Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

Will Verse Work for Your Story?

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Amy sent me this message in 2010:

I was wondering something. Would you ever consider writing a blog post with tips for people writing novels in free verse? I know the best teacher is *reading* novels in verse (and I’m SO enjoying doing that — I’m reading Hugging the Rock that you recommended right now), but I wonder if you have any tips that you picked up along the way. I’m not writing a strictly verse novel, but every chapter starts with prose and ends in free verse (like The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson). From everything I’ve read, free verse is free, so there aren’t any rules, but I worry a lot that I’m doing it badly. If you have any tips, I’d appreciate hearing them, and if you feel like turning it into a blog post, I know it would benefit all of us wanna-bes. 🙂

 

Before I launch into what’s worked for me, remember the things I’ve mentioned before:

  1. I read a grand total of two verse novels before writing my own and still have a lot of reading and learning to do
  2. I’m no expert, but I know what has worked for me
  3. remember poetry basics when attacking a verse novel
Here are some things to consider when writing verse novels:
 
Is the subject matter right for poetry?
Some topics lend themselves more easily to poetry than others. Some subjects refuse to be written as prose (this is how I stumbled into a verse novel). While many stories can and will work as poetry, ask yourself if this medium is the best way to tell your story. If not, I’d advise you to take another approach.
 
Is the protagonist right for poetry?
Often (though not always) verse novels are told from a very close first-person point of view. This can be really tricky, as such writing calls for a lot of introspection on the protagonist’s part and possibly a skewed vision of how the world works.  If this isn’t your character, it’s best, in my opinion, to avoid verse.
 
Can you sustain the intensity required to write a novel this way?
Sometimes writing in verse feels really natural. Other times the close-to-the-bone nature of poetry is hard to sustain. I remember while writing MAY B. my critique group would often ask, “How are you able to keep this up? It would drive me crazy to write that way!”
 
If you are someone who can knock off thousands of words at one sitting, verse novels are going to hurt. Daily word counts will more realistically be in the hundreds. Entire novels usually top out at 25,000 words (MAY B. is 15,000).
 
Can each poem stand alone?
Each poem in a verse novel must capture one moment, scene, idea, mark of change in your character’s life. Poems should also be able to function separately from the rest of the story.
 
Does each poem contribute to the whole?
As I’ve mentioned before, I worked through MAY B. with a quilt in mind, treating each poem like its own square of fabric. Each patch had to be able to function separately while at the same time contribute to the whole. I trusted that if certain patterns and shades in my story quilt were repeated (think themes or story strands), eventually the interconnectedness would surface.
 
This approach is much more organic than sequential, which for some might feel intimidating. It doesn’t have to be! There’s a lot of freedom in this approach. Give yourself room to experiment and play.
 
And be sure to check out Amy’s verse novel, Red Butterfly, which she converted from prose. It published in 2015.

Words Inspiring Words

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An oldie but goodie I like to pull out for National Poetry Month. My words inspired by Sharon Creech’s verse novel, Love That Dog, which was inspired by Walter Dean Myers’s poem, “Love That Boy“.

Words count.
All words,
and giving voice to those children
who don’t yet know their power
is to open the world. 

Mrs. Stretchberry
knows how to woo her student Jack,
understands how to draw from him
phrases that play with shapes and sounds,
stanzas that speak to the pain
of loss
and love
and memory.

During a school year
where poetry is a regular part of things,
words work deep,
settle,
unfold,
grow
as Jack does
from a boy who thinks
writing poetry is to
“make
short
lines”
to one who finds the courage —
through the structure, voice,
and style of others —
to speak his own.

“Was it like me
when I didn’t think
my words
were
poems?”
Jack asks Mrs. Stretchberry,
and I am firm in the knowing that
teachers reach into lives,
authors speak directly to their readers,
words make impact,
transform,
compel,
demand response
every time
they’re heard.

Poetry is
as sweet as
a dog lolling in the afternoon sun,
is
as painful as
“that straggly furry
smiling
dog
Sky”
hit by a car,
sprawled on the road
“with his legs bent funny,”
taken in a moment from the boy
who’d picked him from the shelter
“with his paws curled
around the wire
and his long red tongue
hanging out
and his big black eyes
looking a little sad
and his long tail
wag-wag-wagging
as if he were saying
Me me me! Choose me!”

It is in the writing down
that loss becomes more than sorrow:
It becomes a touchstone for all who encounter
the memory,
even when it’s not their own.
Poetry is
a balm,
a battle cry,
a picture that says
this is what it means to see.

Some like to debate
the merit of the verse novel:
Is it a collection of poems tied together through story?
A hybrid somehow lesser than?
Words spoken by a blind man long ago?
A tale stripped bare, chopped to pieces for effect?

And yet,
whatever the definition,
there is no denying verse novels
open the way of rhythm,
expose through brevity
true abundance,
give readers room to live in the midst of language
rich and intricate,
stilted,
jarring,
beautiful and barren.
Sharon Creech tells a whole story
in a handful of poems,
accents Jack’s world with authenticity
that would have been lost in a jumble of prose.

