my first ever proper competition for poetry and I feel that with that considered, I did an incredible job representing The University of Derby!

This post, is basically me prattling on about my experiences and what I hope I can do better in the future!

So, how did Team Derby do in UniSlam 2018?

We came! We saw! We... made it through preliminaries!
But that isn't a problem in any way, shape or form. Team Derby came to UniSlam for the first time this year and I found myself enthralled by the process of learning in workshops and performing! It was incredible nerve-inducing, but that was part of the fun!


In our first round / bout, Team Derby came third out of five competing teams! We were delighted we could kick off to such a great start. In Bout One, we performed four pieces; 'Zimbabwe', a solo by my teammate Sile, ((@siles16 on Instagram!)), a team piece called 'New Year New Me', 'Half A Painting', a solo by my teammate Mole ((@my_unsafe_space on Instagram)) and then a trio piece between me and my teammates, Aoife and Grace called 'Letters To The Deceased'.

In Bout Two, we came fourth out of five competing teams, and despite being disheartened we did not make it to the semi-finals, it did not invalidate the immense ammount of effort and enjoyment that surrounded the experience. In that particular round, we opened with a solo called 'Mother', performed by my teammate Grace, ((@gracelporter on Instagram)). We then went on to have a duet called 'Mankind', which discussed veganism and was performed by Grace and Mole, and then my solo, 'Rationalise;' and Aoife, our team captain, ((@aoifepoc on Instagram)) closed the set - and the bout, with her solo 'Femme'. We did amazingly! And I am so proud of every single one of my teammates!

And now! Let's not forget our amazing coach! Dan Webber ((Dan Webber Spoken Word)) performed on Friday at the Coach's Slam, performing a peice on gender equality and the free the nipple campaign. This was a brilliant performance and he represented our city and university just as well as the rest of the team. Not only was he greatly supportive of our team, he provided great insight etc. throughout the entire weekend! I am beyond grateful to him for the continued support!


Now! To tell some stories!

Friday!
A huge highlight in terms of humour had to focus on the misadventures my team and coach had in our disasterous attempt to make our way from the preliminary on Friday night to our hotel so we could prepare for the Coach's Slam. And we managed to end up trekking for an hour through Leicester Town Centre in search of the hotel. Google Maps was of absoluetly no help, and of course, it really doesn't make the experience very positive when the entire team is dragging their weekend's worth of luggage along with them! However, finding out we had walked in the complete opposite direction from where we were meant to be was hysterical!

Saturday!
One word. Birmingham! One of my favourite performances of the competition had to be the one that concluded Team Birmingham's performances in the first semi-finals and secured their place in the final. I was up in arms after seeing their piece 'Thoughts And Prayers'! It was incredible!

Sunday!
After running into a unimate, Tamara, at the semi-finals on Sunday Morning, we gained ourselves a mascot throughout the last leg of our journey through unislam! Having another familiar face alongside me made the experience even greater! The poetry was incredible! The poets were so friendly! The experience was amazing!


Being part of the Derby Unislam team was an all in all amazing experience! I adored almost every moment of the experience - only discounting the panic attacks!

I learned so much about myself and how I can exceed my own expectations of myself to not only become a better poet or a better performer, but a better writer as a whole! I feel that going to the slam and meeting so many unique individuals with a passion for arts and poetry will have my motivations on a high for the next few months! I am so excited to go to Twisted Tongues tomorrow with my team and share our works with Derby and show them what would have been performed, had we actually made it to the semi-finals!

I really hope I can make the team and go back to the slam next year to make our university even prouder of our achievements!

Thank you for reading!
Hey Poets? Audition for your uni's team!
Hey Writer's? Give poetry a shot! THEN audition for your uni's team!
Hey Competitors? Congratulations on your achievement! We all did amazingly!
And remember!
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
- Imogen. L. Smiley

29/1/18 - Monday Book Review - Poetry Edition - The Best Of A Bad Situation

Today is a very special day! As it has been four Mondays since the first post on this blog, which means, it is finally time for the first Poetry Version of Monday Book Reviews!

How befitting that the first Monday after the UniSlam competition, that I have my first poetry-based instalment of Monday Book Reviews!

To honour the UniSlam competition and honour one of my mentors in the process, I have decided that the first collection of poetry that I will be writing a review of will be Jamie Thrasivoulou's The Best of a Bad Situation, a collection of poems that I have seen performed in person and adore reading on the page!

I have been a fan of Jamie's spoken word poetry since September 2016, when I saw him live at the Twisted Tongues Fresher's Special event, my first ever spoken word event. His name was imprinted in my mind, a flashbulb moment cementing that his work was incredibly evocative. His pieces were political and gritty, and as my lecturer would say "to the bone".

His work, on paper and in person gives off such a heavy resonance of Jamie's pressence! His voice is loud and clear with every word in the collection, and when I read the pieces, I could visualise his performance of them. This not only is me ((attempting)) to articulate high praise in terms of his written words, but also the ones he speaks and how he performs. Jamie's work is, in essence, amazing!

