Planning a Poem?

Now I will begin by doing the same as i did with the ‘ planning a book article ‘, I will discredit some myths.

The first being the most widely thought: Poems have to rhyme. Wrong, and i can say that without fear of ever being contradicted by anyone. Poems do not have to rhyme, of course if you choose them to then a poem can still be good just the same as if it was the other way round.

Second myth is that all poems should be about something beautiful and nice, nature for instance. Again i can say here with out fear of being contradicted that it is simply not true. Poems are meant to express ones feelings and if one feels sad or gloomy ones poems will reflect it!

I want to say here as i did in my planning a book article, that i am not a professional and these tips are just what helps me, hopefully they will help you!

If you read my planning a book article, you will know that you can follow the step by step plan, up to the topic section, just the same if you were writing a book, or a poem, but that is where the plans split into there own step by step guides. If you did not read it then fear not I will be starting from the beginning anyway. 

So where is the beginning for a poem.

Simple same place as a story. Genre.

A poem some would say has a limited genre categories it can use, simply not true however. Poems come in various genres, romance, horror, comedy, nature, fiction, non fiction. Now of course you can not easily pull out a poem on science fiction and most certainly can not do a poem that is in the thriller genre, though i suppose they are possible. All these genres are good for a story or a poem but they are more difficult to set into a poem. Romance is an easy genre for poetry, where as horror is not so easy.

Once you have you genre, and for the sake of this article lets say comedy was our genre, you need a topic (once again no chocolate jokes here).

Topic is as i have said before, the subject within the genre, romance would have a topic of say new love, or teen love, comedy may have topic of falling for instance.

For our article i will use that instance. 

Okay so now we are at the same point as our writers planning a book but here is where we leave them. Say good bye  writers of books. 

As book writers delve into there main characters, us poetry writers must decide: Type.

Yes, that’s right type. There are a few types of poems, one long poem, verses and acrostic. Of course there will be a few more but i am still learning. Type is very important for it will decide how your poem will run. Now the same as the book writers however you will by now have ideas going around in your head, and just the same they should be jotted down, not in full verses just scribbled or noted on a dictaphone. These may be used and then again maybe wont be used, you can decide later.

So my example now stands at this:

Genre: Comedy,

Topic: Falling,

Type: Verse poem.

Now you will notice i have not said title first and have still not mentioned it, for the same with the story applies here, do not fix a title for it restrains you from being creative. Once you have a title your poem, must coincide with that title, and as of yet you have no idea of exactly what to write. So please be patient and do not hurry it.

That is where i will leave it for now, you have enough to be getting on with, don’t be afraid of creating two or three, or maybe more different types of poems with different genres and new topics and different titles, for you can decide whether or not to use them later!

Catch the next installment when we look at rhyming and also structure! 

If you have any questions about poems, writing a book, or wish me to look into any other form of writing give me a comment. If you have any questions about me, I will answer them too. Either by a video if i get enough questions or in a small article if i don’t get many! the choice is yours!