Trying my hand at poetry!

Ever wondered how you could take your storytelling to the next level? Or give a measure of authenticity to the world you created?

A great way to make a reader believe even more in your world is by employing or quoting from different text types. When you are writing a novel or short story in a contemporary or historical setting, you can quote other authors’ works in order to give your world a feeling of authenticity and to help your reader buy more into the scene you want to set. A good example is the YA fantasy novel Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier. She foreshadows each chapter with a quoted text passage, a poem or a self-authored entry from a log-book assigned to a character with an authentic voice in her novel. The same principle, consequently, also holds true for new worlds in a fantasy setting. Of course, then, producing authentic literary material is up to you. Historical records giving a quick introduction to a country’s history, chants telling tribal histories over a campfire or sermons used during rituals can go a long way in intriguing your reader. 

I always wanted to try my hand at poetry. My goal? To let an original poem tell the ancient lore of the world I created or hint at main plot points with a few cleverly rhymed lines. 

Well, today, I made my first attempt. I started simple with a clerihew rhyme scheme and left syllable counts to Shakespeare for now. My trusty helpmate for today’s project was an online rhyming dictionary – www.rhymer.com. Here is one of my better poems from today’s effort.

Theme: The Chameleon

Beware of the Chameleon,

That holds no colours of its own.

The charming creature

Harbouring talents of a lethal nature,

walks hidden among you,

cloaked in its enemy’s hue.

Any comments?