Poetry Exercise Blitz

Does all this talk about poetry have you itching to give it a try? If you’ve written poetry in the past but drifted away from it, then it probably doesn’t take much to trigger your taste for writing verse. I know that even though I’m busy with writing projects for my clients and don’t have much time to engage in writing for my own pleasure, poetic images and phrases have been dancing around in my head all month long. I think some of them may have even seeped into my client work.

And that’s great for my clients, because poetry has a unique way of sticking. Using language tricks and vivid imagery, poetry skips past the conscious mind and communicates directly with the subconscious. Okay, so not all poems achieve this. But poetry does it better than any other writing form.

But where to start? What to write about? To rhyme or not to rhyme?

If you’d like to dip your toes into poetry then start out with a freewrite.

If you want to skip the freewrite and just start writing poetry but need a little push, check out these five poetry prompts.

Would you prefer to work with existing materials and just piece a poem together from old, discarded parts? Check out this clip-text writing exercise.

Rhyme is heavily associated with poetry, even though not all poems rhyme. Find out how to get your mind on rhyme for poetry writing.

If you just want some general tips and advice on writing and poetry, then here are five key practices for poetic growth.

Do you have any tips or tricks for poetry writing or any exercises to share? Let’s swap ideas!

Email this article to a friend

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

How to Spot a Poetry Fraud

Guest post by Jaden with introduction by Melissa Donovan

In recent weeks, there have been some heated debates in the blogosphere about writing snobs – high browed literary types that look down on folks who write for the Web, who have not been published in print, or who do not write high literature or esteemed nonfiction. James Chartrand of Men with Pen calls these folks arTEESTS.

photo credit: ooberayhay

Frauds are a slightly different breed. They pretend to be something they are not. If you poke around the blogosphere for a day or two, you’ll see countless “pro blogging” blogs where it’s obvious whoever’s running the show only just discovered blogging within the last week or so, yet they are dishing out tips on how to become a full time professional blogger.

Snobs and frauds amuse me. I know some folks are really annoyed by them, but I tend to laugh them off pretty dismissively. Clearly, they have larger issues than snobbery and fraudulence that they should be addressing. Hopefully, snobs will learn to let go of their superiority complexes and frauds will eventually become an expert in something or admit they don’t know what they’re talking about.

I know, that’s not likely to happen. So we’ll just have to let them be. Ah well, live and let live is what I always say.

So when Jaden of Screenwriting for Hollywood sent a humorous little ditty about how to spot a poetry fraud and asked if I’d like to use it as a guest post, I thought it would be a refreshing break from our serious writerly discussions and give all of us lowly web writers and hardworking poets some much-needed comic relief. Enjoy!

photo credit: zachstern

HOW TO SPOT A POETRY FRAUD
by Jaden

1. Drops the names of poets you never heard like they were pistachio shells.
2. Doesn’t have a job.
3. Says he is a poet.
4. Passes off obscure poetry as his own.
5. Never pens a single piece of original poetry himself.
6. Gets you to pay for lunch because, well, he’s a poet.
7. Sits in cafes smoking and drinking coffee while reading Mina Loy.
8. His name never appears in print, except on police reports.

Jaden blogs at Screenwriting for Hollywood. Writing fiction and nonfiction stories in all formats is Jaden’s passion.

Email this article to a friend

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Improve Your Writing: Collect Writing Resources

photo credit: Sim Dawdler

Last month I shared five key ways to improve your writing. So far, we’ve dug into the deeper details of how daily writing, proofreading and editing, and frequent reading can make us better writers. Today we’ll look at  how collecting useful resources helps our writing, and in an upcoming post, we’ll discuss one of the most difficult but effective ways to learn and grow as a writer — getting feedback from other writers and from readers.

Where would we writers be without our resources? Fat, hardbound reference books and web-based databases packed to the hilt with facts and information are both bane and boon for us. Love them or hate them, one thing is certain - if you’re a writer you need them.

There are some resources that we all use — the dictionary, for example. What writer doesn’t have that bible of the language within reach sitting on a nearby bookshelf or conveniently bookmarked in a web browser?

