Poetry writing tips.

Poetry is the most artistic and liberating form of creative writing. You can write in the abstract or the concrete. Images can be vague or subtle, brilliant or dull. Write in form, using patterns, or write freely, letting your conscience (or subconscious) be your guide.

You can do just about anything in a poem. That’s why poetry writing is so wild and free; there are no rules. Poets have complete liberty to build something out of nothing simply by stringing words together.

All of this makes poetry writing alluring to writers who are burning with creativity. A poet’s process is magical and mesmerizing. But all that freedom and creativity can be a little overwhelming. If you can travel in any direction, which way should you go? Where are the guideposts?

Today’s writing tips include various tools and techniques that a poet can use. But these tips aren’t just for poets. All writers benefit from dabbling in poetry. Read a little poetry, write a few poems, study some basic concepts in poetry, and your other writing (fiction, creative nonfiction, even blogging) will soar.

Below, you’ll find thirty-six writing tips that take you on a little journey through the craft of poetry writing. See which ones appeal to you, give them a whirl, and they will lead you on a fantastic adventure.

36 Poetry Writing Tips

1. Read lots of poetry. In fact, read a lot of anything if you want to produce better writing.
2. Write poetry as often as you can.
3. Designate a special notebook (or space in your notebook) for poetry writing.
4. Try writing in form (sonnets, haiku, etc.).
5. Use imagery.
6. Embrace metaphors, but stay away from clichés.
7. Sign up for a poetry writing workshop.
8. Expand your vocabulary.
9. Read poems over and over (and aloud). Consider and analyze them.
10. Join a poetry forum or poetry writing group online.
11. Study musicality in writing (rhythm and meter).
12. Use poetry prompts when you’re stuck.
13. Be funny. Make a funny poem.
14. Notice what makes others’ poetry memorable. Capture it, mix it up, and make it your own.
15. Try poetry writing exercises when you’ve got writer’s block.
16. Study biographies of famous (or not-so-famous) poets.
17. Memorize a poem (or two, or three, or more).
18. Revise and rewrite your poems to make them stronger and more compelling.
19. Have fun with puns.
20. Don’t be afraid to write a bad poem. You can write a better one later.
21. Find unusual subject matter — a teapot, a shelf, a wall.
22. Use language that people can understand.
23. Meditate or listen to inspirational music before writing poetry to clear your mind and gain focus.
24. Keep a notebook with you at all times or use a text or notes app on your phone so you can write whenever (and wherever) inspiration strikes.
25. Submit your poetry to literary magazines and journals.
26. When you submit work, accept rejection and try again and again. You can do it and you will.
27. Get a website or blog and publish your own poetry.
28. Connect with other poets to share and discuss the craft that is poetry writing.
29. Attend a poetry reading or slam poetry event.
30. Subscribe to a poetry podcast and listen to poetry.
31. Support poets and poetry by buying books and magazines that feature poetry.
32. Write with honesty. Don’t back away from your thoughts or feelings. Express them!
33. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Mix art and music with your poetry. Perform it and publish it.
34. Eliminate all unnecessary words, phrases, and lines. Make every word count.
35. Write a poem every single day.
36. Read a poem every single day.

Have You Written a Poem Lately?

I believe that poetry is the most exquisite form of writing. And anyone can write a poem if they want to. In today’s world of fast-moving images, poetry has lost much of its appeal to the masses. But there are those of us who thrive on language and who still appreciate a poem and its power to move us emotionally. It’s our job to keep great poetry writing alive. And it’s our job to keep writing poetry.

What are some of your favorite writing tips from today’s list? How can you apply poetry writing techniques to other forms of writing? Do you have any tips to add? Leave a comment!

Is ending a sentence with a preposition ever acceptable?

A longstanding grammar myth says we’re not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition. For years, this myth has persisted, tying writers up in knots and making their heads spin around sentences that simply must end with a preposition.

For example: Which store are you going to?

