Advice from Authors
Christine de Luca
Some thoughts on writing your poem
- Read lots of poems and work out why some appeal to you more than others
- Learn about the tools for writing poems. You can still be inventive and push against rules of form, rhyme, metre, but it's good to know the basics
- Put your ideas, word, image, or story down on paper while it's fresh in your head
- Then work on the rough draft to achieve the best words in the best order
- Ask yourself questions like
- Can I improve it by cutting out some words, lines, stanzas, even favourite pieces?
- Have I got too many descriptive words (adjectives and adverbs)?
- Does it hang together or lack unity?
- Can I improve it by shifting things round a bit, changing line breaks (visual pauses)?
- Is the first line likely to hook the reader's interest?
- Does the poem have any music, rhythm? (Read it aloud)
- Does it sound natural or a bit stilted?
- Has it got a shape or is it all over the place? (Some poems can still be good and look a bit shapeless!)
- Is the final line strong enough or does the poem fade?
- Does the title help the reader, raise interest?
- Will the poem leave the reader with a strong resonance or maybe food for thought?
- Have I left some room for the reader's imagination?
- Then lay it aside for a bit, and go through the same process again!