Crafting Poetry One Syllable at a Time
Posted on August 30, 2019 by Colleen M. Chesebro
Hello everyone! This week I’m happy to introduce Author and Poet, Trent McDonald. Trent is a regular participant in my weekly poetry challenge. I love how many authors write poetry too! Check out his poems HERE.
I asked him to pick three or four questions from my huge list HERE. We all aspire to be successful authors and the best way to learn some of the tricks of the trade is to ask questions.
First, please meet my guest, Trent McDonald:
I never decided what I wanted to do when I grew up. I compose and play music, draw and paint, take a lot of pictures, and yes, I write. I’ve written a couple of books that are sitting on my shelf waiting to go out and I write a new short story almost every week, which I often post on my blog, trentsworldblog.wordpress.com. I’ve collected some of the best short stories I’ve written and put them out as “Seasons of Imagination”.
Trent McDonald ~ Amazon Author Page
I also like to eat, so I work as a computer nerd during the day while I figure out what it is I really want to do.
If you really need details, I was born and raised in Ohio by the shore of beautiful Lake Erie and now split my time between mountainous New Hampshire and the coast of Massachusetts.
One thing to know about me is that I hate to write bio-blurbs in the third person.
Hi, Colleen. Thanks for inviting me to your blog.
Yes, all of the time, particularly in my longer fiction. I believe I do have the skills necessary to write from a point of view totally foreign to my own, which I do all of the time in my short and middle length fiction, but I still like to base at least part of the main character on myself when writing a novel length work.
For one thing, I like the idea of the hero being a nerdy, introverted guy instead of the usual alpha male. Don’t worry, these nerdy “heroes” are often athletic and active without being athletes, but that is me as well.
For instance, in The Halley Branch I have the main character, Trevor, running at about my pace and participating in similar outdoor pursuits, like hiking in the mountains and kayaking. There is another reason I use at least some of my characteristics when creating my main characters on myself, one that some people might consider cheating a bit: I find that basing the character at least partially on me makes it easier to create a three dimensional person on the fly.
I have done a bit of plotting in my day, but I am closer to what is known as a “panster,” that is, I like to write by the seat of my pants and have the story tell itself.
Most of my longer works were written “on the spur of the moment,” that is, I didn’t plan to write a book or longish novella (20,000 – 40,000 words), they just happened.
For instance, the two fantasy novellas I recently published together were written from beginning to end following weekly prompts. After I wrote the first chapter to a prompt, I received so much feedback to continue that I just kept going, having no idea where they were going until the next prompt.
Other times the stories are there in my head and I just write them out like dictation. The Halley Branch is an example of a story being created in my subconscious. I wrote a chapter as a standalone story and then wrote one chapter a day for a month to complete the rough draft. The interesting thing with The Halley Branch is that I had a lot of detail in that first chapter that ended up foreshadowing what occurred later. I don’t know if I could have panned it better if I had tried. Of course, the first chapter was created while in a different state of consciousness…
Yes, you got the hint after reading my blog posts. I had an odd dream about crypts and ghosts. There were “whites” and people of color in the crypt, yet a feeling that they were all one family. The entire dream was so strange that I had to write it down. Of course, I did more than write it down, I embellished it a little and created a story. The story was just so incomplete that I had to continue. As I said, I ended up writing the entire book in 30 days.
O.K. Going back to the idea of letting the story run or plotting, when I was a little over half way through the book, I sat down for forty five minutes and came up with a rough plot to finish the book. That bit of plotting did help so I could neatly tie up all of the loose threads. This was also one of the few times that I wrote it out on paper, in this case mostly writing down a list of chapter headings that I would use.
“More typical for me is that I will take a long walk and plot it out in my head. Later, when I write it all out, I will use the outline that I created in my mind.”
Trent McDonald
Back to the dream, I still find it odd how many details it had that showed up, almost by accident, later on in the book. I wrote about this dream a few times. My blog page on The Halley Branch has links to two of them as well as much more about the story (https://trentsworldblog.wordpress.com/books/the-halley-branch/).
One thing you may see while reading some of the posts is that I originally posted the book, one chapter at a time, on my blog, putting each chapter up within a half of an hour from when I complete them. I used the same drawing for all of the posts to make sure people could tell when a new Halley Branch post was up. It provided a constancy.
It was a pencil drawing and a bit rough, but I spent a lot of time in Photoshop and came up with a good cover, so, yes, I did design my own cover using that drawing.
In fact, three of my five books use covers that I created. I do really like the two covers Belinda Borrradaile created for me, but there is something satisfying about having your own artwork grace the cover of your book.
Embers was simple, just a photograph that fit the title and idea of the short stories contained in the book. My cover of the two fantasy novellas was the most satisfying. I received a lot of comments on it.
It is also interesting how well it matches the cover of Seasons of Imagination, the first cover that Belinda did for me.
But, back to your question… I think that creating my own covers is another way that I put myself into the story. A bit of my personality rubs off on the book itself, not just the main character.
Going full circle, that is part of what it is about for my writing. Half of it is that I am a storyteller with all of these tales inside waiting to escape. The other half is that when the stories finally do escape, they contain a lot of me in them, pouring forth from my subconscious straight onto the page. OK, I’ll be boring and call this “self-expression”.
That’s it in a nutshell: the main storytelling part, the part before all of the hard work of editing begins, is just that, plain, straightforward self-expression. And that little cherry on top, the cover, is the final detail of that self-expression.