Folks who were taught (and are now attached to the idea) that one should never end a sentence with a preposition will argue that the proper way to write the sentence is as follows: To which store are you going?

But nobody talks that way.

Grammar rules and myths

In the world of writing, grammar myths abound, but where do they come from? I suspect they are born not out of rules but out of rules of thumb. In many cases, it’s not a good idea to end a sentence with a preposition. Allow me to demonstrate:

Where do you work at?

The problem here is not so much that the sentence ends with a preposition. It ends with a completely unnecessary word. Remove that last word and you get a much clearer, more concise, and correct sentence:

Where do you work?

This begs the question: when is it acceptable to end a sentence with a preposition? In fact, what is a preposition?

What is a preposition?

Prepositions are one of the traditional eight parts of speech in the English language. They usually indicate a direction or placement in space (in, on, toward) or perform a similar function in a more abstract and less spatial way (of, for). They tend to indicate a relationship or movement of some kind:

The book is in my hand.
Put the blanket over the bed.
Let’s go to the hall of mirrors.
I have something for you.
The pens are with the paper.

Some of the most common prepositions are: on, in, to, by, for, with, at, of, from, as, under, over, about, above, below, behind, and between. There are plenty more, but you get the idea.

By the way, you can learn a lot more than you ever wanted to know about prepositions on Wikipedia.

When is it okay to end a sentence with a preposition?

If you’ve structured your sentence as concisely as possible, removed any unnecessary words, and the only way to refrain from ending it with a preposition is to make it sound like it arrived in a time machine from the eighteenth century, then you’re probably okay keeping the preposition at the end:

Who are you going with?
What are you waiting for?
We need something to put it in.

As you can see, these are all standard sentences. They adhere to the rules of grammar yet they all end in prepositions. Just try rewriting them without prepositions at the end:

With whom are you going?
For what are you waiting?
We need something in which to put it.

These are all technically correct too, if you don’t mind sounding like you were born three hundred years ago.

Try it for yourself

Take a look at the following sentence:

There’s an idea I never thought of.

There’s nothing technically wrong with the sentence, but we could rewrite it so it doesn’t end with a preposition:

I never thought of that idea.

Which one sounds better to you?

Grammar and common sense

The issue with ending a sentence with a preposition is more a matter of style or rhetoric than grammar. If you want proof, check out this list of references on ending a sentence with a preposition.

So go forth and end sentences with prepositions, but only when it makes sense to do so. Write your sentences to be clear and concise, and you’ll be fine. Keep writing!

Is your muse on vacation? Get your writing inspiration here!

Have you ever sat down to start a new writing project only to find yourself sitting there, hours later, staring idly at the blank page?

Writing inspiration doesn’t always come easily.

In an ideal world, we always look forward to the blank page, a fresh canvas we can color with ideas and texture with language. When our muse is dancing around, we feel motivated and inspired, so the blank page feels like the start of an exciting adventure.

But if our mind isn’t in the right place, if our muse is on vacation, that same page is nothing but a source of frustration.

When I became a professional copywriter, I had to learn how to write whether the muse was present or not. You know how muses are, fleeting hooligans. I couldn’t rely on mine all the time. So I learned how to get along without her. That meant coming up with my own writing inspiration.

Outsmarting the Missing Muse

Yes, you can get along without your muse. Writing without your muse is not the same as writing when you’re lit up with inspiration. It’s less enjoyable; it takes longer; and it can be frustrating. But you can learn to get along without your muse.

First, figure out why your muse failed to show up. Here are some reasons mine runs off and hides:

• I’m not into this particular project.
• I’m experiencing stress, fatigue, or hunger.
• My creative well is dried up.

Once I recognize the problem, it’s a little easier to cope with the muse’s absence, and I can find a way to forge ahead without her.

