Start of the line rhyme - Varjak Paw - O. (I).

Today's #afewwordsaday #KAFWAD submission

Why not join me? Today's prompts are below. Prompts for the rest of the week are in a separate post just below.

24th September

Prompts / date	24  September 2015
FMS Photo a day	green
Text type	Start of the line rhyme
Sentence type	O. (I).
Story	Varjak Paw

O. (I).

outside: inside

2 related sentences. Outside (action), inside (reveals true feelings)

Kate ate the cake her friend gave to her with excitement. However, she wished she had refused it. She smiled at the cheeky boy. At the same time she was hurt by his tricks.

Varjak Paw was told that a 'true' Mesopotamian blue has green eyes.

Start of the line rhyme

Rhyming words start, rather than end the lines. As this is hard to maintain, it is fine to include the rhyming words in the first few syllables of a line:

One morning a letter came in the post

And yawning, a stepsister picked it up.

The Paws are an extended family of Mesopotamian Blue cats,

Whose claws are not needed in their luxury life with The Contessa.

They rarely venture out, even into the garden: Mother says,

"It’s a fairly nasty, dirty place in that garden.”

Beyond these doors ‘Outside’, there are huge, fierce monsters called dogs.

Fond of dreaming, was Varjak, the youngest kitten,

He was teased and bullied by his family

Displeased by his eyes: amber not green

(As the eyes of a true Mesopotamian Blue should be).

He relies on his grandfather's tales of their ancestor Jalal,

Who "travelled to the ends of the earth, further than any cat had been before",

A true hunter, who "fought the fiercest warrior cats".

Varjak gets his chance to shine when the Contessa dies,

Black cats and a sinister "Gentleman"

Take over the house

Moreover, Elder Paw insists that the Mesopotamians

Must escape the house at once, but they refuse.

Thrust aside, he turns to Varjak for help.

Varjak's task is to go over the wall surrounding the house,

And ask a dog to help them –

A dog alone could make the gentleman become

Overthrown – a dog is so big and fierce.

He will recognise a dog because they

"Fill the heart with fear, with their foul breath and deafening sound".

Varjak climbed bravely over the wall and ventured into the City.

Despite his bravery, he was a scared and inexperienced kitten.

Enough of my attempts – if I continue my poem, I’ll spoil the story for you.

Now. can you adapt the last two lines so that they have a 'start of the line rhyme'?

Or, why not try your own?

Mirror snowball - Chicken Licken - 3 _ed

Today's #afewwordsaday #KAFWAD submission

Why not join me? Today's prompts are below. Prompts for the rest of the week are in a separate post just below.

21st September

Prompts / date	21 September 2015
FMS Photo a day	red
Text type	Mirror snowball
Sentence type	3 _ed
Story	Chicken Licken

Do you think Chicken Licken could have been related to the Little Red Hen (I had to get 'red' in there somehow!)

3 _ed: Describes emotions. Start with 3 adjectives ending in _ed, all followed by commas   

Confused, shocked, scared, the children ran from the burning building.

Mirror Snowball

Oulipian technique

Poem with one word on the first line, one more word on each line until there are eight words. Thenn one less word on each line until the last line has one word.

Each line must make sense on its own.

1 Licken,

2 The Chicken:

3 “The sky’s falling!”

4 “Oh no!” said Ducky.

5 “We must tell the king!”

6 “Where are you going?” asked Goosey.

7 “The sky’s falling! We’re telling the King!”

8 Confused, shocked, bewildered, the friends set off aimlessly.

7 ”Where are you going?” asked Foxy Loxy.

6 “To the King, the sky’s falling!”

5 “I’ll help you, follow me!”

4 And so they did…

3 To his den

2 Oh no…

1 Dinner!

Wild Swans - Tanka (Haiku style poem) - irony

Today's #afewwordsaday #KAFWAD submission

Why not join me? Today's prompts are below. Prompts for the rest of the week are in a separate post just below.

12th September 2015

What do you think of my Tanka poems? It's my first attempt. Can you do better?

