Aug 1, 2012 / General Advice & Pro Tips

Focus On: Fiction and Poetry Blogs

Did you know literature was an Olympic event until 1948? Of course, all creative submissions had to reference athletics in some way, and many think the quality of the work suffered as a result. That’s why blogging is such a great way to develop and showcase your creative writing – there are no restrictions or limitations beyond your own imagination!

If you primarily write fiction or poetry, or if you’d just like to try your hand at a poem or story, here are some ideas to get you started:

  • Focus. Sheer invention can be tough, and Facebook beckons just over on the other tab. Try minimizing distractions while you’re working. Hang a ‘do not disturb’ sign on your door, turn on some classical music (or put in earplugs), and give the Distraction Free Writing mode a try.
  • Format. When posting poems on your blog, getting the spacing right can be tricky. But there’s no need to sacrifice your perfect formatting to the HTML gods. This article has some tips to help you format your poems exactly as you envision them – whether you’re writing haiku or concrete poetry, or whether you just want some extra breathing room between your stanzas.
  • Add visuals. While stories and poems are all about the text, a well-chosen image can add visual interest and color to your posts. Many creative writers also dabble in drawing or painting, so if you have original work to share, go for it! If your work was inspired by a video, photograph, or song, add it to your post. Or go the other way and make your writing the focus with a clean, minimalist theme.
  • Participate. Perhaps fleeing to a cabin in the woods was the traditional way to finish a novel, but these days participating in a group writing challenge online might be more effective – and more fun. For some motivation, check out sites like Nanowrimo.org, storyaday.org, or NPR’s current revival of the Olympic poetry tradition.
  • Imitate. The best way to improve as a writer is to read and imitate excellent writing. If you’re blocked, nearly every literary magazine these days has web content. There are some fantastic lit mags on WordPress.com, and you can also browse the poetry and fiction Topic pages for writing inspiration.

Are you a novelist or a poet, or do you aspire to be? What tips do you have for how best to feature creative writing on a blog?

Show Comments

138 Comments

Comments are closed.

Close Comments

Comments

  1. Just a personal insight on my experience with Publicize. I try hard to come up with attention-grabbing titles for my poems (and I’ve actually been successful a number of times), but it’s still hard to make my friends and subscribers on Facebook click them straight from Publicize. What works more for me is to turn off Publicize when posting a new entry, then after publishing a post, I click Share on Facebook, and this enables me to write a more flexible teaser sentence on top of the link as an added enticement for my Facebook friends and subscribers to click it.

    For example, my most recent poem called The Fine Print of Ever After was inspired by what could have happened between Cinderella and Prince Charming after they got married. So on top of that link after the Share, I wrote something like, “After the wedding, Cinderella must have taken months before finally resisting the urge to clean the castle everyday. I bet Prince Charming was very frustrated.”

    From experience, the simple Publicize only causes about 5 people to click (I have about 2,000 combined friends and subscribers), but a Share with a good teaser sentence over it has given me up to 155 clicks and a dozen comments, bumping the post on other people’s Newsfeeds, making it more visible and enticing more people to click, and so on. (The teaser sentence becomes a springboard for discussion as well.)

    Just my two cents. 🙂 Hopefully WordPress creates or updates a feature to accommodate this, someday.

    Like

  3. A large amount of my posts are poetry, but the rest are miscellaneous randomness that almost always contains a picture. I’ve found that the poems stand out nice against the brightness of the posts with pictures. It’s kind of refreshing to see a block of text with plenty of whitespace after all the other posts. I like your suggestion in Participate about getting a challenge for motivation. I’ve been writing a book for years now and haven’t really gotten any farther than a few chapters. Will definitely try those out! Thanks!

    Like

  4. I love having an accessible platform for my writing. And keeping to a regular posting schedule helps me get in the habit of creating regularly. There’s links to descriptions of my current projects and I’ll occasionally post excerpts as well as entries in writing-related blog hops that I participate in.

    Like

  7. Thank you. I understand about visuals in general, but sometimes it’s good to allow the words of a poem to create the pictures in the minds of readers. It’s interesting to present poems in different ways, and learn from the kind feedback. Best wishes, Ellen

    Like

  10. One thing I urge readers to do is GIVE FEEDBACK. Most writers are craving constructive criticism and ways to improve and satisfy their audience. And communication makes us feel like we’re not just throwing our words to the heavens, never to be seen again.

    Like

  11. A) Write about something you know.

    B) Don’t write about yourself, your family, your job, your home life and your pets unless your life is really novel material.

    C) Spell check, grammar check, punctuation check. Repeat. Reread before posting.

    D) Think about what to leave out as much as what to leave in.