Forget the Muse, Discover Willpower

You see, the secret to facing the blank page without the muse is sheer willpower. You achieve this by getting into the right frame of mind and convincing your brain that it can, in fact, function without the muse. I do this by telling myself any or all of the following:

• Once I get the first sentence out, the piece will start to flow.
• I don’t have to get it right (this is a rough draft, after all). I just have to get it written.
• If I hurry up and get this done, I can do something else.
• Just write the first sentence. Then go get a glass of water. Come back and write another sentence. Sometimes taking it slow and breaking it up into small chunks is the best way to get a challenging task done.
• Stop thinking about it and just do it.

Sometimes these simple reminders are all it takes to get the words flowing. By forcing yourself to push ahead or promising yourself a little reward, you can convince your brain to become creative and productive.

Try a New Approach for Coming up with Writing Inspiration

What? You say these tricks don’t work for you? Don’t worry, I have more magic up my sleeve.

You can try taking a break, but be careful: You don’t want to stare at that blank page for five minutes, take a twenty minute break, and then repeat that cycle all day. That won’t do you any good. Also, when you take breaks, avoid activities that can stretch into hours of procrastination, like surfing YouTube for your favorite cat videos. Make sure breaks are limited and timed.

Are you suffering from burnout? Your muse’s little vacation might be attributed to burnout if you’ve gotten a lot of writing done recently, in which case you might need a bonafide break. Pamper yourself by having some fun. Play with the dog or the kids, or turn up the music and dance around your house. In the future, plan breaks into your writing schedule accordingly.

That brings us to getting the old blood pumping. I’m not a doctor and I don’t play one on TV, so I can’t give you the biological, physiological diatribe about how blood flow and oxygen getting to your brain can make you more alert and get those creative juices flowing. But take my word for it. A little workout can do wonders for encouraging the word current.

Do you ever wake up in the morning and your muscles are all stiff? You yawn and stretch (and try to come alive). Sometimes your brain needs to do that too. Try a writing warm-up, like a freewrite or a short journal entry. Or turn to some other project that you find more inspiring. When you switch gears and get your wheels turning on a different project, you can build momentum for when you return to the one that’s giving you a hard time.

Where’s Your Muse?

Tell us about your muse. How often does she take a vacation? How do you cope with her absence? Have you found ways to write without your muse?

Do you have any tips for how to outsmart the muse and come up with your own writing inspiration? 

How far will talent take you?

Every writer hopes for talent, but what is talent, exactly?

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary offers several definitions:

• a special often athletic, creative, or artistic aptitude.
• general intelligence or mental power: ability
• the natural endowments of a person

Talent gives people an edge or a head start. With talent, you can learn faster and perform better. Success isn’t guaranteed, but it’s within reach.

In writing, we see a variety of talents. Some authors are natural storytellers. Others have a way with words. Some are fast learners who quickly pick up new writing skills without a lot of effort. Some are simply good at organizing and communicating their thoughts, ideas, or knowledge in writing.

However, I’ve never encountered a writer who was born with the ability to whip out a brilliant piece of writing without years of learning, practice, or dedication.

Some aspects of writing simply must be learned.

Learning to Write

We’re not born knowing letters or language. We must be taught. It might come easier to the lucky ones, but that doesn’t mean they glanced at a book and gained some magical ability to write brilliantly. We all have to learn and practice, no matter how much talent was bestowed upon us.

And luck is a factor too. The most genius writer on the planet will never write a book if they don’t have the opportunity to learn how to read and write. I’ve sometimes wondered how many illiterate Mark Twains or Maya Angelous might be living in our world. Can you imagine the great literature we’re missing out on? That’s why education is so important.

Talent doesn’t give writers every advantage they need in order to write well. One child might struggle with reading comprehension but easily put their thoughts and ideas into prose. Another might inhale books with ease from a young age but find organizing their thoughts on paper challenging. Some other kid might have a knack for storytelling but struggle with spelling. It’s nice to have an edge, but since writing requires a vast set of skills, talent is unlikely to give you a complete edge.

