+WriterWatch (6) with :devshehrozeameen:

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Today we have a nice lengthy interview thanks to the wonderful Chezzy-Am . :la: Watch and take notes, as he offers some very sound advice here!

Do you have anything to tell about yourself to our readers?
I'm always available by :note:, I'm running the groups PoetrynProseWatchers and TheCritiquables, I'm a critic on Every-Photo and I'm head of the critique department in PoeticalCondition. I'm 22 years old, Irish born and mostly Pakistan raised, and I'm on the lookout for critics, good photographers, good writers, and good honest people. Trolls will be forwarded to PuzzledHeartBox.

When did you start writing?

I... (thinks about it) (vibrates seat) (bites lip and looks down) (snaps fingers) first time was 13 years of age. I wrote my first formal poem when I was 16, but at 13 I wrote... I guess it was a story based off Arthurian lore with an original character introduced. I never got to completing the story because I simply wrote it blankly - there was description in it, but it was mundane and boring at best. I wasn't as good with spelling as I was with portrayals and settings, but even then it didn't have a coherent plot, some of the details were wrong, and Merlin - of all the people in Arthurian lore - wasn't introduced.

Having said that, I used to write flash stories excessively in my O and A Levels - that was when I turned into a better writer, because I wrote on a lot of ideas and what not. I don't have those stories uploaded here on dA, but I'll get down to them eventually.

So far as dA is concerned though... my prose is not that prolific. There're exceptions to the norm, but for the most part, I'm not as well known as a short story writer nowadays, as I am as a poet.

I'll mention four of my stories here:

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RbtC!PtC! (read description)"Rally by the Cross! Protect the Cross!"
The bright clear blue sky had no respite to the land it cast the summer haze over; the sandy terrain showed no remorse towards letting anyone or anything get by easily. And in this desolation stood a mighty edifice that heralded the resilience of the people who resided in those parts of the Promised Lands, at peace with their sanctum and what it provided.
It had been two years now since there had been any news or any form of developments. Most of the people had, by then, had come to terms with their peacetime and grew their fruit and vines in avarice and glee. Some of them even had the privilege of converting their villas into magnificent structures meant for lords. And over this paradise - however temporary it may have been - was their elected mayor, Yves du Lac. Dressed in the Colors of his ancestry from the vineyards of Tunis, he watched over his people - after earning that right through blood, sweat and tears.
"Salem, please be careful with

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Poetry... that's a tough one, to be honest with you. My first poem:

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written when I was sixteen, did not have any subsequent poem until I was between eighteen and nineteen:

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Affectionate AmbivalenceHe has to occasionally bear
Taunts, curses, subtle mockery and shouts
But he asks for it
Why does he present himself as a clout?
If it was someone else
Why would they care?
They would be indifferent to him,
Being avaricious in mould
Damn it all, I love him too much,
He's my brother after all
I have to be his source of support
The strength to bear with it
True, he's lost sometimes in his own world
But he's a caring soul at heart
He's silent until you speak
Of commerce, theology, and the arts
I get angry at him sometimes
but then I remember the words of the wise men
"Kid, life's tough
and it tames all, from the civilized, to the wildest"
TalkatalkaTalkatolka,
 
this is my vodka,
 
I don't need to get high,
 
To see the wonderful clear blue sky
 
'Cause I've got Talkatolka
 
 
 
So what is a talktatolka?
 
Is it music? Is it French?
 
Some are asking "Is it moronic Limerick"
 
Others, "Is it some new stench?"
 
 
 
Don't listen to them they don't know
 
Their ignorance is enough to show
 
You'll need to give me some time, friend,
 
And I'll show you talktatolka, from beginning till its end
 
 
 
Its the rhythm, It is your guide,
 
Essential speaking? Yeah that's right
 
Necessary to make conversations,
 
Critical for evangalization,
 
You can do anything
 
When you speak from the talkatolka side
 
 
 
Talkatolka's not a word,
 
but a constant work,
 
Of speaking your mind,
 
and always speaking in front, not behind,
 
Of telling a truth, and not useless rant, mind
 
 


I didn't write another poem until I joined dA.

