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Jerz > Writing > General Creative Writing Tips [ Poetry | Fiction ]
If you are writing a poem because you want to capture a feeling that you experienced, then you don’t
need these tips. Just write whatever feels right. Only you experienced the feeling that you want to
express, so only you will know whether your poem succeeds.
If, however, your goal is to communicate with a reader — drawing on the established conventions of a
literary genre (conventions that will be familiar to the experienced reader) to generate an emotional
response in your reader — then simply writing what feels right to you won’t be enough. (See also
“Poetry is for the Ear” and “When Backwards Newbie Poets Write.”)
away from writing poetry to celebrate, commemorate, or capture your own feelings (in which case you,
the poet, are the center of the poem’s universe)
towards writing poetry in order to generate feelings in your reader (in which case the poem exists
entirely to serve the reader).
Avoid Clichés
Avoid Sentimentality
Use Images
Communicate Theme
Subvert the Ordinary
If you don’t know where you’re going, how can you get there?
You need to know what you are trying to accomplish before you begin any project. Writing a poem is no
exception.
Before you begin, ask yourself what you want your poem to “do.” Do you want your poem to explore a
personal experience, protest a social injustice, describe the beauty of nature, or play with language in a
certain way? Once your know the goal of your poem, you can conform your writing to that goal. Take
each main element in your poem and make it serve the main purpose of the poem.
Stephen Minot defines a cliché as: “A metaphor or simile that has become so familiar from overuse that
the vehicle … no longer contributes any meaning whatever to the tenor. It provides neither the vividness
of a fresh metaphor nor the strength of a single unmodified word….The word is also used to describe
overused but nonmetaphorical expressions such as ‘tried and true’ and ‘each and every'” (Three Genres:
The Writing of Poetry, Fiction and Drama, 405).
Cliché also describes other overused literary elements. “Familiar plot patterns and stock characters are
clichés on a big scale” (Minot 148). Clichés can be overused themes, character types, or plots. For
example, the “Lone Ranger” cowboy is a cliché because it has been used so many times that people no
longer find it original.
A work full of clichés is like a plate of old food: unappetizing.
Clichés work against original communication. People value creative talent. They want to see work that
rises above the norm. When they see a work without clichés, they know the writer has worked his or her
tail off, doing whatever it takes to be original. When they see a work full to the brim with clichés, they
feel that the writer is not showing them anything above the ordinary. (In case you hadn’t noticed, this
paragraph is chock full of clichés… I’ll bet you were bored to tears.)
Clichés dull meaning. Because clichéd writing sounds so familiar, people can complete finish whole lines
without even reading them. If they don’t bother to read your poem, they certainly won’t stop to think
about it. If they do not stop to think about your poem, they will never encounter the deeper meanings
that mark the work of an accomplished poet.
Examples of Clichés:
busy as a bee
tired as a dog
beet red
blind as a bat
I will take the cliché “as busy as a bee” and show how you can express the same idea without cliché.
For this cliché, I started by thinking about busyness. I asked myself the question, “What things are
associated with being busy?” I came up with: college, my friend Jessica, corporation bosses, old ladies
making quilts and canning goods, and a computer, fiddlers fiddling. From this list, I selected a thing that
is not as often used in association with busyness: violins.
I took my object associated with busyness and turned it into a phrase: “I feel like a bow fiddling an Irish
reel.” This phrase communicates the idea of “busyness” much better than the worn-out, familiar cliché.
The reader’s mind can picture the insane fury of the bow on the violin, and know that the poet is talking
about a very frenzied sort of busyness. In fact, those readers who know what an Irish reel sounds like
may even get a laugh out of this fresh way to describe “busyness.”
Try it! Take a cliché and use these steps to improve it. You may even end up with a line you feel is good
enough to put in a poem!