Luckily, if there’s a weak spot in our abilities, we can study and practice to sharpen our skills. If your dialogue is boring, you can study compelling dialogue, practice writing better dialogue, and improve your dialogue writing. Same with fight scenes or love scenes, poems, or essays. We should all leverage and exploit our writing strengths, and we should always be strengthening our weaknesses.

Discipline

Talent doesn’t give you a work ethic. You could be the most talented writer in the history of the world, but it won’t matter if you can’t force yourself to sit down and do your work. Books don’t write themselves. And it’s not like there’s a boss hovering over your shoulder, demanding to see the latest chapter of your first manuscript. You can build a support system that will hold you accountable, but ultimately you — and only you — must produce the work.

I have worked with a lot of authors over the years. Sometimes I read a rough draft and think, hm, there’s something here — something compelling — something special. But if the author isn’t willing to dig the diamond out of the coal and do the hard work of accepting criticism and revising, it really doesn’t matter.

Event the most talented authors don’t produce first drafts that are ready to go to publication. We all have to revise, multiple times. I have seen authors — talented authors — get so frustrated with the revision process or so enchanted with some other, newer idea for a project, that they simply walk away. They never finish anything. Many of them eventually give up on writing altogether. They lack a willingness to push through the tedious tasks, and they refuse to cultivate the discipline necessary to complete publishable works.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the decades, it’s that talent is certainly alluring, but discipline is a far better indicator of success.

Success Without Talent

Plenty of things can hold talented writers back from success:

• Some people only write when they feel like it.
• Some can’t accept criticism or stick it out through revisions and tedious or unpleasant phases of a project.
• Some refuse to learn new skills and practice the craft.
• Some give up too easily or drop projects to chase after newer ideas that seem more exciting.
• Some lack discipline, which encompasses just about everything else on this list.

Notice a theme? Discipline, not talent, is a more reliable path to success.

With a willingness to learn and some discipline, average writers can produce more writing and better work than their more talented counterparts. In fact sometimes an average writer can surpass a talented writer’s skill level.

Talent is just another word for something that comes easily. And it’s useless if you’re not willing to work hard, because there’s no talent that will carry you all the way to the finish line. If you truly want to succeed as a writer, don’t worry about talent. Get determined to be a writer. Be willing to learn and practice the craft. And most importantly, develop discipline.

What aspects of writing come naturally to you? Which aspects do you struggle with? How do you strengthen your weaknesses? What steps do you take to stay disciplined and get your work done?

A few good writing tips to keep you on your toes.

Have you ever gotten stuck in a writing project, and just when your frustration reached its peak, you heard some bit of sage advice that helped you see how to move forward?

There aren’t many writing problems that a few good writing tips can’t solve. Whether you need to develop your voice or use fewer clichés, quick tips can contain exactly the wisdom you need.

I keep a file of quotes by authors so I can refer to their expertise when I need it. I also have several books, notebooks, and other documents filled with writing tips and techniques, and I like to review these every so often to see what I need to bring into my own work. In many cases, these tips are just quick reminders of all the lessons I’ve learned before.

A Collection of Good Writing Tips

As we develop our writing skills, we learn tons of concepts. From grammar rules to storytelling techniques, literary devices to poetry forms, there is so much to learn that one can become overwhelmed. A good list of writing tips summarizes complex lessons into digestible pieces of advice that keep you on your toes lest you forget or neglect the guidelines for good writing.