Unfortunately, the collection is currently sold out, which sucks because I would totally recommend reading this piece should you be into left poetry! The pieces in there are great!


Thank you for reading! See you in two weeks for another instalment of Monday Book Reviews! - Next time, we will be going back to looking at prose! 

And remember:

Per Ardua Ad Astra

-Imogen. L. Smiley

28/1/18 - Song Of The Week Sunday

Song Of The Week Sunday:

Today, 28/1/18, is the day of the next instalment of Song Of The Week Sunday - where I will be sharing a piece of music that I listened to more than any other during the space of the previous. In this instance, from week beginning 22/1/18 and ending today, 28/1/18, the song I listened to the most was the following:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9FImc2LOr8

Today's Song Of The Week is 'Space Jam Theme Song'! Did you expect anything else! This week was the week of the UniSlam competition and therefore the epitome of all of the team's hard work can be summarised by COME ON AND SLAM AND WELCOME TO THE JAM!!!

I will be posting a considerably longer post about the outcome of the competition in on Monday after my poetry anthology review, however, until then I wish to tell you that it was probably one of the most anxiety inducing situations I have found myself in ever yet the memories I have made and the lessons I have learned will follow me for years to come!

Congratulations to all of the competing universities! Everyone was ASTOUNDING! Thank you for being such incredible artists! I was honoured to grace the same stage as you all!

Thank you for reading!
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
- Imogen. L. Smiley

26/1/17 - Favourite Character Praise Friday! - Leah Clearwater

Today, 26/1/18 is the second instalment the series of posts praising my all-time favourite characters for their quirks and flaws etc. called Favourite Character Praise Friday. I will be sharing these posts every two weeks to gush about fictional characters in a proactive environment. With this segment, I intend to demonstrate what makes characters great so you and I alike can use these facts to improve our characters!

So who is the subject of my second Favourite Character Praise Friday?

Leah Clearwater from The Twilight Saga - portrayed by Julia Jones in the film adaptations!

For those who are fortunate enough to not have had a "Twilight Phase", and are unaware of the premise of the series, the basic idea was that a human woman called Bella Swan moved to the town of Forks, Washington and met a vampire, Edward Cullen, whom she fell in love with. Throughout their tumultuous love story, Bella is introduced to the Quileute werewolf pack that lived on the Native American Reservation. The wolves helped the Cullen family when they were in trouble. One of these wolves was Leah Clearwater; the first ever female werewolf.

The following character praise will contain spoilers

So why is Leah Clearwater one of my favourite characters?

Unlike most of the werewolves that Bella meets throughout her story, Leah arguably has the most legitimate reasoning to resent the vampires that live near her land.

For those who are unaware of what constitutes becoming a werewolf in the Twilight Universe, in essence, the presence of vampires is imperative to influence a werewolf's transformation. This is why there tend to be generational gaps between the wolves. However, with becoming a wolf, aspects of their human bodily functions are expended. The most prevalent issue that derives from this is the halting of Leah's monthly cycle upon transforming into a werewolf and the indefinite aspect of her fertility after this lead to her being upset as it lead to the understanding that she may never be able to have children. Due to this fact, she resented the Cullen family for residing near to her land and triggering her transformation as it has left an aspect of her future hanging in the balance. 

Despite her opinions toward the Cullens, she remained loyal to her friends.

In the final book and penultimate movie, Leah's loyalties are tested when Jacob Black inherits his rightful position of alpha of the werewolf pack. He does this amidst an argument about how to tackle the half-vampire infant that was growing within Bella, that Jacob would later imprint upon and dedicate his life to her happiness. However, his opinions of protecting Bella clashed with the pre-existing alpha, Sam; a former love interest of Leah's. Sam and Leah were in a relationship prior to his transformation into a werewolf and he later imprinted on Emily, Leah's cousin. Before she transformed, and understood the situation, it was heartbreaking for her. Her loyalties were tested when her younger brother, Seth decided to follow Jacob and pledge his loyalties to him. She decided to follow Seth and Jacob to protect Bella and the Cullens from her former pack-mates. 

IN THE MOVIE, Leah's character is developed further in her sacrifices

In the final movie of the Twilight franchise: Breaking Dawn Part Two, Alice's vision is shown to Aro, leader of the Volturi as a deterrent to keep her family safe. But it is not revealed to be a vision until it has come to fruition. In this vision, Seth Clearwater is murdered by one of the members of the Volturi and Leah watches the life leave her younger brother's eyes and howls in agony. Later in the fight, Esme Cullen, the matriarch of the Cullen family, is struggling against a member of the Volturi, falling into a large crack in the ground. Leah, seeing Esme's plight, attacks the vampire attacking her and drags him along with her into the large crack in the ground. They both died, hitting a pool of rising magma. As she fell, Esme stared at Leah and watched her wave to her. This scene, was one that made many of my friends that were otherwise indifferent to Leah, weep for her. She had sacrificed herself to save a vampire, whose family she had despised since her transformation, and this sacrifice allowed her to return to Seth and keep Esme alive with the remaining members of her family. 

But what do these factors tell us about writing complicated characters? Several things!

