3/4/18 - Happy Tuesday! University Inspired Writing Prompt

Happy Tuesday! University Inspired Writing Prompt!

Today, 3/4/18, 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 #13
"You were so drunk you couldn't walk downstairs. We had to get the most sober guys at the party to carry you down the stairs. But one of them...may have dropped you and you went tumbling down a flight of stairs."

The above prompt derived from an experience several months ago, when my friends and I went to an acquaintance's flat party. We found that having a night with the other guests to be a lot of fun; not only did we get control of the music, we were surrounded by laughter! But later in the night, one of our friends had had a few too many shots. And as the prompt suggested, they eventually got dropped down the stairs as we attempted to take them home They were fine though!

I hope that this prompt inspired something - even if it was just a smile
Thank you for reading!
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra
- Imogen. L. Smiley

1/4/18 - Song Of The Week Sunday

Song Of The Week Sunday:

Today, 1/4/18, 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 26/3/18 and ending today, 1/4/18, the song I listened to the most was the following:
Sinners by Lauren Aquelina
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyMal7io41s

I chose this song to be my Song Of The Week this week as it related greatly to the topics of what I have been writing and working on at late - I have been writing stories that centre around conflicts about love.

One instance is a love between two characeters - Azura and Greggy. Azura's father does not approve of Greggy despite the pair being close friends when they were young. He was devastated when the pair ended up together after reuniting at university. And continued to lament and attempt to sabotage the couple even after five years of being together.

The second instance, which is arguably more applicable, is the story of Greggy's older brother, Michaelis and his boyfriend Seth and the struggles the pair have during their relationship due to Seth's overwhelming issues with GAD and Michaelis' fear of being outed as gay due to his family's conservative opinions toward the LGBT community.

Sinners related to both of these pairs, in the case of Azura and Greggy, the song applies due to the religious background of Azura and her families. Despite having been with her boyfriend for five years, she refuses to have sexual contact with him, but her abusive father does not approve and wants them to break up. Our hearts are too rutheless to break, let's start fires for heaven's sake, reminds me of their relationship and how they refuse to break up despite the pressures from her father. In the case of Seth and Michaelis, you have a reflection of how the world may disapprove of them being together due to negative opinions about homosexuality existing in the world, and how it need not matter because they have each other.

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

31/3/18 - Random Monthly Post - I Love Musicals

Hello everyone! Today marks the end of my third month on this blog and in order to honour the passing of such time, two months ago 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 March's Random Monthly Post?

Why I love musicals.

Those who know me in the "real world" will be very much aware of my obsession with musical theatre, and I am sure that fans of this blog will have managed to grasp that from some of my previous selections for Song of the Week. Surprise, surprise, I adore musicals. I have been a fan of musicals since I was young, starting at the Disney classic, High School Musical and the subsequent sequels as I grew up. However, as I grew older, I gained a taste for stage plays as opposed to TV musicals.

For several years, my aunt used to buy my family tickets to see musicals on the West End as Christmas presents. Thanks to her generous gifts, we had the opportunity to watch Hairspray, The Lion King and Wicked on stage. But after my sister expressing a distaste over Wicked, we have no longer gone to musicals. However, this has not quashed my adoration for musical theatre.

I have watched many musicals in film form, Grease, Mamma Mia, Hairspray and RENT to name a few, but I am a huge fan of Hamilton: An American Musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Hamilton was the first musical that I had actually taken the time to invest my time in that was outside of the pre-established bracket. I came across it on Tumblr but was hesitant to buy into the hype when it first came out. I was re-introduced to it at a karaoke night when I was at university last year, and this re-inspired my deep love for musical theatre. A group of students that were at the karaoke night, decided to go up and sing Alexander Hamilton, or as me and my friends that are fellow fans happen to call it "The Exposition Song", where context for the entire show is established. I recognised the song, and when I got home, I listened to the entirety of Act One.

I became a hardcore fan of that musical not long after that, and found myself revisiting Grease, Mamma Mia, Hairspray and RENT with a nostalgic fondness.

But what exactly was it about the musicals, or more specifically, Hamilton, that got me invested again?

The lyrics.

As a spoken word poet, and a writer as a whole, I tend to lend my ear to lyrics. I am eager to hear what singers are saying in their music. So when I finally listened to Act One, and later Act Two of Hamilton, I was astounded at the power behind the lyrics.

