Young Writers Society

On average, how long does it take from your first word to the time you hit "submit" to post to your NaPos?

Any advice for others, insights on your process?

*raises hand embarrassed*

I am one of those 1 hr on good days to 2-3 hours folks, which really killed me last year I could only get halfway through the month c: I will learn to master the on-the-spot poem hopefully with some help from you guys <3

The feeling when it's done is AMAZING and also short-lived because I'll read it over in a week and go GROSS.

But it is also addicting, both because writing is gratifying but also because poetry brings a crafting component that is half like completing a puzzle. Noveling brings a crafting component too but I only get that feeling when the novel is itself completed and I can look it over after many many months it took to compose, so it can be overwhelming. Poetry has that in little bites xD I have to keep writing more and get more of that awesome-feeling.

I don't know what I am writing when I start. Zero ideas.

It's rare for me to write from personal feelings or thoughts. That process comes for me through editing rather than on the spot. I think because I struggle to understand my emotions, let alone put words to them.

Instead I try to start with a word or a theme and from there my brain will form connections. So I start with "chilli peppers" go those are "hot. Spicy. Latin. Romance. Joyful. Adventurous. A dry heat. A dry heat that bleeds. That's a cool sounding line, I'll start with that. Then keep going, but it begins pretty nonsensical and improvised.

I add a story or a narrative or meaning later.

I love microsoft word because it gives me control over font and white space and kernings but I hate microsoft word because it auto-capitalizes and underlines with blue and green and red everywhere, lol

But that's just my weird habits. What are yours?

I tend to write 'em in a few minutes. And then never come back to them. I think "Yes, I'll edit and revise this later until it's stunning." And then it molds in my refrigerator. XP

Eh. Anywhere from five minutes to a few hours (occasionally a day or two?), but usually we're talking an hour or less. It either works or it doesn't. I may go back and play with lines I liked a few days later from something I didn't like, but yeah. Usually it's mostly done in one go, minus small tweaks later.

I just stare at the white space known as a page and hope for the best when ideas come so like a few minutes to a couple hours or days. Because ideas don't come easy to me. Plant the seeds. And let it grow.

Time taken is pretty variable for me. Some poems I'll just oneshot and they emerge fully-formed in 10-20 minutes, but most take a few hours, a stanza here and a stanza there, sometimes coming to a block on a line — I'm the kinda person who can agonize over a single word or punctuation mark for hours.

I'm a giant range but it tends to average a couple of hours, when you account for the fact I'm usually thinking of poems during my day then sit down to write it at night. So actual writing time is usually closer to 30~ minutes, but the amount of time I'm thinking about what to poet is much longer.

It takes me around an hour to write and edit through a poem, though I usually don't have a specific amount of time when I do that type of thing. Sometimes it takes more, sometimes it takes less.

Searching online for inspiration can take forever. At some point, something goes WHAMMY in the feels, so I hold on to the feeling and write a crappy stanza or two, come across a line I like the sound of, and start over with that line. Repeat as often as necessary.

The range is huge. Anywhere from 30ish minutes for a one-shot (or like 5 if it's a haiku, but I've busted one of those puppies out in a min when I had a funky flow and good inspiration) to hours to days depending on how malleable the content proves to be.

Since I'm faking my way through this, I haven't spent more than 30 (maaybe 45) minutes on a single poem if you don't count the time spent mulling it over during the day.

Typically I take about 20-30 minutes for a first draft, then go back and spend more time editing it if I want to officially post it. But I find that so far I haven't been spending much time at all writing, although I definitely think about my poems throughout the day so that may be why writing is faster. Or these poems are just bad. Or both haha.