1. Even as a side character, with very little time at the forefront of Bella's attention in the books, Leah's character seemed easy to understand in the eyes of the readers - even "simple issues" such as potentially infertility can drastically influence a character
2. Establishing a character's loyalties and priorities are essential when justifying decisions a character may make - for example, if a character sacrificed their life for a random person, there would need to be a reason
3. Characters that can be deemed unlikable can be redeemed in one single action, if it is fuelled by enough emotion, just as Breaking Dawn Part Two did for Leah

Thank you for reading my reasons for loving Leah Clearwater! I hope my praise influenced the way you perceive your own characters!

Until next time!

And remember: 

Per Ardua Ad Astra! 

- Imogen. L. Smiley

23/1/18 - Happy Tuesday! University Inspired Writing Prompts!

Happy Tuesday! University Inspired Writing Prompt!

Today, 23/1/18, is the next instalment of University Inspired Writing Prompts. Since my first year at university, I have been compiling a collection of writing prompts inspired by my time studying in Derby. I hope that these prompts help you create your own works!

All of these prompts are dialogue based, and are inspired by real conversations I have been part of whilst at university.

Prompt Four:

"Did you seriously get splinters playing POOL?"

This was said back in September 2016, when I went to the Halls common room with my flatmates to see what was in there and they pushed me to join them in playing pool, something I had never done before, and in playing against the two of them, one at a time, I acquired three splinters in my right hand from the cue. When we went back to our flat, our other flatmates laughed at my misfortune as it seemed ridiculous that I could get not only one but three splinters from a cue.

Hopefully this prompt inspires something - even if it is just a smile
Thank you for reading
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
- Imogen. L. Smiley

21/1/18 - Song Of The Week Sunday

Song Of The Week Sunday:

Today, 21/1/18, is the day of the next instalment of Song Of The Week Sunday - where I will be sharing a piece of music that I listened to more than any other during the space of the previous. In this instance, from week beginning 15/1/18 and ending today, 21/1/18, the song I listened to the most was the following:

Something I Need by OneRepublic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_xvWdY6Gr4

I happened across this song on YouTube for the first time since early in the summer. I used to listen to it whilst spending time with my friends back at home. I found that the upbeat and positive nature to the song left me feeling happy. When I was spending time with friends, and this song played in the background, the atmosphere seemed to be much brighter.

Coming across this song for the first time since being at home left me feeling nostalgic; longing to see friends I won't see until the Easter Holidays! The nostalgia was immense but it was a positive wave of emotions - I felt warm and humbled by the impression that remained on my mind from that song.

Because of this, I figured that it was worth sharing!

Thank you for reading
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
- Imogen. L. Smiley

17/1/18 - Writing Advice Wednesday

Today, 17/1/18, is the second instalment of a new series of posts; Writing Advice Wednesday, where my advice to new writers will be shared once every two weeks. 

It is important to remember that my opinions are not law in any way, shape, or form! Not everyone has the same experiences as I do in this field but it is valuable to share opinions on topics to try and help others! 

Now for the topic of today’s post! Time management. I figured this would be relevant, since I am still struggle with this and with the next semester being right around the corner, it is more than relevant! SOOOO… let’s get started!

So! How have I been working with managing my time?

1. Set priorities!

When it comes down to it, in the eyes of the uni is that your degree comes first. I’m just lucky enough that my degree is in creative writing, so even when the prompts we are given aren’t ideal for what I particularly want to write in the future, I am doing what I love.

My priorities go as follows:

((mental health, when applicable)), Degree, job hunting, boosting my creative CV, social life, writing for leisure, etc.

2. Multi-task where possible

I am a sucker for multi-tasking, I find it so convenient and it’s great to take advantage of! I tend to be social with friends from home whilst eating dinner and do my assignments while I’m cooking. I will mull over content etc. while walking to uni and try to keep tabs on other writing blogs etc. to keep my content flow up. If you can take advantage of any ways to squeeze two tasks into one window, do it!

3. MAKE TIME

I am a very irate person. When people complain about not having time to write, I get quite annoyed at them. One friend was waiting for her grandma to collect her and take her to uni, and was on Facebook, complaining of her lack of time. I told her to simply exit Facebook and start writing on her phone / in a notebook / on her laptop. She didn't appreciate that, let's just say that! 

If you can make sacrifices, you should. I said to my friends I wouldn’t be joining them during my free periods with them during NaNoWriMo 2015 until I had hit the minimum word count for the day. I would just sit and sit and sit in the library and write until I felt satisfied, had class, or was hungry. I made sure that my NaNo Project, Neon Blood had top priority due to having made it the central focus of my Extended Project. My dedication to it resulted in me getting one mark off perfection at the end of the qualification! I was so proud!

So yes! Make time to write! It is important to make time for your writing when you can! When you want to pursue this area of the craft as a career, there are always small gaps in time you can dedicate to your creative process; when I was working over the summer, I used to ponder the plot-lines of my works. I would type up anything I could come up with on the spot when I was on my way back and then type the pieces up coherently between the time I got back and my next meal, whether it be lunch or dinner. 