    E) A blog that says “I blog to write. I’m practicing my writing. See me writing in my blog? Please like my writing in my blog about me talking about blogging about writing” is really not writing, it’s blogging about yourself [not] writing anything.

    F) Don’t be afraid of criticism. Steven King’s novel Christine was rejected something like 53 times before being published. Jimmy Buffet refused to change his lyrics in a song about his grandfather to get his first recording deal, and wrote “Making Music for Money” in response.
    (“The Captain and the Kid” was recorded in its original form!)

    G) Have fun and laugh off the critics. (Unless you’re writing for a paycheck!)

    H) Don’t let your creativity be dependent on “external validation”. It’s easy to get caught up in the self-serving and heady war of “likes & followers”. It’s about you composing your material the way you imagine it to be.

    I) Stick with it. Most of us write “for ourselves”, it is a spark of creativity. Whether you become a Pulitzer winner or everyone you know tells you “Stop writing things. You stink.”, keep at it.

    J) Don’t take anything too seriously. It’s only life, after all.

    Take care and keep in touch,

    Pazlo

    Like

  12. All writing is in some way creative, so one should attempt to speak one’s mind without being over-influenced by the styles of others. Also remember that there are major differences between literary genres (poetry, drama, novels, short stories etc.) and writing is inevitably modified to fit each one. Punctuation is also really important, because even on the internet it is extremely significant.

    Like

  13. I writer roleplaying game material, and the handy thing about my blog is it lets me use some of the spare bitrs and pieces that fall out of any piece of non-fiction during the editing process. In the old days I’d have prepared them as magazine articles, but instead I can put them up as little bonus pieces for my readers.

    The only unhandy thing? My blog often lies fallow for long strecthes of time, when I’ve overcommitted to various publishers and every spare moment is going into my drafting. I find it very hard to commit to a blogging schedule.

    Like

  14. What I wish is that I had some tips on how to find one’s audience. I’ve found that many people avoid fiction and poetry on blogs, but it’s what I do best and the work I prefer. It’s hard for a writer, who wants to keep getting better and would love feedback, to get past the desire folks have for a certain kind of shorter, lighter, snarky slice-of-life sort of blog post that I can’t produce quite as regularly as I’d like.

    This summer has been awful in terms of eyes on my writing (stats) so I’ve decided to write a sci-fi/love story serial and do the best I can, just because.

    When I kept up with the Freshly Pressed page, I don’t remember seeing any fiction on it. I wonder why that is? No really — I’ve got a few writer friends using WordPress who have mad, literary writing skills. I’d love to see one of them on that page. They deserve many more eyes on their work.

    Like

    1. Zeus bless thee, Spark In Shadow! for several reasons. Chiefly for advocating the recognition of literary blogs as something as deserving as “cool pix contests” or glossy, colourful, cool-looking blogs (I shudder to think I should “include catchy images, interesting quotes” sort of stuff as it is actually advised “to get Freshly Pressed).
      Further, I oh so second you on your view of quality v. prolificity (does that word even exist?).
      I, for that matter, keep in my boots and will die with them on when it comes to what I write and how I write it. If I wanted to be “popular” I’d keep a Twitter account and shot witty phrases and sharp remarks off my arse instead 😉

      Like

    2. I feel your pain there. So far I have over one hundred subscribers to my writing blog (twitter followers included), and I think it is due to three things: post title, content, and tips/giveaways…

      Even now I had to revamp my blog and do less book reviews and more useful posts on writing. Also watch your top posts and referral links in your stats…this tells you a lot about what people are loving about your blog.

      As a fellow writer it is difficult to engage readers and it took me three years to really gain a following and even now I wish to gauge my readers’ interest more.

      Good luck!

      Like

  15. I keep reading some sort of comment and -no offence meant- the same question keeps coming to mind: what is it with posting “excerpts of what I write”? I mean, if you’re, say, “saving it for the bigger audience”, or perhaps your work will actually be published, then we’re not referring to the same as for goals. I simply mean to share what I write, in the sense of making it available for all to see and “enjoy”, out there, in the open, exposed, vulnerable and everybody’s.
    IMHO, excerpting belongs to the realm of commercial enterprise, “getting inspiration in others’ work” is for academic writing, while literature is for sharing, meant to be thought-provoking, enriching our life both in the act of creating and reading.
    Keep it up!
    Cheers

    Like

  16. I don’t think I’m near qualified enough to offer any sound advice, but I’d like to share what works for me – to write every day. Sure, 99.99% of what I write is scrap-pile destined after editing and all, but it’s the .01% that’s usable that excites me. If I don’t write every single day, I’d always think about writing and never actually get anything done, so I just have to push through the muck to find the gold. It’s why I started my blog, for motivation and to actually finish a story that’s long been holed up in my head 🙂

    Like

  17. I’ve noticed sharing a photo prompt or other prompt that you write from and challenging others to show what they are prompted to write by it is a great way to get (and give) interaction between writers. I also enjoy responding to prompts from other bloggers. I notice that my non-writing followers read these posts more than even the most creatively posted story or poem without the shared challenge aspect. Doesn’t work for everything, of course, but it’s a fun way to create a buzz about writing.