Here are some of my favorite tips and reminders:

• Find your best writing tools and spaces. Are you more creative when you wield a pen? Do you get more writing done at your computer? Does your imagination run wild at night or do you get your best work done in the morning? Would you rather curl up on the couch with your project or sit at a desk?
• Hold yourself accountable. When was the last time you actually wrote anything? Do you track your progress and productivity (I recommend a word-count tracker)? Do days go by before you realize you haven’t written a word or do months go by? Find a system to keep yourself writing regularly.
• Embrace and develop your voice, the unique way you string words and sentences together.
• Are you a writer or a storyteller? Writers know how to use their most important tools (grammar and language). Storytellers spin tales. You can be one or the other, or you can be both.
• Follow your heart. Don’t write for the market or for your friends and family. Figure out what ignites your passion, and then figure out how to translate that into a story, poem, or essay.
• Set some goals. In a decade or two, you can pack boxes with notebooks and journals that you’ve completed or cram your hard drive with documents, but to what purpose? What do you want to accomplish with your writing?
• Seek out your heroes. Which poems and stories move you? Which writers do you admire or want to emulate? They are your mentors.
• Read like a fiend.
• Mix and mingle with other writers. They are your best support system.
• Make writing a priority. If you didn’t write anything today, review the day and figure out what you could have skipped in order to make time for writing.
• Mix your media. Good stories and poems are hiding everywhere. Writers often look to other writers for inspiration, but you can glean inspiration from musicians, filmmakers, painters, and other artists too. The internet is jam-packed with sources of inspiration!
• Stop trying to be original and just be yourself.
• Critique other writers’ work, but don’t judge other writers. Embrace critiques and reviews when someone takes the time to offer thoughtful feedback on your writing.
• Support the literary community. What kind of writer doesn’t buy books, leave positive reviews of stories they love, or share and promote their fellow writers’ best work?
• Put it out there. Many writers struggle just to put their words in front of an audience. Start by sharing with trusted friends. Then take a workshop. Join a writers’ group. Start submitting your work to literary journals. Finally, give the world your book.
• Read what you want to write. If you want to write with great skill, then read writers who are skilled. Read in the genres and forms that you aspire to.
• But read beyond your genre and past your skill level. Don’t limit yourself.
• Be an active user of the dictionary and thesaurus. Become a fact checker. Use research and trusted resources to make sure your work is credible and accurate.
• Get to know your audience. There’s a difference between writing for the market and identifying your audience and writing for them.

Do little bits of writerly advice ever help you over a hurdle? Do you have any good writing tips to share? Are you stuck in your own writing slump? What has pulled you out of a slump in the past? Share your writing tips and experiences by leaving a comment.

The Chicago Manual of Style

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The Chicago Manual of Style is the most widely used resource for American English style, grammar, and punctuation. If you’re working on any kind of writing project and need a solid reference that provides answers for how to consistently apply style and grammar, then this is the book for you.

Often called Chicago or CMOS, the text was originally published in 1906 with just 200 pages under the lengthy, albeit descriptive title: Manual of Style: Being a compilation of the typographical rules in force at the University of Chicago Press, to which are appended specimens of type in use. Yes, that’s a mighty long title.

In 2024, the eighteenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style was published with 1,192 pages. It is available in hardcover, and there’s also a handy online edition to which you can subscribe, for a fee.

Chicago is so widely used because it can be applied to almost any type of writing. It’s extremely flexible and offers writers options for various formats. Many smaller, niche-oriented style guides are based on the guidelines set forth in Chicago, making it the foundation for most writing styles and grammar usages found throughout America.

What is a Style Guide?

There is a significant difference between a style guide and a grammar guide. A grammar guide will address the formal rules of language, rules that are applicable across any style, form, or format.

A style guide addresses all the gaps in grammar, and there are many. It also provides a set of guidelines that writers can use to format their work, often with an emphasis on citations. Adhering to these guidelines keeps your writing clear and consistent. If you’ve ever read a document or book that sometimes wrote out numbers (one, two, three) and other times used numerals (1, 2, 3) or used the serial comma in some sentences but not in others, you know how confusing and inconsistent written works can be when writers and editors don’t use a style guide.

Finally, many style guides incorporate the rules of grammar, so they address a wider range of questions and writing issues. Chicago is one such style guide. If you’re looking for a general-purpose writing resource that you can turn to for style and grammar, you’ve just found the holy grail.

