Why You Should Write Poetry and Short Stories
In my last post I talked about why we as authors should feel free to step into the realm of fanfiction, and this week I'm going a similar direction, exploring why we should write poetry and short stories! Not only is it mentally challenging, creatively stretching, and beneficial to our writing skills, but both poetry and short stories have a lot of fun things going for them! Let's dive in!
SHOWING, NOT TELLING
Of course we've all heard the old "show, don't tell" adage time and time again from various sources, but did you know that this is the STRENGTH of poetry and short fiction? If you are trying to capture an image, a moment, or an entire wild character in just a few paragraphs of poetry or a 1500 word short story, you literally can't rely on the sort of narrative that TELLS the reader what to see. It won't work with a word limit, you will run out of room! The beautiful and often most helpful aspect of poetry and short prose is that you are forced to SHOW the audience this piece of life you're trying to capture, no two ways about it. Poetry especially forces you to see language differently, more intimately, and to pick your words so precisely and evocatively, that your reader can't help but be emotionally stirred.
EXPERIMENTATION
Similar to my previous post, a venture into poetry or short stories can really open up whole new worlds of writing for you, and you may even find you like it more! There are tons of options for publishing poetry work and short stories, and trying your hand in these genres may open up new doors, allowing you to see and do things you never could before! You can dabble in other genres, with much less of a commitment level, you can submit your work to anthologies or poetry collections, getting a taste of the publishing game, and more! Don't pass up the opportunity to really open up new doors and avenues for yourself, just because it's something new to you!
PRACTICE STORYTELLING
Short stories and poems present the PERFECT opportunity to practice and perfect the art of storytelling in a more limited, short-form way. You have to be really clever and clear with your beginning, middle, and end, your internal conflict of the subject, and, once again, with your word choice as you have only so much space to get this right. The skills you learn through writing poetry and short stories will absolutely carry over into your novel-writing, helping you develop as an author and writer all around.
INSPIRATION
Sometimes a poem or short story may just be the landing page for something BIGGER in your imagination. For instance, I wrote a poem about Cleopatra, and that inspired a plot bunny that I have yet to get to, lol. Or maybe in your poem/short fiction you scribble down a phenomenal line, just a beautiful treasure to read, and you are able to put it in a full-length story somehow. That is *chef's kiss*
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Before you go...
Next month will be the 4th Bookaversary of The Sorceress and the Squid (which is freaking unbelievable, when did this happen??)! In honor of my first published work, and the fact that I just finished writing its sequel this spring, I am hosting a Q+A session on my instagram! AND to give back to some of the awesome fans of this little fairy-tale franchise I've penned, each of you who submits a question to the Q+A will be entered into a draw to win a copy of the first chapter from The Sorceress and the Soldier!
Yup! Five lucky people will get their hands on this brand-new glimpse into the world of Perth, and get to reunite with Estrella and Jalen yet again. To have a chance to re-enter the world of The Sorceress and the Squid before anyone else, drop your question here, or through instagram and while you're there, make sure you're following me so you can see your question answered! I'll be hosting the Q+A on June 18th, so be sure to swing over to check it out and see if you're a winner!
LET'S TALK.
Are you a poet? Or interested in crafting short stories? Has this post convinced you to give it a try? Let me know in the comments below, and you can check out some of my own published poetry here if you're interested. ;)
Such good points! Poetry & short stories are the perfect way to practice storytelling in a small space--and, depending on the type of poetry, with constraints, as well!
ReplyDeleteThere was one class that I took at community college that was SO BORING (mostly because I already knew most, if not all, of the material) that I would doodle short stories in my margins--my only rule was that each story had to be complete within the notebook margin. I wrote a LOT of micro-fiction that quarter. XD But it was super fun!
I do think that it's POSSIBLE to tell-not-show in poetry and short stories (depending on which type of poetry--some types really do lend themselves to that, depending on intent...for example, some Alfred, Lord Tennyson is like that) but it definitely is a lot harder to fall into that!
I've been doing a bit of flash fiction and poetry. It's fun which you can't always say for writing.
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