Welcome to the first edition of this week's Project: Educate series dedicated to getting facts out there about the Literature gallery and community. As education is only effective if you start with the basics, we figured a brief review of which art forms the Literature gallery covers might be in order. First and foremost:


What is Literature?

Well, one can answer that question in any number of ways stemming from the very academic to the very pejorative, but I like to settle on something simplistic. Literature is art in the form of written expression. It usually (but not always) deals with a particular subject and often strives for an audience of interested and like-minded folk. So if you are using words as your artistic tools, then the Literature gallery is the gallery for you!


Are there different types of Literature?

Again, this question can become needlessly and quickly complicated. To avoid confusion (and any number of arguments), deviantART separates the Literature gallery into Poetry and Prose. As both of these forms have several different requirements and standards, and even overlap in places, it's often difficult to pinpoint exactly what constitutes "poetry" and what constitutes "prose". Projects such as *underlit's Poetry Is... have involved the dA community in defining poetry, and scholars have debated the issue for years and years, only to arrive at sparse guidelines to help differentiate between these two forms. While we don't stand up here on a soapbox and say that what follows are the end-all, be-all in regards to defining poetry and prose, we do offer these as rough reference for the new-to-Lit.

What is Poetry?

The simplest (and yet most complicated) definition I've ever heard for poetry is "language that moves". While this is rather--poetic--in and of itself, it doesn't answer the question of how the language moves, or what movement one might be talking about. To help illustrate this movement, I steal from ^lovetodeviate:

Perhaps the most important distinction is the emphasis that poetry places on sound. Poetry makes use of rhyme, metre, alliteration and other sound devices to enhance its meaning, and also to make it aesthetically pleasing. Prose does make use of rhythm sometimes, especially the natural rhythms of speech in dialogue, but focus on sound is greater in poetry.

However, sound is not the only significant quality of poetry. There is also a difference between how a poem is organized (to steal, again, from ^lovetodeviate):

One simplistic -- but useful -- differentiation is that prose makes use of sentences and paragraphs to organise its content whereas poetry is composed of lines and strophes/stanzas.

In other words, if you're writing something where each line or so focuses around one image and need not have entire sentences to get your point across but rather relies on pithy, powerful sounds and pictures, you are probably writing poetry.

What is Prose?

Well, as much as we'd all like to, we don't speak in poetry. Perhaps we venture into that realm on occasion, but most of the time people prefer to speak to one another in straightforward ways and fully-developed thoughts. Remember that one kid in elementary school who rhymed everything? How hard did you want to hit him? This is where prose comes in. Often cited as being the "ordinary" form of language--the form of the common man--prose is meant to represent straightforward speech that often follows common conventions like complete sentences and paragraphs. It can be just as complex and sophisticated as poetry, but it achieves that sophistication in different ways.

However, the simplest definition I can give you (for dA purposes) is this: prose is everything else.


Like What?

Okay, so "everything else" is, perhaps, not as simple as it appears. Prose, unlike poetry, is broken down further into two categories on dA: Fiction and Non-fiction. Understanding the difference between these two distinctions is especially important for discovering where on Earth you should post that story to. Luckily, the difference between the two is ridiculously simple.


Non-fiction

Nonfiction prose is writing that deals with subjects and people that are 100% real. By extension, this includes writing about actual events that have occurred in the real world--whether in history or in the present time, and sometimes it even includes giving your opinion on them. If you are talking about something they really and truly happened, or even something that is happening right now, you are writing Non-fiction. Nonfiction, above all, deals with facts and reality.

For more information on the nitty-gritty of Nonfiction, look for tomorrow's Project: Educate article!


Fiction

If, on the other hand, you are writing about something that's come directly from your imagination--even if it deals with real people or actual events--then you are writing fiction. Fiction is something that is feigned, invented, or imagined. The simplest way to put it is that fiction is something you've made up. It might be partially based on facts or actual people or the real world, but the most important elements originate in your over-active, remarkable mind. In nonfiction you work with what has already been created; in fiction, you are in charge of the creating.


Is that all?

Not quite! There is one more form, too often ignored on dA, and it really deserves to be included in the spotlight. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Visual Poetry. To quote from ^StJoan:

For literature it's the most unique category as it's the only one that accepts image files. But what is visual poetry? The short answer is a piece of poetry matched with a visual image, but this can't be any image or a simple back drop.

True visual poetry requires a marriage of typographical and graphic design, as well as a piece of literature that is codependent on its image. In true visual poetry, neither the image nor the poem should be able to stand alone without losing a quality that defines the piece.

Simple backdrops with poetry written on them do not belong in this category. But there is a place for these pieces, you may submit them to Literature prints under Contest & Projects --> Events --> Projects & Clubs --> Literature as Prints. This cat is ONLY for regular poetry accompanied by a plain or nonessential backdrop and must have the print enabled. True Visual Poetry can have prints enabled without being under literature prints.

Of course, the gallery isn't as cut-and-dry as some might think. There are plenty of gray areas and room for confusion and, as we move through the rest of this week, we hope to clear up some of those biggest problem areas for you. That said, if you have any questions about Poetry, Prose, Fiction, or Nonfiction, please feel free to comment on this article and/or note your friendly neighborhood GDs: ^StJoan, ^lovetodeviate, and ^GeneratingHype. We're here to help!