Young Writers Society

I'm usually noveling and I haven't written a poem since.... college? But I guess #WhyTryNaPo worked because here I am, lost on my way to Camp NaNo where I should be revising a book called Dark Corners, Bright Spaces.

As Holy said, poetry can help improve prose writing too! Something I'm trying to work on in my novel writing is my showing/telling balance and more evocative descriptions. So instead of blobbing my way through a book, I'm going to blob my way through 30 poems!

I'll admit I thought to myself I will game the system and write A BOOK IN VERSE for NaPo.
But then I remembered:
1. I don't know how to do that.
2. I'm editing a book for Camp NaNo already & why would I do this to myself.

The Actual Plan:
Since an area of my writing I'm trying to improve is evocative descriptions and showing, every day I will pick an emotion at random out of my handy Emotion Thesaurus (Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi - HIGHLY RECOMMEND) and write a poem. The poem might be trying to describe or be about that emotion, or with the feel/vibe of that emotion - who knows. And since I don't know how to write a poem, I am simply going to go through the poetry resources on this here website and pick one style or technique per day and try it.

We'll see what happens, I guess. I'm going to try my best and I fully expect them to all be trash and also plan to share exactly zero of them here lol but I will keep you all posted on what emotions I write about and what techniques/styles I'm trying!!

Day 1
Emotion: Neglected (fun start lol), chose a number at random and picked the corresponding page in my Emotion Thesaurus
As a: Cinquain

First I tried to channel a time I've felt neglected as a starting point, but I kept getting tripped up having to start with a two syllable noun. Then I thought about how I'd like to start a garden, but I'm terrible at taking care of plants. So I wrote about a neglected garden!


1/30
(if by the end of this journey i'm proud of any of them then i'll share lol)

Day 2
Emotion: Powerlessness
As a: Cinquain again, but alliyah gave an alternate form in the post linked above, so I tried that way too!

I actually found the form alliyah described a little easier than the first way. I liked not having to think about when I needed an adjective or an -ing verb and I thought it was easier to express what I wanted to say! I also thought it was easier to channel this emotion because I think I personally feel it more than neglected.

2/30
(I might like this one and will consider sharing it....)

EDIT: look at me on day two feeling bold. I'LL ACTUALLY SHARE.

Oooh I love how you're using NaPo to work best for you Carlito and using it to work on different writing techniques too!

And yay for Cinquains! I think they're a pretty fun poetic form (and are actually a lot more flexible than the version that we learn in middle school English class)!!

What I really liked about your cinquain is that often cinquains feel disconnected in each line where it's like "Bug / squishy purple / i used to eat bugs / okay not really / purple purple orange" and the lines don't really... tell a story together but come across as disconnected descriptors instead of a single image, but you've managed to make yours read nicely as a whole too!

The line break between "breaks / words" was perfection as there was a literal break in the words right there, so that made me smile. :]

Thanks for sharing your poetry! And best of luck in your NaPo journey this month!! <3

@alliyah lol my cinquain day one was very much like that! Disconnected descriptors only.
and thank you!! I don't know what I'm doing 🙃
💜💜

Day three:
Emotion: Desire
As a: Villanelle

My first thought - I'm a contemporary romance writer. I got this. Desire is one of the essential ingredients of my life force.


But then the way Sudden Desire by my queen Hayley Williams zoomed into my head and I was incapable of thinking about anything else.

It was also a mental shift for me to think in lines of three and not four or six. (didn't even attempt iambic pentameter lol) But I tried to channel desire of unrequited love!
I don't hate this one but the rhythm is off in some places so I might tweak it and share it at the end 🤷🏼‍♀️
Just listen to Sudden Desire and pretend my villanelle is that good lol.

Day four:
Emotion: Appalled
As a: Climbing rhyme

This one was tricky for me! I think because when I think of appalled, I think of a quick emotion - like shock that turns into something else. And honestly, it takes a LOT to surprise me so it's not something I feel often. I used this scene from Gossip Girl with my favorite toxic messes Chuck & Blair when Blair finds out that Chuck did a bad thing again.
I started with her dialogue "You didn't, you did" and then tried to channel appalled (even though I think she switches pretty quick from appalled to horror/disgust/resentment/rage). I think this poetic form is cool, but I'm not happy with what I created, I think because the emotion is tricky. Might try this one again later in the month if I run out of poetic forms to try!