Eighteenth Edition

The latest edition of Chicago gives greater consideration to diversity, inclusion, and accessibility. Previously focused on nonfiction, this edition includes fiction and other creative forms and genres, addressing elements such as dialogue. Attention is given to the needs of self-published authors as well. Sections on citations have been reorganized and mathematics editing has been integrated more appropriately for general use. Chicago routinely updates for the ongoing development of technology, and this edition is no exception; it covers AI and open-access publishing models. The manual also incorporates changes that better reflect real-world usage.

More Writing Resources

If you’re not ready for a style and grammar guide that has over 1,000 pages, then you might be more comfortable starting out with something slimmer, like Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style (4th Edition). If you’re writing for a particular publication, then you should check with the editor or manager to see if there is an established style guide that you should use. When no other style guide is specified, Chicago is the one to use, and it’s worth the investment.

For more recommendations, visit the writing resources section of Writing Forward, and keep writing!

Poetry prompts celebrating the fall season.

It seems like summer always passes too quickly and winter lasts too long. Maybe that’s why fall is a favorite season for so many people. It seems to hang around just long enough. It’s not too hot, not too cold — a mild, colorful, and comfortable season.

Every fall, my creativity goes into overdrive, and I doubt this year will be any different. I’m not sure what it is about all the rusty and golden hues that fills me with inspiration, but I’m always grateful when the leaves start to turn because I know my imagination is about get fired up.

It’s the perfect time of year to write a little poetry. The seasons have been inspiring poets for millennia, and it’s up to us modern-day writers to keep the tradition alive. The poetry prompts below are a great way to get started.

Poetry Prompts

Poetry prompts are simple. Below, you’ll find three lists of words. Your task is to compose a poem using all of the words from one of the lists. You can also get creative and use any of the following alternatives:

• Mix and match random words from the three lists. Try to use 5-10 words to prompt your poem.
• Write three poems, each based on one of the lists.
• Write a single poem using all of the words from all of the lists.

Once you’re done writing your poem, set it aside and let it sit overnight. Come back to it the next day and spend some time polishing it. You can add words, remove words, put it into form, or take it out of form. Focus especially on deleting extraneous words and phrases. Try to keep the poem as tight and concise as possible. Also, make an effort to infuse the poem with vivid imagery, which is the key to writing great poetry.

Discover and Share

Once you’ve finished using these prompts to write a poem (or several poems), come back and tell us what you discovered or learned through the process. Did you write a poem about autumn or did some other topic emerge? Did you come up with any compelling images for your piece? How did revising your poem improve it? Leave a comment to share your experience. And keep writing!

An exercise to help you manage your fiction writing ideas.

Today’s storytelling exercise is an excerpt from my book, Story Drills: Fiction Writing Exercises, which helps beginning to intermediate storytellers develop skills in the craft of fiction writing. This exercise is designed to help you manage your writing ideas (or lack thereof). It’s called “Managing Our Ideas.” Enjoy!

All the storytelling skills in the world are useless if you don’t start with good ideas. Most writers suffer from too many ideas. They give up in the middle of a project to start a different project when they get a tempting new idea. But other writers struggle to find ideas that they want to explore. They think their ideas are boring or unoriginal, or maybe not strong enough to keep their interest for the full duration of a book-length project.

Generating ideas, choosing the best ideas, and seeing ideas through to completion are important skills for a writer to develop.

Most ideas that seem fresh are just old ideas with a new twist. It’s almost impossible to find a story that doesn’t include various elements from stories that came before. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be original, but if it’s preventing you from creating stories, perhaps you’re being too hard on yourself and your ideas.

Before diving into a long-term project, make sure you’ve explored all your options and chosen an idea that you can see through to completion. Before committing to a project, spend some time with its concept and premise. A short story isn’t a major commitment, so jump in. But if you plan to write a novel, which could take a year or more, ask yourself whether it’s really an idea to which you want to make a long-term commitment.