Know What You Don’t Know

Have you ever caught yourself using a word and realized you weren’t sure whether you were using it correctly? When that happens, it’s time to crack open the dictionary. Just because you’re a writer does not mean you are required to have memorized the entire lexicon. When you’re proofreading and realize that you’ve repeated one word three times in a single paragraph, there’s no need to break your brain trying to come up with synonyms. Just take a peek inside any thesaurus and find alternatives to keep your writing fresh. Resources like dictionaries and thesauri help speed up the writing process, and using them will increase your vocabulary.

Embrace Accurate Facts

Reliable sources are hard to come by. Informational articles on the Web are mass produced, sometimes at a dollar apiece. It’s unlikely that a one, two, or even five dollar article was written by someone who bothered to check facts and provide accurate information. Anyone can pop up a web site or write a book, declare their expertise, and publish or broadcast faux facts. Even the media is becoming more and more notorious for shoddy research and poor journalism. Running a quick web search or dropping a few dollars for a random book on your subject matter only contributes to the problem. Plus, it’s not good for your credibility. Part of conducting good research means being discerning about your sources. So check credentials and cross-check important facts. If something looks like it was written by a hack, it probably was. Move on and find a more reliable resource.

Be Consistent

I’ve sung the praises of style guides more than once on this blog. Style guides exist to help you craft material that is consistent in terms of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. As comprehensive as the English language might be, there are plenty of holes where the rules are unclear or don’t exist at all. Style guides such as The Chicago Manual of Style set forth standards that you can adhere to and also address many grammatical issues and rules. There are a host of style guides. Chicago is for authors and general usage; I use it in my freelance work and on this blog. There are other guides that are geared specifically toward journalism, academic writing, and many large companies and organizations have their own guidelines. For more information and a detailed description of style guides, check out Should You Be Using a Style Guide?

Getting Specialized

Dictionary, thesauri, and style guides, along with access to subject matter resources (like encyclopedias and reference books) might be enough for a writer to get by. However, if you write within a specific field or are heavily into a particular type of writing, then you will need a whole set of specialized resources. You may have noticed these past couple of weeks that I’m a big fan of poetry. Well, that’s reflected in my collection of writer’s resource books. For every fiction writing book I have, there are probably three books on reading and writing poetry. Technical writers and people who work in the sciences and especially medicine are probably buried in field-specific reference books. If it’s your passion or if it’s your job, you will probably build specialized resources into your collection naturally.

* * *

I’m sure there are at least a few writers out there who shun such resources. Maybe that approach feels more artistic. Me? I love my reference books and web sites. I turn to them all the time, for all different types of writing that I do. What are your favorite or most-used resources? Got any good links or recommendations to share?

Email this article to a friend

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

An Introduction to the Vocabulary of Poetry

photo credit: Despotes

A writer’s vocabulary is stocked with words that help us understand and discuss our craft. We can talk about parts of speech, sentence structure, and punctuation the way scientists and doctors discuss organs, skeletons, and cells. These words and phrases help us learn our trade and allow us to navigate the language, which is where we live and breathe.

Within the world of poetry, there is a special subset of the writer’s vocabulary, which is used to define ways to trick out the language, making it more captivating and memorable. Copywriters, fiction writers, and (of course) bloggers can step up their language skills by embracing a few simple concepts from poetry. However, many writers ignore poetry completely. Later this week, I will explain how reading and writing poetry can make you a better writer. Today I want to focus on introducing some basic concepts that poets frequently use to spice up their writing.

Alliteration

Technically, alliteration refers to repeating the beginning sounds of words in a line of verse. However, it can be used loosely to describe the repetition of a sound nestled in the middle or even at the end of words. A word like blueberry has built-in alliteration with the b sound occurring twice. A more strict example of alliteration would be a phrase such as alliteration allows writers to create catchy phrases. In this example, the a sound in alliteration and allows as well as the c sound in create and catchy both demonstrate alliteration.

When alliteration is used beyond the initial sound of the word, as with blueberry, it is also called consonance.

So, how is alliteration used for effect? Well, think about repetition in general. When you repeat something over and over, it becomes embedded in your memory. Alliteration works the same way, but in this case, sounds are being embedded rather than strings of words, phrases, or entire written works, such as a song or poem. If used correctly, it can also enhance the rhythm of a piece. In short, it makes a phrase or even an entire piece more memorable. Alliteration also happens to be the cornerstone of tongue twisters.

