I’m pleased to welcome Mark Anthony Smith as my Tuesday guest. Mark is becoming a regular visitor on ‘Patricia’s Pen’ as he’s been featured with his story ‘Stick’ and his Haiku when responding to my writing challenges. He’s here now to talk about his writing, and in particular, inspiration. So without further ado, it’s over to Mark.
Writing and Inspiration
Mark Anthony Smith
I’ve just finished my Novella but I can’t talk too much about at the moment. However, there was something on the nature of love that kept me thinking. It took me three or four false starts to achieve the story because the narrative voice wasn’t quite right. I’d been agonising over it since February or March of 2019 but it’s finished now and left me quite bereft of ideas.
This is where my ‘binge reading’ comes into play. I will read anything and everything to store up and fire that internal rhythm again. The hum might come from ‘word play’, ideas, or observations. Sometimes, it’s the poetry in song lyrics. I like putting two words together with the aim of creating a dissonance or harmony. A piece of my writing often arises from working this way.
When writing Haiku, this come from observation. It sometimes starts with a thought or feeling. Memories are always a good catalyst. These reminisces are then jolted by reading or listening to music.
My flash fiction pieces, ‘She Opens Doors’, published with Nymphs, was observation triggered, while ‘Chitter Chatter’, published by Spelk, arose from working in The NHS and reading H P Lovecraft.
I like not being able to immediately understand a piece of writing. Sometimes, I use it to fire my own rhythmic patterns of thought. Studying Social Sciences at Degree level really paid off for me too as I feel better able to formulate questions and make connections between two or more ideas.
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Thank you for sharing how you gain your inspiration, Mark. I’m sure that many of my readers will relate to a lot of those ways. For me, my biggest inspiration comes from walking around my local park and lake, visiting National Trust properties, and I need to have classical music on in the background when I’m writing.
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And now to find out a little more about Mark Anthony Smith.
Mark Anthony Smith was born in Hull. He’s been an avid reader from an early age. After leaving the army he studied English to AS Level at Suffolk College and later started an English Degree at Hull University. His writing career began after winning ‘Star Letter’ with Writing Magazine. Later that same year he was commended by Writers’ Forum magazine for his Haiku, ‘Hearts of the matter.’ This encouraged Mark to publish a book of the same name.
Further successes followed with an Anthology and CD for Homelessness. But things spiralled once he took to Twitter. Since joining Twitter, he’s been published in Spelk and Truly U and has poems or short stories appearing in The Cabinet of Heed, Detritus, Nymphs and Pink Plastic House. If he gets stuck for ideas, he binge reads to start an internal hum of creativity.
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You can purchase Mark’s ‘Hearts of the Matter’ on Kindle and paperback from Amazon
You can find Mark on social media by clicking on the following links.
Patricia M Osborne 