Storytelling Masterclass: Tips from a poet on how to improve your writing

• Why poetry?
• 5 Methods to Attempt
• Approach 1: Gradual Down
• Approach 2: Depart Area & Embrace the Unconventional
• Approach 3: Assonance, Alliteration and the Rule of Three
• Approach 4: Rhythm
• Approach 5: Distil
• Placing these methods into follow

By Beki Hooper

Beki Hooper is a Pushcart Prize nominated poet. Her poems have appeared in two anthologies and a number of worldwide literary magazines. She usually writes on themes of nature, mortality and psychology. She can be a scientist, and holds a doctorate in corvid cognition. You may observe her on Twitter @BekiHooper.

You’re right here since you need to write a narrative. You need to grip your reader and take them on a journey. You need to present them the world from a special perspective. Perhaps you might be stood on the high of a dam, and also you’d just like the reader to face there with you: wind of their hair, solar on their backs, the heady excessive of looking upon all that water, all that harnessed energy. Perhaps you’d wish to immerse them within the surprise you’re feeling as you stare up at a cliff face, and thousands and thousands of years of earth’s historical past are laid naked earlier than you. Or perhaps you might be holding your cellphone, and excited about all of the uncooked supplies mined out of the earth to make it – pondering: I need to write one thing that can encourage another person to really feel the awe I’m feeling proper now.

However how will you do this?

All people has their very own distinctive writing type, and whereas this type will be honed and tailor-made, it ought to by no means be moulded into one thing unrecognisable. Your distinctive type is what makes your tales yours, and – partly – it’s your distinctive type that can make your writing fascinating to others. No person needs to learn writing and not using a voice, and not using a persona. So, this isn’t a masterclass that can let you know precisely the way to write, or what to write down. As an alternative, this class is a mild wander by way of the poetic methods that you should use to boost your storytelling. Take what you need to and depart what doesn’t be just right for you. And, most significantly, as you take a look at out the next methods in your personal work, enable your self to really feel that fantastic spark of creating.

Why poetry?

Earlier than we stroll by way of the methods you should use to enhance your writing, I need to attempt (as finest as I can) to clarify why poetry can be utilized to enhance storytelling.

‘Poetry’ encompasses a variety of writing kinds, from conventional rhyming verse to free verse that lacks any predictable rhythm or rhyme. What all good poetry has in widespread, although, is (1) the evocation of emotion within the reader, and (2) an ambiguity which means every reader can discover a totally different (usually private) message within the poem. These each lead to a novel connection between the reader and the poet.

Whereas storytelling by way of prose is usually very totally different from writing poetry, among the methods that poets use can improve prose. What readers need in all instances is reference to the writing. To be hooked, to be taken on a journey, to really feel one thing whereas studying. Poets are consistently honing their writing to realize this goal, usually in as few phrases as doable. The methods they use are due to this fact extremely invaluable throughout genres. So, with out additional delay, listed here are 5 poetic methods you’ll be able to check out in your personal storytelling.

5 Methods to Attempt

Approach 1: Gradual Down

“Make a spot to take a seat down.
Sit Down. Be quiet
…
Settle for what comes from silence” – from How one can be a Poet (to remind myself) by Wendell Berry

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/41087/how-to-be-a-poet

I usually consider poetry as rising from the in-between. In-between speech, in-between motion, in-between ideas. It’s the concepts, the pictures and the feelings that come up – normally unexpectedly – from the area between the worlds and phrases we inhabit.

It may possibly take a while to know the way to entry these in-between areas. To start, I like to recommend taking Wendell Berry’s recommendation: make a spot to do nothing. Whereas sitting and doing nothing (as Wendell recommends) can work properly, I’m consistently stressed when I’m nonetheless. So, for me, strolling aimlessly works finest. Wherever you create your ‘place of nothing’, have a pocket book with you. Importantly, although, don’t power your self to write down.

You may have already got an thought of what story you’d like to inform. Certainly, when you’re getting into the storytelling competitors, then it’s doubtless that you just’ve already bought a superb plan of what you’re going to say. However creating and accessing the in-between area remains to be invaluable. Our creativity is highest once we enable ourselves to daydream, and to be happy to discover avenues of thought we haven’t gone down earlier than.

Once you really feel motivated and prepared, sit down together with your seeds and determine which of them are price rising. Sit with them, play with them, and see the place they take you.

Approach 2: Depart Area & Embrace the Unconventional

Good storytelling is a lyrical dance. It is best to lead your reader to maneuver in methods they might by no means have moved with out your phrases. However, identical to in dance, the uninhabited area is as necessary because the inhabited area. Depart area for the reader to create their very own which means. Allow them to really feel their technique to the purpose you make, relatively than simply handing it over to them. On this method, they’ll hook up with your phrases in a method they by no means might have in any other case.

“Good writing is meant to evoke sensation within the reader – not the truth that it’s raining, however the feeling of being rained upon” – E.L. Doctorow

You could be pondering, okay – that sounds nice, however how do I do that? And it’s an ideal query. Your secret weapons listed here are metaphors, similes and weird, emotive descriptions.

Metaphor: utilizing one factor to explain one thing else, that’s usually seemingly unrelated.

“The glass home is a gap within the rain,
the solar’s chapel,
a bell for the wind” – The Glass Home by Alice Oswald, from The Factor within the Hole-Stone Stile

https://voetica.com/voetica.php?collection=15&poet=798&poem=6573

Alice Oswald makes use of metaphor right here to explain a glass home. She might have stated The rain doesn’t fall the place the glass home is; the glass home lights up within the solar; the glass home rattles when the wind blows however would this have evoked the identical stark imagery within the readers thoughts? Would it not have been as memorable or as fascinating?

