Young Writers Society

Any tips for writing poetry?

Flow is your bestest friend in the world. I may be a bit on the extreme side when it comes to it, but fact is, when the words don't flow and roll off the tongue easily, I lose interest very quickly, while a poem in which every word follows along smoothly you'll keep reading even when it's a bit lacking in the actual content department (except if the abruptness happened on purpose, to fit the tone or the imagery, etc). Call me shallow, but that's how it goes for me. Example of awesome flow, Richard Siken. The man may not make complete sense at times, but boy does he have a way with flow. It's mostly just a matter of sounding the words out, testing how they follow one another. A sudden, harsh 'r' sound in a line mostly comprised of softer 'l' or 'w', for example, can jar and ruin the smooth, lazy rhythm of it, etc.

Corollary to that point, word choice is Important Stuff. Nothing like a wrong word in the wrong place to completely snap a reader out of the piece. Don't overuse the thesaurus, though, because often the simplest words are the best. But it's fun playing with the shades of meaning between two synonyms too, because there are always different connotations and associations to specific words, no matter how close the objective meanings would be. So many words: poke at them and be happeh playing with them.

On a related note, experimenting is ~fun, as long as one doens't excessively mutilate the English language (or any other, for that matter) in the process. It can take surprising amounts of abuse, yes, but there comes a point where it's just too much. Except if your name is e.e.cummings, in which case English has unlimited HP and can therefore be made to do anything and everything.

/$0.02

ETA: and now Snoink makes me feel like I'm being too SRS BZNS with this :P Poetry is like a puppy. It wriggles and bites sometimes and makes a mess all over and it will love you foreverrrrr if you scratch it behind the ear.

Or something like that.

ETA2: Metaphors and similes are awesome, but only as long as they still makes sense/have a connection to the original train of thought.

The best way to make a poem unique is to put yourself into it. Let it sparkle with your personality.

If you have trouble with doing this, try writing about something you love.

Don't think very hard. Save that for revision.

Find words that make your tongue feel an emotion and you've got something....

Subtly. I find the subtly poems work best, never scream out a meaning, try use metaphors or other language techniques to really capture the poem message. I for instance love using metaphors and I find the point can be delivered better with this. I also say like prose you should remember the rule of 'Show don't tell' there nothing more that annoys me than a poem that just tells you.

Don't preach unless it's not overt.

Work on finding your niche, read different poets and find out which one you feel you love the most and try use their style. I often use a very loose style not going so much for pattern or how it's arranged but to how it comes to me.

Overall, write about what you know, and if ya must write about something never written about before, make sure to respect it.

Listen to what other people say (but only to a certain extent)

Poetry is like a computer, you need to make sure it's insides and hardware all work properly. Then you need to get a case, and decorate it, ofcourse. With rhyme, or metaphors or similes, whatever you wish. Basicly, what smorgishborg said. Just with a cool metaphor.

get the poem from the core of your soul, think about your feelings, your views and put them on paper...let it flow away from your mind^^

Um... don't just try and slap something down. If you want to write a poem, I think you should give it time. It's like growing a plant (which I suck at, lol). You've got to include all the different aspects on a poem. Now, the question is, do you want to write a poem or do you want to write a good poem? Because a poem can be written pretty quickly, even a good poem. But a good poem is given thought and a voice. It's like writing a story, except you're providing the emotion and imagery in a shorter, more lyric form.
When you write a poem, try to write about something you're interested. Just think up a lot of topics and ideas, it may take you days to form something, but that's okay.
And sometimes it's hard to write things, because you don't have inspiration. If you don't have inspiration I would advise not trying to write anything because it won't come out any good and you won't like it as much as if you had been inspired.
Poetry is really just another form of writing. I really don't think anyone can "suck" at poetry, because poetry can always been fixed and get better. It really has no limits to how far you can take it. Just because somebody might not like a poem you've written, doesn't make it a sucky poem, or mean you suck at writing poetry. It's just because the poem hasn't been worked on.
So just try writing poems when you feel like it. It's like practice- the more you write, the more you read, the more you involve yourself, the better you're going to become. Don't say you suck at poetry and not try and write any, because that's not going to help you at all. Writing evolves as you go along, and so does poetry, and that's natural. : )

(This wasn't directly aimed at you- sorry if it sounded a bit rude in parts, lol. I went on a rant.)

ya I think i might be able to give you some tips I usually just write what ever come to my head and hope it sounds good.

I know it's not much sorry.

soulidium wrote:ya I think i might be able to give you some tips I usually just write what ever come to my head and hope it sounds good.

I know it's not much sorry.

yo its "COMES" to my head not come to my head...but im only teling u that cuz i know u and its fun to pick on ur writing

Nate wrote:Any tips for writing poetry?

all u do is write wats on ur mind like ur feelings or how ur life is going or wat u see urself doing in like 10 years or something

wow that is talented