Okay I'm branching away for a couple of weeks from prose writing and going into a different groupings. Fan Fiction is usually more than just stories: there are filks, haikus, poems and all sorts of stuff. Keep in mind I'm not really a poetry person. Others in our group are undoubtedly better suited for giving advice in this category and I not only encourage them to do so, but will whack someone with a wet herring if they don't (grin)
Here's some pointers for poems and haikus:
1. USE FIGURES OF SPEECH AND SOUND DEVICES OFTEN
The power of poetry comes from the ability to defy logic. Defy logic often when writing your poems. Use a metaphor and tell us that your girlfriend is the sky. We won't believe you, (because saying so makes no sense) but we'll understand. We'll identify better with you. The other thing about poetry is its ability to be remembered. A poem really needs to be read twice, but if you choose to use sound devices, interesting rhythms, rhyme, or alternating metre, then you'll make it much easier for us. All poetry must have some sense of style, and the more you deviate from natural rhyme and formal metres the more you will have to concentrate on style. Prose poetry needs to be very concious of style.
2. EXPRESS YOUR EXPERIENCES, NOT YOUR OPINIONS
Understand where style comes from. The content of poetry comes second to style and the "meaning" of a poem is even less important. Many people think that a good poem is created from the great "thought" that eminates from it. For example, many people ponder Frosts' statement in "The Road Not Taken" that "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -/ I took the one less traveled by,/ And that has made all the difference."
(and so they should - it is one of the premier statements in literature).
Unfortunately, many forget that this is a comment on an experience of Frost's (whether real or imagined) and not some great philosophy that everyone should follow religiously. While writing, the poet should look to his or her experience. Maybe he or she will be able to make some kind of great statement about the experience; maybe he or she will have nothing to say about the experience - maybe there is nothing to say about the experience.
The "great" thought will come by accident if you are being truthful with your poetic experience
Sometimes a poem "means" nothing as life often "means" nothing. Lack of "meaning", however, doesn't take away from the beauty of the human experience, whether it is experience through life or through poetry.
3. BE INFLUENCED BY OTHER POETS, BUT DO NOT IMITATE
Every poem you read will be part of your style, but any concious attempt to imitate will only makes your poems appear contrived Shakespeare is dead. So is John Donne. Yes, they were great poets. Yes they expressed the human condition well in the confines of their books. But they did so from their own style of expression. Now, I'm not going to tell you not to write a sonnet, but I am going to have to say that writing "I am aghast at how thou art beautiful." is probably a good sign that you are not speaking from your experience. As a matter of fact, I can take a real good guess and say that you are probably trying to gather some applause at how well read you are.You reader can not be fooled. Don't assume that because T.S. Eliot wrote without rhyme, a poem that rhymes is not good. Don't take your perfectly-well structured narrative poem and break it up into lines of three or four words just because that's the way William Carlos Williams would have written it. Don't cuss and relay long stories of vulgar sex practises just because that's how Alan Ginsberg writes. You may think that your poem is great because it's "just like Robert Frosts'" but your reader will simply think "contrived rubbish." Be influenced. Experiment with line-breaks, prose-style, broken metre, s & m fantasies (how did that get in there?) and whatever other devices you see used by your favorite poets. Don't imitate, though : if you feel you have to, then you are probably better off imitating your every-day Hallmark card poet than any serious poet you can think of.
4. AVOID CLICHES
Assume your reader wants to hear something new about same old topics. Replace Cliches with fresh, new images or metaphors. This stands true for just about any kind of writing. Cliche is bad in writing for a number of reasons. First of all it is uninteresting. If you are going to write a whole bunch of phrases that we've already heard, what's the point of writing at all? Secondly, most cliches are outdated and people aren't always sure what they originally stood for. Some cliches are downright illogical! How about the famous cliche "the exception proves the rule?" An exception doesn't prove the rule. If anything, it disproves it! The reason why this cliche was created was because "prove" once meant "test." We no longer understand the word "prove" as "test". It is important - especially with poetry where the writer stands a great risk of being misunderstood - that you write as clearly as possible. Cliches can confuse writing, so don't use them. Another reason to avoid cliche is the problem of connotation. Most cliches start out as idioms which are peculiar to a particular culture. Let's pretend that the Ancient Greeks had an idiom which said "don't put the lightning bolt before the Zeus." Through verbal laziness, this idiom became cliche and was passed to the English language. We can only guess what it means. Why? Because we never lived in the Ancient Greek culture. We have our own culture, our own experiences. Such an outdated cliche could not possibly express our experience as well as a phrase that we have created ourselves. The final reason not to use cliche is quite simple. It's poetic laziness. It quickly tells any experienced reader that the poet did not want to use his/her brain when he or she was writing.
