Welcome back for the twenty-third day of Writober. During this fourth week we’re exploring the universal fear of mutilation. Today we’re looking at fear of attack.
Fear of attack is a fear of violence, terrorism, and also a fear of not being able to know the hearts and minds of others. It is a fear of evil intent, of sociopaths and psychopaths (fear of insanity). It’s a fear of weapons, injury and death.
I found a helpful tip from a Cigma healthcare article “Coping with Anxiety and Fear of Violent Attacks and Terrorism”
“Be aware, but not fearful. Awareness—paying attention to your surroundings, and noticing anything unusual about people and their behavior—is helpful. Being constantly fearful is not helpful. It can actually limit awareness. Fear is a focus on what could happen, which can leave you less aware of what is happening. A sudden feeling of fear is an important clue that something may be wrong. If you are always fearful, that sudden feeling can’t emerge as a clue.”
Rhetorical Device: feminine and masculine rhyme
Masculine rhyme only rhymes the final syllable of a word. I liked this explanation from novlr’s What is a Feminine Rhyme?:
“While masculine rhyme, where the final syllable is stressed, is a staple of poetry, feminine rhyme is often overlooked but equally powerful, adding musicality and nuance to a poem. Feminine rhyme rhymes two or more multi-syllable words on the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable, with the final syllable unstressed, thus creating a more delicate and varied effect.”
“An example of a feminine rhyme is the pairing of the words ‘turtle’ and ‘fertile.’ The word ‘turtle’ has two syllables, with the stress on the first syllable, and the word ‘fertile’ has two syllables, with the stress on the first. With the stress falling on the penultimate syllable of ‘fertile,’ the two words create a gentle and pleasing rhyme, which can be used to create a more subtle and complex effect in a poem.” (I altered this quote to make sense)
There are also masculine and feminine line endings. The masculine line ends on a stressed syllable, and the feminine line ends on an unstressed syllable. For a quick review of syllabic stress and meter take a look at Sounds of Words: Stress and Duration.
Fighting Fear of the Blank Page: A lot of the time this fear comes from not knowing where to start. What if the order of things didn’t matter?
Writing cube: I came up with this idea on the second day of April’s NaPoWriMo this year. Terrance Hayes’s thoughts on boxes made me think of using flattened cube to put my words on. Then I can put the words on the inside or the outside of the cube, and then by turning the cube, enter the poem (or any writing) from different text.
*Quick Note about links in this post: I am an amazon associate, so most of the links in my post will take you to amazon products. If you buy from these links, I will make some pennies which will help me pay for this site and my creative endeavors.
OctPoWriMo
Poetry Toolbox
These are quick exercises that I hope you’ll do every day. We will build on these exercises throughout the month.
- Word list: Write down the first ten words you think of when you think of fear. Any words at all. Anything that comes to mind. Then choose your three favorite and say them aloud a few times until you hear the accented and unaccented syllables (if more than one syllable) and notice the duration of each syllable. Add the least connected exact rhyme, and the strangest slant rhyme. Can you think of a feminine rhyme? (Inspired by Frances Mayes’ list of a hundred favorite words in The Discovery of Poetry)
I created this Excel Spreadsheet for you to use to collect and explore your fear words.
2. Sensory Imagery: In your journal or a word processing file, fill in these lines as quickly as you can. Notice they are slightly different from last week. You may want to revisit one or two in more detail if you’re inspired and have time.
I will see
I will hear
I will carry
I will smell
I will follow
The slice of
The pain of
I will taste
The color of
I will witness
I will touch
(Inspired by a week one exercise in the poetry chapter of The Portable MFA in Creative Writing)
3. More Sensory Imagery: Ask yourself sensory questions about fear of attack.
4. Choose a poetry collection: Keep reading the collection this time more slowly. Read each poem aloud. Take your time. What stands out to you? What do you like? What don’t you like?
Poetry Building
Feminine and masculine rhyme – take a look through your wordlist. Can you identify any feminine rhymes? How do they sound different than masculine rhymes.
Example poem: Today we’re looking at The Shark by William Henry Venable, copied here from poets.org for educational purposes.
The Shark
Captured! Along the beach those shouts reveal The fisherman exultant victor! Hark! The Karcharos, from out his crystalline, dark Blue lair by rud of flesh and lurking steel Bewrayed, hath ravined down with his last meal Death as a gobbet. On the hot sand, stark, He gasps and shudders agonizing. Mark! With horrible grin those bloody jaws appeal Unto his gloating murderers.—No more Those serried ranks sextuple of fanged white Shall scare the shallows and appall the shore, Never again wreak havoc and affright, Ranging the Gulf Stream, weltering in gore;— Poor Shark! Man-eater! learn of Man, to fight.
How does this poem make you feel? What stands out to you? Who is the attacker in this poem?
Today’s prompt: Write a poem exploring the fear of attack using feminine and masculine rhyme anywhere in your poem.
Form: If you’re looking for more of a challenge, write a monorhyme poem with alternating masculine and feminine end rhymes.
Write your poem and post it to your site (blog/ website/ other), then post a link in the chat. You may also post your poem in the chat if you do not have a place to post it. If you are posting as “someone” or “anonymous,” please put your name at the end of the poem. Throughout the day, please check back when you can to read and encourage other poets, to learn from each other, and enjoy each other’s efforts.
Writober Flash Fiction
Write a story with a beginning, middle, and end with conflict that leads to change in less than a thousand words (no minimal word count) inspired by one of the images in the Mutilation folder of the Writober 2024 Pinterest board. How does fear of injury affect your character?
Novel Prep
I had a feeling that something was wrong with NaNoWriMo this year. There weren’t any write-ins scheduled online or locally. It looks like the NaNoWriMo organization stepped in it again. Last year there was a controversy over their response to bad actors in the forums, and now there’s a controversy to their statements on AI. So my local municipal liaison has quit and many writers don’t want to be associated with the organization anymore. So yet another of the online events I found motivational is being abandoned. It may be time for me to take a hint and let it go.
That doesn’t mean we can’t write a novel draft in November. But now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t continue my poetry focus and start my new novel in January instead. I have some thinking to do.
Halloween Photography Challenge
Take a photograph that depicts fear of attack, and link to your photo in the chat.
Get Moving
Now that you’ve read all the prompts and have all these ideas running around in your head, it’s time for motion. Some suggestions:
Self-defense: practicing self-defense actions can be good exercise. I have Self-defense Training Camp for Xbox 360, and it gets me moving. Or you may want to try this basic self-defense course I found on Youtube:
Experience Writing 
Monsters are Evil 🎃🔮🎭 and Christmas is a Joy
The Owl-e
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from my archive 🙂
Writober – Attack! – Ladyleemanila
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