Thank you for reading! I hope I helped in one way, shape, or form!

And remember:

Per Ardua Ad Astra!

- Imogen. L. Smiley

16/1/18 - Happy Tuesday! University Inspired Writing Prompt!

Happy Tuesday! University Inspired Writing Prompt!

Today, 16/1/18, is the next instalment of University Inspired Writing Prompts. Since my first year at university, I have been compiling a collection of writing prompts inspired by my time studying in Derby. I hope that these prompts help you create your own works!

All of these prompts are dialogue based, and are inspired by real conversations I have been part of whilst at university.

Prompt Three:

-          “I’m sorry your lecturer couldn’t be in today, there was a family emergency!”

*next week*

“Yeah sorry I wasn’t here last week, my mother decided to throw herself down the stairs.”

This was said way back in September 2016, when my storytelling lecturer was unable to attend class and her husband, another teacher in the department covered the class on her behalf. We were initially horrified at the idea that he had to come to work when there was an emergency with his family - but when his wife returned for the next week's class we found ourselves awed by how relaxed she was by the fact that her mother had "decided to throw herself down the stairs".

Thinking back, the story is quite amusing!

Hopefully this prompt inspires something - even if it is just a smile
Thank you for reading
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
- Imogen. L. Smiley

15/1/18 - Film Review: Big Hero 6

Hello everyone! Today is the first instalment of another segment I am implementing. Once or twice a month I will be writing and posting reviews of films that I watch. Some may be older, having been released years ago and others may be new cinematic releases. Throughout this year, I hope to share my opinions of films with you and hopefully persuade you to give the film a watch if you haven't already!

Great! So what exactly will I be discussing within these reviews?
Plot
Character and their development
Viewer Engagement
My favourite moment
My least favourite moment
Anything else!

So... which film is going to be the subject of my first ever Film Review on my blog?

Disney's Big Hero 6 (2014)

These reviews will contain SPOILERS!

In my personal opinion, the increasing levels of sophistication and maturity in films in Disney seemed to derive from Big Hero 6, and extend onward to newer phenomena such as Inside Out. This is due to the fact that both films tackle a character and their emotional state. In essence, in Big Hero 6, the protagonist, Hiro Hamada is struggling to grieve over his older brother Tadashi, after he is killed in a fire. He is aided by Baymax, a robot that Tadashi built to be a healthcare companion and help people improve their health and lifestyles. Baymax seeks to improve Hiro's emotional state during his period of grief.

And in Inside Out (2015), Riley's emotional voided state is revoked through Sadness fixing the mood-board that the emotions use to register themselves in her daily life. Sadness evokes an emotional state in order to keep Riley safe.

In both cases, Disney managed to create a strong evocative atmosphere.

Plot!

I found the plot interesting in this film and was intrigued by how Hiro's character arc would play out. Once he found out his micro-bots had been recovered from the fire I was hooked. I wanted to know everything - how, who had done it, had they started the fire?

It was a very well-thought-out structure! I really enjoyed watching it!

Character: 

Unpopular opinion, thinking back, I didn't really learn a lot about the characters within the Big Hero 6 team. If I had to recall their names I would forget at least one or two of them! I feel like due to having such a large team and a complicated plot, it meant that the development of the side characters was unified and was therefore not as memorable.

The arc of the Big Hero 6 team was in essence, the following.

Fred, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Gogo Tomago ((whose name I had to GOOGLE)), were originally technological whizzes that attended the same "nerd school" as Tadashi Hamada

When Tadashi was lost in the fire, they each grieved and decided to support his younger brother through this troubling time.

In the process of attempting to be there for Hiro, they found themselves having to evade the attacks of Callaghan.

They decided that they should help Hiro as they too wanted to know who was behind Tadashi's death

Once they saw that Hiro was willing to terminate Callaghan, they fought against Baymax's destructive tech.

But they decided that despite Hiro's irrationality, Callaghan had to be stopped

But did the characters get individual development? Not really - they each derived from a character archetype - a pattern of human behaviour or a trope found in the media.

For example Wasabi is the shy character, while Gogo Tomagi was the quiet one. Honey Lemon is depicted to be the eccentric pretty character and Fred is the outgoing geeky character. These tropes were spliced up with the fact that most were immensely talented within the scientific field and would be seen as great scientific prodigies.

HOWEVER, the character of Hiro was very realistic and believable - he was well constructed and had flaws in his irrationality and impulsive nature despite being an academic genius. He is fourteen years old and makes sporadic decisions due to not being completely emotionally mature, while the people he associates with are considerably older than him and are able to establish a difference between wanting to hurt Callaghan because he is the reason Tadashi died, and actually lashing out and impacting their futures and jeopardising their entire academic career's worth of work, and Tadashi's legacy by having Baymax hurt Callaghan.

I found Hiro a very interesting and complex character and really enjoyed seeing his story play out.


