Young Writers Society

Gonna have to adapt the prompts for non-fiction, but excited to do this nonetheless!

Elevator pitch - part 1

1. Shakespeare sonnets article (Squills column)

Although a complicated term when applied to literature, irony in poetry has been found in Shakespeare's popular and resonant sonnets. The article explores some analyses of irony in sonnets from a collection published after William Shakespeare's death. A few different types of irony are made clear, which give result in some surprising interpretations of Shakespeare's verse.

2. Themes and Reviews (possible KB)

In this tutorial, it is explained how to talk about recurring themes and ideas in a literary work, whether it be poetry or prose. The tutorial gives examples of language that can be used to discuss themes. It also gives tips on how to avoid thematic discussion spiralling into Review Spam territory and how to keep it on-track and helpful.

Notes
>> 1. needs to be narrowed in scope a bit more -- I did want to discuss with regards to say, Sonnet 18 (and another one I forgot) -- is it 'true love' or meant to be interpreted as 'flattery for social status' (Marrotti 1982) -- the dramatic irony is the one that most obviously yields conflicting interpretations: if there is dramatic irony, that supports one interpretation -- if argued there isn't, another interpretation is supported -- cosmic and rhetorical irony can be mentioned in passing. Should also look for a link to the specific form of the Shakespearan sonnet, else cut that out into a different article about how Shakespeare adapted the Italian sonnet to fit English's comparative lack of rhymes.
>> 2. In writing the elevator pitch, added an extra part, which is the part on how to avoid Review Spam when discussing themes. That makes the article more useful, hopefully.

You got this, Lim!! Happy PlanMo!! =D

Thanks @Spearmint!

3. Origin of Poetry Foundation

This article tracks the origins of a popular and widely-used website for poetry-related resources by beginning with the Poetry magazine which the Foundation maintains. Its founder began as a wealthy society lady who wanted to succeed in poetry and was motivated to make the art more economically viable and stable. This story leads up to the creation of a successful periodical in an era of short-lived little magazines and the establishment of Poetry Foundation.

Notes:

Also to be addressed - some criticisms of the Poetry magazine from early c.20th or maybe a sense of how Poetry Foundation fits into the ecosystem as a whole.

4. Artificial Superintelligence Quiz

Based on the philosophical work done in artificial intelligence safety, this lighthearted quiz asks you to imagine yourself as the AI that will take over the world. Make choices in each question as to how you will go about doing it. The result will match you to one of Nick Bostrom's three types of artificial superintelligence.

Note:
Add a disclaimer that while the quiz is light-hearted, the book it is based on isn't so much and neither is this philosophical field: probably warn for violence, discussions of war, disease, apocalypse scenarios -- for the book(s), not at all in the quiz


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I'll continue with elevator pitches for further articles later on through the month, but here's what I've got for now.

Hmm trying to plan the 3rd idea in-depth had made me rather sick of it. So I think I shan't be covering Poetry Foundation after all. It's pretty easy to get info about it online anyway, so it's not exactly an article people will learn some mind-blasting info about.

Inciting Incident

Shakespeare's sonnets article

- Shakespeare supposedly started writing his poems around the time that theatres were closed due to plague. I have yet to find out which plague that was.

Artificial Superintelligence Quiz/ Choose-your-own Adventure

- when a group of developers assigns an artificial intelligence a goal: this occurs just before the AI is 'switched on' - after it occurs, the scientists in the quiz think it'll be easy to switch it off again, but the theory/speculative book I'm basing this quiz off of says no, because of the pace at which general AI might be able to learn in the future

Misty Poets Article

The 'inciting incident' of the part my article covers could be something like the death of a particular political figure, or perhaps if I want to narrow the time frame and context more, the events in 1979.