Writing 12: Refill the Tank!

This week has been one to refill the tank: Patrick Lane's visit, seeing the play, Red, and then today, choosing a routine to ensure that a blank page has no power over you. Below is a list of some of the routines that writers use to start the writing session rolling.

What is your routine?

• Choose different sizes of paper/pens. 
• Choose different places to write--a mall, laundromat, tree house, ferry, bus.
• Open a book, choose a line and begin to write. 
• Read your favourite poet's work until an idea emerges or you just feel inspired. 
• Pick 5 nouns. (Some writers have an envelope filled with interesting nouns and they grab five or so and begin). Try pomegranate, Hindi, shoelace, arrogance, mud. 
• Choose a character, a setting, a conflict . . . Go!
• Have great books and magazine by your side. If you need an image, flip open the book and voila! National Geographic, Flip Dictionary, History of Chinese Farming, How to Make Cheese, etc
• Put a llama in a poem. It will make you laugh. 
• Write about childhood games. 
• Take a title from a non-fiction book and use it for a title of your poem. Go to the Greater Victoria's library website and search for new non-fiction titles. You'll be amazed. Non-fictiontitles WHAT THE DOG SAW, BOOMERANG, MY LIFE IN SHOW BUSINESS.
• Always sit near a window. Open it. Look out. Smell the yard. Hear the birds. The poem begins.

Tuesday:

Arrive with your workshop poems edited. You will have time to work with your author presentation partner(s). 

Wednesday: Two poems are due. Be sure to stick to the criteria:

1. Imagery (appeal to the five senses
2. Surprise (make us look ie. He plummeted down the stairs like a wounded bird may work better than he fell down the stairs as the wounded bird is an image that you can build on in subsequent descriptions. Have something to show us. Show us you care about the topic. 
3. Sound (Use sound to enhance the topic)
4. Show don't tell (have more action in your poetry. Tell us who is doing the action.)
5. Vision: Editing for vision can be tricky. Is the poem worth reading? Why or why not? What can you add or delete to entice the reader?
6. Point of View: Who is telling the story in the poem? Why? Try different points of view while editing to find the perfect voice.
7. Structure: line break, stanza break, titles, caesuras, juxtapositions, punctuation all work with the poem's vitality
8. Tone: Diction is key. Take your time finding the exact word. Focus on nouns and verbs more than adjectives and adverbs. Cut most adjectives and adverbs. 
9. Language: Avoid cliched or Hollywoodish phrases. Avoid rhyme at the ends of sentences. Use internal rhyme, repetition, rhythm.