My poetry writing top tips!

When I publish my poems I often get asked how I do it and what my process is for writing poetry from people who'd like to try it but have no idea where to start or who fear they do it wrong, so I thought I'd share some of my top tips!

Before we start I think it is important that I say that if you would like to try writing poems, stop putting poetry on a pedestal and being intimidated by it and just go for it. Many people are put off trying poetry because they see it as "serious writing" and they feel like they'd do it wrong and be ridiculed. Let's just get this straight, there is no right or wrong! Poetry is diverse and it is down to each writer to do it however they like - that's what's so amazing about it. You literally cannot fail. Poems come in all shapes and sizes. Much like in writing fiction, you will soon find your own voice and preference of style.

Now, let's get into how I approach actually writing one! Everyone does it differently but over the years I've created my own system:

1. Pick a topic to write about and make notes of key words on the subject.

I'll start with an idea in mind of what I want to actually write my poem about about, then I'll jot down everything I can think of that I want to say about that subject. 

For example; Let's say I want to write a poem about Spring time. I might write words like: 

Flower, green, grass, bloom, colourful, bright, breezy, blue skies, crisp air, chicks, hatch, bunnies, easter, March, April, renew, happy, cheerful, warm, sunny....

I might not use all of the words I've written but it's good to have plenty of words to choose from, so I just jot down as many as I possibly can.

2. Look up the words in a dictionary / thesaurus. Are there more unusual or more interesting versions of them?

This is a good exercise because it helps to ensure you are not using flat and basic language and helps to make the poem more interesting.

For example: 

Grass could become turf, lawn, pasture, meadow....

Green could be come virescent, emerald....

Walked could become strolled, ambled, journeyed, strode....

The words basically say and mean the same thing but they sound a lot different don't they? Some certainly lend themselves better to a poem than others so pick wisely and have fun with vocabulary!

3. Find the "vibe" of what you want to say and work out how you are going to say it.

This part dictates the tone and the delivery of my poems and is often where I'll decide on the tense and narration style. Is it going to be told from first person or third person? Past tense or present? (Don't switch tense or narration style during the poem because it gets confusing to read.) Also think about length, verse structure etc at this point. Is it one solid poem or broken down into a few verses? How long is each line, how many words roughly per line? Is there a rhythm, do you want it to rhyme? Is the tone soft, angry, happy or sad? Is the pace fast or slow?

4. Start to build sentences around your words that tell a story or make a statement. (Give the words a purpose and use the correct tone and tense to start to build some structure.)

It doesn't matter if this is very rough. Just get the words into some sort of context in relation to what you want to say and how you want to convey it.

For example:

I might want my poem to be all about the joys of going for a walk on a lovely Spring day and so I would start to put my words into rough sentences. Because the poem is about a personal experience or memory I'd choose first person narration in the past tense to convey this, so I'd write some rough sentences such as:

I walked across the green grass,

The flowers were beginning to bloom colourfully,

The skies above were bright blue and clear,

The sun felt warm and soothing on my skin.

I felt relaxed and at peace with the world.

5. Start to develop and construct the rough sentences into proper lines.

This is where I bring all of the above sections together and start to write meaningful lines using the words from step 2 to develop the rough lines from step 4.

"I walked over green the grass." would become "I ambled across the virescent meadow."

Go through each rough line from step 4 in the same way, sticking to the basic context and message but replacing the language with better vocabulary and before you know it, you have a series of beautifully crafted sentences that tell a story and make up a poem! If you wanted to make it a rhyming poem you'd simply make sure that the last word of each line rhymed with the last word of the next line. It can be tricky and often requires a lot of sentence shuffling and word swapping until you find two compatible words that rhyme to end the lines with, but I find that bit so much fun!

You can check out some of my poems here: http://www.authorhahill.com/p/poems.html

Why not give my tips a go and let me know how you get on, maybe even leave me a poem in the comments? 

Do you have any tips of your own to share?

Questions welcome!

Happy writing.