Hello everyone! It's Kelsy, aka SpriteBlayde here. Welcome to the sixth volume of The Ink Stained Quill. This series focuses on the amazing writers we have here on deviantART. Each installment will feature a deviant who you may, or may not know, who is willing to answer some of my questions! Whether you are a long time writer, or a newbie, there is something for everyone in the series who is looking to improve their craft or for some light reading.
Today's guest you may have seen wandering around our wonderful literature community. Please welcome Braxton-T-Rutledge.
Before we start, is there anything you would like to share with our audience? Little known facts about you, words of wisdom, information on upcoming projects, etc.?I like pickles. Learn from other peoples painful mistakes before you make your own. I've sent work out to a lot of places recently, but I'm expecting lots of rejection notes. That's generally pretty safe. Right now I'm working on correcting a major flaw in my character\writing career, which is to actually read poetry. I haven't ever really read collections of poetry outside of what I was forced to read. (other than Bukowski, Whitman, and Dylan Thomas.)
Can you tell us a little bit about your writing habits? Perhaps about how frequently you write, or if you only write when inspiration strikes?I write at least weekly, sometimes daily. I only write new material when inspiration hits me and I have enough time to inhabit the voice of that inspiration, which takes time. I am slowly getting into the habit of trying to revise or edit during periods in which I do not feel inspired, but editing and revision are too much like work, and I'm nothing if not terribly lazy.
What inspired you to start writing?I first started writing heavy metal lyrics (terrible, awful, dreadful garbage of course) when I was about 14 or 15. I didn't start writing actual poetry until I was 19, and it wasn't any good until I stopped writing for about three and a half years. I can't tell you what inspired me to start writing earlier in life, dreams of being James Hetfield or my anger and depression maybe. What made me want to write real poetry was going to college, but there I sort of fell in love with the rhyme of the ancient mariner and chuck pahliniuk and sort of did this weird emulation bit, which... well, it didn't really work out well. I don't think I started writing much of anything worth while until a few years ago after my father died.
Do you have a preference between writing prose and poetry? If so, why?
Poetry. I have no work ethic and that's just how I seem to create. Occasionally I'll do a flash piece or try on some prose, I've got some examples of those attempts in my journal.
You've also been the recipient of two DD's. Were you surprised when you received the first one? What were your reactions?
I've actually received three on this account. You may not notice, but it's about ten years old, and about seven or eight years ago, I wrote a poem that Imperfect suggested as a DD and I got it. That poem was deleted, and subsequently burned, after a really difficult period of my life, but anyway, that can go under weird facts. The first DD I got (of the two that are still on the account) is a dance without order. It's an attempt to work with the five stages of grief (though it needs a lot of revision) and my own personal process of grieving after my father died. I wrote it, it got a DD. In a way it felt good, and yes it surprised me.
What were your inspirations for your two DD pieces?
I went over the first(but actually second) in the previous answer. The second answer... Fuzzyhoser had a contest about summer being hot. I'm from mississippi and she's from Alabama, so I thought up the most quintessentially southern summer experience I'd ever had and wrote "Ode to Sticky Crick" with her as my intended audience. It worked, I won the contest. I suppose it also comes from a combination of personal experiences and stories my friends had shared. I did actually get drunk and decide a creek (which was suffering from a drought) ought be renamed gumbo while a buddy of mine puked in our canoe (we brought bottles by mistake and so the boat was full of beer bottles).
Do you have any advice for aspiring or longtime writers that you would like to share?
Honesty. Most writing that I don't connect with is too far removed from the person who wrote it. Too cerebral. I'm not saying go full confessional, but the best prose or poetry feels honest, the voice of the poem fools you into believing them. Like Kevin Spacey in House of Cards makes you believe in his world, in him. A lot of my time writing is spent getting into the voice, inhabiting the character or person or whatever I'm writing from. Once I get there, I just put it on the page, and then spend some time climbing out of the costume I just put on. It's a bit like character acting, but I don't have to worry about actually behaving like the character I've chosen.
Could you please share 2-3 of your own deviations and tell us why you picked them?
braxton-t-rutledge.deviantart.…braxton-t-rutledge.deviantart.…braxton-t-rutledge.deviantart.…All three of these are poems I feel I've worked on a good deal, but they aren't quite ready to be sent anywhere. They also all happen to be based on personal experience. Of course, I might also be looking for some feedback and this is a great platform to ask for it.
Please pick 2-5 deviations from other people and share why you picked them.
queenhrosie.deviantart.com/art… -
mercury-the-queen.deviantart.c…shadowedacolyte.deviantart.com…vespera.deviantart.com/art/Att…They are from my favorites and they haven't been put in storage? I dunno. Queenhrosie is a poet to be respected, mercury-the-queen is extremely talented and that poem kind of wins, shadowedacolyte wrote a solid flash piece there, and Vespera is probably tied for my favorite deviant and also happens to be an extremely accomplished writer.
Are there any quotes that inspire you or stick with you?
Eh, nah.
Do you have any favorite books, authors, poets, writers, deviants, etc., that you would like to share with us?
I recently read the god of animals, and love it. I also have discovered a distinct enjoyment of sharon olds and ted hughes.
Any thing else you would like to say to our audience before we conclude this interview?
Don't do drugs?
And that's a wrap! Thanks so much for joining us today. Be sure to go give Braxton-T-Rutledge's work some attention. His gallery is quite diverse. And from some of his answers, it looks as if he would appreciate feedback.
And thank you to my audience, it's been a pleasure having you for the sixth edition of The Ink Stained Quill! If you know of anyone you think would be a great literary guest, please feel free to comment or note me with their username and why they should be interviewed. Thanks guys!Signing off,
Kelsy
I think I've found a new source of poetry! 