I'm trying to make a book!!

[Kerbonzo_beenz]

If you haven't noticed, recently, I have been adding a bunch of additions to Basic Critique.
That is my poetry book!
It may be a bit surreal and hard to understand because I am making it in fragments.
I have the basic skeleton of where to go with the plot in mind, just trying to give it some meat.
This is my first time making a book so obviously, it'll be a bit shit
so help me trim some of the fat off please and thank you.


Any helpful tips you can give would be appreciated!
On making books and such.

[Tiger the Lion]

Too soon in my opinion. You'll hate it in six months. Find your voice, kill your darlings and latch on to any advice you are given, even when it's wrong.
Not saying you can't self publish a book, just  saying you won't be happy with it yet.

[Kerbonzo_beenz]

Too soon in my opinion. You'll hate it in six months. Find your voice, kill your darlings and latch on to any advice you are given, even when it's wrong.
Not saying you can't self publish a book, just  saying you won't be having with it yet.

I don't mean for this to be a solid addition though!
Just something I can build off of.

The blank page is a cruel mistress don't you know.

[rowens]

nobody cares for what you write if they dont see themselves in it.
stage 1


stage 2
write whatever you want, and thell feel obliged to see themselves in it.

stage 3
they wont know the difference

stage 4
you are engaged with poetry.

[Tiger the Lion]

nobody cares for what you write if they dont see themselves in it.
stage 1


stage 2
write whatever you want, and thell feel obliged to see themselves in it.

stage 3
they wont know the difference

stage 4
you are engaged with poetry.

Agreeing with stage 4. If you are engaged, it is worthwhile.

[rowens]

stage 5
that was a poem.

take it as seriously as you would a poem. or anything else.

stage 6
go fuck yourself.

---

id give comment to stage 6

but if you dont know, you never will.

---

once you get above stage 6, the thing is outta your hand.

[busker]

Quality over quantity
A single good poem over a thousand crappy ones
Writing that single good poem is the challenge and you’re light years away from it

Try practising formal poetry (in the sense of having a form)
Try writing Spenserian, Petrarchan, Shakespearean sonnets
Ottava rima and terza rima
Odes
In pentameter and tetra meter
If you can’t do all that then you’re just a guy who doesn’t know how to play the guitar and thinks that his free strumming makes him Jimi Hendrix
But once you’ve done all that and have got a good grasp of the craft, you can turn to thr art of poetry
That’s where free verse begins

[TranquillityBase]

I'm not sure what you mean by making a book.  Several of your poems share a common mythology.  If you are talking about putting those together into a collection....well, I can see no harm in that.

[Kerbonzo_beenz]

Quality over quantity
A single good poem over a thousand crappy ones
Writing that single good poem is the challenge and you’re light years away from it

Try practising formal poetry (in the sense of having a form)
Try writing Spenserian, Petrarchan, Shakespearean sonnets
Ottava rima and terza  rima
Odes
In pentameter and tetra meter
If you can’t do all that then you’re just a guy who doesn’t know how to play the guitar and thinks that his free strumming makes him Jimi Hendrix
But once you’ve done all that and have got a good grasp of the craft, you can turn to thr art of poetry
That’s where free verse begins

Sigh... thanks

[CRNDLSM]

I definitely think you should finish the book, just finish it for the sake of doing it. But then in a year or two or ten when you've learned new things and found new interests you will see your early work as immature. Be proud of yourself and what you've created, but realize it's not great, it's a step towards greatness. I want to see you post in the practice forums, it's like you're making things up as you go so you don't really know what you're doing. You're pretty good, could be better.

[FrenchToast]

Quality over quantity
A single good poem over a thousand crappy ones
Writing that single good poem is the challenge and you’re light years away from it

Try practising formal poetry (in the sense of having a form)
Try writing Spenserian, Petrarchan, Shakespearean sonnets
Ottava rima and terza  rima
Odes
In pentameter and tetra meter
If you can’t do all that then you’re just a guy who doesn’t know how to play the guitar and thinks that his free strumming makes him Jimi Hendrix
But once you’ve done all that and have got a good grasp of the craft, you can turn to thr art of poetry
That’s where free verse begins

Sigh... thanks

Well, if you're going to write yourself a book write with great gusto. Seek others approval too readily and you will be sorely disappointed. Seek your own approval too much and you will become conceited. But I say, go with your gut first and foremost. Discouragement is certain to arrive but don't let that get to you. Take your talent and refine it and if you don't like your earlier works at least you'll have started somewhere. It's better than waiting til you die. There's always something to improve and if you wait, you will achieve nothing.

[Mark A Becker]

A key to writing poetry is reading poetry, and learning to critique others work in a meaningful way. Another key is understanding the many and varied types of poetry, then trying your hand at various forms. 

I noticed that you wrote " I have been adding a bunch of additions to Basic Critique".  I certainly agree that you have been posting away (with muliple violations of the stated rules: please read, and abide by those rules). 

In this PigPen you are required to wallow in the mud with the rest of the hogs.  By that, I mean that you must respond to others work.  Otherwise, pigs like me will begin to ignore what you post. 

Please read some of the valuable advice on this site as to how to offer critique.  Once you invest effort in providing constructive critique you will gain a better understanding of what works, or doesn't, in your own work.  Then try a 2:1 ratio- 2 critiques per each poem you post (one per day).

I would also recommend a book by Robert Wallace and Micehelle Boisseau titled "Writing Poems".  I have no connection to that book, other than owning it, and I've have found it extremely useful over the last 25 years.

I know you're eager to get your stuff out there, just avoid blasting away: please respect the rules.

With that, keep writing (and critiquing),
Mark