    Like

  18. I’m an aspiring writer. I think I keep an original approach when it comes to blogging. I think it’s all about just determining from the start what you want to blog about, then sticking to that. I keep to three main categories of posts and lately I’ve been debating on posting my short stories. However, I want to wait to hear back from some contests/publishers before posting them freely on the net.

    I love WordPress for writing, in general, because Tumblr is much more ADD and it’s almost looked down upon there if you are posting more than two sentences. Twitter is more writing-friendly than Tumblr lol, but WordPress is my personal favorite.

    Like

  26. I love that writing fiction for a blog allows for a) publication, which I think inspires higher quality from the start since it is a public medium, and b) iterative content management — you don’t ever have to be “finished,” which allows for further improvements to writing quality.

    The following is from the POV of a short fiction (very narrow campfire stories genre : ) writer — http://www.scurrytails.wordpress.com:

    1) Just do it. Sometimes the words come and 2,000 of them fill the screen in one sitting. Sometimes you are grinding the same short story for weeks and weeks and weeks. Either keep grinding or pick up another writing project.

    2) Shift forms. Sometimes the non-fiction posts — a post on blogging, a post on art to support fiction, etc., a non-sequiter rant — can help you maintain posting productivity and keep the writing machine lubricated while fiction ideas and writing solutions ruminate.

    3) Since blogs are visual media / multimedia, the images that support them can be every bit as much a challenge / rewarding as the words. And that’s OK (and frankly, sometimes compel visitors as much as the words).

    So now that I’ve offered, I’d like some help: what are some good ways to generate reader engagement? Fiction isn’t always as provocative of conversation as blogs about politics and celebrity fashion can be. How do you get readers to do more than just mumble “meh,” before moving on?

    Like

  27. In one of my editing blogs, “Rhythm and Rules,” I discuss how to use music (usually instrumental) to focus and help your writing. Instead of white noise, it can offer a rhythm and a momentum that matches your mood and can keep you writing.

    Like

  28. Dear Elizabeth, I’ve discovered a problem with using Manifest for a poetry/writing blog! It’s fine if you intend to only post your own work but if you’d like to feature work by other writers there is a problem in WordPress.com. In Manifest the author of the post comes up after the title by default. So you cannot feature the work of another writer without appearing to be authoring their work! This is such a shame because it’s a beautiful theme for poetry and creative writing. I notice that two British poets, Abegail Morley and Kim Moore, use the Matala theme for their poetry blogs so that the post reads “posted on (date) by _______________” If only Manifest could offer that option! Matala, in my opinion, doesn’t have the simplicity of Manifest that really showcases the poem. So disappointed! Any suggestions?! – Josephine

    Like

    1. Just replying to myself here! I’ve overcome my disappointment with Manifest and switched to Twenty Eleven with the widget area the bottom and the single column down the middle. The concept of my blog ‘And Other Poems’ http://www.andotherpoems.wordpress.com is a quiet, uncluttered space for poems and nothing else. It seems to be working well so far. I’m certainly the experience of running two blogs – one for creative work and one to talk about it.

      Like

      1. Hi Josephine. Indeed, the post author field only gives you the option to select an author from users of your blog – it’s not possible to write in an author there.

        Some themes (like Manifest) show the post author field by default, even for blogs where there is only one user, and some do not. I’m glad you’re set with Twenty Eleven, and the blog is looking great! 🙂

        Like

  29. Creativity whether Literary Genre or Artistic spring are always alive though dormant in every Person ,waiting for an opportunity to show up like the water flowing underneath the Earth ! It is the divine Duty of All in such position to recognise and encourage the Talents . As a Book Publisher of over forty years I am humble enough to request all those who can recognise the talent of creative Art; may kindly do whatever they can to help add to the illuminating World !

    Like

  30. Ohh, topic i can write about. oh wait. i just wrote a post on this topic a week ago i think. I guess I’m clairvoyant!
    YEY!? not really. Can I still tag postaweek for it? *sigh*
    Or maybe i’ll just read posts on itt 😀
    I’ll just share it as well in case anyone wants to read it…

    Beyond lines and rhymes

    😀

    Like