How to write a poem RIGHT NOW.
Photo by Bricolage.108.
Writer’s Block is every poet’s worst nightmare. It takes advantage of the times you’re too busy or happy or miserable to think about sitting down to write, and then it digs its claws in. Sometimes, it only lasts a week or so before it gets bored and wanders off to find another victim – other times it sticks around for months, preventing you from putting pen to paper in any kind of meaningful way.
As you can probably tell, I like to visualise Writer’s Block as a small, annoying, fanged, furry creature. Why? Because that way, I feel more like I can beat it, squash it, call in my imaginary pest-control. I can get rid of it any time I want – and so can you. In fact, if you want to, you can write a poem – and a good poem – RIGHT NOW.
Read poetry.
I say this all the time – in fact, everyone says this all the time – and it may sound like a cliché, but it is the most important thing you can possibly do as a poet. Reading other people’s poetry teaches you to write better stuff, but it also gets you fired up and gives you inspiration when you need it. When I want to write but can’t find the ideas, I read other people’s poems until I find a line that makes me think “I could expand on that,” or even “I could’ve worded that better.” When I want to write but nothing sounds any good, I turn to poems I really enjoy and admire, to ‘remind’ me how it’s done. Using other people’s poetry as a jumping-off point for an original work is not plagiarism, and poets do it all the time. Can’t find a poem that inspires you? Get to a library, bookshop or thrift store and look around until something leaps off a page at you (it will, eventually, honest). You can even try looking online – check out my links page for some great online poetry sites.
Read poetry you don’t like.
I got this one from a former creative writing tutor, and funnily enough, it works. Everyone has a poet they really, really hate – often one whose work they’ve been forced to analyse in school. Who’s yours? Maybe you have a few? And probably the last thing you want to do when you’re feeling creatively challenged is look at the poetry of someone whose very name gets you foaming at the mouth with loathing. Well, try it. Drag out Wordsworth’s Daffodils or Keats’ Grecian Urn or whatever your least-favourite poem happens to be, and read it over once again. This time, ask yourself: why do I hate this poem? Is it because it’s actually a bad poem, or is there another reason? Do I hate it because I don’t fully understand it? Because I associate it with something negative? Or is it just not to my taste? Think about what puts this particular poet on your personal blacklist… and then do the opposite. Try to find good bits in the poem – is there a particular line that stands out from the rest? Does the basic idea of the poem appeal to you? Has the poet used any unusual words or created an interesting metaphor? Analyse the poem fairly – and from a personal point of view (none of this textbook-style, “what are the hidden meanings?” stuff). Once you’ve worked out why you can’t stand this poet – or once you’ve realised that actually, maybe they’re not a total imbecile – you can start to think about your own work. Write the antithesis of a Wordsworth poem, or try putting yourself in Keats’ shoes and writing in his style. Reading your most hated author really can inspire you, honest. Try it!
Read absolutely ANYTHING.
Noticing a pattern here? That’s because reading = writing: fact. The more you read, the better you write, and although obviously poetry is the best thing to get you into a poetry-writing frame of mind, just about anything that involves the written word can inspire you. I once wrote a poem inspired by a Louise Welsh novel, and another inspired by a newspaper cutting about a grassfire. Hundreds of people have written poems inspired by letters they’ve read, sent, received. I know one poet who wrote an ode to her telephone directory when she realised it was out of date, and started reading through it. Reading other people’s words can be really inspiring – no matter what they are. Try grabbing whatever written thing is nearest to you – be it a novel, a how-to book, a pamphlet or an instruction manual. Read it over, pick a line you like, and imagine it is the title of a poem. Write that poem.
Freewrite.
This is something I do with my pupils when they’re feeling at a loss for words. If you ask me, all words are good words, and just about anything can be a poem or story if you’re willing to shape it into one. Basically, you start with a blank sheet and a pencil, you count to three, and then you start writing. You write anything, and you keep writing without stopping until the page is full. No stopping to think, no trying to turn the writing into any kind of coherent shape – just write. One pupil of mine, a twelve-year-old boy who found creative writing “really hard,” started free-writing about what he’d been up to at the weekend (camping in the woods with his mates, apparently), and ended up with the first few paragraphs of a great adventure story. Another, Lisa – fourteen and very shy – was mad with her sister and free-wrote a letter to God asking why He’d decided to make the two sisters so different. It became a weird and wonderful poem for her school portfolio. Many students (me too) find it hard to stop at just one page. Freewriting is writing, after all, and when you’ve been struck by the pesky Writer’s Block, it feels brilliant to be putting pen to paper.
NB: Freewriting is NOT about trying to make ‘a poem’ or ‘a story’ or even a ‘good’ piece of writing. It could turn out to be garbage, and you have to let it, and not be annoyed with yourself if it does. But chances are, it won’t – I bet you find that something emerges.
Did you try any of these? Let me know the results! Got a sure-fire way to beat writer’s block? You know I want to know about it! See that comments box down there? Don’t be shy… fill it!
Tags: advice for young writers, resources for young writers, write a poem right now, young poets
September 5th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
“Drag out Wordsworth’s Daffodils or Keats’ Grecian Urn or whatever your least-favourite poem happens to be…”
Do you have something against the Romantics?