Sentimentality is “dominated by a blunt appeal to the emotions of pity and love …. Popular subjects are
puppies, grandparents, and young lovers” (Minot 416). “When readers have the feeling that emotions
like rage or indignation have been pushed artificially for their own sake, they will not take the poem
seriously” (132).
Minot says that the problem with sentimentality is that it detracts from the literary quality of your work
(416). If your poetry is mushy or teary-eyed, your readers may openly rebel against your effort to invoke
emotional response in them. If that happens, they will stop thinking about the issues you want to raise,
and will instead spend their energy trying to control their own gag reflex.
“BE A PAINTER IN WORDS,” says UWEC English professor emerita, poet, and songwriter Peg Lauber. She
says poetry should stimulate six senses:
sight
hearing
smell
touch
taste
kinesiology (motion)
Examples.
Lauber advises her students to produce fresh, striking images (“imaginative”). Be a camera. Make the
reader be there with the poet/speaker/narrator. (See also: “Show, Don’t (Just) Tell“)
Use metaphor and simile to bring imagery and concrete words into your writing.
Metaphor
Simile
A simile is a statement where you say one object is similar to another object. Similes use the words
“like” or “as.”
Example: “He was curious as a caterpillar” or “He was curious, like a caterpillar”
This phrase takes one quality of a caterpillar and projects it onto a person. It is an easy way to attach
concrete images to feelings and character traits that might usually be described with abstract words.
Note: A simile is not automatically any more or less “poetic” than a metaphor. You don’t suddenly
produce better poems if you replace all your similes with metaphors, or vice versa. The point to
remember is that comparison, inference, and suggestion are all important tools of poetry; similes and
metaphors are tools that will help in those areas.
Concrete words describe things that people experience with their senses.
orange
warm
cat
liberty
happy
love
“Liberty” is a concept, “happy” is a feeling, and no one can agree on whether “love” is a feeling, a
concept or an action.
A person can’t see, touch, or taste any of these things. As a result, when used in poetry, these words
might simply fly over the reader’s head, without triggering any sensory response. Further, “liberty,”
“happy,” and “love” can mean different things to different people. Therefore, if the poet uses such a
word, the reader may take a different meaning from it than the poet intended.
This line uses the abstract word “happy.” To improve this line, change the abstract word to a concrete
image. One way to achieve this is to think of an object or a scene that evokes feelings of happiness to
represent the happy feeling.
OK, the image has gotten embarrassingly obvious now, but you can see how the introduction of the
tomato permits us to make many additional connections. While Kara’s original example simply reported
a static emotional state — “She felt happy,” the image of the ripening tomato, which Kara introduced as
a simple simile to describe a smile, has grown into something much more complex. Regardless of what
the word “tomato” invoked in your mind, an abstraction like “happy” can never stretch itself out to
become a whole poem, without relying on concrete images. –DGJ
Poetry always has a theme. Theme is not just a topic, but an idea with an opinion.
Theme: “History shows that despite our claims to be peace-loving, unfortunately each person secretly
dreams of gaining glory through conflict.”
This is a theme. It is not just an event, but a statement about an event. It shows what the poet thinks
about the event. The poet strives to show the reader his/her theme during the entire poem, making use
of literary techniques.
Poets’ strength is the ability to see what other people see everyday in a new way. You don’t have to be
special or a literary genius to write good poems–all you have to do is take an ordinary object, place,
person, or idea, and come up with a new perception of it.
Poets’ Interpretation: A poet looks at the people on the bus and imagines scenes from their lives. A poet
sees a sixty-year old woman and imagines a grandmother who runs marathons. A poet sees a two-year
old boy and imagines him painting with ruby nail polish on the toilet seat, and his mother struggling to
not respond in anger.
Take the ordinary and turn it on its head. (The word “subvert” literally means “turn upside down”.)
Rhyme and meter (the pattern of stressed and unstressed words) can be dangerous if used the wrong
way. Remember sing-song nursery rhymes? If you choose a rhyme scheme that makes your poem sound
sing-song, it will detract from the quality of your poem.