Day five:
Emotion: Confidence
As a: Palindrome

So my thought going into this one was channeling something I used to do when I was working on building my confidence - standing in the mirror and saying three nice things about myself even if I didn't fully believe them at the time. As I was reading the post about palindrome poems and the idea of "mirroring" was mentioned, I liked the idea of trying to literally use mirror imagery. My intention was that if you read it one way it reads like someone who is not confident speaking in the mirror and gaining confidence and if you read it the other way it's someone who is confident looking in the mirror and seeing someone who is less confident. Does that make sense? Anyway, that was my intention and.... I did write a poem (and I really did write it yesterday just forgot to post because I got distracted by wedding planning). But uh, palindromes are hard so it's really not anything special lol

Day six:
Emotion: Shame
As a: Terza Rima

These rhyme scheme ones are fun!
I talk a lot about shame as a therapist due to the specific population I work with. I didn't channel any one client specifically or anything like that, but I thought about the population I work with as a whole and also a little bit of Liz (of Liz+Zac) because she deals with some shame stuff in that story. The vibe is how someone sees themself when someone is trying to start a new relationship with them?

I'm feeling bold again and I'll share this one! But I'm putting it in a spoiler because TW: sobriety is mentioned and it's a little dark overall.

Day seven:
Emotion: Disbelief
As a: Decima
*oops ran out of poetic form tutorials on this here website but thanks to the internet I learned that there are hundreds of poetic forms. So I'm now picking another random number and trying the corresponding form

I channeled the very end of the season 4 finale on Jane the Virgin when Jane is in DISBELIEF over something crazy that happens. But everyone should watch this show so I won't say what.
I do like following a rhyme scheme and I like the rhythm of this form. I think my poem is..... not my worst one!!

**I'll post it I guess but JANE THE VIRGIN SPOILERS**





it began with celebration
in my mind at least. your dark face
meets mine, the last six months erase
with this one revealed location
the cracks broke up our foundation
it can be true, he's not alive
i could have sworn i saw him die
but here he stands in front of us
a haunting i could never trust
because i've built a brand new life


A WHOLE WEEK OF POETRY DOWN LOOK AT ME GO.
still don't know what i'm doing

I love this most recent poem! I don't know Jane the Virgin, but I really like the haunting tone and how the lines feel a bit disjointed to follow the rhyme scheme. It's a great effect.

Not me being super happy you're doing NaPo while also super sad that I haven't even started yet...

Aww thank you @Mea 💜💜
and you should watch Jane the Virgin!! I watched all five seasons in 2.5 weeks because it was so good I could truly not stop!!

Day eight:
Emotion: Homesick
As a: Limerick

When I think homesick I think the first several months of college!! Because there are only a few lines to work with in this form, I decided to pick one specific thing that might make someone homesick when in a new place. I thought about the trees at the house I grew up in (oak and ash and others, my dad's the tree expert not me) and the trees at my college (mostly maples I think? although they were gigantic and gorgeous) and maybe that small thing would make someone homesick?



it's not the same, how could it be
dreaming of ash and tall oak trees
the small maples here bend
and they're mostly just stems
waiting for this to feel like me



(i have zero idea how to do punctuation in poetry. and i'm pretty sure that's a topic and there are many schools of thought. but my default is nothing because 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️)

Ah I'm super curious how your palindrome turned out, as I always find them nearly impossible without cheating in quite a few places to make it sound alright!

Looks like some more nice poems and poetry-fun here! Love reading your little reflections, and it is sort of making me want to throw in some structured poetry into napo myself...

Your last poem was really lovely I think! I can definitely relate to the feeling of getting so homesick that even the landscape seems out of place around you - and those little observations on the difference in trees was perceptive and really nice imagery too.

Day Nine:
Emotion: Wariness
As a: Cethramtu Rannigechta Moire - ever heard of it? me neither. but the random number generator told me to so here we are. an Irish poetic form!!


only working with three syllables per line is a challenge! But I think this is a fun form and I think it kind of works with wariness? (and I did write this on the 9th and then forgot to update this....)


danger lurks
anywhere
careful steps,
watchful stares

something goes
bump at night
so check once,
then check twice

nothing there
so you think
danger lurks,
sneaks and stinks

trust my gut
every time
only way
to be fine


lol