Shadow of the Colossus poemHear this the tale of a lost soul
Long live he, the Wanderer and his steed Arbhach
For they ventured past the transcending bridge
Into the valley of the shadow of the colossi
Entered he the halls of stone, and bartered with Dormin
"Pledge thee, in return for thine bidding, the maiden's life shall be returned"
And Dormin spoke
"Verily, it shalt be done. But the price to pay shall be heavy"
By Dormin's command he pledged to vanquish
The sixteen gods of stone
In the hopes that his maiden's life
Be returned
A promise only possible in the Valley of the Shadow of the Colossi
With Arbhach his steed, and siúinéir solais his sword,
And love strengthening his will
He ventured and fought these God's of Stone
Attacking at the mharc ar an clocha Dia
But the price was heavy indeed
For these sixteen were portions of a single whole
But the Wanderer knew not
Aye, that Dormin once was a Damned God
Overwhelmed by the Wanderer's Clan
Shattered into sixteen pieces
He was spread to the eight e


The rest of course... is history...


Whom are you inspired by?

dA, first and foremost. The people here inspire me. And very often they've been a part of my grooming and polishing as a poet and as a writer. I've met a lot of good and bad writers here on dA (heck, I've even critiqued your works as well, boyo), and they've honestly broadened my horizon to a significant extent.

And having said that, there're photographers and traditional artists and digital artists who're equally important to me.

The ones who've played a significant role in my time here on dA are: PuzzledHeartBox, Laeneris, DorianHarper (I met him when he used to be *star-blazer here on dA), brokengod--veins (I met her when she used to be ~apple-fresh), Lethus1, thelitbeast, your-methamphetamine, DannyMechanist, onibox, TheSilverSunbeam, pearwood, SaskiaDeKorte, SydneyJoy, LaceyCheshireGrin, smallsincerities, Feanor-the-Dragon, Top-Hat-Wolf (His works, back when he used to be ~Ramuk01, were what inspired me to join dA), UntamedUnwanted, GrotesqueDarling13, LadyOfSilver (formerly ~Doritos1996), PoetryOD, OfOneSoul, xXVegasGirlXx, DearPoetry, tickersymbol, ArthurCrow, Figarro-Luv, Exnihilo-nihil, Elite-Pirate, TheGalleryOfEve, grafffite (my first watcher), Calmaffine, Zark123, prettyflour, Sammur-amat, sydnerella, one poem by intricately-ordinary, NotenSMSK, 3wyl, Kamal-Q, MissMonie, threedayweekend, JerryLangdon, Quippers-United, Malintra-Shadowmoon, Pauper-Circumstance, tuiskulumi, PaulVonGore, DeeTay, Hell-Raiser, The-Archaeon, Somnolent-Droid, empty-lungs, nosedivve, Jade-Pandora, chromeantennae, Honestly-Not, wordeea, LightOverpowers, neonxaos, pascal-prevost, Little-Red-Hat, RiseandBe, HugQueen, raspil, zancan (that's DannyMechanist's recommendation), Spiritomb1231, smokedragon, Ewa-a-nie-chce-spac, allsparra, Manouilidis, br0kenbutterflies... that's a huge list, isn't it (laughing)

But outside of dA, it would have to be my late grandfather, retired Air Commodore M. Akram Khan Lodhi, principal PAF College Sargodha, an educationalist from the early days of the education core of Pakistan, and Chief Psychologist for Air Force recruiting. That's my maternal grandfather - from my paternal side, it would have to be late Brigadier Ikram Ameen, Principal Military College Jhelum. Both were educationalists, and both loved books. My initial exposure to poetry came from my maternal grandfather, while from my paternal grandfather, I discovered prose.

In Pakistan, the maternal grandfather is addressed as nana, while the paternal grandfather is addressed as dada. It would seem weird to non-subcontinentals (and I'm sure there're trolls who'd like to make fun of it), but I'm going to use those titles for convenience.

Dada passed away well before I came into this world, and Nana passed away on 11th December 2011. But both introduced me to literature, every form: commentaries, plays, short stories, novels, screenplays, academic essays, philosophy, psychology and poems. Neither were they limited to the United States or the United Kingdom or Ireland or Canada or Australia. I remember, when nana was still alive, how diverse our conversations used to be - they'd start from the "lonely streets of Lahore" and we'd wind up crossing the Promised Lands and entering Viking territory and eventually coming over to the States. It was always diverse.

