Boshra Rasti on Writing Poetry Vs. Writing a Novel // Guest Post

Poetry is like cooking; novel writing is like baking.

Boshra Rasti

Boshra Rasti is a poet and indie author of the book, the Surrogate Colony series. I had the pleasure of meeting her to chat about writing poetry and novels. Here is her wonderful guest post on the differences and similarities between writing poetry and a novel.

In its elemental form, poetry is a feeling that overcomes a writer, like a fever. It is instinctual, of the spirit, of the building blocks of sound, pattern, rhythm, and word. 

I believe that poetry is embedded in everything, like primordial DNA that longs to be uncoded, and, for some, it is second nature to decode it. They are the babies that stop crying when they hear someone speak in lofty tongues. They are the infants whose eyes shine with knowing when lyrics are read or mantras chanted, even though they do not understand the words yet.

Often those babies or children grow up to become poets. They decode words like mathematicians decode numbers. 

Some study the craft of writing. They want to paint pictures like Bob Ross painted landscapes or follow a paint-by-numbers scheme.  These people become novelists.

Rules vs. Rebellion

A novel is a craft that can be designed quite beautifully but must follow fundamental building blocks and rules that apply. I’ve just read the Story Grid method of writing, and the poet in me rebelled. It wanted to cling to sound, rhythm, and essence so desperately that I had to give it some respite. Many of my novels and short stories contain poems, not because they need them, but because the part of me that longs for the elemental nature of what I love so much must be satisfied. 

One more simile, because perhaps the juxtaposition of the topic requires it, poetry is like cooking; novel writing is like baking. You know a good meal when you’ve had one. The cook follows his heart, and not a recipe. Some of the best foods are a mish-mash of whatever is left to work with.  On the contrary, bakers must follow a craft. The measurements and ratios must be exact or might end up making stone-hard loaves of bread, or mushy cakes. Novelists must be like bakers.  They must abide by ratios and measurements to produce a manuscript that works.

Surrogate Colony by Boshra Rasti
Published by BOOKBABY on December 19, 2021
Genres: Fiction / Science Fiction / Genetic Engineering
Pages: 264

In MicroScrep, a post-pandemic world, one politician, Arthur Mills, brings all scientists and engineers together to create a vaccine and rebuild a world where harmony ensues. What results is a society where algorithms control who you marry, who your child is, and what position you have.

Adriana Buckowski is not normal. Her eyes are two different colors, making her less susceptible to the system's propaganda, she has a unique connection with a boy named Zach, and she has questions. Weird occurrences happen as she gets closer to her Calling Ceremony, where she'll be given a position. When she finally starts piecing together the twisted motives at play in MicroScrep, she becomes a cog in the wheel of the state.

Her only option for survival lies with Zach, and the hope that she will be vindicated through a vigilante group off-grid. But with time ticking against her, will she survive long enough to be redeemed?

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Praise for Surrogate Colony

"A stunning debut by a bold new writer whose vision of the future conjures the near-impossibility of affection, with women tossed homicidally into surrogate birthing centers and men groomed to become, yes, eunuchs. Or if you will, think Brave New World meets The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Boshra Rasti's dystopia redeems itself when two young characters conceive of a daring off-grid survival among a group of elusive scientists. The author's mature and compelling voice is not afraid to lift the scrim, but beware, for when she does lift the scrim, readers may recognize a society whose angers and horrors and violent fetishism may seem all too familiar. Surrogate Colony is a must read."
Dan Gutstein, author of Buildings without Murders

"The crisp prose and vibrant characters contained within Surrogate Colonies' worldscape is a stunning debut by an author sure to capture the public imagination. Rasti writes of the not-too-distance future with terrifying clarity. "
Raymond Lee, author of The Race Riot

"Surrogate Colony is a thrilling tale of love, betrayal, and the dangers of a world reliant on technology."
Caryn Pine

"Boshra Rasti's sweeping dystopian drama follows two young protagonists on a journey of survival and redemption. Set in a post-pandemic world, Surrogate Colony explores the human psyche after trauma and what can happen when we succumb to fear. While Ms. Rasti's writing is filled with vivid imagery and edge-of-your-seat action, it is also the bond between Adriana and Zach that anchors this story firmly in the reader's mind."
Katherine Day, Grattan Street Press

"It is not a surprise to learn that Boshra Rasti has a debut novel coming out. I knew that she had the goods as a writer when her brilliant short piece Creep appeared in Literally Stories UK during the spring of 2021. She writes tough, economical yet entertaining descriptive prose. From what I have previewed of it, the same holds the day in Surrogate Colony. All readers new to Boshra will be well rewarded."
Leila Allison, Associate Editor, Literally Stories UK

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Thank you again Boshra Rasti, for this incredibly insightful, beautiful, and creative post. I appreciate how another fellow author and poet can understand the process of both written forms. If you want to find out more about Boshra and her work, visit her website and social media.

My debut poetry novel collection Reality Check is available now! Buy on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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