Viewer Engagement

I found that Big Hero 6 and the message it was conveying was very interesting and engaging, despite being older than the implied target audience, as the film was created by Disney. This concept of dealing with more complicated and mature themes of life demonstrates that despite the fact that people presume children are not able to understand complex ideas like death and missing people, children experience this every day. It is absolutely amazing that this is finally being recognised by such an iconic corporation!

My favourite moment

Out of the entirety of Big Hero 6, I found that my favourite moment had to be "Tadashi Is Here"

I felt that that scene was immensely powerful, as the repetition of what Baymax said earlier slowly resonates with Hiro. The hesitation between Baymax saying this and the videos of Tadashi playing allows the viewer a few moments to contemplate whether Baymax understands the concept of Heaven and the afterlife.


My least favourite moment

My least favourite moment of the film would have to be the montage where the characters learned how to become superheroes, enhancing their technological prowess etc. I feel that if this had been given a few shorter scenes, it would have given the rest of the team chances to develop as individuals. But I do admit that in order to do this, many other great scenes would potentially need to be cut down or removed from the production completely. I hope that this film gets a sequel so that the rest of the team can develop.

Anything else!

Immortals by Fall Out Boy? I am so grateful for this film for giving us this song!

Thank you for reading my review and I hope you give this film a watch!
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Asta
- Imogen. L. Smiley

15/1/18 - Monday Book Review: Boy Meets Boy

Today, 15/1/18 is the second instalment a series of Monday Book Reviews, expressing my personal opinions on works of fiction. Today, I will be looking upon a piece called Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan.

Boy Meets Boy was a book I read for a module I did on representation. I was to write an essay on LGBT representation in fiction, and decided that I would discuss the increase in LGBT representation in young adult fiction. Admittedly, I probably could have written a considerably better essay had I been assigned to do it this year, however, instead, I got to write about my beloved gothic literature!

Boy Meets Boy was David Levithan's earliest novel that depicted LGBT+ characters and I was personally, not the biggest fan of this book, especially when compared to some of Levithan's other works. It can be argued that the reason this story is not as well constructed in terms of character, as some of Levithan's later works could be due to the fact that this was an earlier story where Levithan was learning how to represent the LGBT+ community in the market.

Personally, I found a lot of the minor characters more interesting in this story, when compared to the characterisation of the protagonist, Paul. Albeit, I felt that having rival drag queens at school, despite the town being very LGBT friendly.

I felt that despite being the main character of the story, Paul's character appeared to be relatively one-dimensional due to his character being relatively uninteresting. If Paul was not gay, or had the romantic conflicts he did in the story, I doubt he would be held in high esteem. This is because the secondary characters appear to be considerably more well-rounded when compared.

This is demonstrated when you compare Paul's character to his friend Tony; whose sexuality is repressed due to being raised in a strict Christian household. His parents fear that he would be "damned" due to not being heterosexual, and he could "lose his soul" because of it. This idea scares them immensely and they encourage their son to ignore his feelings for people of the same sex in order to protect him.

Another secondary character that appears to have been better-thought out than Paul himself is his ex-boyfriend, Kyle. His primary arc derives from his own frustrations at his sexuality. Kyle finds himself "hating" the word "bisexual", the term most likely to describe the way that he sees other people, he is attracted to both people of the same and opposite sexes. It annoys him because it would be easier to just be one or the other in his experiences and he "wishes he could pick one" to be attracted to and just leave it there. I found that a character that was struggling to come to terms with their identity much easier to root for as there was a greater conflict present in his life.

However, it can be argued that Levithan did this on purpose; making it clear that when you compare the struggles of Paul to Tony and Kyle, that he had it "easy" when coming to terms with his sexuality. Paul's purpose in the novel was to end up in a relationship with Noah and connect these different characters with conflict within their lives to one another to establish that not every LGBT+ child will manage to have an easy life when coming to terms with who they are.

Another important point to raise about Paul and his lack of dimensions in a character, could be that his main role within the story was actually a dig at the conventional heterosexual romance noel as many leading characters do not do much more than focus on the romantic conflicts at hand.

However, despite the fact that I felt that the secondary characters were more interesting than Paul, I would recommend reading this novel, especially when you are wanting to portray characters that are a part of the LGBT community! This is a good place to start!

Thank you for reading! See you in two weeks for another instalment of Monday Book Reviews! - Next time, it'll be a poetry collection! I'm so excited! 

And remember:

Per Ardua Ad Astra

-Imogen. L. Smiley

14/1/18 - Song Of The Week Sunday

Song Of The Week Sunday:

Today, 14/1/18, is the day of the second instalment of Song Of The Week Sunday - where I will be sharing a piece of music that I listened to more than any other during the space of the previous. In this instance, from week beginning 8/1/18 and ending today, 14/1/18, the song I listened to the most was the following:

Walk You Home by Karmina!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MCB96wenhM

I happened across this song whilst freewriting sad prose about a relationship within one of my novels; a couple that has been split up due to the state of their country. One character, Blaise, is currently imprisoned, while his fiancee, Amai is part of a rebel faction that wants to overthrow the current government and release the prisoners from their Hellish surroundings. Prior to his arrest, Blaise was collecting intel on the prison and the way it worked before he was caught and imprisoned as punishment.

