HarryLime wrote:
On looking through the archives, I came across the following:
From 7/3/2014
Here FWIW is my advice to poets:
1.
Get off the internet. Turn off the television. Put down that book.
Creative juices won't flow if you're busy being entertained.
Ideally, it's best to be alone in some romantic location: walking on the beach or through a forest. But a morning bus commute will work just as well. So will waiting for the final rinse cycle at the laundromat.
Just break out a pen and paper and wait for the thoughts to come.
2.
Be receptive. Don't say "Today I'm going to write about this." Just clear your mind and allow the poem to come to you.
There are an unlimited amount of topics to write about. Ignore those that don't arrive with a line (or portions of one or more lines) attached.
Once you get the first two lines down (whether they're at the beginning of the poem, the middle, or the end), the rest of the poem will usually follow.
3.
Know when to quit. Sometimes an appealing idea just won't translate into lines that properly capture it. Jot down what notes you have and put it aside. Somewhere down the road, the right words may arise.
4.
Fall in love with each poem as you write it.
If it doesn't seem like the greatest thing you've ever read, then you've failed. Each line you write should leave you eagerly waiting to create the line that follows. If you're not spellbound by it, your readers certainly won't be.
5.
You've either got it, or you haven't. No one can teach you how to be a talented writer. You can learn how to master grammar and syntax ... and end up sounding like every textbook you snored your way through in high school. You can never learn how to create a work of art.
NancyGene wrote:
HarryLime wrote:
On looking through the archives, I came across the following:
From 7/3/2014
Here FWIW is my advice to poets:
1.
Get off the internet. Turn off the television. Put down that book.
Creative juices won't flow if you're busy being entertained.
Ideally, it's best to be alone in some romantic location: walking on the beach or through a forest. But a morning bus commute will work just as well. So will waiting for the final rinse cycle at the laundromat.
Just break out a pen and paper and wait for the thoughts to come.
2.
Be receptive. Don't say "Today I'm going to write about this." Just clear your mind and allow the poem to come to you.
There are an unlimited amount of topics to write about. Ignore those that don't arrive with a line (or portions of one or more lines) attached.
Once you get the first two lines down (whether they're at the beginning of the poem, the middle, or the end), the rest of the poem will usually follow.
3.
Know when to quit. Sometimes an appealing idea just won't translate into lines that properly capture it. Jot down what notes you have and put it aside. Somewhere down the road, the right words may arise.
4.
Fall in love with each poem as you write it.
If it doesn't seem like the greatest thing you've ever read, then you've failed. Each line you write should leave you eagerly waiting to create the line that follows. If you're not spellbound by it, your readers certainly won't be.
5.
You've either got it, or you haven't. No one can teach you how to be a talented writer. You can learn how to master grammar and syntax ... and end up sounding like every textbook you snored your way through in high school. You can never learn how to create a work of art.
Excellent advice! Ideas for poems and lines for poems have come to us while brushing our teeth and while trying to go to sleep. Poems don't like to come out when it is noisy.
If you have finished a poem in one day, put it away until the next day and revisit it. You will find better ways to say things the next day.
HarryLime wrote:
NancyGene wrote:
HarryLime wrote:
On looking through the archives, I came across the following:
From 7/3/2014
Here FWIW is my advice to poets:
1.
Get off the internet. Turn off the television. Put down that book.
Creative juices won't flow if you're busy being entertained.
Ideally, it's best to be alone in some romantic location: walking on the beach or through a forest. But a morning bus commute will work just as well. So will waiting for the final rinse cycle at the laundromat.
Just break out a pen and paper and wait for the thoughts to come.
2.
Be receptive. Don't say "Today I'm going to write about this." Just clear your mind and allow the poem to come to you.
There are an unlimited amount of topics to write about. Ignore those that don't arrive with a line (or portions of one or more lines) attached.
Once you get the first two lines down (whether they're at the beginning of the poem, the middle, or the end), the rest of the poem will usually follow.
3.
Know when to quit. Sometimes an appealing idea just won't translate into lines that properly capture it. Jot down what notes you have and put it aside. Somewhere down the road, the right words may arise.
4.
Fall in love with each poem as you write it.
If it doesn't seem like the greatest thing you've ever read, then you've failed. Each line you write should leave you eagerly waiting to create the line that follows. If you're not spellbound by it, your readers certainly won't be.
5.
You've either got it, or you haven't. No one can teach you how to be a talented writer. You can learn how to master grammar and syntax ... and end up sounding like every textbook you snored your way through in high school. You can never learn how to create a work of art.
Excellent advice! Ideas for poems and lines for poems have come to us while brushing our teeth and while trying to go to sleep. Poems don't like to come out when it is noisy.
If you have finished a poem in one day, put it away until the next day and revisit it. You will find better ways to say things the next day.
Thanks, NancyGene.
My Muse works a little differently than yours. If a poem isn't working the way She wants, She'll stop dictating for a day or two. Then, after a night or two of sleep (She whispers to me while I sleep), I'll go back and suddenly see what the problem is; fix it; and then She'll continue dictating the rest.
When She's finished, She's finished. Apart from minor typos, the poem stays in its finished state.
On a related note, I feel that many of my early poems are flawed. At one point, I went back and tried to revise several of them. But the revisions didn't work, either. In fact, the revisions, though better written, consequently lost some of the spirit of the originals. Eventually, I gave up and restored them to their original forms.
| Sysop: | Amessyroom |
|---|---|
| Location: | Fayetteville, NC |
| Users: | 59 |
| Nodes: | 6 (0 / 6) |
| Uptime: | 07:17:13 |
| Calls: | 810 |
| Files: | 1,287 |
| D/L today: |
9 files (16,136K bytes) |
| Messages: | 206,255 |