I haven't heard the term commonplace book until today. It sounds like an art journal, a diary which includes drawings, maybe a scrapbook which includes things cut and pasted in from magazines and other sources. It is a curated collection of thoughts, ideas, and interests. The idea isn't so new but the phrase is new to me.

This description comes from a site which hosted commonplace journals. Its gone now.

A commonplace book is a collection of remarkable quotations, reflections, and oddities gathered from one's reading, thoughts, or experience--in short, a reading and writing journal.

A private commonplace book is also a great way to organize your research by author, source, and subject, and gives you the ability to display and search your notes by each category and by keyword.

This is all quoted/ saved from Eric S. Raymond's Home Page. The site fails to load but then if you leave it, does load on the second try. I've linked to the web page the riddle poems are on at the bottom of this post. The entire post has much more information, ideas, even challenges and history.

We know of many cultures that have riddle-poem traditions. The best-documented, and the one we'll be taking our model from, is the riddle-poem tradition of the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings, and the Teutons. These peoples of the Dark Ages played the riddle-game around their hearth-fires for more than five hundred years. Some of their riddles have come down to us.

Basic Riddle-Poem Construction

Here's an example of a riddle-poem in modern English in very traditional style and subject:

Riddle: A hoard of rings am I, but no fit gift for a bride; I await a sword's kiss.

Answer: A suit of chain-mail.

Note that it doesn't rhyme. Rhyme is nice in a riddle-poem, but strong rhythm (what poets call good scansion) is better. Actually, traditional riddle-poems hardly employed rhyme for structure at all; they used an elaborate set of stress rules and a technique called alliteration which we'll describe later on.

Rhythm --- speech rhythm --- is all-important. In composing riddle-poems that sound good, a bit of role-playing helps. When you're working on one, try to imagine yourself chanting it to a hall-full of drunken Vikings. Do they pound the tables and roar? Do they laugh? Or do they just plain not get it?

How to Make a Riddle-Poem

Work backwards. First, pick your answer. Then, imagine it speaking to you; describing itself, telling you what it does. Then make that into a little poem.

As I was thinking about the last paragraph, my eyes lit on the telephone beside my keyboard. I decided to make a riddle-poem for which telephone is the answer.

So I imagine the phone speaking to me. It says I carry the voices of people over many miles. That's a good start, but it's not specific enough; it could apply to a radio as well.

What distinguishes a phone from a radio? Wires. But if I mention wires directly, the riddle will be too obvious. So I think instead about what a phone looks like, analogizing it to a body. And I have it:

Riddle: One ear, one mouth, no legs, But I will carry your voice a thousand miles.

This is pretty nice. But the scansion in the second line is not quite right.

_  /  _    /  _   _    /   _   /  _    /

But I will carry your voice a thousand miles.

This is close to iambic pentameter. It could be improved by a one-syllable verb replacement for carry. There are lots of possibilities; take, waft, send, bear. I like bear for its archaic sound. And so we have it:

/   /       /    /        /   /

One ear, || one mouth, || no legs, _ / _ / _ / _ / _ / But I || will bear || your voice || a thou- || sand miles.

This is an easy riddle, but the construction worked well. In general, these are the steps you'll usually go through:

1. Pick a subject.
2. Imagine the subject speaking to you.
3. If that doesn't work, analogize the subject to a body or creature.
4. Adjust the description to the level of difficulty you want.
5. For best poetic effect, fix the scansion in the result.

Source: Riddle-Poems, and How to Make Them

I've written some flash fiction, usually under 1000 words (or less). It's fun. Finding sites posting about writing flash non-fiction was interesting. I think we have all written flash fiction at some time. A note, a few thoughts about this or that. Is flash fiction really more than a short personal journal entry? Maybe, if you're thinking about writing it for others to read. That would make a difference.

From When you Write - Flash Non-Fiction

Key Takeaways

• Flash Nonfiction requires concise and engaging writing that balances storytelling and factual accuracy.
• Choosing a topic that writers are passionate about and researching sources is important in creating successful flash nonfiction.
• Cutting unnecessary details, using specific language, and avoiding repetition are key components of tightening prose in flash nonfiction.
• Sharing work with others and receiving constructive criticism is essential in developing skills and improving as a writer in flash nonfiction.