Writer’s Block: Writing Poetry #4
Writer’s block. Everyone gets it. But it can definitely be tricky to get around it! Here at King Lear, we’ve put together a list of outside resources which we think do a great job of starting up the creative process once more.
1. Find a way to focus
Even in lockdown it can be really difficult to just sit and write. There can be millions of thoughts flying round your head, and millions of reasons to check the news or social media. Many writers recommend a schedule to overcome writer’s block, but with something like poetry a set schedule might not really be necessary. If you want to avoid distractions, you can listen to some focusing sounds and music to block out outside distractions and stop thoughts buzzing round your head — there’s videos on Youtube for anything, from calming music with wave sounds to lo-fi hip hop beats. Have a look around to see what kind of music helps focus you (usually music without lyrics is best) and see if that helps combat writer’s block.
Similarly, if you keep getting drawn back to your phone to check the news or Facebook, there are lots of apps that can help you focus by dissuading you from leaving the app. One lovely option is the app Flora (for an iPhone) which grows a little cartoon tree that dies if you leave the app. This is used a lot by students for studying, but can also help with writer’s block if you need to be forced to focus!
2. Look for a new perspective
Sometimes all we need when we’re stuck is to try a new perspective. There are some fun ways to do that with writers’ block, and especially with poetry. If you’ve written your poetry on the computer, why not copy and paste it into a word cloud? This makes images of your poem’s words in fun fonts and bright colours. If you glance over it, you might be surpised what words jump out at you!
Alternatively, if your writer’s block is focussed around that one missing word, you could try a random word generator. You can narrow it down to adjectives, nouns and even narrow things down to syllable count!
3. Writing Exercises
There are so many exciting and interesting writing exercises to try out which can help unblock your creative instinct! Here are three:
Erasure — this can work for any block of text (even the back of a cereal box), but if you’re especially stuck why not use the poem you’ve already written? Underline some of your favourite words or phrases from your poem and cross out / black out / remove the others. This can radically change your poem and get you out of a block.
Form fitting — sometimes a poem needs a more regulatory eye. If you’ve written in free verse, why not mess about with it and try a sonnet? Or be completely radical and cut it up into a series of haikus? Altering the way a poem is structured can shift it completely (you may even realise you’ve already finished it!)
Writing prompts — there are lots of writing prompts that can kick start random ideas; have a look at these 101 writing prompts and see what inspires!
4. Chat to other writers
Some of the best ways to get new ideas to approach your poem is to get them from other people. It can be difficult to reach people who also like to write, especially in a pandemic, but Facebook is a great place to start. You might already be in some Facebook groups — but did you know you can search for writing groups to join?
It's often trial and error with Facebook groups — some environments might not work for you so be willing to try varying ones and leave ones you are not happy about. These groups often have thousands of members so you can talk to people all over the world. Here are some we saw and thought looked interesting: Facebook Poetry Society, Original Poetry Group and Supporting Beginner Writers. Remember you have to have a Facebook account to join these!
If you’re not on Facebook, research to see if anyone in your local area has a poetry club — they might be doing video meetings during the pandemic.
5. Try the King Lear Arts Club!
Did you know the King Lear Prizes has an arts club? It’s actually a weekly email (every Friday) with small artsy challenges to do at home. Then you can send them in, and a select few will appear on next week’s email.
If you want new ideas and prompts, it’s the perfect way to start! If you’re interested, you can sign up your email here.
What next?
If you’re ready to enter your poem into the King Lear Prizes you can do so here.
If you want to read more posts about poetry, check out our Hints & Tips blog here!
If you want to know more about the King Lear Prizes generally, please go here.
If you have any feedback on this post, or any other ideas of what hints & tips could be useful to you in your poetry, please email me (Matilda!) on matilda@kinglearprizes.org. I’d be delighted to hear from you.
