Writing Tip: Margarita Engle

I’ve invited a group of top-notch writers to share their writing tips with you this summer. Look for a new bit of learned experience each Tuesday.

Margarita Engle: Poetry Tips for Tweens

Read a lot of poetry, then scribble just for fun. Don’t expect your first draft to be perfect. Let the beautiful words and musical rhythms flow. You can make corrections later.

Choose a quiet place to write. Return to that place every day at the same time. Use a pen and paper, so the ink will flow directly from your mind to the page.

Experiment with end rhymes, internal rhymes, vowel rhymes, and no rhymes. Experiment with line length, line breaks, open space, and emotions.

Explore. Travel on the page. Time travel. You don’t have to write in your own voice. You can write as a plant, animal, superhero, alien…anything is possible on that page. It belongs to you. It is your refuge. Feel free and safe. No one is judging you. (Teachers, please help me make this true.)

Learn more about Margarita Engle at her website. Follow Margarita on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

(photo credit: Shevaun Williams)