The writers and books which have, in the end, made a significant change in my life include: Yeats, Keats, Lord Byron, M. Marmaduke Pickthall, Njal's Saga, bits and pieces of the Odyssey, Joyce, Frank Dillinger's "Ireland", Longfellow's translation of the "Divine Comedy", Thomas Hardy, Edward and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Niel Bohr's lecture "Light and Life", E.N. Forster's "A Passage to India", C. J. Goto's "Dawn of War" trilogy, Fredrick Forsythe, Hermann Hesse, Dr. Seuss, Nursery Rhymes, "The Highwayman", Poe, Lovecraft, J.R.R. Tolkeins, Sun Tzu's "The Art of War", bits and pieces from Nietzche's philosophy, "The Development of Metaphysics in Persia" by Allama Iqbal, occasional poems by Ghalib and Faiz Ahmed, Khalil Jibran's "The Prophet", Burton's translation of "A Thousand and One Arabian Nights", DC Comic's "Batman: Night Cries", alongside "Year One", "The Dark Night Returns", "Knightfall", "Run Riddler Run", and "The Killing Joke", and "A Death in the Family" (I admit I haven't been much of a follower of Marvel comics), Lewis Carroll, the book "The Music of Razors", Tagore, "Akira" (the comic), The Epic of Gilgamesh, "Phage and the Origins of Molecular Biology", Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" (I have a very personal attachment with this story), "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Garcia Marquez, poems by Jorge Borges, "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London - well, that's it for now.


You've received a DD on 'Gather the Roses, my Love, and Fly Away'. To what do you attribute the feature?

DorianHarper, "A Change of Seasons" by Dream Theater (specifically the way the line "gathering roses, flying away" was sung), Dylan Thomas, and all in all, a good day in the real world - I wrote it, no doubt, but it was merely one achievement.

How do you hope to change the literature community in the future?

Common Courtesy, a gigantic amount of love, PoetrynProseWatchers, and not stopping writing

What is your future goal here on dA?

(awkward nervous smile) Find my soulmate (chuckles, laughs)

(shakes head) I doubt that's gonna happen either in the near future, or even in the distant future, but what would happen is this:

I hope to try - the key word being try - to bring more exposure to good writers here on dA, through PoetrynProseWatchers. Basically, you submit your poetry and prose :+fav:s as deviations. For now, we're sticking to the prompt, which can be found here:

poetrynprosewatchers.deviantar…

For now, there's been a healthy amount of contributions. Heck, its only been a week since its inception, but there're a lot of plans for the people who'll be a part of that group.

Another is try and get a book published which has my poems in it - from when I started writing poetry, till now; preferably sold at very cheap prices.

Even though my parents have never been particularly stingy about books, I feel books are a commodity that consumers would like to have for feasible prices. So I'll probably want to work on my reputation as a good writer for a very affordable price.

And well... the final thing is to make a very good network of friends. Because in the end, We all need a good friend network to stay alive.


And finally, you've been writing for a while with quite a bit of experience. Do you have any advice to the newer members who hope to make an impact on the community?

Four things: comments, :+fav:, features, and watches

Write constructive comments, not "beautiful", or just a plain emoticon. Trust me, I used to do that too - it doesn't work. It only gets limited exposure at best... probably a llama, or another :+fav:.

If you really want to make an impact on the community, start reading extensively. This is for people who love reading - for those who love artwork, go on a crusade: find works and don't stop until you are satisfied you've got a day's worth of work done.

And write about why you liked them. Here's a template you can use when writing about them (hell, you can pretty much paste the questions themselves, and just write in binary)

Did this work contain vivid imagery?
Did this work portray a scene in vivid detail?
Was the sketch/oil-on-canvas/watercolor/digital artwork done in less than thirty minutes, more than five days, or in between?
Has it been nominated for a DD?
Has it been featured? (in which case just feature it)
Was it stolen?
Is the work original or is it a revision of an original concept?
Does the artist have any markers which are identifiable with his work?
Was this submitted in galleries before? (spread the word that people could check it out over there)


Even if you answer these questions, I feel you'll be taking your first step forward.

In writing though, my word of advice is first work on your own faults and problems. Turn your writing into something that is within your capacity and your wits to bear.

What does that mean? Experiment! Try traditional and non-traditional approaches, read works which have a unique or different format or diction or theme, talk to writers who're diverse. Basically, you'll need to open up more, you'll need to interact more with people.

Purchase writing commissions - and trust me, there're cheap commissions in writing as well. I sell commissions for 20 :points:, and I'm currently on my seventh commission now.

And then, just write blankly. Don't bother about quality initially, just get your ideas out. Let your mind be freed of that "writer's stimulus". It should be in your control.

The best way to bring it in control, is through a time table and constant scheduling. Furthermore, if its supposed to be a long poem (>500 words), use powerpoint and word to get an outline done. And be rigorous about your outline. Make sure you've laid out everything that matters -

-character positives and negatives,
-the story,
-the "turn" in the story,
-the theme,
-the type of diction you need,
-the format of poem or prose you intend on using,
-any particular markers which would indicate when the story's part is going to end
-title of the story itself, or novel, or poem.
-words and their synonyms - yes, have them written down as well
and influences (if any)

And once you write, let it flow out the first time. Don't stop and go back to correct anything, just let it flow out. In essence, if you write like this, you'll have your story, and all you'll need to do is polish it.

