unrefined poetry

No, you are not a bad writer. Yes the rules are there, and there for good reason (they are known to be effective), but you can break them as long as you are aware of them. Writing has evolved through time thanks to writers stretching and bending the rules.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and The Rosie Project series are two examples I can think of off the top of my head where the author chooses to “tell” not “show”. However they have done this to achieve a specific effect: to create the voices of characters on the autism spectrum. You can “tell” instead of “showing” to distance the reader from the story, can (to quote my creative writing professor) “create an interesting contemporary voice”.

I will warn you against discounting “showing” completely. Maybe you are thinking too much about trying not to tell. It can be easy to swap a tell into a show, for example, “It was hot” can become “He sweated”. You could always try writing naturally, and then swap all your “tell”s into “shows” and then read it back and see which is better. Either way practice both methods as both will improve your writing. As I said before you can do whatever you like, but I will warn you “telling” can be difficult to pull off! But if you manage it you could end with an interesting, unique voice.

If that works for you then that’s fine! It is important to remember that writing styles vary hugely depending on the individual, so although the majority of people swear by drafting and THEN editing this might not work for you. In the same way that some people prefer to use speech-to-text while others write by hand. Once again I would recommend trying out all the different methods available until you find the one that maximizes your productivity, and feels the most comfortable to you. However I would advise you to at least try working all the way through a piece and then going back to edit it, just so you can compare the outcomes and find out what works best for you.

I find that (unless I am working on a short piece) I have to hold back from editing until the end, otherwise I edit and edit and edit and never even finish a first draft. If you find it difficult to not edit as you go along then maybe you should try to write by hand, because then it is a lot more difficult to edit as you go along! And then you can edit once you have finished and begin to type it up.

Hey, sounds like you just need to practice the third person! There are a few exercises I can recommend to get you started; keep in mind that as you always write in first person it will probably take some time for you to reach the same standard of writing when using the third person.

Okay firstly if you keep a diary (and if you don’t then start one) swap to writing it in third person, even the really mundane stuff. Write for 15-30 minutes a day. Every day. It will probably feel weird at first seeing your own name written down, but not only will this improve your third person writing ability, it will also give you a wealth of material which you can use in future stories and stuff.

Next thing I would say is to take some of your favourite first person sections (either of your own or  of someone else’s), and write them out into third person. This will give you a “template” to work from and so you shouldn’t really get writers block or anything. It can also help you see and implement the differences between the viewpoints.  You could also do this and try writing is close third person and omniscient third person. (You could to this vice versa to see the process in reverse and help to further illustrate the relationship between first and third person.)

And finally I would say to just begin to work on your new idea. The first draft is always crap, but once you get the idea down you can edit and hone it and it will improve (especially if you practice the technicalities of the third person in the meantime). How did you improve at first person? I assume by using it! So don’t be afraid to just try.

I hope this post helps you, I’ve not been on here for a while so I am a bit rusty!

ahhh, this is basically the bane of my writing life.

So I would say not to worry about the length yet and I would not put filler in for the sake of making your book longer, if it feels like filler to you as the author the audience will definitely recognise it as filler too.

One way to perhaps make it longer would be to complete this draft, and then create a diagram or storyboard or something to summarise your plot. Then you can easily see what happens where and in what order and work out what could be plausible and should be added in/what is relevant and should be expanded on/what is filler and should be cut out etc.

Next I would hone in on individual scenes, and begin to brutally edit them. One of my old creative writing tutors, once he finished a first draft, would cut out all the words that were not nouns and verbs and then he would rebuild the second draft from there. I personally wouldn’t go that far, but it is important to be able to cut out parts of your work even if you feel like your story is too short! Once you’ve done the cutting you can begin to add stuff back in, and add in things that you hadn’t thought of before. Some things that are easily missed are:

+ Description of the setting - doesn’t have to be anything over the top but could be a sentence or reference. Generally the more description a setting is given, the more important that setting is.

+ Use of the senses - this links in a bit to the setting. Are you using (sparingly) all five senses where appropriate? This can help you audience feel more grounded in the scene.

+ Characterisation - are you spending enough time with your characters? How do you build them up? Through speech, actions, thoughts? Are your characters complex?

