Writing How to write a Character that is a poet?

[ThaddeusDeVilliers]

How to write a Character that is a poet and is good poet without you, the writer, being able to write any poetry?

Can you stall indefinitely even if this character's biggest characteristic is that they are a good poet?

 

[JHarp]

Unless you are actively trying to write a bard with spoken poems and dialogue, this is exactly the same as trying to write a mechanic or a lawyer.
The point isn't understanding everything they can do, but being able to convey that they are doing it.
Even having a character flip through their notes and commenting on liking their word choice or thinking that their commentary on yogurt was compelling is enough to explain that.

 

[Madkins]

Think Edgar Allan Poe

 

[ThaddeusDeVilliers]

Unless you are actively trying to write a bard with spoken poems and dialogue, this is exactly the same as trying to write a mechanic or a lawyer.
The point isn't understanding everything they can do, but being able to convey that they are doing it.
Even having a character flip through their notes and commenting on liking their word choice or thinking that their commentary on yogurt was compelling is enough to explain that.

But a mechanic can say they fixed a car with duct tape and a rusty spoon.
or a lawyer can pulls some crazy loop hole.

But if I write about poetry bewildering people in a poetry competition can I get away with not writing what the poem is?

Think Edgar Allan Poe

I don't know what that means.

 

[Eldoria]

How to write a Character that is a poet and is good poet without you, the writer, being able to write any poetry?

Can you stall indefinitely even if this character's biggest characteristic is that they are a good poet?

Use mirrors through other characters. Let other characters praise your character's poems. This way, you can build a poet-like image without having to be one.

But of course, this won't be relevant if your fiction focuses on the theme of poetry.

Look at music fiction like "Your Lie in April". The author truly engages the reader in learning about classical music. If poetry/music is the theme or genre, then you should narrate the musical scenes and poems as the plot.

 

[Madkins]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe
He has the poetic look and was a poet. It's a simple comparison exorcise.

 

[JHarp]

But if I write about poetry bewildering people in a poetry competition can I get away with not writing what the poem is?

Fine lets spin it fantasy style, magic doesn't need to exist for someone to be showcased as good at it, when you the author likely don't have access to every magic system in the real world.

What are you trying to do, that is the key point here, I'll state it directly because there isn't enough to go off.

Are you asking how to write dialogue for a poetry focused character, to emphasise in a bard-like manner that they speak using that skill, or are you saying they have written some good works at some point in time and can get other characters to demonstrate and react; as with any skill, that they are advanced in their field.

If you are trying to ask 'can I claim something is impressive without presenting it' that falls into reader trust the same with any specialty.
Thats why a lot of novels people might read on some of the weaker websites have so many characters hyping up the main characters action because it turns out cultivation is slightly hard to do in the real world.

Thats why characters can focus on the process, the writing, the research or whatever skills they would need to show to the audience to understand they have that skill.

Either way for a character to be 'good' at something it still comes down to how others perceive the result of that task.

 

[CarburetorThompson]

Iambic Pentameter

 

[JHarp]

Iambic Pentameter

People ask if I'm doing ok, I reply with 'iamb'.

Some things need to stay buried and repressed

 

[JordanIda]

I have a main character who writes poetry into her diary, and some of the chapters feature excerpts from the diary.

The excerpts are apropos to the overall story in many ways, as they echo, foreground, and/or elucidate the plotline.

I'm told by readers that it works well. It helps of course that I'm a poet. And quite a good one.

 

[Bimbanana]

But a mechanic can say they fixed a car with duct tape and a rusty spoon.
or a lawyer can pulls some crazy loop hole.

But if I write about poetry bewildering people in a poetry competition can I get away with not writing what the poem is?


I don't know what that means.

try watch Pale Blue Eye in netflix.

Edgar Allan Poe (great tormented poet) is the character. That's how you gave a depiction of a poet without making him reciting a poetry

 

[NotProudofmySmut]

How to write a Character that is a poet and is good poet without you, the writer, being able to write any poetry?

Can you stall indefinitely even if this character's biggest characteristic is that they are a good poet?