Post it once you feel - yes you feel - that it has been sharpened and polished and is satisfying in your eyes.

Best way to do that, is using Thesaurus.com, Rhymer.com (if you're going to write traditional poems), and guidelines here on dA.

Best bet for budding writers: ScreamPrompts - the rigorous regime that's run here by raspil is the best way to learn discipline, patience, and the most important lesson for all writers and which is, in essence, our most tangible feature: making a choice to either suck up to our failure, or live up to expectations and persevere until we get to someplace.

Don't believe me? Check out its gallery:

screamprompts.deviantart.com/g…

I only have two stories in this group. But both of them, really did make a difference in my writing. Again, its the best bet budding writers - but not the only one

You still want to improve, you can try projecteducate and ProjectComment. The former is good if you want guidelines, while the latter's policy is effective - you're guaranteed to get a critique so long as you return the favor. And everyone's active in it.

That's for comment and - to be fair, in an out of context way - about improving your writing. Your :+fav:, however... that can be modified too.

When you go to your :+fav: next time, make collections (the principle is the same as making folders in your galleries - there's an option for new collection on the left. Its clear as day); and name them according to some scale or something. Your standard collections would be literature, art, commissions, movies, dA, journals, groups, and bad shit (you'll find plenty of bad stuff here too). You can then expand it further. The best example of such a model, is the one used by NotenSMSK

notensmsk.deviantart.com/favou…

Just take a note of the collections, and you'll get an idea of what I mean.

And now, features.

A feature, is the equivalent of a small reward ceremony. Its like an acknowledgement of that person's effort and how much they have done for you. YOU matter - not them. Which is why:

1) Feature those people with limited :+fav:, comments and pageviews. I don't need a feature, frankly speaking - but unappreciated people do.

I say I don't need a feature, because I fail to see the point of praising something which is already known as being good. Its like praising the Mona Lisa to people who already know about it... My honest opinion here, is to feature those unknown Tanya Chalkins, or Mark Twains, or e.e. cummings , who're not known and don't know how to get known. People like me are always on the lookout for good writers, so we'd actually be happy to give them exposure and affection. Its their right after all.

2) Feature only the works which have a definitive impact - I'm sorry for saying this, but what's the point of featuring a jackass if he's not even courteous enough to thank you for your effort? Unless they specifically state it in their profile that they're grateful for every feature or :+fav: given to them, or note you, or send you a llama, or simply return the favor by giving a :+fav: themselves, hell, even writing a thank you on your profile comment box, you're wasting a feature slot on some egotistical asshole. Why would you like to subject yourself to such torture?

I've met my fair share, so this is experience speaking out. Not saying all of 'em, but a nominal few anyway.

3) Mention why you featured the person. Always mention why - give a reason why you should do so, even if the person didn't ask for it. Because this will help them realize what that person's strong point is. We're all artists in the end, but we don't always know what our strong suit is.

I found mine out through a series of features by people who watched me. It made a world of difference in my writing, honestly.

and finally

4) Be honest about why you featured them. Did they donate points? Did they write a glowing comment on your poem/prose? Have they been nice to you? Is their work good? Do they have anything original which hasn't been known to anyone? Be discreet, no doubt, but do make a mention of it.

You'd be surprised at what a small amount of courtesy can do.

And finally, :+devwatch:

For members, Watch those who watch you.

... what? You expect a long essay on this? Its as simple as day - watch people who watch you. And hold onto them, they're your support system.

Watching is like friendship - it can only last if the both of you have something in common. In the end, we're all friendly to each other, because we know we'll need each other at some point.

For groups, watch the ones which have a good administration. Take special care here: make sure the leader's been on dA for at least two years, has submissions by senior members and by people you watch, and the group guarantees some degree of exposure for good works. In short, make sure the group's unbiased.

Or, if you're like me, unwatch the group and just pick out works at random whenever you feel bored, read them/see them, and comment on them. I do that often - hell, such "group jumping" can produce very surprising results sometimes.

That's about it really. I can't tell you to change yourself, because you have to do that on your own. It is entirely dependent on you.


© 2013 - 2024 Aerode
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brokengod--veins's avatar
I cannot believe I saw this just now (never ever let mo inbox reach 200 ever again)

Thanks so much shehrozeameen! :huggle: