TO HELP YOUNG WRITERS

Ladies' Mirror, Volume I, Issue 6, 1 December 1922, Page 40

TO HELP YOUNG WRITERS

Critical Notes on Manuscript [No MS. zvill be returned unless accompanied by stamps. No liability is undertaken re voluntary contributions. Name and full address must appear on the MS. itself.] , Marietta,- Gisborne. —If you have scribbled verse from childhood, it really is time you began to study the rules of Prosody. It is true that poets are born and not made, but even the best poet must follow certain rules. You mix iambics - with trochaics, and your ideas of rhyme and rythm are so elementary that it would be well to make a serious study of metre before writing any more. When, you have done so, read some melodious verse—say Tennyson, or Kipling’s “Songs of the Seven Seas,” and note the music of the lines and the regularity of the rhythm. C.P., Parnell.—“ Mara” is a very pleasing story, but can scarcely be called Maori. In their self-restraint, both Mara and Hautane are certainly Englishsave in colour. The incident of the note sent to Moi in days when tribal fights and cannibalism were common cannot be considered true to life. Writing was taught by Europeans to the Maoris at a much later date. It is somewhat difficult to catch the spirit of the times of which you write, so why not keep to modern New Zealand? “That Charming Miss Trent” will not do. It is too full of fireworks. A short story needs some characterisation. Read criticisms on short story writing on the Book Page in the August number of this journal. B.A.C.—“The New Vicar” is lacking in originality. We are looking for stories of New Zealand setting, combined with literary merit. There must be hundreds such waiting to be told in a bright interesting way. N.H., Roto-o-Rangi.“Knowledge” is an essay of promise. The language is good and meaning well expressed. It would be better to lean less on the opinions of other people, and you use quotations over-much. One or two to illustrate a meaning or to crystallise an idea have value, but it is well to be sparing in their use. Are you really wishful to be a writer? If so, I shall be very pleased to give you help and advice. “The Magic Tree” has imagination, your use of our bush flora is pleasing, but you can do much better, I feel sure. V.D.W., Raurimu. —You have talent for rhyming, but it is evident that you have not studied the technique of versemaking. There are certain rules which must be observed if the result is to be poetry. These you will find in the' chapter included in most grammars on prosody. Your lines: “Was his message to his mate For her his happy song. Asking her not to be late And leave him lonely long?” would be very much better written as plain prose. The alliteration in the last line cheapens it. In the same verse you begin with an accented word and keep this trochaic measure fairly well for that line. In the next you use iambics, the accent falling on the second syllable _ alternately. That is like a change in the time of a tune. Study metrical rules before attempting to write any more verse — send me the best you can do. P.M.C., Parnell. —Yes, “Dot” is somewhat immature, but has the makings of a good story. Suppose you put it away for a few months, and then rewrite it, putting more force .into it, some high lights here, and some elaboration there. At present the story is uniformly grey, and I know that after further study you will be able to do so much better with that material. So, too, with “The Little Snowdrop,” which has good points among its weak ones. “The Waterfall” I shall probably use.