+ Motivations - This links a bit to characterisation. Why do your characters do the things they do? Get someone else to read an extract, does it make sense to them? Generally speaking the audience like to know why characters do the things they do.

You can add any or all of these things in to different scenes, just try to be subtle and avoid a heavy handed approach.  

Like I said I am having trouble with this at the moment, so if any followers have any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated! Good luck with it.

     To develop writing skills the obvious advice would be to read everything you can, and to write as regularly as you can. More specifically you can do some actual “exercises”, although I warn you, some of them aren’t fun!

+ Write first thing in the morning. Just after you wake up. This may sound crazy (and it definitely doesn’t work for me I just fall back asleep!) but writing while you are still half asleep can help you come up with completely new ideas, and you may also find that you do not restrain yourself in the ways you may normally do when awake. A lot of authors do this, with some even writing their down their dreams which they later refer to for new material.

+ Write down particular quotes you like (as you find them as you are reading) and collect them all together and write an explanation for each quote as to why you like them. This will help you build up a collection of good ways to phrase things that you can use for inspiration, and essentially this could help you begin to describes things yourself for you can see what works for other writers and what appeals to you.

+ Take part in writing prompt exercises. (Just search Writing Prompts on Tumblr.) Set yourself to do one say a week? And revisit it a few times. Limit yourself to say 2000 words so it does not take too long. You will build up a collection of short stories or chapters or snippets, as well as stretching yourself to write about different things. Some prompts can be difficult so with time when you find yourself able to write from them you will find it easier to describe what comes naturally to you. In a way it is like practicing the “hard” way, so the “normal” way is easier.

+ Set yourself a time to write and do not allow yourself to leave your chair until the time is up. Turn off your Wifi before you begin. You are allowed to sit and stare at your page/laptop and not write anything but you are not allowed to do anything else. Eventually the boredom will force you to write, and over time you will develop the ability to write on demand.

+ Write every day. Set yourself a realistic word count and stick to it. Every single day. It doesn’t have to be high. There is a list of some famous author’s word counts here; many of them are surprisingly low! Quantities aren’t important but discipline and consistency are.

These are just a few ideas. I’ve taken a couple from the book Becoming a Writer, which is best book about writing I have read. I think it is sill in print print now, and you can get secondhand copies fairly easily.

Hey! It’s a pretty broad question, but I’ll do my best to answer it and address some of the “key aspects” of poetry and I’ll dig out some useful resources.

     o The first piece of (cliché) advice I’d give is to read, read, read! Read classical poets, read contemporary poets, and read everything in between. Take copies of your favourite poems so can revisit them and take them apart: Why do you like them? Is it because they are lyrical? Is it because of the ideas they contain? Is it because there are many different meanings hidden between the words? etc. etc.

     o Read critical analysis of the poems you like; critiques can introduce you to different poetic techniques.  This is important because this will enable you to consciously employ said techniques (some of which you might find you already use naturally). For example: iambic pentameter is a rhythm which mimics normal English speech and so you may find that you already use it; however once aware of it you can employ it to mimic speech and you can break the pentameter for dramatic effect, or to add emphasis to a certain word or phrase. Sorry for the poor example but I hope you understand the meaning. Essentially critiques can help improve your self-awareness.

     o Read out loud: both your own and other people’s poetry. Reading out loud can help check how the poetry “flows”, and thus it is great to do when editing. I know this seems like a small point but I find it really useful; it can also help to illustrate how other poets write and structure their poems, sometimes it can be difficult to see on paper. When read aloud rhythms and the effects of punctuation become far more apparent.

     o Write, write, write! Take a notepad with you everywhere. Or a mobile phone. Even better download and use Evernote. Then whenever you get a good idea, a good rhyme, or even a whole poem you can write it down immediately. Inspiration is hard to come by and is fleeting when it appears! Even if you only write two seemingly random lines you may find that they may fit perfectly into a future poem. Some great poetry can come from seemingly unrelated ideas.

