Inside Baseball - Part II
Inside Baseball: Part II: Dactylic Hexameter. Have no idea what that means. I did not either until I was 3 chapters into writing Dragon Dilemma Part 1. It only took a few lines of the 4th chapter for me to realize what I was writing was not working. It was the voice, you see. The4th chapter is a story within a story, and it is being told by one of the characters. However, writing it in the style of the other chapters made it feel flat. It sounded too much like 'my writing' and not enough like someone else telling it.
So, I began ruminating on what a story being told by a fantasy character might sound like. It had to be something old - perhaps medieval. My mind moved to books or stories I had read that had stuck with me because of their style - ones that might fit such a composition. Two came to mind. The Illiad and the Odyssey.
Now, Homer had this stuff down pat. I didn't.
Dactylic Hexameter is certainly not a normal way of writing these days.
My first step - look up exactly what it was: a poetic meter consisting of six feet per line.
My second step: do a lot of online searching and reading.
It took me two weeks to write the first iteration of that one chapter.
I have since rewritten it almost entirely during revisions.
Did I nail the format? Given I am not an expert in the field of that style of writing, I'll have to leave that judgement up to others.
I'll consider it a win, none-the-less.
If nothing else, because of the challenge. And, because the change in style fits.
Reading back through the story, I am convinced, now more than ever, that writing that chapter in the style of the rest of the book would cause it to completely fall flat.
The change adds character. It sets that inner story apart. It has it's own tone and personality.
It also gives me a much grander appreciation for what Homer wrote.
I considered maybe coming back after the book was finished and published and rewriting the entirety of Dragon Dilemma in Dactylic Hexameter.
Ah, I do so love kidding myself.
I am looking forward to seeing what readers of the book think about it though.
Time will tell.
So, I began ruminating on what a story being told by a fantasy character might sound like. It had to be something old - perhaps medieval. My mind moved to books or stories I had read that had stuck with me because of their style - ones that might fit such a composition. Two came to mind. The Illiad and the Odyssey.
Now, Homer had this stuff down pat. I didn't.
Dactylic Hexameter is certainly not a normal way of writing these days.
My first step - look up exactly what it was: a poetic meter consisting of six feet per line.
My second step: do a lot of online searching and reading.
It took me two weeks to write the first iteration of that one chapter.
I have since rewritten it almost entirely during revisions.
Did I nail the format? Given I am not an expert in the field of that style of writing, I'll have to leave that judgement up to others.
I'll consider it a win, none-the-less.
If nothing else, because of the challenge. And, because the change in style fits.
Reading back through the story, I am convinced, now more than ever, that writing that chapter in the style of the rest of the book would cause it to completely fall flat.
The change adds character. It sets that inner story apart. It has it's own tone and personality.
It also gives me a much grander appreciation for what Homer wrote.
I considered maybe coming back after the book was finished and published and rewriting the entirety of Dragon Dilemma in Dactylic Hexameter.
Ah, I do so love kidding myself.
I am looking forward to seeing what readers of the book think about it though.
Time will tell.
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