Last Step: Poetic Language

[Poetic Language: Icing on the cake. Source]

I've blogging about how to write in a literary fashion. Someone recently asked about writing poetically. Most literary pieces give careful attention to the details of individual words. They're polished, and there's frequently something poetic about the words. But if I sit down to write something "poetic" with careful word choice, that becomes the focus. The meat of the story gets lost in the precious language. It doesn't make sense to decorate a raw cake. Bake the cake then decorate it, polish it, and make it unique. Preoccupation with perfectly polished and poetic prose comes post the writing of content. 

[Only add the color and beauty after the building has been built; source]

Step one is often the concept. Then, one does prep work, which can involve reseach, brainstorming, characterization, world-building, outlining, and several other steps. Then, one puts pen to paper, metaphorically or literally, to build up the story. Missing any of these steps can lead to an empty-feeling or incomplete piece. But only after you have actual content to edit do you start to look carefully at the punctuation, analyze each chosen word, and the careful crafting of language. Otherwise, it's like decorating a wall that's likely to get torn down or restructured, making all of that focus on the façade a waste of time. Only add the beauty, the shaping, the color, and decoration after the structure 

has been built. 

[Whimsy of Dr. Seuss]

Once you have the piece to the point that you feel confident in the story do you then look carefully 

at the individual punctuation, words, and overall shape of the prose/poetry. One can look at the sound of the 

piece, including repetitive sounds, some kind of rhyme. Alliteration, the same consonant sound repeated, 

or assonance, repetitive vowel sounds, can tie words together and emphasize individual words. It can also create

a sense of whimsy, as in Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein. Repeated hard sounds can make a text sound harsher, 

letters like a hard g, d, k, b, etc. An emphasis on softer sounds can soften the entire passage, letters like s, j, l, m, etc. 

[Vivid imagery pops off the page; source]

Good poetry also involves imagery and metaphor. If there are large spans where you're just telling the story instead of 

painting pictures with your words, there's a good chance it's not vivid enough. There is, however, a balance. If there is 

so much imagery that your story slows or even stops due to an excess of imagery, it may be a good idea to 

tone that down and use imagery to emphasize the important moments, to make them more vivid and visceral. 

[When the icing on the cake gets too purple; source]

Furthermore, one can structure sentences to enhance or reduce the intensity of sections of writing. Longer 

sentences make the text feel more relaxed, while shorter sentences make a piece more intense and frantic. 

If you're describing the beauty of the world you have designed, it's fine and expected to write long sentences. 

Though really long sentences, unless you're Charles Dickens, can often lose the reader. Sentences so full of

purple prose (elaborate description) can make the reader joy in the words, but long passages like that can 

bring any drama and tension to a screeching halt. I once read a book entirely written in purple prose. Nothing

happened for long pages at a time, even for the entire book. 

[From MacBeth; source]

Once one gets to the intensity of a climax, it's a good thing to write in shorter, more clipped sentences. A book written entirely this way, 

however, can wear on the reader. If everything feels like tension, it can become overwhelming. It's a good idea 

to have moments of tension interspersed with more relaxing moments to give the reader a break. This brings to mind

Shakespearean porter scenes. He'll include tense moments like those throughout "Macbeth," broken up by moments

of humor and whimsy, like the scene in which the world was first introduced to knock-knock jokes. 

[Your own writing; source]

Look over your pieces. Is there a place where it needs more poetic language? Are there places that could be tied 

together better with rhyming sounds? Are there places that could be enhanced with imagery or that could be 

sped up with a reduction of imagery and description? Look carefully at each word, each punctuation point. Reshape your 

writing for beauty and/or intensity, and your piece will have more power.