Workshop·Live, one to one·Two classes · two hours
Suspense in a poem
One live meeting, one to one. The time is arranged with you. One part is kept back. A clue remains, not the explanation.
Suspense is wanting to know what is not yet known.
Ground
Suspense is not a trick. It is the decision not to spend the poem in the opening line.
Aim
- See where the poem tells too much.
- Leave an active gap: a clue, not the explanation.
- Rewrite a short text and be able to say what was held back.
It trains
Keep one part back so the reading can continue.
Contents
1The map
1.1Four places
World, the writer, the text, and the reader.
1.2Wanting to know
Suspense is wanting to know what is not yet known.
1.3Not a trick
It is a decision about what is shown and what is kept.
2Clue and gap
2.1The clue
A dose of knowing. Enough for someone to continue.
2.2The gap
What is not said. If the first line fills it, there is no poem.
2.3The norm
You break a norm just installed, not any norm.
3The path
3.1Not the pretty line
You design the path, not a loose sentence.
3.2A short text
You rewrite one that currently tells everything.
3.3What was held back
You have to be able to say it. If you cannot, nothing was held back.
Questions
Is suspense for stories, not poems?
A poem doses information too. If the first line says it all, there is no reading left.
What do I need to know first?
Nothing. A short text that currently explains too much.
Is it a video?
No. It is live, one to one, on your text. The time is arranged by email.
What if I don't think of myself as a poet?
You don't have to. The work is a text of yours. A short draft is enough. If there is no poem, one sentence is enough.
It is live, one to one, on Zoom. The time is arranged by email.
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