Throughout the series that this novel derives from, Amai admits that she wants Blaise to trust her to help him escape and let him rely upon her. Meanwhile, Blaise laments over how much he misses Amai, having been apart from her for almost ten years.

Once I found this song, I had it on repeat for DAYS because it applied so well to their relationship; with Blaise being the bolder and brasher of the pair, and Amai being meeker yet resilient and dependable. When they found themselves split up, Amai had lost her crutch in her fiance. She wanted to be with him again but was already well aware of what happened to prisoners when they were captured.

She found herself alone and seeking resources when she found that the rebels had been looking for her too. They had been tipped off by one of their double agents that Blaise had been shouting "Ahhh, my eye!" as he was being sent into the prison. The information was sent off to the rebels who aquired intelligence on Blaise and discovered "Ahh, my eye!", was a cry for Amai. Once they proved themselves trustworthy, she joined their ranks, ready to help her fiance.

The lyrics of the song seemed to encompass that dynamic well - such as "even the brave, they depend on someone" - with Blaise being arrested, he is hoping that Amai can finish what he started. And "the moon only shines with the help of the sun" with their relationship in mind, would depict Amai as being the moon, flourishing with the support of Blaise, even in his absence!

This song is really beautiful and I hope you give it a listen!

Thank you for reading
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
- Imogen. L. Smiley

12/1/18 - Favourite Character Praise Friday - Connor Temple

Today, 12/1/18 is the first of what will be a series of posts praising my all-time favourite characters for their quirks and flaws etc. called Favourite Character Praise Friday. I will be sharing these posts every two weeks to gush about fictional characters in a proactive environment. With this segment, I intend to demonstrate what makes characters great so you and I alike can use these facts to improve our characters!

So who is the subject of my first Favourite Character Praise Friday?

Connor Temple from the TV series Primeval, portrayed by Andrew Lee Potts.

For those who are unfamiliar with Primeval, it was a five season long television series which told the story of people who came across rips in time that would later be known as "anomalies" and how they would learn to predict and contain them. Connor Temple was introduced in Season One, Episode One as the protagonist, Professor Nick Cutter's excitable student with an interest in conspiracy theories. By the end of the series, he was a strong and dependable scientific mind.

The following praise will contain spoilers.

But why is Connor Temple one of my all-time favourite characters?

He demonstrated immense character development throughout the series 

Connor's character is initially excitable and eager to impress those who surround him with his explorations, despite the fact that the information he was invested in was classified by the Home Office and therefore should have been kept a secret. He had a schoolboy crush on his friend, and colleague, Abby, who he actively endangered toward the start of the series. However, Connor realises early on in the series that keeping his mouth shut saves lives; when his best friend Tom is killed by a parasite that was transmitted to him via a bite from a dodo bird. He matures as he grieves over the loss of his friend. 

In the second season, Connor is still depicted as somewhat childish and ditsy, being the only character in the main quartet that is not allowed to carry a gun, and when he is given the opportunity to use one, he shoots Abby in the leg with a tranquilliser dart. Later in the series, his lack of life-experience is played upon by the antagonists of the series, with a new love interest stumbling into his life and taking advantage of him. 

In season three, Connor's technological prowess is demonstrated to be immense and he is no longer a character played off for laughs in times of distress, instead he is able to further the plot by building equipment to accompany tech he build that can detect the presence of the anomalies as they open in their era. The new devices were used to contain the anomalies to prevent creature incursions. When his mentor, Professor Nick Cutter is murdered, he makes sure to fulfil his last request of him and strives to do so. At the end of season three, he and Abby found themselves trapped in the Cretaceous Era. 

Season Four and Five demonstrated how Connor had matured through needing Abby around him to survive during a year in the Cretaceous Era.After returning to work, he manages to create better technology, leading to the creation of the first ever man-made anomaly. At the end of the series, he finally proposes to Abby at the end of season five, and then denies it so she proposes to him to prove she would have said yes.

In a Canadian Spin Off of Primeval, Connor acknowledges that he and Abby are happily married, and that rounds off his character arc almost perfectly.

His romantic arcs were not the essential justification for his development as a character

Despite the fact that Connor was a character with several romantic arcs; mostly focusing on his repressed romantic feelings toward Abby, and how he was hesitant to acknowledge them throughout the series, he developed mostly out of grief and trying to prove himself to be a valuable asset to a team where practically every person can be deemed dispensable. Except those deemed to be "geniuses" such as Nick Cutter. Connor strives to be deemed great and is later deemed to be of great credit to the team when he and Abby return to modern England and how much they had been missed by their colleagues.

His character develops independently from his romantic arcs, he learns, when Abby is presumed dead, that he does not really love his girlfriend, Caroline and when he finds out she is alive, he crosses to the other side of an anomaly to save her. On the other side of the anomaly, Connor confesses he loves Abby but then reverts back into his shell, denying that anything was said. He then went on to continue to date Caroline.

However, he did not actively admit his feelings until much later in the series, despite every character being aware of their mutual feelings toward one another.

