Young Writers Society

What's my worst fear? My worst fear that that my writing is or will become garbage--watered down and bland--meeting the standards of mediocre.

My goal is to put in hard work. That's all I can do. Good writing, especially poetry, bites and stings. It arouses your sense and burns a hole in your brain. It stimulates your imagination. Does my work do that? I'm not sure, but I hope so.

I don't have to be the most profound writer in order to write good poetry or novels. But I think I need to work on including hidden meanings, alternative meanings, or broader meanings in the words. Slapping a ton of words on a page and calling it a poem does not make it a poem. But, I think I have done exactly that time and time again. Is it poetry, no--I've just stated it isn't poetry. Then what is it? I like to think of it as an experiment that failed. No matter how hard I try, I cant make perfect poetry. I can't write a perfect chapter in a novel. I have written loads of stuff that has failed to make it as poetry (by my own standards.) I'm not sure what the real world would think of it. So maybe, that is why I have created a YWS account. I want critical feedback.

So what do I want to be judged on? Well, I want my work--especially my poetry--to say something and to give meaning, value, or worth to a person, place, or thing. It want my work to speak about or focus on something that everyone can relate to. I work very hard to choose great words. I invite all writers to buy the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus. It's a huge blue and white book and it has changed my world in terms of what I can write. It helps me choose words that impart sensory impressions and that take your breath away. Thirdly, I want my writing to be judged on whether or not it is visually arousing. It's not enough to simply write back words on white paper. I want more communication than that. I work so hard to find ways to visually confirm what the words are saying. I need to work on using different style fonts, fonts with different colors, bold print for emphasis, and small fonts for diminished restraint or quietness. I need to work harder to search for words within words. I don't want to be just ordinary. But I know I can't get carried away with all my tools and create a murky piece of gobbledy-gook. Fourth, I want my work to be fun to read--whatever the length, whatever the topic. Lastly, I want my work to be judged upon its "real-ness." It cannot be airy, aimless, meandering thoughts of nothing-ness. In my poetry, I want to give the reader something to think about, but not cause them to contemplate suicide just because I'm having a bad hair day.

As John R. Haws says, "There is too much depth in some poems, not enough in others." I want my poetry to be just right.

Thoughts? Comments?

You have some really nice goals, and I wish you luck. I particularly like your fourth goal. A lot of works try too hard to be serious and "meaningful", and so they wind up completely ponderous to read through. A little bit of fun goes a long way.