Study:

You’ve probably already acquired some story ideas. Maybe they’re stuffed in a shoe box, scattered around your office on sticky notes, or stored on your computer or mobile device. Gather up all your ideas and review them.

Practice:

Create a system to manage your story ideas. You could create a folder on your computer that contains one document for each story idea. Maybe you’ll use index cards and file them in a box. You could use sticky notes and attach them to pages in a binder, which would allow you to sort, organize, and prioritize. Come up with a system that allows you to quickly and easily store and review the ideas you’ve had, but also one with space that allows you to further develop your ideas.

Questions:

Why do some writers want their work to be totally original? Why are new ideas so alluring that they entice us away from projects we thought we were committed to? What can we do to make sure we finish projects we’ve started? Why is it helpful to keep track of our ideas?

Tips for writing description in fiction.

Today’s post includes excerpts from What’s the Story? Building Blocks for Fiction Writing, chapter eight: “Description and Exposition.” Enjoy!

Without description, readers wouldn’t be able to visualize what’s happening in a story. We need to see the setting and the characters. Because there are no visuals in prose, writers must use words to describe a story’s visual elements in a way that helps readers see the story playing out in their minds.

Prior to film and photography, prose was packed with lengthy and detailed description. If a story was set on a tropical island, the narrative needed to describe it in great detail, because most readers had no idea what a tropical island looked like. Nowadays, most people have some idea of what a tropical island looks like, thanks to films and photos, and many people have traveled to a tropical island, thanks to advances in transportation. This lessens the need for elaborate descriptions. Modern writers can therefore write simpler and more concise descriptions, which allows them to place greater emphasis on action and dialogue. This is a good thing, because action and dialogue are where a story really happens.

Description is most essential when we’re describing characters, locations, and objects that readers have never seen or experienced. These can be some of the trickiest types of descriptions to craft. In a science-fiction story, it can be challenging to describe an alien to an audience that has never seen such a creature. We can use points of reference: maybe the alien is humanoid in shape, maybe it has some features that we can compare to plants and animals on Earth. But tying it all together in a tidy description that truly matches what the author is imagining might be a formidable task.

Let’s consider a description of a room:

There is a bookshelf in one corner and a chair in the opposite corner. There’s a couch and a coffee table in the center of the room. A piano sits in front of a large picture window. The walls are wood paneled and covered with paintings.

This description may give you a sense of the room, but it’s boring. Readers are likely to drift off if a description continues like this for too long.

What’s wrong with this description? Almost every sentence begins with “There is” or some variation of it, and most of the verbs are various forms of to be. Although it’s useful to draft descriptions in this manner, these sentences need to be reworked so that they hold the reader’s attention:

A massive oak desk sat below a large picture window, beside a shelf overflowing with books. Hardcovers, paperbacks, and binders were piled on the tiled floor in messy stacks.

Note the use of active verbs, such as overflowing, and descriptive adjectives, like messy. Good narrative description makes the setting more vivid by using language that engages the reader.

Effective description is often achieved not by inserting long and specific descriptions but by making thoughtful decisions about what to include and what to leave out. When a narrative brings readers into a room, it doesn’t need to cite every object in the room and explain in minute detail how the room is laid out. The goal is to give readers a sense of the room. That is best achieved by providing readers just enough description that they can see key details and trusting that their imaginations will fill in the rest.

Description also determines how immersed readers get in the story. We could describe the sand on a beach as white and sprawling in every direction as far as the eye could see. But if the character is walking on the sand, the reader will become more immersed when the sand is hot, grainy, and gritty against the character’s feet. When description is visceral—when we can feel it—it comes alive.

Description can be used to engage readers’ five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Average descriptions focus on sight, explaining what something looks like. But descriptions that include the other senses will arouse the readers’ senses. This is why dining scenes work remarkably well in prose. We can use description to set a scene in which characters are cooking a meal: the warmth from the oven; bright, fresh vegetables steaming on the stove; the sound of a sizzling skillet; the smell of spiced chicken frying; the sound of an ice-cold bottle of beer cracking open. The readers’ mouths will water as the characters enjoy their spicy, zesty fajitas.

