It all started with the IG Open Mic when The Writing Wall Blog had the pleasure of hearing Blue Carrisole read their work for the very first time. There is something exciting about hearing writers whom we interact with on social media speak even if over a computer. Curious about this mysterious individual, The Writing Wall asked them to share part of their story here this Writing Corner Wednesday.
The bio for Blue Carrisole reads, "Blue Carrisole is an African unpublished writer and poet who enjoys writing short stories, flash fiction, poetry, and personal essays. She grew up an only child in a small immediate family and spent a lot of time watching tv shows and sitcoms that were meant for a much older audience than she was. She loves playing sports and spending time with those closest to her and has limitless interest in people, especially those unfamiliar to her. Currently, she is hoping to pursue a career in cognitive neuroscience. She has been featured on numerous small presses, makes short visual poetry films and videos on YouTube, writes personal essays and short stories on medium, and is working on releasing her first self- published anthology ‘The Blue Diaries’ ."
Blue Carrisole is from Kenya and says that the country is best known for its "dishes, the beaches, and genuinely the tropical vibes you get when you are there." The genre Carriosle writes is not set in stone. "With stories, I tend to go a bit darker especially with romance they're tragic. Poetry I feel like I just go with what I'm feeling. I try to channel it. I find myself writing a lot of dark pieces most of the time though, so you could say I write dark poetry, no matter the subject."
The description of their work begged the question, who or what inspired them to start writing? Blue Carrisole told The Writing Wall Blog, " When I was younger, something changed in me when I lost a parent. It wasn’t really something I talked to anyone about. I just always seemed okay and it happened when I was quite young so it took me a while to register all the feelings I was having at the time. I didn’t let them show to other people. To cope with everything I would sit at my downstairs dining table from 2 am to 5 am and just write. It could be short stories about what I would see around me; the way people treated me like they were waiting for me to crumble, or talking about me being in denial. The judgment that I felt made it difficult to open up to anyone. All I had were the pages I would write on and writing seemed to ease the grief."
Nowadays Blue Carrisole finds any room with enough space to pace around while they arrange their thoughts is just as good a place to write than any. "I do need music and low light," just not too low because they do like to write when the atmosphere is right.
When asked what it was they were reading right now, the answer was, "Instagram poetry." There are some wonderful poets and storytellers on IG and Blue Carrisole agreed, "some souls on there are quite vintage and while I do feel an attraction to contemporary poetry, I like the old stuff more. Today poets are direct and manage to make simplicity so appealing and beautiful, but the old style of writing poems has always been interesting because of how intricate the pieces are. The way you’d have to fish for the meaning behind the message or the diction used. I just feel like both styles make you fall into a different world, but old poetry makes you hunt and some Instagram poets still show that in their work and I live for it."
Blue Carrisole also enjoys a good historical-fiction and admits that they will read anything that captures their attention.
Of course, we asked who their favorite indie author or poet was and Blue Carrisole explained that she loved Savannah Brown. "Her poems are so cool. I love the depth in them and the way they make your thoughts twist into a savory manner causing you to want to live within their rhythm for as long as possible."
Stephen King's short stories are Blue Carrisole's inspiration for their own short stories. "When you read his work it makes you want to burst out something good too!" But for poetry and their personal essays, Blue Carrisole told the blog they are inspired "by the thought of someone connecting to the words and that helping them feel okay like they're not alone," is what drives them.
"The comfort I got when I was 12 and still get today is the same feeling I want to give someone else. I’ve always said that I don’t want people to fall in love with just the words because they’re pretty when you see them I strive to intimately create a picture of the feelings that come with the message of a piece. That way readers are able to engage and feel like they’ve read something where someone has understood what they’re going through and not just the idea of it."
How does one come up with such a unique name as Blue Carrisole? Well, the poet told us that the color blue often does mean sadness, but Carrisole really spelled Carousel (pronounced the same), was made to look more like a surname. Even though the words together invoke the image of a circle of sadness Blue Carrisole says, " I want the name to stand for everything my work says when you read it or hear it recited. The feelings evoked or involved and even the way they’ve been put together just for you as a reader. "
Blue Carrisole is also a first on the blog as this poet and short story/essay writer has not yet published any of their own work. However, they are working on a collection of short stories that will be self-published next year titled Slivers of Madness, but their first poetry book titled The Blue Diaries is coming out at the end of this year.
The Blue Diaries Book Cover Image
"Majority of it features the color blue in different forms, shades and links it to the message of a piece, they’re also some spoken pieces that are really close to me because it's like my way of directly speaking to readers about who I am, the things that happen to me in a way that’s not just a poetic description but the truth about the darkness people go through me included and how I deal with it."
Like all poets, writers, and storytellers Blue Carrisole enjoys their downtime too. They told The Writing Wall Blog spare time is usually spent with "best friends, everyone else in my life minus immediate family come second to them. We do a lot and talk even more and genuinely they are my biggest supporters, my biggest fans, and the best-chosen family a girl could have hoped for, and spending time with them is like living the perfect dream. It's great when you find people you can just fully rely on and bond within a way the world may not understand but be around them just makes it feel like it doesn’t matter cause they’re all you need."
Even though they are not yet published, they are well on their way. The advice Blue Carrisole had to offer aspiring writers looking to self-publish was this, "I think its important to be keen on doing a lot of research first and building an audience before publishing and also marketing! That extremely important.
To learn more or to follow Blue Carrisole on Social Media, or to check out their YouTube Channel visit the following links below:
https://www.instagram.com/bluecarrisole/ - Instagram
https://medium.com/@bluecarrisole - medium
https://twitter.com/bluecarrisole – twitter
A new Writer of the Week is featured every Monday. Be sure to also follow The Writing Wall on Twitter @TheWritingWall, or on Instagram @writingsonthewall85 for the latest. You can also listen to the podcast every 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month. Just search for The Writing Wall on Spotify, Google Cast, Breaker, and more. Thank you to our Writing Corner Wednesday authors, writers, and poets!