What's your style?
 

So how do you all write poetry? Are you a steam of conscience type? Highly structured? Do you have an idea in mind when you sit down? Do you prefer structure or no? Do you edit a lot, a little, or not at all?

I definitely have to have an idea, some subject I'm thinking about. I can't just sit down and start writing. Sometimes I write very structured, such as Idle Hands. In that case, I edited heavily through the whole process to get the rhyming scheme to work. I think the first two lines were the only ones that remained in tact for more than a fleeting moment.

More often, I go for more prose-style with little to no structure. In those cases, I do a lot less editing while initially composing it, though I stop short of pure stream of conscience, struggling for better wording on some lines. And then I can't leave it alone. Once I'm done, I go back and edit for word choice, tweak the meter, and clean up puncuation, which I invariable use completely inconsistently the first time through.

So for me, it's rare, if not never, that anyone sees an untouched piece exactly as I initially wrote it. I find that interesting. Not interesting enough to change it, because I'm never happy until I've sufficiently tweaked it. Of course, contrast this to my "normal" posts where I usually just hit submit and end up proof reading it while the page is loading again :rolleyes:

Psst. It's "stream of consciousness", not conscience.

This, I think, is Poetry Writing Standard Procedure. Unless you're someone that ALWAYS writes in one exact style, switching things up means that when you do a less structured work you have to go back and fix punctuation/line breaks/capitalization/etc. High structure means you don't continue unless the line you just wrote fits in.

Many times I'll write a poem just because I'll get a line in my head and I'll build a poem around that. Building up the rest of it to match the one idea is interesting to me. Sometimes the one line stands out too much, sometimes I want it to stand out, sometimes I can actually bury it in a poem with lines of equal power and no one would know which was the original. The latter can be the most rewarding. It's as if I created my own "writing assignment" and did well on it.

Heh, I know for you this is a big deal (I remember that discussion-turned-argument after watching Dead Poets Society) but for me, showing someone an untouched piece is like watching an unedited movie or wearing a dress without a hem.

I don't....its the best style for all of us....:D

Hmm, refresh me as to what my stance was at the time...I only vaguely recall this one.

You said that the original draft of poetry was very, very important, just as important as the finished product. That it deserved display. I said no, I didn't want anyone to see my draft, and that I loved crossing things out and basically distroying my original draft, and that what was important was the diamond, not the coal.

Hmmm. I suppose then that my position has changed. Though I would still say that an original draft would still be of interest, if it exists. Much the same way delted scenes and director's cuts are of interest.

Of course, seeing as I do most of my composing on a computer, such a thing doesn't even exist, any changes are long gone. Of course, the rate, amount, and kind of editing is completely different between typed and hand written. If I were to hand write something, I'd be a lot more methodical before writing soemthing down because it's so much less clean to edit.

I write mostly stream of consciousness. (Huge surprise, I know. I'll just wait here a moment while you pass out from not surprise. Done? Okay.)

But I'm way more interested in alliteration and internal rhyme than in traditional syllable count/end syllable rhyme. I love approxiate rhyme and assonance. Actually, if I had more free time I'd probably try to write in the traditional Anglo-Saxon heroic style. I lovelovelove the descriptive phrases in Anglo-Saxon poetry.

At work we have a tradition the people who've been with the department a while get roasted with a poem when they leave. I've been chief poet for the past 6 or so years. Those require the traditional rhyme and meter and thus when I'm writing for me I like to do more free verse.

Oh, and my husband and I make up funny nonsense songs all the time. We have such stars as the pot noodle song (pot noodle, nuh-nuh-nanow), leydo leydo leydo, leydo leydo ley (hey!), and the one I made up in my head this morning on the way to the vet: Where's that french dog monkey cat?

I like to play when I write, so I try different things. Sometimes it starts from a thought, a note, idea, image, or snippet of overheard conversation. Sometimes a strict structure seems needed as rhythms emerge, or rhymes appear. I think I like to keep things conversational myself, and I also have a fondness for ambiguity, dual meanings, and multiple possible outcomes. I edit a lot - even if I'm doing stream of consciousness, as the written word seems to linear to truly capture my leaps of thought.

Blast. I had it originally as consciousness, but I read it one too many times while proof reading the post and it started to look wrong, so I changed it. Dang.

I just like to play.

I enjoy the structure of rhyme and meter now and then, so if I'm choosing to tackle a couplet or sonnet or formal poem, I like to go through and think of one word or phrase and then find words and phrases that will suit it. I check meter 500 times. I'm lovely-Rita-meter-maid about it.

I also like blank verse, but that requires a more open mind. I edit those, but often times the first words the open mind leads me to are the best.

I have a tendency to cram many images in a small space, so often I have to go and thin stuff out.

I, also, just like to see how words sound together. Last weekend, we came upon the phrase "noodle duty." Say it out loud. Isn't it perfect? I'd parse the words and sounds in a linguistic way so its perfection would be clearly laid out. But that's geeky enough for the geek-off thread.

I tend to write lyrics more than anything and it is very hard to put into words how I do it. Most of the time, the music comes first. From that, I get ideas rhythmically as to the structure. Other times, the lyrics come first and I write music that (hopefully) compliments them.

Either way, I rarely have an idea beforehand as to a concept, other than possibly a hook that I want to work into the chorus. I find that if I just start writing, eventually things take shape and I figure out what the hell I'm trying to say.

My biggest problem is that I don't do it often enough. When I am in practice, I can write very easily. Take too much time off and I spend a lot of time staring at a blank screen and generally discard most of what I write. I used to force myself to write for an hour a day. I should probably start doing that again. It gets my mind in the habit of thinking of lyrical structure.

I don't have a style because I hate to write. Hate it hate it hate it. When I do write (journaling, professional) I tend to just go with it. I hate editing (my stuff only) even more. I'm actually a great editor of other peoples' stuff.

I find it VERY ironic that, these days, I do the majority of my communication via IM or message boards although the phone is still an important part of my life. Yay phone!

But, you'll never see me wasting my time on creative writing. It's like masturbation to me - fun at the time but, ultimately not very fulfilling.

Maybe you should attach a pen to the end of your Hittachi Magic Wand. You might enjoy writing more.

HA! No, I should attach a pen to my mouth.

I just sit in front of blank paper and see what happens, wait for whatever the keyboard or pencil helps me produce.

Always like the haiku threads and my haiku usually start with some phrase that gets forced into the syllable stucture and the rest falls into place.

Another one of my favorite things to do is sing with the radio while I drive and change the words to all the songs. It's usually some potty humor, sex humor or a rhyme about the talentless hack singing the song but it's another outlet for the same kind of creativity as poetry writing to me.

Okay, I'll start with the guilty disclaimer that I'm not writing any poetry right now and haven't for several years but I when I do I tend to have something worked out in my head before I sit down to write anything out. I spend a lot of time in my car and I compose a lot in my head while driving. (That led to a lot of poems about driving in my car...) Unfortunately when I try to write my masterpiece down it suddenly turns into a plodding pile of words that don't make any sense. When I finally get something on paper I edit it to death, take out any unnecessary words, look for the perfect image. Sometimes there's something left.

I don't attempt rhyme or meter. I find that when I'm reading poetry or involved in a writing group, everything in my life feels like it should be a poem. Ode to the car wash, anyone?