The idea of this challenge is to substitute words of our own into the well-known titles of novels or movies
The first title I have chosen is The Year of Living Dangerously by Peter Weir.
The second title is Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.
Our Challenge:
Select either of the titles and substitute your own words in the place of those indicated below, and write a new poem under the title you have created.
1. The ____________ of Living _____________
or The Year of _____________ Dangerously
2. ____________ in the Garden of ___________ and ___________
or Midnight in the __________ of Good and Evil or any other combination of either title which works for you.
I have chosen two fantasy novels for our word substitution challenge this month. The first is the brain-child of Neil Gaiman and the second features a fantastically realized world created by Walter Moers.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a 2013 novel by British author Neil Gaiman. It follows an unnamed man who returns to his hometown for a funeral and remembers events that began forty years earlier.
Themes in The Ocean at the End of the Lane include the search for self-identity and the "disconnect between childhood and adulthood". Among other honours, it was voted Book of the Year in the British National Book Awards. (Source)
The City of Dreaming Books (original title: Die Stadt der Träumenden Bücher) is one of four in the Zamonia series written and illustrated by German author Walter Moers, translated into English by John Brownjohn.
Protagonist Optimus Yarnspinner (Hildegunst von Mythenmetz in the German) is a Lindworm (dinosaur) who inherits his authorial godfather's possessions, including a perfect story written by an unknown author, in search of whom he travels to Bookholm, a city devoted to literature above labyrinthine catacombs containing many valuable books, among various monsters and perils. (Source)
OUR CHALLENGE
I chose these titles because they demand our reassessment of how we read words and phrases. The authors have chosen word pairings which are not commonly used together: an ocean and a lane; a city made of books (which are sleeping). Our challenge is to substitute our own nouns and adjectives for those used in these titles. Rather than making them more comfortable, I encourage you to use imaginative pairings of your own.
1. The Ocean at the ______ of the ______
2. The _____ at the End of the _______
3. The City of _______ ______
4. The _____ of Dreaming ______
These are some suggestions of how the titles might be manipulated, but feel free to use your own combination of words. The idea is for your title to bear some resemblance to the original but with an original twist.
As with every weekend challenge, posted at noon on Saturday, this prompt is open through Sunday and will still be first on the home page on Monday. This allows plenty of time for the creative process. Please return to the site after posting to read and review other works.
Our word substitution mini-challenge for the month of December, must inevitably turn to the titles of well-loved Christmas tales. However, this would not be the Imaginary Garden if there were not a dash of the unconventional. The object of this exercise is to consider the role of words in titles and how nuance and meaning can be changed by the slightest adjustments.
John Updike and Tim Burton are way ahead of us in substituting words into the titles of favourite carols.
Although I am not familiar with the following title, Christopher Moore seems to have been rather innovative in his approach to the traditional Christmas Tale.
If you prefer the quirky and humorous or would like to explore the underside of the festive season, then choose from the titles above and substitute your own nouns and adjectives, or select your own Christmas title (something well-known) and work your magic on it.
The Twelve _________ of Christmas
The ________ Before Christmas
The ________ Angel
However, if your would like something more traditional, then use the title of O. Henry's beloved tale.
The Gift of the _________
The _________ of the Magi
These titles were sourced HERE, and there are more to choose from on that site.
For those who are celebrating Hanukkah, here is a range of titles from Goodreads.
If the spirit moves you to participate in this challenge, I hope you will have a lot of fun with it.
It's the third weekend of the month, and time to try our hands once again at substituting our own words into the titles of novels, and spinning a few threads of thought into poetry.
The novels I have chosen for this mini-challenge are:
The World According to Garp by John Irving, published in 1978, the book was a bestseller for several years and the paperback edition won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1980.
Book Cover
The role of Garp was played by Robin Williams in the movie adaptation of 1982. It was the first time I saw him on screen and was so moved by his performance that I went out and bought the novel, and now own every novel written by Irving.
AND
Love in the Time of Cholera, a novel by Nobel Prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez, first published in Spanish in 1985.
Book Cover
The book was also adapted into a movie starring Jarvier Bardem, in 2007.
Our Challenge:
Select either of the titles and substitute your own words in the place of those indicated below, and write a new poem under the title you have created.
1. The World According to _________
2. Love in the Time of _____________
In addition, you may substitute a word of your own choice for either the word "World" or the word "Love". (E.g. The Sea According to Sinbad)
Link up your poem, and visit the other participants' blogs to see what innovative words and ideas they have chosen. Have fun!