Thanks, Colleen. I had fun. Thanks for the opportunity.
Trent’s BLOG: https://trentsworldblog.wordpress.com/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Trent-P.-McDonald/e/B01NCYQA3G
Twitter: @trentpmcd
Thanks for stopping by to meet
Category: author interviewsTags: author interviews, Author Interviews, book covers, The Halley Branch, Trent McDonald, trentsworldblog.wordpress.com, writing, writing characters like yourself
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“A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him.”
—Dylan Thomas
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Colleen M. Chesebro is an American Poet who loves crafting paranormal fantasy and magical realism, cross-genre flash fiction, syllabic poetry, and creative nonfiction. Colleen sponsors a weekly syllabic poetry challenge, called Tanka Tuesday, on wordcraftpoetry.com where participants learn how to write traditional and current forms of haiku, senryu, haiga, tanka, gogyohka, tanka prose, renga, solo-renga, haibun, cinquain, Etheree, nonet, and shadorma poetry. Colleen's syllabic poetry has appeared in the Auroras & Blossoms Poetry Journal, and in “Hedgerow, a journal of small poems.” She’s won numerous awards from participating in the Carrot Ranch Rodeo, a yearly flash fiction contest sponsored by carrotranch.com. In 2020, she won first place in the Carrot Ranch Folk Tale or Fable category, with her story called “Why Wolf Howls at the Moon.” Colleen is a Sister of the Fey, where she pursues a pagan path through her writing. When she is not writing, she is reading. She also loves gardening and crocheting old-fashioned doilies into works of art.
An informative interview, Trent. I also enjoy reading your blog 🙂
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Thanks 🙂
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Thanks for the Interview!
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You bet! ❤️ Glad to highlight your writing.
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🙂
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Reblogged this on Trent's World (the Blog) and commented:
I did an interview over on Colleen Chesebro’s blog. Go check it out:
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Thanks for stopping by Trent. 😃
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I love these interviews, and am glad to see Trent presenting his fiction here. I also like the insight into how plotting and pantsing aren’t mutually exclusive. I do a bit of both myself.
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Thanks, Craig. I seem to be there myself. That’s why I love hearing how other people write. ❤️
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Thanks Craig. My guess is most people do a bit of both, the difference is the degree which they mix it. Actually, I mix it differently quite a bit from story to story, going from pure stream of conscious to having it totally organized in my mind (and some on paper) before I write word one, but for the most part I’m a pantser who occasionally plots to make sure everything stays on track.
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I don’t know that I ever do it the same way twice either. These days I usually have a rough storyboard then let the characters take me from point to point.
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Great interview with Trent!
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Thanks, Ritu. He’s an interesting guy! ❤️
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Hello, Colleen and Trent! Fascinating interview! It’s great to learn more about you, Trent. I’ve always loved your book covers and often wondered if they were your creations. Thanks for the Q&A, Colleen! Happy Friday and weekend to the two of you! 😀 xo
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Happy Friday, Vashti. Thanks so much for having a read. Trent is a rather fascinating guy! I’ve got to read some of his books. ❤
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I agree. 😀
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Thanks, Vashti! When I started my blog I tried to have an original drawing at least once a week, but now I save the visual arts side for my book covers 😉 have a great weekend!
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I didn’t know that, Trent. Very cool!
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Every so often I’ll still use one, but they are buried so deep I don’t think of it often.
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Sounds like a great idea, Trent! 😀 I hope you’re enjoying the long weekend!
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Thanks Vashti – the long weekend is going well. I hope you are enjoying your weekend as well 🙂
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Hurricane Dorian kept away, so that’s a great thing. 😉
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Thank the goddess! ❤
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I’m sure not getting hit by a hurricane is a great thing! I feel sorry for the Bahamas, but glad it gave Florida a miss. Latest track shows the Carolinas still in danger. Hope all goes well.
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Me too. ❤
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Another fantastic interview, so interesting. ❤
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Thanks, Sis. So glad to see you back. ❤
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Trent is a highly imaginative and creative person. I like his poems, stories, and songs!
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Me too! I didn’t mention this but he’s a great photographer too! Multi-talented! ❤️
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Doesn’t surprise me. 🙂 He seems creatively versatile.
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So, true! LOL! ❤
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Thanks, Colleen. I haven’t had enough time for my photography lately,, but need to get back into it 🙂
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You take great photos, Trent! ❤️
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Thanks 🙂
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Thanks, Chelsea 🙂
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What a fabulous interview! It’s so great to get to know Trent better. I love the part about the dream and how parts of the dream kept showing up in the stories. Wow! That’s inspiration direct from the Universe! Thank you for introducing this author, Colleen!
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You’re welcome, Jan. He is multi-talented for sure! ❤️
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Thanks. It was a very strange dream, full of weird details. I guess it was a gift from the Universe – I like the book it helped to create 🙂
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I enjoyed Trent’s author interview, Colleen. I remember when he was writing The Halley Branch in a serial format on his blog. I think its great he turned it into a book.
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That’s a fabulous idea. I’ve got his books on my list to read which seems to be growing like crazy. LOL! Thanks so much for stopping by, Robbie. ❤
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Thanks, Robbie 🙂
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Great interview Colleen, and nice to learn about Trent and his writing process. This is a great series. ❤
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Thanks, Sis. 😘♥️
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❤
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A fantastic conversation between two versatile people❤️
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Thank you. Trent is an interesting and talented writer and artist. 😀
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