5. BE SPECIFIC IN WORD CHOICE
Don't assume your reader will know exactly what you mean when you choose abstract words.
"Happiness", "truth", "love", "friendship", "existentialism", "justice", "depression" and "soul" are all abstract words. Most of these need a whole poem themselves just so they can be defined. There is nothing more aggravating in poetry than a phrase like "what we have is true love." How vague can you get? First of all, this phrase is cliche (which I've already discussed) but secondly, it contains two of the most complicated words in the English language: "truth" and "love". We all know that a person can ask "what is love?" from a great many people and get a great many answers. THe same goes for "what is truth?" So here it is assumed that the reader will know exactly what is meant by "true love?" Be specific and concrete when choosing words. It really avoids the whole problem of having to define these words. Instead of saying "I love my wife," say "the walls in our room turn into themselves when you walk in." We might know what you mean by loving your wife, but we know for sure what you mean if you say that the walls turn into themselves when your wife walks in the room. You have given your reader a concrete image that he or she can immediately understand, instead of a vague abstract image which your reader has to add to his or her own experience in order to read your poem. A poem should be an experience in itself.
6. CHARACTERIZATION IS AS GOOD AS SELF-EXPRESSION
Consider writing a poem from the point of view of someone besides yourself.
A lot of bad poetry is self-indulgent: for example, Poetry sobbing about being dumped, bored, in love, outcasted etc. The bare fact is, most of our experiences are not interesting enough to write interesting poems. And those experiences that are important to us may not be so important to the complete stanger that is your reader. Therefore, it is a good idea to learn how to characterize well. Try to see your boredom from the opinion of someone with no arms. Or how about someone of the opposite sex? A dog? A swashbuckler? A two year-old child?
It is often suggested by critics that poetry is close to drama in many ways. In novels, an author has the option of explaining a character's feelings and emotions leaving lots of room to explain self-indulgence. In poetry or drama there is little room for this. Therefore most emotions, themes, relationships etc have to be implied.Characterization helps to make this so. By putting yourself in a character's position and creating an imagined experience of life (instead of relying on real experiences) helps to make all those big emotions become understated and lessens the chances that the poetry will end up trite or overly dramatic.
Characterization is not easy, but writing poetry from the point of view of character is similiar to acting. Here is a link for some acting advice:
7. TRY NOT TO CENSOR YOURSELF
Among the biggest issues any writer will want to discuss at length, censorship and free expression are near the top of the list.
In many countries, governments have made constitutions to protect peoples right to express themselves freely. Unfortunately, although people have had to fight battles to keep their work from being censored by society, probably the biggest censor is not society in general, but the writer his or herself.
Whatever the writing, it is important it not be whitewashed by the fear of failure, or that the writing will be controversial or ill-received. Poor writing steps lightly into its content.
(Liberally and admittedly pilfered from ttp://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~greebie/Criticism/tips.html) THE HAIKU
Haiku is a form of poetry with Japanese origins. Traditionally the haiku is about nature and related to a season.
The form of haiku most commonly seen in English has 17 syllables, with lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables respectively.
Thunder clouds rolling
Lightning forks divide the sky
Raindrops are falling
Because it is brief, the haiku should invoke a feeling, rather than telling the reader how to feel. Instead of saying "this is beautiful", it should provide images the reader will find beautiful. When you write a haiku, try to provoke an emotive response from your reader.
Unlike other poetry, the haiku does not have a title, because it should stand alone without the extra support of a title.
These are only basic guidelines for haiku. Many Japanese haiku are written in one line rather than three, and 17 syllables is often seen as a maximum number.
Anyone planning to write haiku seriously should read numerous examples of the form. If entering a contest or submitting for publication, check the guidelines of the publication to confirm their requirements.
In the meantime, composing haiku is a good exercise in discipline and creativity for any writer, and well worth trying.
(Admittedly pilfered with sincerest thanks from http://pa.essortment.com/writeahaiku_nzm.htm)