I recommend that beginning poets stick to free verse. It is hard enough to compose a poem without
dealing with the intricacies of rhyme and meter. (Note: see Jerz’s response to this point, in “Poetry Is For
the Ear.”)
If you feel ready to create a rhymed poem, refer to chapters 6-10 of Stephen Minot’s bookThree Genres:
The Writing of Poetry, Fiction, and Drama. 6th ed., for more help.
The first completed draft of your poem is only the beginning. Poets often go through several drafts of a
poem before considering the work “done.”
To revise:
Put your poem away for a few days, and then come back to it. When you re-read it, does anything seem
confusing? Hard to follow? Do you see anything that needs improvement that you overlooked the first
time? Often, when you are in the act of writing, you may leave out important details because you are so
familiar with the topic. Re-reading a poem helps you to see it from the “outsider’s perspective” of a
reader.
Show your poem to others and ask for criticism. Don’t be content with a response like, “That’s a nice
poem.” You won’t learn anything from that kind of response. Instead, find people who will tell you
specific things you need to improve in your poem.
26 May 2000 — originally submitted by Kara Ziehl, as an assignment for Prof. Jerz’s technical writing
class
See Also:
Poetry is for the Ear —Whatever poetry you write or read, learn to listen with the ears of your audience.
Pay attention to the sounds the words make, even if you write in free verse.
Short Poems: Little Exquisite Vessels of Thought –A few good lines of verse can pack as much emotional
content as a whole paragraph of ordinary prose. Just because a poem is short does not mean writing it is
easy.
Getting College Credit for your High School Poems –Poems that perfectly record how you felt about
events in your life probably won’t work as submissions for college writing classes. Most professors will
expect you to revise in-progress poems.
Kara Ziehl, a UWEC creative writing major, compiled these tips in order to help students in my English
110 (“Introduction to College Writing”) class. I have fine-tuned and expanded her text somewhat, but I
think she did an excellent job — this is now required reading for budding student poets in my classes. –
DGJ
I love poetry and always wanted to create mine, but I have difficulties but this post will help me a lot.
thank you.
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no dont do this
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Thank you very much for the explanation.Im so much in love with your site and look forward to learn
more.
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I have to write a 1 or 2-minute poem for a school tea. and read it in front of everyone I don’t know what
to do.
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br0
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Regards
Ronald Mkhabela
Co-ordinator
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Does this club still exist? If it does I’d like to visit or maybe join
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Dennis G. JerzBongani njinji 26 Jun 2018 at 7:13 pm
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Your feeds into your topic is worth reading and worth the while. Thanks! For your invaluable
suggesstions to budding poets. I shall try to make myself better after this.
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Pingback: Poetry Writing: 10 Tips for Writing Poems | Jerz's Literacy Weblog
These blis showering words enriches my heart with the guidy meaning they got in them
Inspired
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Quite helpful…a lot of tips that I never had….hope this will help me improve my poetry writing skills…
thanks
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we love so compeletely that when you love so compeletely we love the world together
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I love to be with myself for two reasons, one is my love of your love. two is our love together.
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The love that flows with the beat from the bosom of desire ,comes from the love of natures fires
eternally evolving.
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I’ve written a lot of poems but I always knew that it lacked something or the other … Thanks a lot for
your advices. I’ll try my best to remember everything while writing my next poem.
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As someone who loves words in any way or shape, this has been eye-opening.
Thank you
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I am a lover of all creatures,big and small and all the time I spend loving myself ,through the trees of
Oregon and insects, to keep the cycle of life on the prowl for rainbows and unicorns
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Really great thanks . I wrote an poem about nature using your ‘s tip it really help me one more thanks to
you
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Striking tips 😃☝ I really accepting this good ideas because every additional information Will make us
stronger than others who always be lazy in the case of trying to know about the new things and vibes 💓
☘
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I’ve been told that my words paint a picture. That those that have read what I’ve written, have made
people feel like they were there. I have waited far to long to put my thoughts down on paper. I’m not
getting any younger. I’d like to leave this world something to remember me by.
