[Bards] Writing Poetry (Long)

[Fitzmorgan at aol.com]

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Greetings to the list
       Having just written a poem this weekend after a long dry spell I have
writing on the brain.  I am curious how others approach writing poetry.  I'm
going to describe my writing process or processes at length in the hopes that
other writers will discuss theirs.  If this doesn't interest you then skip the
rest of this message.

My approach will vary depending on what it was that triggered the writing of
that particular poem.

       Sometimes I will get the idea for an entire poem.  I know what I want
to say and pretty much how I want to say it.  If the idea can be handled
adequately in a few lines then I will often default to the Sonnet structure.  The
Shakespearean sonnet is pretty much my default verse form for short pieces.  In
that case I will be very strict in my rhyming and pretty strict in my use of
meter.  If I choose a formalized verse form I try to be disciplined and follow
the rules.  If necessary I'll spend two hours trying to make what I want to
say fit into Iambic Pentameter.

       Other times I will choose a verse form that I want to write then try
and find a topic that works for that form.  Again I'm strict about following
the form.  I'm usually not very impressed with the poems I write this way.  If
I'm not under any particular inspiration and just sit down and write to be
writing I usually don't care for the result, though I've written a few good poems
that way.

       More often I'm inspired to write about a particular event or a
particular person.  I usually know what it is about that person or event I want to
praise and what the overall tone of the poem will be.  I have a good idea in my
mind of the emotional effect I want the poem to have on my listener.  When
writing one of these poems I am very defiantly writing for a listener not a
reader.  All of my poems are written to be performed aloud but these even more so.
In this case I will choose a very basic verse pattern that impedes the
narrative as little as posable.  I want to spend most of my time thinking about what
I'm saying and how to make it sound good and less time worrying about making
it scan.  I'm still pretty strict with my rhyming but very loose with meter.
If it sounds good coming out of my mouth that's really all I'm after.
       These are usually my favorite poems.  They are almost always written
in one setting, usually in 2 to 3 hours.  Somewhere about the middle of the
poem I'll find myself bouncing up and down in my chair and giggling.  About 2/3
of the way through the poem I'll realize what the ending is and will write that
down as fast as I can before I burst then go back and fill the gap between
where I was and the ending.  I'll then do a quick rewrite changing a word or
phrase here or there.  Then I just have to run off and show it to someone.
Usually as I'm performing it I'll see a better way to say something and make a few
changes on the fly.  About that time I'll realize that it needed one more
rewrite.  These poems are ALWAYS written at an event.  Once I get home I'll type
it into the computer and make another change or two then send it out.  Once
I've posted it I'll pretty much leave it alone after that.
       Sometimes I will start to write a poem to order.  I know the topic and
the tone, and usually there is a deadline for getting it done.  I may or may
not have any particular inspiration.  Usually this comes up when I'm the Bard
of a group and want to write a song or poem for that group.  I'll usually wait
and search for a subject or approach that excites me.  If I find that then
the writing is easy and I'm pretty happy with the results.  If I just can't find
an approach that excites me then I'll just sit down and force myself to write
something.  These are very hard.  I will try to choose a verse form that I've
wanted to write in to keep it interesting for me.  The inspiration or lack of
inspiration has little to do with the group it's self or how I feel about
that group.  I just have to come up with something that's more interesting than
"Gee what a really great bunch of people these are."  It needs to reflect the
individual character of the group and it has to true and it has to be well
written.  Since these will likely appear in the local newsletter I'll pay a lot
more attention to the grammar and meter.
       After one event where I was stepping down as the Bard of a group that
had been very good to me and I just could not find any kind of hook to hang a
poem on.  I went ahead and wrote a poem that I really didn't care for to have
something done by the time I stepped down.  I felt so terrible at giving them
a poem I didn't like that I swore I would never do that again.  I've looked
back at the poem and it's actually not bad, but at the time I hated it.  Later
when I stepped down as the Minstrel of Mooneschadowe I still hadn't found what
I was looking for and I told them they deserved something really good and I
hadn't come up with anything really good yet and when I did I would come back
and do it for them.  I'm so glad I made that decision.  A few months later at
Gulf War, I found what I was looking for and wrote the song so fast I thought my
head would burst.  I think it's just about the best thing I ever wrote.  They
seemed to like it too.

       My favorite thing in a poem is when I write a really good line.
Something that is moving, that rolls off the tongue.   A line with lots of
alliteration and good strong stresses you can jump up and down on.  If I can get one
or two of those in a poem I'm generally happy.

       Writing is important to me and I realized that it's something that I
rarely talk about.  If you made it this far then you must be interested in
writing as well.  I hope it's something other people want to talk about.

       If you want to take a look at some of my work most of the good stuff
is on the kingdom bardic page at:
http://bard.ansteorra.org/bards/fitzmorgan/fitzmorgan.html

Robert