I ended up manipulating lyrics from my favourite song from Hamilton into my UniSlam 2018 solo - I Wanted To Die, The quote from the song was as follows:

Let me tell you what I wish I'd known 

When I was young and dreamed of glory

You have no control

Who lives who dies who tells your story

And I wrote the following in reference to those lyrics:

Recently, I began to rationalise

Realising we have no control 

Over who will tell our stories 

Once we're gone. 

Before I went on to tell the stories of people of signifiance that influenced me when I wanted to die back when.

This musical had done something completely different, it had managed to use a genre of music, not assoicated with Broadway and Theatre and produce a musical that made Millennials and Gen Z kdis want to watch it, and learn about American History. It brought new generations and invested them in musicals! Not only that but because the entire musical IS the soundtrack, people who couldn't afford tickets to Broadway could STILL ACCESS THE MUSICAL!

The lyrics from songs in Hamilton seemed to be so powerful! And it isn't just that one musical, no. I also recently became infatuated with Dear Evan Hansen, a muscial staring Ben Platt.

There are very powerful metaphors and images within the music in that show - for example, the repetition of the following part:

I've learned to slam on the brake

Before I've even turned the key

Before I make the mistake 

Before I lead with the worst of me

These lyrics are repeated in Waving Through A Window and Words Fail with immensely different meanings and intentions. This musical taught me a lot about how I should regard delivery when performing on stage myself.

In short - I love musicals.
In slightly longer - I love musicals due to the lyrics in their songs.
In essence - Lyrics in songs from musicals can be immensely powerful and I love them so much!

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

28/3/18 - Writing Advice Wednesday

Today, 28/3/18, is the sixth 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!

So, what is today's topic? Beating Writer's Block! 

As a Creative Writing student, the idea of writer's block can be horrifying. The concept itself has the potential to greatly impact the way we perceive the outcome of a specific module, because if we have writer's block then we have the potential to have stunted ourselves and our potential heavily. 

So, how do I manage to evade writer's block? 

1. Read - I find that reading helps me keep writer's block at bay. Being immersed in the world of another writer, published or not, allows me enough space from my assignments to collect my thoughts. Sometimes, what I require, is not a writing prompt but a sentence, or a phrase, or an image. Therefore, exposing myself to a variety of written stimuli has the potential to provide me with the muse I may require in order to further my piece. 

2. Re-evaluate what I already have -  Should I get stuck midway through creating a piece of writing, and struggle to work out what I am to do next, I go over everything I have produced in reference to said piece in a bid to find plot threads I could pull on to move the story onward etc. It is very helpful when doing coursework. 

3. Music - Look into music that fits the general theme of the piece and see if something gets my creative juices flowing again. One of the main aspects of writing which my screenwriting lecturer once offered us was to examine the concept of our piece and probe it to find out what the theme of the piece is - what is the core message you would like your readers to gain from the piece that you are creating? For example, in my screenwriting piece it was "live in the now" as it told the story of friends mourning over their friend who passed away because hypoglycemic of shock after a night of drinking. She did not let her Type One Diabetes keep herself from enjoying her life. However, her irresponsible behaviour evoked an early death on her part. Once I had the theme recorded, I began looking for music I could use that discussed a similar topic and got song suggestions from "Live Like There's No Tomorrow" by Selena Gomez to "This Life" by Tim Halperin to covers of "Ikanaide"! It gave me a vast sea of lyrics and images I could use for muses within my screenplay! 

Thank you for reading!

And remember:

Per Ardua Ad Astra!

- Imogen. L. Smiley

27/3/18 - Monthly Film Reviews: Lady Bird

Hello everyone! Today is the sixth 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 sixth Film Review on my blog?

Lady Bird (2017)

I watched this film at QUAD Derby's Oscar Film Event, where the Oscar Nominations for this year's Academy Awards were screened again for one week. I watched it with some of my friends as part of a binge-watch, where we spent the entire day in the cinema.

This review WILL contain spoilers.

Plot:
As the genre of this film was more coming of age than anything, I was delighted by how direct this story was in relating to me. Unlike most coming of age films, that appear to be targeted at 15-17-year-olds, this one was aimed more so at students that had just begun or were about to begin their university careers as the story of Lady Bird was set during her last year at High School. I found the plight easy to understand and relate to as it focussed on how Lady Bird wished to go to university in New York but her family could not afford to support her.

