Monday, September 28, 2009

Monday Writing Prompt: Found Poems

Okay, this exercise isn't so much about creating something new, but about looking at something you've already written in a whole new way. I remember an exercise similiar to this from my AP English class in high school, in which we created a poem from any passage we found in a book or magazine or advertisement. Mine came from Roger Zelazny's Amber Chronicles. If you're surprised by my sci-fi nerdiness, you must be a new reader of the blog. :)

The idea is simple: Take a few lines of your work in progress and reorganize it into stanza form. Don't rearrange the order of the words themselves, but put some thought into where the line breaks are, where the reader is forced to draw a breath. Maybe you'll pick a lyrical line that lends itself well, or a passage you're having trouble with.

I like this exercise because I find myself focusing less on the words themselves, but rather on playing with the structure of the poem. Sometimes all you need is a nudge in the right direction to se what's not working in a piece - or, on the other hand, what is.

I'll share a few examples on Friday!

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Don't like this week's prompt? Check out previous ones through the Monday Writing Prompt tag.

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