Saturday, May 4, 2013

What Has Inspired Me This Week? – Writing Prompt

Hello everyone who happens to be reading. You are all amazing people, because I am now glad to have finally reached 30 followers! Bring on 40 little minions! Just kidding, you are not my slaves as the term "minion" might suggest, you are free to do what you want with your lives.

Which brings me neatly on to my second point, a much more negative one, because the 30-follower-landmark was nearly a week ago. I'm very sorry to have not posted in a whole week, which is definitely not typical of the new "prolific DP", but I think I have a good excuse in the fact that I had something after school every day this week from gym club, watching a school concert and climbing club (you have not known real fear unless you've climbed a wall blindfolded), to a joint school social and my brilliant-if-slightly-odd friend Laura's (if you're reading this, hi there!) jewellery making party, which was awesome but tiring. I was so tired by the end I slept through The Hobbit, a movie that usually keeps me gripped.

Anyway, as you've probably guessed, I have used a helpful writing prompt (basically another name for a blog tag) for this post! It's from the lovely Hilda, who writes fantastically, so I highly recommend you pop over to her blog sometime. But I'll cut to the chase and get on with the prompt, shall I?

What Has Inspired Me This Week?

When I thought about an answer to this question, one of the many things I did after school this week popped into my head. The theatre adaptation of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, at a small theatre in that ridiculous but somehow fashionable part of London known as Dalston, called the Arcola Theatre. And right now you think that means I'm inspired to take up whaling. And you're saying "You do realise that's illegal, DP?" or you're writing a scathing comment about how offensive my posts are becoming nowadays. Well, don't. Because that's not really the point.

What I was really getting at by saying that Moby-Dick was inspiring was the general way this particular theatre company depicted the feel of the sea. Their clever levelled staging to depict the main part of the boat where Captain Ahab delivered his speeches as a lot higher and more elaborate than the lower part where the sailors slept, the sound effects to imitate a whale approaching, and Moby-Dick himself's framed outline carried around the stage by the actors, creating a real feeling of graceful movement (although I'm disappointed there weren't actors playing the whales)...they all created an authentic effect that WE WERE REALLY AT SEA! And this whole nautical effect inspired me to go see (or sail on) a rocky sea that might just be full of whales. A bit like the "I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky" poem, really. Except, unlike John Masefield poetry, in this modern age such imaginings are always thwarted by a cynical control-freak who was created to ruin us fun people's lives. However, all it takes is one of the frequent sea-shanties in Moby-Dick to stir me back into Fantasy World and to imagining leaving my life, school and home to travel the seas like Ishmael did.

And the character and story of Ishmael is another inspiring part of Moby-Dick. There are some many tales from that era, both true and literary, about people like that who had this little inkling, usually when they had already started a successful career, that they wanted to have a big adventure and do something totally different with their lives, as Ishmael left his teaching job to go whaling. You don't get that too much today in real life or in literature (RIP), but I'm going off topic. I think the whole concept of going off on a total whim and starting off your life again is pretty amazing. It's rebellious, brave and impressive all in one. I'd sure like to be friends with anyone who would actually have the nerve to go on an adventure like that, because I probably wouldn't myself, or at least not now. My life is quite a busy one, and it's not really the kind of life you can decide to quit on a whim. I'd have to shut down this blog for starters, and that would be almost impossible :D. But I still think it's a very courageous and inspiring thing to attempt to do.

My final reason why I found Moby-Dick so inspiring is a lot less deep and meaningful. It's simply: I was inspired to finally read the book. Before I watched the play, I thought it was just an overly professional-sounding book about whaling that I couldn't be bothered to read. But now I see that it's exciting, moving, in some places amusing and of course inspiring. So you might see Moby-Dick on the What I'm Turning The Page Of gadget soon!


Thanks for reading my answer to this prompt. As I said, the prompt works like a tag, but I'm not going to be one of those annoying taggers who say only certain people can use their tag (honestly, it's not an award!). Anyone who wants to use this writing prompt on their blog may!
-DP :)
PS Just under three weeks left to enter my swan competition to win a chance to interview me for your blog, among other prize options! Happy entering!

9 comments:

  1. Aaw thank you so much!, ***hugs Yes, so true. it's not a tag at all. Anyone can use it. :)

    thanks for sharing your Moby Dick inspiration. but I do hope you don't get to shut down your blog! :O

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    1. Lol, thank you, it probably won't be happening anytime soon!
      -DP :)

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    2. Aw yay!! You are very welcome! :D

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  2. Staying gainfully employed in multiple activities is always a good thing.

    http://healthybeautifulyou.blogspot.com

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    1. Not entirely sure what you're getting at there, but thanks!
      -DP :)

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  3. This has really encouraged me to read Moby Dick... Very well-written post, btw :)

    Also, thanks for commenting on my most recent post! As for joining Teenage Blogger Central, I'd be happy to accept your registration (go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KPN5BKS if you would still like to!).. The only reason the tagline says "13-20" is because I was not aware of bloggers younger than 13 at the time. Thanks again for your interest :)

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    1. Thank you! I was wondering, how do you register for Teenage Blogger Central, do you need a SurveyMonkey account? Because that's what it keeps directing me too...
      -DP :)

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    2. You're welcome! As far as I know, you don't. Since you have registered anyway, I'll assume you got around it! Welcome to the TBC community!
      :)

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    3. Really? Or do new blogs take a while to come up?
      -DP :)

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