On April 19th, students on the course Writing Poetry for
Publication were treated to a seminar with poet and workshop leader Kim Moore.
Kim
read from her collection, The
Art of Falling (Seren,
2015), then went on to give the background to some of the poems, reveal some of
her drafting processes, discuss techniques she uses to craft her writing, and tell
the story of her own route to publication before taking a number of questions
from students.
Kim also gave a number of top tips on writing and publishing poetry.
These included:
1. Be prepared to redraft and refine many times. The middle section of The Art of Falling took years to complete.
2. Raw emotional material can be a good starting point, but it is not enough in itself to convey emotional truth, however honest it may be, or to make a poem. This is where drafting and work com into play.
3. However, sometimes you may get lucky, and a poem will just come to you, for example when you are half-asleep. Take advantage of moments like these.
4. Learn to enjoy the process of writing. Don't become obsessed with product. Be patient.
5. read lots of poetry, including poetry you don't like.
6. If you get writer's block, read some poems to get inspired, take a line from one of them and just start writing. If nothing else, just sit down with paper and pen and start free-writing.
7. Put in the time. Find the time. Learn to fit your writing into small slots of time. Be selfish, if you have to.
8. Use reading and performing your poetry in front of an audience to spot areas you still need to work on.
9. join a writers' group. Be supportive of other poets. That support will be returned.
10. Research your subject matter. Find out what other poets have done.
11. Get in touch with poets you admire. Poets like to know their work is being read and appreciated.
12. Get your work out there. Keep a spreadsheet of where it as been sent and what the result is. Do not be discouraged by rejections, however many you get. Start with some of the smaller magazines, where the competition is less fierce, and build from there.
Kim Moore was recently awarded the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize for her debut collection of poetry, The Art of Falling. Previous winners include Seamus Heaney and JM Coetzee. For more information, see this article in The Guardian:
The visit was organised by Dr Ian Seed, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Chester.
Photography: Jan Gibson.
