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Drafting a whole book may seem monumental, and more so if it’s a challenging genre such as poetry. Who are we kidding? The main question arising would be: how to write a poetry book, more so if it is your first poetry book?

But the good news is, in today’s world of high-intelligence, caffeine-addicted, ambitious and guiltily procrastinating world, everything is possible.

This is how I drafted my own debut poetry book in one month. And today I’m going to share with you 7 steps on how to write a poetry book.

Poetry Emerging As A Genre

Nowadays, people crave poetry.

The readers love reading it. The poets love writing it. Many literary journals love publishing it.

All because, poetry, as it seems, presents a really true, no sugar-coated, raw view of what the world was and is, what the people were and are, and then what it all could be.

Poetry has gained over the years such a wide-scale loyal audience and true fans that it only seems fair that a writer, who has written different books and published articles should also try out the genre of poetry, if hasn’t already.

Because poetry books are pretty and look aesthetic, reflect people’s own emotions that they were hesitant to accept, they are in demand and are popular (some books are even so cheap! I sold mine on Amazon Kindle for 1 USD! You’re welcome to check it out–Say Something)

Are you—maybe not a published author, but a beginner—aiming to compile your first poetry book and put it out there in the world and then see how it goes?

Read on, for I’ve got just the right guide for you.

Okay, you write poetry, but what further?

Does it describe emotions, does it revolve around nature, is it horror, does it tell a sentimental story (is it something we sing in melancholy and does it rhymes with salad)?

There are different sub-genres of poetry, which may include: the three basic genres, that are:

Narrative –

This kind usually tells a story using varying voices of characters and the narrator. The poems are written in everyday language.

And the good thing is, it doesn’t always need to rhyme (as many modern forms of poetry don’t.)

Dramatic –

As the name suggests, this kind of poetry is particularly suited for dramatic, theatrical and musical interests. It can include sonnets and haikus.

Lyrical –

Its defining traits would be a song-like quality and a depthful exploration of human emotions and feelings, typically expressed in the first person.

They can be further subdivided in a dozen different genres, which may include Elegy (a reflective poem to honor the dead), a sonnet (a fourteen-line-poem with a specific scheme), haiku (a seventeen syllable poem that uses natural imagery to reflect sentiments), fable (poetic story with moral lessons at the end), satirical poetry (makes fun of someone’s absurdities, foolishness or moral failure. My personal favorite!)

Don’t get confused by this list, and don’t get discouraged if something you like didn’t make it here. These are just a few.

The world of writing is seamless and so are the different ways you can write in. Don’t think too much about it. Seriously, just pick one genre you like. This doesn’t take research or anything; in fact it’s really easy.

Anything that seems good to you, anything that looks like you could do it and it’d be fun, just go on. You’re here to impress yourself and do something you like, since poetry all comes from the soul itself.

If you’re not pleasing your soul, you’re not pleasing the most important person you should.

Now that you’ve decided the kind of poetry you want to write, it’s time to begin!!!

Materializing your idea means designing a book cover (or having it designed for you, but I just like doing it myself) and writing down suggestions for names of the book.

I know, some of you might think that this step should’ve been reserved for later, since you haven’t even begun wiring your book yet. How could you just go on designing the cover and doing the things that come later on?

Not to worry, I’m not misguided you.

I think that you should design the cover right now, just so you can see the whole book idea take shape in front of your eyes, assuring you that it is a dream and it’s going to come true soon.

Before we begin, you just have to keep in mind that the writing process is challenging and will take its toll on you (as it does on all the writers).

The book cover and the name will be like your motivational guard alongside the long process.

Whenever you’d want to give up or think like this isn’t going to work out, you’ll just look at the design you’ve thought up for your book, and there’ll be this new surge of excitement.

A great app to design your book cover is, of course, none other than Canva itself, and though I’ve seen people talking about how Canva is old and there are some new alternatives in the market, I still stick with Canva, because it is really a great designing app (completely easy to use for beginners too! And you can practically live your whole career in the free version!)

If you’re writing something, you need to read something too.

If you’re giving out information, you need to get information first.

That’s why it’s recommended to read some of the most popular, widely-loved, talented authors in your poetry genre and see how they wrote their writings. That’ll definitely teach you a thing or two about how to use sentence structure and poetic devices to your favor and bring out the best (and the worst!) of you in your writing style.

Okay, I know all of you fellas are practically seething in your heads right now because I promised to help you draft a book, and I’ve not yet talked about even writing a single word.

