Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Name That Genre! #25

TITLE: Middle Grade novel
GENRE: Secret

You can hear our voices

in the roars of beasts,

whispers of wings and wind

running through grass

and the leaves of trees.

From the mightiest to the least:

We are the voices of this island, speaking as one.



Listen close and listen well -

time has a way of unraveling stories, turning them to shreds.

Story land witches ride broomsticks to the moon.

Everyone has forgotten that real Witches have wills of steel

that can grind every soul to sand beneath their heels.



No one wanted the Witch to come.

Yet she did as she pleased

and here we sit,

turned us to stone,

unable to flee.



But the memory of what we were is alive,

humming and thrumming

where our hearts used to be.



Now we can only wait -



For someone who can see more than these hollowed out husks,

someone who can see life is still burning deep inside of us.

26 comments:

  1. I'm not sure if it is that simple but Poetry. Its certainly a haunting tale! Very cool. Good luck.

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  2. Fantasy.

    I hope someone can release these poor trapped souls.

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  3. Fantasy

    All of the imagery in the verses...

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  4. Fantasy Verse

    Or possibly a fairytale retelling in verse. Because of the witches.

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  5. Fantasy

    I'm guessing fairytale, high fantasy, or a retelling. It depends on whether the whole book is in verse or just the first part.

    It seems sophisticated for Middle Grade, but that's probably just me.

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  6. Fantasy

    Witches, island.

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  7. Fantasy?

    The witches make it sound like fantasy to me, but it's hard to determine for sure since it's in verse.

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  8. Fantasy/magic. I like the writing here. It's very hard to write a story in verse and the author has done a good job. I'd read more. Good luck, Sarah

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  9. I'm calling this Paranormal. And COOL!

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  10. Fantasy told in verse, perhaps a fairytale retelling.

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  11. Fantasy. Is the whole story in verse? I like it a lot, but if this is just an opening poem, you might consider stopping at "Now we can only wait."

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  12. Fantasy. Is this a prologue or the beginning of an epic poem?

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  13. Fantasy

    Well, witches. And perhaps an island with a mind of it's own.

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  14. Fantasy prologue in verse from the perspective of a witch's victims waiting for the main character to be a hero. Reminds me a little of Narnia, or of the headless dancing ladies in Return to Oz. Deeply curious about who's going to set them free!

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  15. Fantasy - witches. I'm wondering if the whole book is in verse. If so, it might be a bit over the head of MG and more suitable to an older audience. I enjoyed it, but my MG daughter skips right over any section of verse or song in books we read together because she doesn't understand them.

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  16. FANTASY NOVEL IN VERSE

    I don’t know if Novel in Verse counts as part of the genre, and I also don’t know if the verse part continues through the whole book or if this is some kind of prologue. But witches mean fantasy.

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  17. FANTASY

    But unless the entire novel is in verse, this feels like it's going on too long. (If it is a verse novel, then never mind).

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  18. Fantasy.

    Witches, and turned to stone tell the tale.

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  19. Fantasy

    It's obviously poetry, but I don't know if MG poetry or verse is divided into genres...

    Witches and turning people to stone makes me think it's fantasy.

    ... I also had an immediate image of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) pop into my head.

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  20. Fantasy in Verse

    (But I have no clue where it's going or what it's about.)

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  21. I CAN'T TELL

    Other than it being in verse I don't know where this is going at all. It has all the lyrical feeling of poetry but I don't know if this is a prologue or what.

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  22. YES! This story is indeed a FANTASY with classic elements like a witch.

    And for those of you who were curious about the form of the story: There are two islands in the story, their voices are in poetry. The rest of the story is written in prose.

    Thank you all for your comments! I appreciate and value them. I hope everyone had as much fun as I did!

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  23. The Anonymous Authoress of this story says:August 30, 2014 at 10:40 AM

    But wait! There's more...

    The Anonymous Authoress has said "anonymous" isn't a name so will re-enter my comment.

    Another structural answer - this first poem is not a prologue. It is chapter one. Each poem, for every time an island speaks, has its own chapter. I think it feels prologuey (somehow I don't think that's a word)because it does some explaining - but can't imagine how a reader would know it's an island's voice without that explanation.

    Once again - thank so much to the Anonymous Authoress for being such an imaginative and gracious hostess.

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