Character:
The character of Lady Bird was heartbreakingly realistic. She seemed ignorant to the struggle around her as her family did not want her to be privy to the significance of the family issues involving finances. Her ambition appeared to be bigger than she could achieve, and yet, she was determined to give it a shot, despite conflict with her mother. Some of heaviest pieces of dialogue derived from when Lady Bird and her mother were at odds during the film, for example, "But do you like me?" which was thrown at her mother during an argument when they were shopping for prom dresses.

Engagement:
It took me a short while to manage to be invested in the story, despite regarding Lady Bird to be a relatable character. It took a short period of time to really want to root for the protagonist and learn more about where her journey would take her. However, once she ended up in a relationship, I was interested. As someone who has gone to university, I am aware that it can be deemed to be silly to engage in romantic relationships so close to graduation, so I wanted to know how things would go. From there I was hooked.

My Favourite Moment:
My favourite moment was one which made me cry during the film; when Lady Bird is on her way to the airport, and her father gets out of the car with her to say goodbye, and instead of seeing the farewell, you watch her mother drive away and do a lap of the surrounding area because parking at the airport is too expensive. As she turns the car around, as a viewer, you are hoping that she is going to speed back to the airport to say goodbye to her daughter, despite being in a state of heightened tension and conflict with her because of her decision to study in the city. I was so upset when she missed the chance to say goodbye and just cried into her husband's arms. It was so sad!

My Least Favourite Moment:
I was not a fan of the ending of this film, I felt like the build-up to the ending left the resolution to be rather anti-climatic. This was because Lady Bird had finally gone to university and got what she wanted, so I was unsure as to whether this was the point where a quick downward spiral would begin to show viewers that sometimes things don't go according to plan. It seemed to be a quick snap and flat resolution to the conflict.

Anything Else:
I may or may not have cried when Lady Bird finally referred to herself by her given name, Christine when at university...

Despite my opinions on the ending, I would recommend the film! And I hope that you'll consider giving this film a watch.
Thanks for reading!
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
- Imogen. L. Smiley

27/3/18 - Happy Tuesday! University Inspired Writing Prompt

Happy Tuesday! University Inspired Writing Prompt!

Today, 27/3/18, 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 #12 

"I can't drown my demons, they know how to swim"

"Goddamn, I think mine know how to fucking waterski"

The above prompt derived from a conversation between myself and one of my friends about our how we deal with the stress of waiting for our grades over an extended period. We found it immensely hard to cope with the idea of waiting for weeks on end with our grades hanging in the balance. But at the end of the day, both of us managed to do well! 

I hope that this prompt inspired something - even if it was just a smile
Thank you for reading!
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra
- Imogen. L. Smiley

26/3/18 - Monday Book Reviews - Poetry Edition - Too Black Too Strong

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

Today I am reviewing a collection called 'Too Black Too Strong', which was written by Benjamin Zephaniah. I found this collection in my local library in Derby and would like to use this platform to take the opportunity to say that libraries are immensely important to the local community and it is best to take advantage of the resources available to you or otherwise, they may not be for much longer. Libraries across the UK are being closed due to a lack of usage and therefore a lack of funding. This is a heartbreaking reality of life today and I apologise for forcing you to engage with it in this manner but I encourage you, here and now to please, take advantage of these facilities and use your local library!

Now, back to the collection at hand.

This collection, like the title suggests, is very strong and emotive. The pieces within this book are very vocal about black issues and the significance of specific factors in improving and worsening them. The voice, therefore, was easy to hear. When I was reading this collection, I felt as if the words were being spoken aloud to me, it was that prevalent. It was a refreshing experience.

Another standout aspect of this collection is Zephaniah's use of flow and rhythm when telling the stories he wished to within verse. It flowed with ease. I found it very simple to grasp and apply the tempo to the words. I was happy that I could, therefore, read the poems as they were meant to be read as when I read poetry usually, I struggle to understand how it ought to sound, even my own spoken word can do that to me at times. I was glad that it was so easy to apply as it made my reading experience so much more enjoyable.

I would recommend reading this collection. It is very powerful and engaging!

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

And remember:

Per Ardua Ad Astra

-Imogen. L. Smiley