Poetry gives
Jack the room to experiment with writing
and pushes him beyond,
allows him to dream
an Important Poet cares —
lets that dream come true
when Walter Dean Myers,
true poet
who inspires Jack’s bravest work,
walks into Jack’s fictitious world
and takes notice of the boy who
Loves That Dog.

Classroom Connections: All of Me by Chris Baron

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age range: 9-11 years
genre / form / topics : contemporary fiction; verse novel; body image
setting: San Francisco
Chris Baron’s website

If you have ever felt lost in the world, betrayed by your body or buoyed by a glimmer of hope or the glow of friendship, then All of Me could be your story, too.
–The Los Angeles Times

All of Me is for anyone who has been in search of a tribe, in love with a friend or in need of answers to questions that they can’t bring themselves to ask. In other words, everybody.
— San Diego Union Tribune

[A] beautifully written and psychologically acute debut. Readers will be glad to accompany Ari on his journey to self-discovery.
— Booklist magazine

Please tell us about your book.

ALL OF ME is set in San Francisco. It is the story of Ari Rosensweig, an overweight, seventh-grade boy who is an outcast. He loves cryptozoology and role-playing games. Ari is tired of being bullied and letting his weight define him. His parents’ marriage is struggling. They are too busy to focus on his life, much less help him with his already late bar mitzvah, and things take a turn for the worse. Ari’s mother, a painter and sculptor, decides to open an old gallery at the beach that summer. She puts him on a diet, and with the help of some unexpected friends, he tries to make a change physically, but that’s only the beginning of their adventures and the real change that comes. It’s a coming age of story about friendship, self-acceptance, and becoming all of who you are.

What inspired you to write this story?

It’s fun to say this — the LA TIMES called this a “fictional retelling,”  so my inspiration comes from the life I have lived, my own struggles with weight, bullying, and trying to find my own way in the world — it’s also specifically tied to the magical summer in the Bay Area where the book takes place. I really do believe that middle grade — even with its wide range of ages — is a time of wonder and growth like no other. The experiences we have and the stories we read at this age are formative for how we see the world, find hope, and experience so many things.

 And of course — my own, middle grade aged kids are teaching me that this age is crucial — kids are hopeful and brave, and we owe it to them to give them the best stories we can.

Could you share with readers how you conducted your research or share a few interesting tidbits you learned while researching?

I did quite a bit or research into my own Jewish heritage. I also had a lot of fun developing the setting by creating maps of what I called the “Triangle,” where Ari travels from San Francisco, to Mill Valley, to Stinson Beach, and everywhere in between. It was my way of making his journey more epic! I have pages filled with maps — some in water color-some just pencil scratches. I sat with my kids in the mornings, and we all made maps together.

I also researched about body image — male boy image especially — and the impact of diets on kids this age. I also did some interviews with psychologists and nutritionists about diet and perception. The most impactful was talking to kids — they helped me develop a bit more voice beyond my own for the authenticity for the characters.

Okay — one more interesting tidbit — some research was finding some of the people that the characters are based on and sharing some of the story with them—I really wanted to honor them in the story.

What are some special challenges associated with fictionalizing a true story?

Great question. I think that sometimes, in early drafts, I veered off into overly personal tangents that sort of trailed away from the core story. This is one of the blessings of an agent and editor who can see the story through such cohesive eyes.  

Another challenge was the immediacy of the story. I wrote ALL OF ME in verse because I wanted to provide a more intimate and sometimes internal connection for the reader to be close to Ari’s thoughts — understand and hopefully “feel” what he feels in the story. At times this took massive revision because every single word really matters.

So many kid lit authors have incredibly poetic, lyrical lines in their prose, so the gap isn’t always that wide. I think that poetry speaks to the heart. We see with more than just our eyes, and the music of poetry helps to make words sing directly to us.

As I get to talk to more kids and teachers, I’m finding that poetry relates to all kinds of readers. There is space on the page, measured breaks, pacing, music, and movement of lines that a reader of almost any level can find their way into. The structure of verse creates an intimacy with a reader that allows them to hear the tone and cadence of a character’s voice. This can create even stronger connections for readers.

I also have to mention one other challenge:

Writing is so emotional. My family did an incredible job of supporting me through the process. But for long periods I really had to focus on discovering how to write something vulnerable in long stretches and still be a decent husband, father professor, and all the rest.

What topics does your book touch upon that would make it a perfect fit for the classroom?

I want to shout something like self-confidence! Self-acceptance! Hope! Adventure! I hope readers will learn about empathy and kindness for others, Jewish culture and tradition — but also about the sacred in general, overcoming struggles with body image, friendship, taking risks, and learning more about being brave and being themselves no matter what. I hope readers, especially the young ones, will know that if they are going through difficult things like the characters in the book, they will know that they are not alone.

I’m definitely looking forward to engaging with teachers, librarians, and students to talk about all of these themes!