Simile: much like metaphor, however likening one factor to a different utilizing both like or as.

“A contact of chilly within the Autumn night time –
I walked overseas,
And noticed the ruddy moon lean over a hedge
Like a red-faced farmer” – Autumn by T.E. Hulme

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44431/autumn-56d22384ccb48

T.E. Hulme was a grasp of images; particularly of surprising and exact imagery. Have you ever ever checked out a red-tinted moon and considered a red-faced farmer? In all probability not, however now you may – and isn’t that a lot extra memorable and fascinating than the crimson moon rose over the hedge?

Uncommon description

“Image a grave
Image six ft freshly dug
The sharp short-term partitions on the long-term cliff fringe of the world
Mild and air discover some new deepness there and usher down the sky” – Via Me (The Flood) by Hozier

https://genius.com/Hozier-through-me-the-flood-lyrics

Hozier’s phrases are from a track, relatively than a poem. On this verse, he’s describing a grave. He instructions his viewers: Image this. Such instructions is usually a helpful technique to seize the eye of a reader. He then describes a grave in pretty easy language (“image six ft freshly dug”). However then, the outline turns to one thing extra uncommon, extra hanging. We’re drawn into imagining air sinking deep into the grave and pulling the entire sky down with it, and we’re left with a lot greater than an outline of a grave. We’re drawn into feeling the claustrophobia and terror of being caught beneath a collapsing sky.

“My coronary heart clothes in black
and dances” – After Studying Lucretius, I Go To The Pond by Mary Oliver, from Blue Horses

http://aviaryhistory.blogspot.com/2018/04/mary-olivers-birds-in-blue-horses-poems.html

These examples show the enjoyment of poetry and storytelling: we are able to create extraordinary methods to explain the (usually abnormal) issues that join us.

Approach 3: Assonance, Alliteration and the Rule of Three

These literary units assist with the circulate and readability of your writing, and utilizing them will assist maintain your reader gripped.

Assonance: the repetition of brief vowel sounds

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49010/youre

Right here, Sylvia Plath makes use of assonance – brief vowel sounds which can be repeated between phrases and/or syllables. Assonance helps with the rhythm and circulate of the writing, and attracts the reader onwards by way of the textual content.

Alliteration: the repetition of letters between phrases

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57214/the-death-bed

Alliteration, in an analogous technique to assonance, attracts the reader by way of the writing and helps to create circulate and rhythm. On this poem by Siegfried Sassoon, the repetition of ‘s’, ‘b’ and ‘d’ sounds assist draw the reader by way of the writing.

Rule of three: teams of three gadgets are extra memorable than longer or shorter lists. As soon as concerning the rule of three, you’ll see it in every single place.

“Beneath the moongrey nettles, the black mould
And muttering rain.” – from She Weeps Over Rahoon by James Joyce

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=13885

I’ve used the rule of three a number of occasions all through this masterclass. It’s a widespread literary system that’s easy however very efficient. I don’t know the explanation why people choose issues to be grouped in three, however I do know that it really works!

Approach 4: Rhythm

Creating rhythm in writing isn’t for everybody, however it will possibly usually be used to 1) maintain your reader taken with shifting ahead by way of your story and a pair of) make your writing extra memorable. On the excessive finish of utilizing rhythm in storytelling is spoken phrase poetry. Watch the movies beneath to look at how that is executed.

Utilizing assonance, alliteration, guidelines and three and rhyme all work to your benefit as a spoken-word artist, however in addition they assist to create rhythm in written work. Even when you’re not eager on attempting spoken phrase, attempt utilizing assonance, alliteration, guidelines of three and the occasional rhyme in your writing after which learn it out loud. Are you able to hear how rhythm is created, and the way this pulls you ahead by way of the textual content? Keep in mind: rhythm will be delicate. Consider it because the circulate of water – generally it’s a raging river that pulls you onward, however generally it’s the mild and unpredictable beat of sunshine rain. Though totally different, each varieties may also help to maintain your reader .

Approach 5: Distil

That is easy: distil your writing; eliminate any extra phrases. Once more, this doesn’t work for everybody’s writing type, however I do advocate giving it a go even when you don’t suppose it’s going to be just right for you. You might hate the outcome, and really feel that your distinctive voice has been sucked out of your writing. If that’s the case, ignore this system: it isn’t for you. However, you may see that deleting extra phrases removes the ‘noise’ out of your writing and amplifies your voice. Both method, attempt it out: eliminate any phrase you’ll be able to whereas nonetheless retaining sense and which means. Learn it again to your self. Work out when you like what you see.

Placing these methods into follow

Now you have got these writing methods in thoughts, I like to recommend attempting them out. Some might not be just right for you and your story, and that’s advantageous – a part of inventive writing is knowing what does and doesn’t work in your distinctive type.

Why not create your ‘place of nothing’ – a seat by a window, an aimless stroll – and let your thoughts wander. Write down the seeds of concepts that come to you, then begin to develop them.

As you develop your concepts, take a look at out the methods above. Ask your self: Am I leaving area for the reader to bop with me, and hook up with my phrases? Am I describing issues in a novel method, or am I taking the straightforward – and fewer fascinating route – of cliché? Does utilizing alliteration, assonance and the rule of three enhance the circulate of the writing? May I create some rhythm? Can I eliminate any phrases with out compromising my message, and does it nonetheless really feel like my very own story?