I find Oulipo-type games good when you’re after inspiration (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oulipo#Constraints). My favourite one is to take any sentence (turn on the radio and write down the first full sentence you hear) and then find as many meaningful ways as you can to jumble up the words. Use any punctuation you like. Try using all and only the words, and then try allowing subsets of the full sentence or duplicating some words. Pick the best one and make it the first or last line of a poem. Here’s an example:
I thought I was going senile there for a minute!
I thought for a minute. There I was, going senile.
A minute, senile thought: I… I was going there for…
Going there, I thought: was I senile?
I thought I was minute, for I was going senile.
September 5th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I have to say that there is so much writing being done by so many these days that if a person has writer’s block I would say to them ‘OK, go and do something else then and come back and write if/when you have an idea!’ Losing sleep over writer’s block always seems strange to me - there are lots of other things a person can do.
x
September 5th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Tommy — Nothing against the Romantics personally, but whenever anyone says “the poem I really hate is…” the word “Daffodils” SO often follows! I rather like WW (and love Coleridge), but the Grecian Urn, I’ll admit, is one of my less-than-favourites!
Rachel — I think once you’ve ‘dealt’ with the dreaded block for a while, you start to realise how to field it, how to write on through it and out of the other side. But for less experienced writers, I think “not being able” to write something is quite scary - I’ve had periods where I’ve genuinely thought ‘will I ever write again?’ - and so to just be able to write something, anything, can be reassuring!
September 5th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
PS, Tommy — meant to say; great idea! I’ll bear it in mind for future anti-writer’s block tips!
September 5th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
A simultaneous combination of relentless flicking on the telly, online random word generators and a wee dram of whisky generally lends itself to a starter poem, in which all but one line or verse may be a load of tosh, but that one line or verse could be so pregnant with possibilities you could end up with totally different, and far better poem, by playing around with it in a new context. And just a touch more whisky never hurts, either.
September 6th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Like most things ‘writer’s block’ covers a broad range of difficulties. I tend to agree with Rachel that if you’re unable to write one thing then stop banging your head against it and go off and write something else. I had to do that with my third novel and it was two years before I picked it up again and finished it but finish it I did. Two years sounds a long time and I suppose it is but the thing is not to be afraid of letting go; it’s not giving up.
There was a period when I wrote nothing for three years. That wasn’t writer’s block, it was depression and I can see how one might confuse the two. This is not to say that one cannot write while depressed because I have. And I don’t mean the odd introspective poem either.
A writer’s block is only a stumbling block if you let it get in the road and you trip over it. Just because it has a name doesn’t mean we need to afford it more reality than it deserves.
September 6th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Jim — As I said in my reply to Rachel, I think younger, less experienced writers are less able to handle this phenomenon (call it writer’s block). It takes quite a while for some people to become ‘at peace’ with the fact that sometimes they just can’t write. Writer’s block may not “deserve” attention, but the writers who feel they need help with it do… those are the writers that this blog is for, really.
September 6th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
This is partly my fault…I put a link on my blog to here but didn’t explain that this site is more for new writers (I have amended it now).
However…all that considered I still think that if a newer, less experienced writer is facing something like block they should still at least consider the ‘go and do something else’ option as well as all your recommendations. Maybe they have block for a reason…maybe they really should be doing something else! Getting any success as a writer takes such a lot of effort (and luck) and sometimes I wish I could do something else but this has always been my choice/curse/vocation/pastime (and probably a few other things as well). Writer’s block sounds like quite a nice break actually!
x
September 6th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
No worries Rachel. I agree with Jim actually — when you are an established writer, and particular when you’re a novelist, walking away can well be the best thing to do. It can often be that, in that situation. when you can’t write, it’s because you’re just trying too hard!
I’m thinking of doing a few of these block-beating articles so obviously I’ll be taking everyone’s points into account for future ones. So any comments at all are welcomed!
Thanks so much for the link on More About The Song, too x
September 6th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Fine. I thought I’d found a nice new place to play. If you want me I’ll be sulking on my own site.
September 6th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Oh Jim, I hope you’re not REALLY that offended!! That was never my intention! Come back!
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
[...] should I read? Read what you enjoy (I’ve also spoken out in favour of reading what you really don’t enjoy, but that serves a different purpose). If you check Paradise Lost out of the library, get three [...]
September 28th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
How to write a poem RIGHT NOW….
Beat writer’s block by writing a poem right now! Read on to find out how….
October 8th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
I came across your website when I googled (out of boredom/desperation) “write even when not inspired” I am also a “young writer” who is actually not young at all. And what you said above cannot be repeated enough. I write poetry but become blank quite often, even more often, I procrastinate. Just now, your page has given me inspiration (I need two pieces of work for my poetry class in a less than a week!) and I wanted to say thank you. I am bookmarking your page to return here!
October 9th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Wordcrafter - glad you found ONS… and glad it helped! Thanks for the bookmark - you can also subscribe by clicking the icon at the bottom of any of the posts! x
January 5th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
This is my poem about Martin Luther King
A husband, a father, a man with a heart of gold,
Was shot down during a speech I was told,
When his blood hit the ground, the green grass drowned,
With tears of terror and horrid shock,
Today was the day when Martin Luther King was shot.
Hannah Francis Age 11