     o Experiment. I suppose I mean don’t be afraid to let loose and write what you want. Poetry can be about anything and doesn’t necessarily have to make sense. (Look at Spike Milligan, he wrote nonsense poetry.) Don’t force meaning into your poetry, often this can detract from a poem itself; likewise you aren’t obliged to make a poem rhyme, it is easy to tell when a poem is shoehorned into a rhyme scheme. The great thing about poetry is that there are so many different forms of it: there are strict forms such as Haikus and Sonnets, but on the other side of the spectrum you have free verse. Essentially this means you can write whatever you want, in whatever way you want, so especially for early drafts write however the poetry comes to you. Reread your poetry after a bit of time has passed (like a day or more, enough so you have a fresh outlook), you may find that those ideas you had are rubbish, or genius. The bottom line is to let your ideas breathe.

     o In a similar vein to rereading your poetry with fresh eyes, get a completely new pair of eyes to read your poetry (once you think it is an acceptable standard). Ask a friend or family member, or someone who would be comfortable with giving honest, critical feedback (teachers or other writers are generally good at this). Having a second outlook is really useful, and it can help build confidence as your poetry has already been read by someone other than you. It is important to note however, that your poetry is your own, and although suggestions are helpful they are not compulsory to follow.

These are the few points which I’ve thought up now, but obviously they barely scratch the surface of writing poetry. If you want more advice just send another ask here, or if you want feedback on specific poems you can message me personally here.

Some useful links:

    o Poem of the week. - A weekly series where a writer for The Guardian picks a poem and analyses it. It’s great for finding new poets and is perfect for getting different ideas about a poem than your own.

   o Poemhunter. - A huge resource just for reading and finding poems, especially for famous/older poets.

   o The Poetry Society. - This is a website for a UK based poetry magazine. However they have a comprehensive section on Young Poets and they offer a lot of support. You can browse old magazines (or at least some of the poetry from them for free online). I am pretty sure they also take submissions which is worth giving a shot!

   o CPRW. - This is a collection of essays on literature including poetry. It can be a bit heavy going, but it is worth checking out for critical readings and interpretations on poems and other literature.

   o Poetrykit. - A list of a lot of poetry competitions, predominately UK based but there are some international competitions too. Unfortunately there are entry fees for the majority of the competitions!

   o Poetic Asides. - This is a link to a blog solely about poetry, filled with both advice and prompts. It is part of the literary magazine Writer’s Digest.

Some poets to check out:

  o Seamus Heaney – an Irish poet, he died two years ago. Heaney writes in many different forms and is poetry is accessible. He is regarded as one of the greatest poets of this era, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature and the TS Eliot Prize for poetry (among a collection of other awards).

  o Sylvia Plath – an American 20th century poet who lived in England. She remains popular today mainly because a lot of her poems are as relevant now as they were when written.

  o D. H. Lawrence – a hugely controversial poet of his time. He spent many years travelling and “roughing it” while writing. He has a huge collection of poetry (nearly 800 poems!) that span a huge number of themes.

  o Robert Frost – an American poet who often explored philosophical themes via realistic descriptions of rural life and the countryside. Some of his poems are incredibly famous such as “The Road Not Taken.”

  o W. B. Yeats – another Nobel Prizewinning Irish poet. He writes of love incredibly well, his language can be archaic at times, but it is not too difficult to understand.

Contemporary poets:

  o Carol Ann Duffy – the current British poet laureate. (Hated by the majority of the people who did GCSE English in Britain because she is on the syllabus!)

  o Anne Carson – (Alas she is not on Poem Hunter). I have only read one collection by Carson: Red Doc>. It is one of the weirdest anthologies I’ve ever read but it is brilliant in Carson’s unique style.

  o Dannie Abse – A Welsh Poet who died last year. He lived an extremely productive life: not only did he write a huge number of anthologies he was also the head chest surgeon of a clinic. Abse claims that a lot of his poetry is rooted in actual experience (from his work in medicine). His later poetry, (most notably after the sudden death of his wife) is beautiful and focuses on love, loss, the passing of time, and growing old.

  o Sharon Olds – a Canadian poet who won the T.S. Eliot prize for her anthology Stag’s Leap. Stag’s Leap chronicles the breakdown of her 30-year marriage, beginning with Olds’ husband telling her that he wants a divorce and it ends years later. The anthology is a great example of storytelling within poetry.

Slightly off topic a great YouTube channel for slam poetry is Button Poetry.

That’s all for now! Hopefully there aren’t too many typos…