Assonance

Assonance is similar to alliteration and they are often discussed in conjunction with each other. However, assonance deals exclusively in vowel sounds. In the example phrase, alliteration allows writers to create catchy phrases, there are several occurrences of assonance. The a sound in alliteration and allows as well as in catchy demonstrate one run of assonance. We can underline the sounds where another run occurs:

alliteration allows writers to create catchy phrases

There’s at least one more run of assonance in this phrase. Can you find it?

Assonance often evokes the sense of rhyme without serving up a direct or technical rhyme. A common phrase, fancy pants is an example of this. One final note about assonance: the vowel sounds can have siblings or cousins (such as the two different a sounds in the word assonance).

Onomatopoeia

Most writers are familiar with the phenomenon that is onomatopoeia, which occurs when a word represents the thing that it defines through sound and sense. Most such words are verbs and many deal with the world of nature. For example, cows moo, bees buzz, and rain pitter patters. These words most often mimic sounds, such as thump or boom. See if you can come up with some words that exemplify onomatopoeia. And if you think onomatopoeia is just for poets, think again. Does the phrase snap, crackle, pop ring a bell?

Fun and Games

Using these effects on language is common in poetry. They are like word vitamins, giving lines and phrases greater resilience. When you immerse yourself in poetry, these effects tend to leak over into your other writings, and pretty soon your fiction, blog posts, and articles, start coming alive with alliteration, assonance, and onomatopoeia. That, by the way, is a good thing.

Email this article to a friend

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Memorizing Poetry

Two things impress me beyond measure: people who can point out every constellation in a clear night sky, and people who can recite poetry from memory.

To truly appreciate a poem, you have to read it more than once. In fact, any poem should be read twice before you judge it or try to determine whether you like it or not. With each reading, the poem will reveal additional nuances, sub-text, and deeper meaning. Once you find a poem you like (not always an easy task), it will give you new and greater pleasure each time you read it. Eventually, phrases and perhaps entire lines will stick and the poem will become increasingly familiar.

Read the poem enough times and you’ll eventually have it memorized. It works the same way as music. If you listen to a song over and over, you’ll soon be singing along like a rock star. Try it with a poem.

For this week’s Friday writing exercise, put down your pen or pencil, and step away from the computer. Pick up a book of poetry and find a poem that resonates with you. Avoid anything too lengthy. You don’t want to tackle a three-page epic poem your first time around. But don’t take the easy route either. For example, don’t choose a nine word poem by Dorothy Parker:

News Item

men seldom make passes
at girls who wear glasses.

-Dorothy Parker

Choose a poem you’ll have to read a few times and study it for a bit. Here are some tips:

• Find a poem that is less than one page long
• Choose a poem that you love
• Read the poem out loud, over and over
• Write down the poem or type it
• Recite it throughout the day — a great way to take breaks from the computer

Poems that rhyme will be easier to memorize, so if you find this exercise daunting, select a rhyming poem. Try looking through some children’s poetry, which is much easier to memorize (Mother Goose nursery rhymes, for example).

As for me, I used to have a few Shel Silverstein poems firmly planted in my mind, and for a few years during my childhood, I knew “The Night Before Christmas” by heart. Today I can say that I don’t have a single poem memorized other than Dorothy Parker’s “News Item.” But I’m on board. I’m going to memorize the following poem this weekend:

Her Kind

I have gone out, a possessed witch,
haunting the black air, braver at night;
dreaming evil, I have done my hitch
over the plain houses, light by light:
lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind.
A woman like that is not a woman, quite.
I have been her kind.

I have found the warm caves in the woods,
filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves,
closets, silks, innumerable goods;
fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves:
whining, rearranging the disaligned.
A woman like that is misunderstood.
I have been her kind.

I have ridden in your cart, driver,
waved my nude arms at villages going by,
learning the last bright routes, survivor
where your flames still bite my thigh
and my ribs crack where your wheels wind.
A woman like that is not ashamed to die.
I have been her kind.

-Anne Sexton

I think it’s a little long but it’s one of my favorites. Have you ever memorized a poem? Which ones do you know by heart? Even if you’re not into memorizing, feel free to leave a comment and tell us which poems and poets are your favorites.

Email this article to a friend

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

« Previous Page — Next Page »