The other characters learned to respect Connor's intellect 

Despite Connor initially being depicted as a character who was still young with unforeseen potential, unlike his colleagues, Nick Cutter, an evolutionary zoologist, Stephen Hart, a wildlife conservationist and skilled marksman and Abby Maitland, a zookeeper, Connor seemed to be the least likely candidate to be a significant character, let alone the longest living male character, appearing in every single episode.

Originally, his colleagues were sceptical of his skills, demonstrated when James Lester called him an idiot and an irritating student, and Captain Becker noting that his tech didn't work when he tested it, as if he didn't believe it would work in the first place. This demonstrated that his colleagues did not always have faith in what he could produce, but despite their moments of disbelief, he was a brilliant man of science, and the creator of the first man-made anomaly.



But what do these factors tell us about writing intelligent characters? Several things!

1. Writing serial works means that characters have a lot of time to mature as people, going from excitable enthusiastic bright eyed students to scientific geniuses with the prowess to create revolutionary pieces of equipment
2. A character is more than their love interests - Connor existed outside of his romantic feelings for Abby and it is important that your characters have more to them than their affections for another character
3. Intelligence in the eyes of a western audience can be a deemed laughable quality, with nerds being shunned for favouring academics to other aspects of life. However, if characters are going to mock another's work it should revolve around it's own arc, for example, James Lester found Connor to be an irritating student but at the end of the day, was grateful he was alive and still able to contribute to the team

Thank you for reading my reasons for adoring Connor! I hope my praise influenced the way you perceive your own characters!

Until next time!

And remember: 

Per Ardua Ad Astra! 

- Imogen. L. Smiley

9/1/18 - Happy Tuesday! University Inspired Writing Prompt!

Happy Tuesday! University Inspired Writing Prompt!

Today, 9/1/18, is the second instalment of a new series of posts; University Inspired Writing Prompts. Since my first year at university, I have been compiling a collection of writing prompts inspired by my time studying in Derby. I hope that these prompts help you create your own works!

All of these prompts are dialogue based, and are inspired by real conversations I have been part of whilst at university.

Prompt Two:

"I can't believe our TUTORS stood us up!"

This derived from an instance during induction week where my classmates and I had not been informed that the meeting place for our of the city and it's amazing arts' scene was being moved to a secondary spot in town. Due to not finding this out, we were under the impression that our lecturers had forgotten us or had stood us up. We carry this joke on with our lecturers to this day!

Hopefully this prompt inspires something - even if it is just a smile

Thank you for reading
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
- Imogen. L. Smiley

7/1/18 - Song Of The Week Sunday

Song Of The Week Sunday:

Today, 7/1/18, is the day of the first instalment of another aspect of this blog - Song Of The Week Sunday - where I will be sharing a piece of music that I listened to more than any other during the space of the previous. In this instance, from week beginning 1/1/18 and ending today, 7/1/18, the song I listened to the most was the following:

My Shot from Hamilton: An American Musical!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwlBxYyjrqM

I have been a fan of Hamilton for many months now. I have been listening to music, predominantly from the First Act non-stop ((pun unintended)) since I was introduced to the musical. The first song that I listened to on my own accord was My Shot all those months ago, and the song has followed me since; with it coming up as the song from the musical that most describes me. I found that that was greatly amusing as I have been described as being overly ambitious, having a one track mind and being desperate to not pass up any opportunities that come my way.

This week I have listened to My Shot very often. I found that it was a source of great motivation for writing poetry for UniSlam and coming up with other projects I can invest my time in. I found that it was great in boosting my morale and confidence in my abilities.

I love this song! Perhaps you'll give it a listen?

Thank you for reading
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
- Imogen. L. Smiley

3/1/18 - Writing Advice Wednesday

Today, 3/1/18, is the first instalment of a new series of posts; Writing Advice Wednesday, where my advice to new writers will be shared once every two weeks. 

It is important to remember that my opinions are not law in any way, shape, or form! Not everyone has the same experiences as I do in this field but it is valuable to share opinions on topics to try and help others! 

Today's topic is RESEARCH and how much research is TOO much research! 

Okay! So let’s begin! How much research do I personally do?

When I am drafting a story I do absolutely no research! None! Zilch! No research whatsoever, but only when I am making the first draft and moulding it into something legitimate. I do not start conducting research for my works until the second draft is complete and then I only look into what I am aware may not make sense, like a character being in a medically induced coma for ten years and being fully capable of running through the halls to find their comrades. This does not actually seem plausible and therefore I conducted research into the impacts of long term comas

I personally think that once you have three sources giving you insight of the same POV into a topic you will be able to understand a subject well enough to write about it! But sometimes you can’t find that and that’s okay! So here is my advice on how to dictate when you’ve done too much research

Tip One: Try To Remember The Specifics

What was it you actually needed to know specifically? Was it something basic, like “Can adrenaline stimulate muscles after long-term sedation?” Which has the poetential to have a simple ‘Yes or No’ answer, or was it something more complicated like “How long does physical therapy take for a double amputee” as that is a lot more subjective and case sensitive. If you can remember what you originally needed to know you ca work out if you’ve answered your question or try to use the information you have acquired to actually answer the question.