Opposite: the King's wife was beautiful on the outside but when he looked at her he was filled with horror.

Prompts / date	12th September 2015
FMS Photo a day	opposite
Text type	Tanka
Sentence type	Irony
Story	The Wild Swans

Irony	overstates how good or bad something is, rest of sentence reveals overstated word to be false. Our 'luxury' room turned out to be a farm building. The 'trip of our dreams' was, in fact, our worst nightmare.
Tanka	5-7-5-7-7 last two lines change pace or tone

The Six Swans

The king had six sons

His wife turned them into swans

Their sister saved them

She knitted shirts from nettles

and turned them back into men

So this one doesn’t change the tone or pace, let’s try again with a bit more help from Alan Peat's '50 ways to re-tell a story':

I was a sad girl.

My six brothers were now swans.

I had to save them:

For six years I could not speak

And knitted six nettle shirts.

Better – but no irony…

Six boys and one girl.

one step mum and a cruel spell:

Six swans and one girl.

Six years of knitting nettles.

Six brothers back: just one wing.

Hmm, still no irony. Let’s try just part of the story…

A king, lost, no hope.

An old woman can help him

If he weds her girl.

This ‘worthy and pretty’ girl

Filled our king’s heart with horror.

I heard - The boy who cried wolf

Today's #afewwordsaday #KAFWAD submission

Why not join me? Today's prompts are below. Prompts for the rest of the week are in a separate post just below.

9th September 2015

I'm getting used to this 5-7 syllable format. The more I do it, the less I have to count the syllables. Have a go!

Prompts / date	9th September 2015
FMS Photo a day	I hear
Text type	Naga-uta
Sentence type	Adjective, same adjective
Story	The boy who cried wolf

Adj, same adj	A phrase with an adjective, repeat same adjective straight after the comma. Adds detail and explains. It was a cold planet, cold due to the distance from the sun
Naga-uta	Japanese for 'long song';has mini-Haikus, each stanza is 5-7, the last is 7-7. Separate chains of naga-uta can go off at a tangent, to add more detail, explain an underlying motive...

I heard the boy cry wolf but I ignored him: a wolf killed one of his sheep.
'No one believes a liar even when they tell the truth'

(disclaimer - this didn't really happen. I would have noticed a wolf that big,
and I know that the sponge doesn't look much like a sheep)

A young shepherd boy

Watching for a big, bad wolf,

                                                                       He’s so very bored.

                                                                       For weeks now, there’s been no sign

Looking down the hill

He sees the farmers working

                                                                           The shepherd boy looks

                                                                           At his unused warning bell

                                                                           The shepherd boy thinks

                                                                           ‘I wonder what they would do…’

‘Help! Help! There’s a wolf!’

The boy jumped and rang the bell.

The men ran to help,

but no wolf was to be seen.

‘I chased him away!’

‘Well done! What a brave young man!’

                                                                        ‘That was fun,’ he thought.

                                                                         I will try that trick again.

‘Help! Help! There’s a wolf!’

The boy jumped and rang the bell.

                                                                          

The men dropped their tools,

Again they came to his aid.

Once again, no wolf.

There was no praise, no ‘brave boy.’

                                                                           The men were doubtful,

                                                                           doubtful because of his grin.

                                                                          He’d chased off a wolf

                                                                           And yet he wasn’t shaken

                                                                           

He did it again,

Again no wolf was there

They were angry now.

‘Don’t cry wolf, when there’s no wolf.’

                                                                           The daft boy just grinned

                                                                           He loved the sport of ‘cry wolf’

Next day he saw a …

‘WOLF! HELP! HELP!’ He rang his bell.

                                                                           He shouted loudly,

                                                                           Loudly so they’d know it’s true.

                 

‘Does he think we’re fools?

The villagers ignored him.

At sunset the boy

didn’t come down with the sheep

The boy was weeping

when they went up to find him.

‘The wolf ate a sheep:

I called, but you did not come.’

No one believes a liar

even when they tell the truth.