Getting out of a rut

How long have you been stuck in that creative rut? You know the signs: the tendency to write the same old stuff over and over again. You can't seem to break out of the end rhyme scheme you're in. It's a never ending cycle and you can't break free from it. No matter how you try your writing keeps veering back toward that ABAB scheme. You can't think of any new theme or topic to write a poem about. You stare at a blank page and there is a nagging thought - that maybe your muse has left you and gone off to find some other poet to inspire. Writer's block! You overthink it; you contrive your lines, casting aside sense and purpose to try to force them to rhyme. It doesn't look very good at all. When you write your verse, it reads worse than ChatGPT on a bad day... boring and predictable, and full of cliches. Every poet goes through something like this at some point in their lives. Some are cursed with it forever, it seems.

Well, there are many ways to break out from this rut, so you can start to write creative, unique poetry. Here are ten cool tips to help you (if you know any others, you are welcome to add them to the comments section).

1) Keep writing. Write anything. It doesn't matter if it's garbage, Keep writing, and don't stop. Write down the first words that come into your head. Eventually, there will be a gem or two you can keep and build a poem around.

2) Keep a pad and pen, or your smartphone by your bed. If you wake in the night with an inspiration, write it down. Come back to it in the morning, and maybe there will be something your scribbled down in the dark that you can develop.

3) Ignore all the opinionated 'geniuses' out there who try to tell you what you can or can't write. They are usually pedantic hair-splitters anyway. There are no rules. You can write in any style and in any way you wish, to create your art. Don't stop because you think its nonsense, and don't listen to the poetry Nazis.

4) It doesn't need to rhyme. 

5) Try out some new formats and frames of writing. Experiment with a Pantoum or a Villanelle, or dabble with some Haiku or a freeform piece of writing. This blog is also full of ideas about how to work poetic devices into your poetry. Have a search around, and see what you can find.

6) Try writing from your stream of consciousness. Relax, close your eyes, and wait for the words or the thoughts to come to you. As they do, write them down. They may be disconnected from each other, and quite random. It doesn't matter. Write them all down. You can always edit them later...

7) Open a book at random, and with your eyes closed, point to somewhere on a page. Write about the word or phrase your finger has landed upon. 

8) Use cut-up poetry ideas - the concept of found poetry can have amazing results if you just go with the flow of what you discover. 

9) Ask someone to give you a topic or theme to write about. It can be one word, or a phrase, or a historical event or a person. Just write about whatever they have said. 

10) There are no rules. I have already said this in 3, but it's worth repeating - and this time, imagine an audience out there waiting to hear you perform that poem you're about to write. What do you want to say to them? How do you want to say it? Remember - there are no rules!

I hope these ten tips are useful to you, and help you to break out of the rut you might be in. Please add your ideas in the comments below. We would all love to read them, and try them out.

Steve Wheeler

Image used under a Creative Commons Licence by Smenglesrud