Tip Two: Ask YOURSELF If You Know Enough

How does asking yourself help? When it came to writing a genderfluid character in a story of mine, I found myself doing primary research by talking to my friends who had the same identities. I found that through interacting with them on a one to one basis I was able to learn how they felt about their identities, pronouns and being misgendered. That helped me so much that I figured I wouldn’t need to know much more so just got writing!

Tip Three: Try To Write An Essay On What You Are Researching

Yes, this one sounds RIDICULOUSLY counter-productive but I found that it personally helped me when I was struggling to determine how much I knew about something in my story so I decided to test myself and try and write an essay about the topic because I was too ansty to wait much longer to write. It generally astounded me that I knew so much about the topic and it motivated me to get a move on and actually write!

Thank you for reading! I hope I helped in one way, shape, or form! 

And remember:

Per Ardua Ad Astra!

- Imogen. L. Smiley

2/1/18 - Happy Tuesday! University Inspired Writing Prompt!

Happy Tuesday! University Inspired Writing Prompt!

Today, 2/1/18, is the first instalment of a new series of posts; University Inspired Writing Prompts. Since my first year at university, I have been compiling a collection of writing prompts inspired by my time studying in Derby. I hope that these prompts help you create your own works!

All of these prompts are dialogue based, and are inspired by real conversations I have been part of whilst at university.

Prompt One:
"Sorry, I'm late, I had to go to A&E because I cut my finger on a tin of baked beans"

This was said way back in September 2016, when my friend and now housemate was late to hanging out at the pub because she, as the prompt suggests cut her finger on a tin of beans and it didn't stop bleeding erratically for over an hour.

Hopefully this prompt inspires something - even if it is just a smile
Thank you for reading
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
- Imogen. L. Smiley

1/1/18 - Monday Book Review! - The Road

Monday Book Review:

Today, 1/1/18 is the first of what will be a series of Monday Book Reviews, expressing my personal opinions on works of fiction. Today, I will be looking upon a piece called 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy.

I originally read The Road when I was still studying at college. As a fan of post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction, my teacher gushed over how I, in particular would enjoy reading this book and would probably find a great volume of things from within it that I could use for points of analysis. However, when it actually came to reading the book, I found it hard to get through. I found that the lack of punctuation and minimalist dialogue made the story harder to follow than many other books I had read before.

However, I recently reread this book and began to look into the piece as a writer ought to explore other works already published instead of just looking into them at face value or to analyse as a lit student. I believe that the reason I found The Road harder to read the first time around, was because it was very much a piece of "Dirty Realism" in reference to the reality of how surviving in an apocalypse would be - especially when in such a small group; a very repetitive cycle of travelling with very little to offer in terms of conversation. The term "Dirty Realism" refers to something that is mundane and would otherwise have the potential to be dismissed as a unnecessary and irrelevant, but where many amazing stories can be held; in essence it is a term used to describe stories that are based in the here and now.

When reading this book "like a writer" should do, I found that there were many things that could be learned about control; particularly with dialogue - despite how I felt when I originally read the piece's dialogue when I initially read it, I found myself enthralled by how sharp and controlled the monotonous dialogue was; complimenting the character's bleak outlook on the dying world around them. McCarthy demonstrated that by keeping the dialogue minimal you could evoke an entirely new level of internal conversation that derived predominantly from the question "why?". Why are they not talking about anything but the now? Because there is no guarantee of a future and it's easier to accept that when nobody discusses what they wanted of the world before it was plagued by the apocalypse. It was very clever and I commend McCarthy for that!

I found the character of 'The Man' interesting as despite the fact he was falling ill, he was desperate to preserve the life of his son, instead of attempting to get better to protect his son. I found this dynamic fascinating as the generalised assumption is that parents would rather have long lives with their children as opposed to giving teaching them how to survive and dying earlier as consequence. However, when the circumstances of an apocalypse were considered, the second option seemed to be reasonable. As someone who spent most mornings at secondary school back in 2012 ((when everyone believed the world would end)) conspiring of what my friends and I would do, it was very interesting to see how other people would react in an apocalyptic situation, particularly parents.

One of the scenes that stuck a chord with me as a reader and a writer alike was when The Man and The Boy found a can of Coca Cola and The Man gave it to his son to drink as it was unlikely that his son would happen across a commodity that his father was so accustomed to having access too that he would probably not appreciate it as much as his son would. The Man acknowledged in that scene that The Boy wouldn't get those opportunities and as he may never be able to drink a can of Coca Cola again, he gave it to him. I found this scene heart-warming and striking at the same time due to the fact that it reflected the sacrifices families make for their children to access things that their parents may not have been able to.

All in all, I feel that reading McCarthy's work less fascinating than the process of analysing it as both an lit student. However, regardless of how I struggled to engage with the piece, I would recommend it to any new writer that wants to learn about different styles of writing.

Thank you for reading! See you in two weeks for another instalment of Monday Book Reviews!
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra
-Imogen. L. Smiley