The most important descriptions are those that are essential to the story. Have you ever read a story that offered detailed descriptions of mundane items and locations and then skimmed over the descriptive details of story elements that really mattered? This causes readers to struggle to imagine the story. For example, if a character has been in a terrible accident and is getting bandages removed for the first time, there should be some description of the wounds or scars as opposed to a description of the hospital room. This helps the readers focus on the character (and therefore the story) as opposed to a generic room. By adding description that references the smell of antiseptic and the slick, cold texture of the doctor’s latex gloves, the scene becomes sensory and visceral.

Want to learn more about writing description in fiction? Pick up a copy of What’s the Story? Building Blocks for Fiction Writing.

Try something new with these poetry writing ideas and activities.

A poem can come out of nowhere and land on the page, fully formed, in just a few minutes. A poem can also be the result of hours (or weeks) of laboring over line breaks, word choices, images, and rhythm.

Poems are funny little things, appearing out of nowhere and disappearing for no apparent reason. Poets have to be diligent: be prepared when a poem arrives, and if the poem doesn’t arrive, go out and chase it down.

There are many ways to write a poem, and not all of them involve sitting at a desk staring at a glaring screen or curled up in a chair with a pen and a notebook. Instead of waiting for poems to fall out of the sky, try some of these poetry writing ideas and activities.

Poetry Writing Ideas & Activities

Below are some poetry writing ideas mixed with activities to get poetry flowing.

1. Take a poetry walk. Grab a recorder or a notebook and then set out on foot. You can use a timer and stop every five minutes to jot down a line, or take a break whenever you see something interesting or inspiring and note it. When you get home, work it all into a poem.
2. Take a snapshot. Write a descriptive poem, choosing a simple subject or scene. The idea is to write a poem that feels like a picture.
3. Cut and paste. Grab some old magazines, pamphlets, and junk mail and cut out the most interesting words and phrases, and then tape or paste them together to make a poem.
4. Get personal. Your deepest secrets, innermost desires, regrets, dreams, and fantasies are all excellent sources of inspiration.
5. Write a response poem. Choose a poem that you admire or that confounds you — perhaps one that disturbs you or contains some idea that you disagree with. Write a poem in response to it.
6. State your positions. Write a political poem, a philosophical poem, or explore your ideals through image-rich language.
7. Translate a poem into modern language. Many modern readers don’t care to read poetry that was written hundreds of years ago because the language has changed so much since then. So take one of those poems and update it into a more contemporary vernacular.
8. Explore your beliefs. What do you value? Which morals do you hold dear? Share your beliefs and express your spirituality through a poem.
9. Write to music. You can use a song with or without lyrics: give it words or give it new words!
10. Pay tribute. Write an ode to someone you admire, respect, or love. For a more interesting twist and a challenge, write a tribute poem to someone you’re not that crazy about.
11. Go big. Get large sheets of paper or use chalk on the driveway and draft a poem in huge, sweeping letters.
12. Get in form. Many of today’s poets don’t experiment in form. Surprisingly, it tends to open rather than stifle creativity. It’s definitely worth a try.
13. Make temporary art. Chalk and whiteboards are great for temporary poems. The idea is to create something, and then let it go. You can also write on paper and burn it, shred it, or black it out.
14. Use doodles. Get a blank piece of paper and allow yourself to doodle on it as you write a poem. See if your doodles give your poem a new angle, either by influencing the content or by giving you interesting or fresh ideas.
15. Get in shape. Choose a shape in silhouette form, and then fill the shape with words to build a poem into the shape: hearts, animals, people, and symbols (anything recognizable in outline form) work well.

What do you do when your poetry isn’t flowing? Do you have any poetry writing ideas or activities to share? If so, leave a comment, and keep writing.