I published a book about a poet. In my case, the key was to show his love for poetry mainly through his everyday thoughts on poetry in general, rather than through direct poetic attempts. I also often had him reflect objectively on poetry and, at times, created somewhat weirder poetry—which just happened to come from dwarves—to get him thinking about the different approaches to and perceptions of poetry among other peoples and races. On top of that, there was also an obnoxious elf whom he found to be a jerk in terms of character, but whom he envied in a literary sense. Through these elements, his essence as a poet was captured quite well.
The important thing is not to actively show how a character comes up with poetry. Then, the ability to do so is always the limit.

P.S. Of course, my character also slayed a dragon. It is fantasy, after all.

Hope that helps.

 

[TheKillingAlice]

exorcise

What do you wanna exorcise?

Well, Poe in general was a strange man and it reflected on his work. It always depends on who you portray. Is it someone with many demons? Or a young artist, who's just a fledgling? Is it a person of today or historical? Because people talked very differently in different times; children of olden times sounded smarter and had less of an Edgelord phase, because they usually didn't have the leisure. On the other hand, nowadays, you have more topics to draw from, because children are learning in a different way. Just like everything else, you just need to know what you wish to portray. There is no one particular way of writing a poet, just a few things poets would have in common. Even if they aren't emotional, they need to be able to emulate feelings, so they need to be able to put themselves in other people's shoes. That often means they have a lot of empathy. They are usually creative, but especially poets don't necessarily wear it on their sleeves.
Things like that need to be considered, otherwise, it's pretty much like any other job. You don't need to be a poet, you just need to be able to sell one.

 

[just_darkjazz]

But if I write about poetry bewildering people in a poetry competition can I get away with not writing what the poem is?

I think its very doable to simply narrate him writing or reciting poetry without actually typing that poetry out. Simple say something along the lines of "he spat straight fire, had the whole function geeking". Not in those words of course.

In the same way a musician strums their guitar. You wouldn't write a scene of them playing as "he hit the C sharp, followed by the A minor, ending it with power chord".

 

[BearlyAlive]

Make him broke, depressed, and an alcoholic? Wait, you wanted a good poet, my bad. Those good with words tend to either use them like a bouquet of flowers or like a dagger in the dark. They either use their words to fill the world or use them so sparingly that it becomes something precious.

Reciting fitting poems or quotes might also instill the idea that a character is a poet. Or you go flirty bard. Every D&D player knows that type instantly.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Oh, look for the play "Cyrano de Bergerac" by Edmund Rostand (The film adaptations are good but don't really show how to write the character, and the Steve Martin version, Roxanne - while a lot of fun, and true to the spirit of the story, does not really reflect him as anything but a great guy with a huge nose)

 

[Rosica]

Read the Japanese adaptation of Chevalier d'Eon. The antagonists are poets.

You can try to focus less on the poetries they make but more at how those poetries impact the people around them.

 

[TinaMigarlo]

But a mechanic can say they fixed a car with duct tape and a rusty spoon.
or a lawyer can pulls some crazy loop hole.

this is the cringe that comes from people not taking any time to make things seem believable.
that's not a mechanic... that's a handy guy at home.
and the lawyer "crazy loop hole at the last second" is the oldest trope in the book,
its ridiculous. real lawyers don't do that.

why people do this when its so easy to do otherwise.
just click on any one of a million YT videos...
mechanics are farming views so people can fix things.
you can grab a cool line of diagnosis dialogue right out any one of the videos.
same with lawyers.

Now. I don't know enough about poetry to even begin to tell you how poets work.
but based on my mechanic and lawyer example... ???

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

Remember that brevity is the soul of wit. Hide the fact that you don't know poetry behind smoke and mirrors. The more this poet character speaks, the more obvious it will become to readers that he doesn't know poetry. This is why people say to write what you know. When you want to write something you don't know, you will have to make a character where all of their ineptitude is hidden.

Also, I highly recommend learning how to craft poems. It can do surprising things to your writing. You don't want to make a story like poems, or you venture into purple prose. But poems are good for learning alternate ways to craft sentences or learn flow. I credit a lot of my story's flow to the fact that I know how to write poems.

 

[Bartun]

I'm not a poet, but my character Ektho is a warrior-poet.

He doesn't write or recite a single bit of poetry in the story, but I made him live-translate the lyrics of a song that was sung in another language. Hope that did him justice.