mile: Hey Jarl... now that I've come to your part of the woods and commented, you gotta come to mine and do me the same honor. ;o) I love your style of writing...maybe you could give me some pointers as I work on my own novel.

Hey! Thanks for stopping by my site! Still love "The Kender", have been back to read it six or seven times now!

Matthew J. Woodyard replies: "Thanks! I m not sure why, but it seems that "The Kender" is my most popular peice. OH well...heh. Make sure to check back, as that peice will be put into a more poetic form soon."

I just saw your little comment/story on some libraries' comment areas, and I admit you caught my attention. I'll come back and read your stories soon. And that's a threat I'm keeping!

Matthew J. Woodyard replies: "The problem with that that I found, as pointed out in another comment, was that It very much displeased an elfwood administrative.. thus, it won't be continued...but thank you anyway.. seems it got quite a few people to come to my page."

Hey, I really liked reading your stuff. It doesn't sound "perfect" like in some academic book, but it's nice and human, I like that. You have some things to work on and to improve and that's good isn't it?... I must sound stupid with my advice, since I'm not really a writer, but hey... Well, nice meeting you! Bye bye!

Matthew J. Woodyard replies: "Yes, I realiz I do have some things to work on.. but mind you that most of what I did here was done when I was 13.. two hyears have passed.. and I have taken a Writting Class..heh.. so I think I improved.."

An Iamb is a type of Foot. A Foot is the basic unit of Accentual-Syllabic meter. Meter basically means structuring a line of poetry in regular and equal units of rhythm. Accentual-Syllabic meter uses both the number of syllables and the location of stressed syllables within a Foot to structure a line. An Iamb is a two-syllable Foot with the stress placed on the 2nd syllable, as in "New York." Notice how the second syllable is stressed more than the first? You can find how words are accented in any dictionary, but it really shouldn't be necessary to go to such trouble; just say them out loud and listen. Often context determines which word or syllable is stressed in a foot, and you need to be aware of how your context might alter the stress in a particular foot. For example, in the sentence "I like your car," car would normally be stressed more than your. However, in "What do you mean your car?" the stress would be placed on your.

A Pentameter is a line of poetry constructed of 5 Feet, or units of rhythm. An Iambic Pentameter then is a line consisting of 5 Iambs, or two syllable Feet with the stress falling on the 2nd syllable of each foot. Or you might say it is a 10-syllable line with the stresses beginning on the 2nd syllable and falling on every other syllable thereafter. Here's an example, the first line of a sonnet by Edmund Spenser:



One day I wrote her name upon the strand,



Read this line aloud, and hopefully the rhythm will be apparent to you. That's Iambic Pentameter! Now was it that bad?



oh.. nice page

Matthew J. Woodyard replies: "ahhh.... ok... Well done then.. but I think you misunderstood what I said.. thanks for the comment about my page though..."

Love your little short story that went from author to author...it's what brought me to your page. Very clever

Matthew J. Woodyard replies: "hmm.. well.. the thing about that... is , I had an elfwood administrator send a scolding letter to me... She was quite displeased with that...So, I don't think it would be something that would be carried on any more. Sorry to dissapoint you."

I don't like you

Matthew J. Woodyard replies: "Thats great.. now would you mind not wasteing those precious few bytes that you wasted even commenting on my page about not liking me?"

I like your work, it's very clever and very imaginative. You have some great ideas.

Ooh, hey, in one of ur stories...Is that dark elf from lodoss wars? Just wondering...Keke, i love that movie! Buh she died...How could she...Nvmnd. Pirotess/ashram 4ever! Lol. I like ur stories, they're very descriptive and well thot-out.

U want iambic pentameter? Here it is:

The language in which you portray your thoughts
can quench the thirst for tales that are long-sought
a pleasure it has been to view your words
better stories than that i've rarely heard
thanks for the pleasure of sharing your mind
the detail and description helps to find
things to paint the picture of your story
may they always be known for their glory

there? Happy? Iambic pentameter, just learned it in english class too...Shakespeare unit..*sigh*