Again, not to worry, the next step is the magical writing part itself.

Dig deep.

By digging deep, I mean go all in.

Look into your old dusty nooks and crannies, open up year-old documents in your computer, and find the lines of poetry you had once upon a time scribbled on stray pieces of paper and had forgotten about.

Find out what will suit your current genre, and then combine them.

Try to find a story in them.

I’ve always liked poetry that tells a story. It’s okay if yours doesn’t. Completely okay.

Because figuring out the stories and connecting the stray dots depends on how the reader does it and not how the writer writes it. So even if you think your poetry doesn’t connect, or maybe isn’t telling a story good enough, you don’t need to worry because it will strike a chord with those who’ll find it relatable.

So many of us are hesitant to compile our diverse works because we think they’re too diverse and they won’t fit together in one form. But the common link between all art we create is that we created it.

Once you’ve organized and sifted through the old individual poems you’d once written, it’s now time to write new. Don’t get pressurized.

Try to look into things you haven’t ever had before. Try to find the simplest and most-surfaced feelings you haven’t noticed, and write about them.

They bring the biggest change. Observe people.

And if need be, find writing inspiration.

Needless to say, everyone needs inspiration once in a while. It brings this surge of power and optimism that things are going to work out.

Also needless to say, most of my inspiration comes from Pinterest and Tumblr, both apps that are great for writers and a whole huge community for writers and poets who are looking for motivation, writing prompts, tips and tricks and so much more!

By lengthening I mean, if you’ve got anything more to say in your book, say it. If you’ve got prose pieces to add, go ahead.

Prose is one thing that connects the different pieces of poems and unite them as one big tale in your poetry book.

The new poetry I’m writing tells a story through prose, and describes the character’s emotions through the poem pieces scattered in between. (I love the book!)

But while lengthening the book, make sure not to drag it.

Make sure it doesn’t lose its meaning and definition as poetry because of the long plain texts of un-poetic material.

The basic first step of editing would be developmental editing, where you’d look at the line structure and the story structure and only continue if it all seems fit to your style. I suggest reading it out loud to discover the flow in which it goes.

Evaluation editing is when a professional editor looks at your book and sees the overall quality and tone and style of your writing. Here they may bring up questions or corrections they may havr regarding your text. Because this step of detailed editing fits more in full-length novels and ours is just a poetry book, I’d seriously recommend doing all this just yourself because you know, you are familiar with your book the most.

Content editing includes a content editor digging into the small scraps of your page and pointing out any improvements on the paragraph level.

The next stage is line editing where the editor performs a line-by-line inspection, studies the micro and most detailed information and makes sure it is proper.

Then there’d be copy editing, where you’d check your manuscript for any grammatical, punctuation or spelling mistakes, and confirm that everything’s fine.

The last step is proofreading which is very important, though some people fail to recognize the difference between proofreading and copyediting. Proofreading happens after converting your manuscript to the required .pdf or digital format, making sure there are no self-generated errors or typos, and that the page layout and numbering and formatting is perfect and ready to be published.

These are so diverse steps that it’s understandable to be intimidated by them, but one thing I must tell you is not to dispense with any of these steps. Though many of these are meant for novels and not poetry books, it won’t hurt to appoint the most of them. Trust me, for I learnt this the hard way, after leaving the permanent footstep of my foolishness out in the world to see by having left a small typo in my debut poetry book. (Yeah, you can laugh. But in my defence, I was sixteen at that time and didn’t know about any of this.)

This isn’t really a step. More like a mantra.

Don’t lose yourself.

To write a poetry book is hard and takes lots of energy and focus on the writer’s part. Sometimes writers suffer from writer’s block and get frustrated because they aren’t able to write anything. But sometimes, writers also get burnt out and get depressed. (Been there, done that.)

It’s really necessary to take care of yourself and make yourself a happy writer above all. (I’ve got something for you too!)

And if, say, you are currently struggling from any form of burnout or maybe even writer’s block, then I’d suggest you slow down the pace of life a little and try to get a grip on yourself.

Don’t lose yourself in the stress. It won’t help at all, and the quality of your work will only degrade if you work with an unwell mind.

Stay happy while writing your poetry book. Laugh in surprise at discovering new stories and plot points and poetic words. Stay healthy and take care of yourself. And go be a fabulous writer.

Maybe if you’re struggling with writer’s block, I’ve got just the right thing for you to discover: How To Beat Writer’s Block and Fatigue?

Key Takeaways from How to Write A Poetry Book