Sherlock60: The Story Continues... with "The Three Gables"

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

This Sunday, 21st February, we'll be posting our 60 word ficlets for The Three Gables.

I don't think that any of my adventures with Mr. Sherlock Holmes opened quite so abruptly, or so dramatically, as that which I associate with The Three Gables. Holmes and Watson are warned off a case in Harrow Weald. Just why is there so much interest in the client's house and its contents..?

If you haven't tried 60 for 60 before, full information - including our schedule - can be found on our profile. But in essence: you read ACD's story and then you write a 60 word story inspired by it! You don't have to post a story every week - just join in whenever you feel like it.

Each Sunday we will also have our weekly discussion post, and Mrs. Hudson's Poetry Page. Any poems inspired by this week’s story can be left as a comment on her post. Mrs. Hudson informs me that this week's featured poetry form will be the ballad. She suggests using the scheme used in La Belle Dame Sans Merci: that is, verses of 4 lines with the rhyme scheme ABCB, with the first 3 lines being in iambic tetrameter (te TUM te TUM te TUM te TUM) and the fourth line only having 2 feet - either 2 iambs (te TUM te TUM) or an anapaest followed by an iamb (te te TUM te TUM). But don't feel you have to stick rigidly to the meter. (Mrs. Hudson says she d___ well hasn't.)

You can choose one activity, or have a go at everything. Or just come along and read the 60s! (And have a chat in the comments ^^) All options are absolutely fine.

Hope to see you on Sunday ^^

Comments

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

Dude. This hath me in thrall.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I can only apologise. I'll let you out of my elfin grot ASAP.

And I was rather tickled to see that a poetry discussion had broken out under this post ^_^

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

Well, we all speak language strange here, anyway :D

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

We'll see if I have any inner Keats to shine forth! Although the feet still confuse me. I never know if a word is a 'te' or a 'TUM.' Is there an app for that? :)

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

The TUM is more of a stamp:

The WORDS, it's HARD to FIT them IN
They're LIKE a LIMP on BROK-en FOOT
And IF you FIND it HELPS at ALL
Give UP and WRITE dog-ger-AL

There are additional words I could have used in place of dog-ger-al, but Mrs Hudson wouldn't approve and you've given them up for Lent.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Ha, ha. Very funny and helpful.

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

There sort of is (http://prosody.lib.virginia.edu/).

If you look up a word in the dictionary, the stressed and unstressed syllables are marked as thus, which is essentially beginner scansion. I personally think scansion marks, / over a stressed syllable and a u over an unstressed syllable, are even easier to read.

But here is an awesome worksheet (https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Examples%20of%20Iambs.pdf) explaining the different metric feet and a bunch of examples of each.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Very helpful. Thank you so much!