Someone had to start the discussion in this new community, so I figured I’d give it a shot!

I discovered that I have a knack for script writing, so I usually stick to prose and focus on driving the action through my characters’ dialogue. I need to work more on describing scenes in a way that isn’t rooted in stage directions.

I can appreciate good poetry, but am generally not a fan of “free verse”. I prefer the challenge of writing something with a meter, or has a rhyme scheme. Re-writing song lyrics is a fun way to play with that, but maybe I listened to too much Weird Al growing up.

So, if you had to pick a side… poetry or prose?

  • Poetry is always what’s spoken to me, free verse in particular. Mostly what gets me going is symbolism and imagery, and using words in uncharacteristic, surprising ways.

    I have a deep love of prose as a genre and what can be done with it, but when I write poetry just comes out of me and prose is work.

  • Prose, every time. But when Im feeling really stalled or uninspired I find I often get more inspiration from reading poetry.

    I studied lit in university and have lots of poetry books and anthologies lying around, but I highly recommend this for other writers when theyre feeling run down or stumped. Go get some poetry books!

  • I wouldn’t mind trying to get into writing poetry, but the few times I’ve looked into it, various communities seemed very gatekeepy so I haven’t really pressed too hard for it. In my fiction writing, I’m beyond horrible at description, and I think learning to use the more colorful language you find in poetry would be a big help to me.

  • I’ve always preferred free verse poetry. My prose is clunky and doesn’t have a very natural flow to it. My poetry doesn’t either, but I utilise that intentionally to write very viscerally to give the sensation of magical realism, after a fashion.

  • I read 4:48 psychosis as a teenager and I think it fucked up the way I write forever 🤣 it’s a play but it’s written in a dreamy sort of poetic format. Whenever I write anything, Sarah Kane’s ghost possesses me to leave gaps all over the page. I should probably try to unlearn it, but then again I’m the only one who reads what I write.

    So I think I write in prose but it rarely has any narrative or argument. It’d more descriptive. But I haven’t much talent for rhyming or for following meters. Someone else here said that for them prose is work. I think I’m the opposite. I’d have to think very hard to create poetry.