One of my writing professors once told the class to “write weirdly about the plain things, and plainly about the weird things.” And within Nocturnal Mind we have frequently commented on the strange beauty of contrast—whether from characters, ideas, settings, or situations. Beautiful songs about death; frightening-looking people having the gentlest souls… These are things…
A garret, or small attic room–commonly defined alongside words like “dismal,” and “wretched”–is a space dedicated to lonely artists and young people reflecting on their lives. It is a room of boxes stuffed with memories; things we’ve outgrown, but haven’t had the heart to say goodbye to. Write a poem in the style of Jo…
A clown, a hobo, a ballet dancer, a bagpiper, and an army major wake up in a large, metal cylinder. No, this is not the start of a complex joke. It’s the opening to a fairly popular episode of the original Twilight Zone series, first aired in 1961. These vastly unrelated characters all have one…
For those of us that might need the reminder, an “idiom” is a linguistic expression which takes a phrase that may mean one thing literally, and gives it an entirely different meaning. We’ve heard most if not all of them throughout our lives, and so without having to even think about it the actual meanings…
We’ve said it often enough before that sometimes a change of view is the best remedy for a lack of inspiration. But for many writers there is more to this advice than just having an excuse to get out of the house every once in a while. Different places can awaken the imagination in different…