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A poem is my emblem.
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I’ve been writing for 9 yrs on and off on various subjects and came up with some pretty inspiring
material that I did not think I have in me though I’m a visual artist. When my visuals are off, I write just
as creative. This article benefits alot and will help improve any type of flaws that occur .good guide to
put me on track. Hope to publish one day or read them to a small crowd or both.
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I’m write poems in Persian, and I was looking to find out tips of writing in English. This really helped me.
The tips are same as tips of writing in Persian, only some metaphors may be different. Thank you for
providing your work.
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I do not see the value of a poem if that poem does not express the unique feeling of a poet. Something
has to exist in it that has been lived through, experienced, possibly left a poet in awe. Therefore, if I am
writing to someone’s ears only to express my mastery of words, what does that make me? A poet?
Surely not. A word gymnast? Perhaps.
The voice of a poet, unfaltering yet suberversive, should and could end up being interpreted in many
ways, it is a bullet of emotion and serves to shake common perception. Love. Whatever that might read
or mean to you. Yes. It is not ‘about them’, it is about me. #SelFish PoeTry
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Even if you prefer to value poems in the manner you describe, I hope that you’ll be empathetic to what I
am doing. My intro says those who write poetry to please themselves don’t need any tips, whereas
someone who wants to understand and emulate some of the techniques used by the great poets
(recognized by scholars and publishers) can benefit from these tips. There is nothing wrong with writing
to please yourself or writing to play with words. I see value in each approach, and I don’t see them in
conflict.
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Aye qalam ab zara adab se likh teri nok nichy mery mehbob ka name hai
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I ended up here after reading your article on Time, and I see you are actually a time traveller (in your list
of amendments – 24 Dec 3017). What is it like in the future? I am delighted to see we have survived that
far. ;)
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Edited!
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yall can shut the f*ck up this aint work got me f*cked up
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School of ethics
I teach him
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Am in love with the creativity you are giving, am looking forward to learn more thamks
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Wonderful way of understanding someone about creativity and the tips to write poetry.i too have a
poetry blog.if interested visit https://shreyaartofwriting.blogspot.com -a must visit for poetry lovers
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That guideline has been so great and enlightening indeed, thanks a lot.
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I want to know what this is all about——09 Apr 2019 — corrected a 1000-year error caused by a typo in
the above line
Here’s a little gift from a newbie with help from this site:
Eyebrows raised,
Skin prickling,
Also, there’s this poem, which is what led me to find help on this site since I’m new to poetry:
https://medium.com/@crystal_gillis/i-turned-around-18447f1d8ee9
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For the date of an editorial change, I accidentally typed 1019 or 3019 (I forget which), so I added
another editorial change explaining the correction.
Regarding “Eyebrows”… I did not expect that twist, which caught me by surprise. Well done!
Regarding “I Turned…” I do like the central theme, though my suggestion is to condense. Yes, you want
to get across the idea that the speaker went back to perform this little service, but if you just title the
poem “I Turned Around” but start it with you already about to take the action, then end with something
like “I went on,” your poem would focus on the improvised ceremony, which is to my mind more original
and interesting than the detail about where you parked. It’s like there’s a tracking camera following
from inside the car, across the street, then panning down to the bird, but the speaker’s interaction with
the bird is the most interesting (and should get a greater proportion of words, in my opinion).
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Yet………..
To You
It is a wish°°°°°
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Please can I remove my name I just wanted to know what people think without knowing anything about
me please. I am I don’t expect good comments I just want truth no matter the hate that’s generated…
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This article is useful. This article provide all information about how to write a poem. For beginners this
article is really useful. Recently i read article which is too informative for the students and beginners
who are going to start poetry writing.
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