Writing Tips, Writing Help For Your Inspired Writings

Read, read, read almost everything, but especially read contemporary and classical works in your chosen genre. Read children’s picture books and poems for kids. Read the highly poetic wisdom writings, such as the Psalms and the poetically inspired writings of the prophets found in any Judeo-Christian Bible but especially in such highly poetic translations as KJV, RSV and the new ESV. Although the latter has not yet translated the deuterocanonical (aka apocryphal books), it includes scholarly yet accessible footnotes in the award-winning ESV Study Bible edition. Also, see the Bible Poetry page to learn about techniques used in Hebrew poetry. 

Write accurately about Christianity.
To write well for Christian and non-Christian readers, research what the Bible says about your topic. Also, get to know the unique aspects of each denomination before you speak for that part of the Body of Christ.

Write accurately about everything! Research each topic thoroughly.

Verify your sources. Double-check facts for accuracy, even if you’re very sure you know the information.

Observe people. Listen to people of all types, age groups, and backgrounds.

Consider what draws Christian and non-Christians readers of all ages to a particular poem, story, article, devotional, or book.

Study publications you like to read. Become familiar with Christian magazines, Christian e-zines, and Christian books but also the poetry journals and mainstream publications read by non-Christians.

Consider gaps in the publishing markets that your Bible story, Bible-based poem, literary poetry, and other inspired writings might fill. 

Plan your work before you begin. Pray for a theme, purpose, and potential reader to guide you from the start. List the points you want to make in an inspiring article. Choose one idea to illustrate a relevant Bible verse for each one to two-page devotional. Outline chapters for your inspired nonfiction book. Write a synopsis of your inspirational novel or biblical fiction in five to ten page, using the present tense as though the story is happening now. Make a mockup of your picture book text and include at least one written idea per page for the illustrations.

Practice writing.

Write, write, write!

Use English well. If grammar, syntax, spelling, or punctuation don’t come easily for you, get a dictionary, a junior- high grammar book, or editing software program to use as you write. You’ll also find sites on the proper use of English on the Resources page.

Let your writing flow with no criticism of yourself. Then let your poem or manuscript sit and rest. Later, come back to the pages as though someone else had written them.

Read your work out loud. Read aloud each revision of your poem or manuscript. Does the content, logic, time sequence, or anything else cause you to pause or question what you have said or how you have said it? If so, trust yourself! Better yet, trust God to guide you in discerning if anything is “off.”

Identify each problem. When you see or recognize a problem, you’ll usually see a workable solution too.

Revise, revise, revise! Correct each mistake. Make every poem or manuscript your very best work before you submit it to an editor or publisher.

Follow writing guidelines. Most publishers have websites that let you know what they’re looking for. If not, write to request guidelines before you submit your manuscript.

If you need a professional opinion of your writing or help with editing or revising, use the Critique Service for a poetry critique or a manuscript evaluation of your devotional, children’s picture book text, Bible story, or other inspired manuscript.

Revising Poetry, Revising Your Poems For Children

Revision may mean getting a new vision! Read each poem aloud, listening carefully for strong nouns, active verbs, and clear images that are readily envisioned. If you can easily picture what’s happening and feel the music or emotional impact of each line, great! If not, assess where the poem lost its beat or focus.

Revise with one of the senses that you did not draw from as you wrote the poem. One of your God-given senses will be more likely than the others to begin each poem. For instance, if you have a “poetic ear,” your poetry will express that sense of musicality or rhythmic beat. If you have an “artistic eye,” your poems will probably reveal visual detail. If you’re a keen observer or have a sharp, analytical mind, you’ll most likely find fresh comparisons in a simile, metaphor, or other figure of speech. If your emotions or feelings provide your dominant sense, your expressive poems may say well for readers what they cannot express themselves. Regardless which sense usually prevails as you write a poem, go with it! Let words and phrases flow with new thoughts, musicality, fresh comparisons, interesting insight, or whatever else catches your poetic attention. Without censoring yourself, get the poem on paper, then let it sit while something else occupies your mind.

When you’re ready to revise a poem, use another sensory connection, preferably one that’s opposite the predominate sense that originally set a poem into motion. For example, if you’ve been fluently expressing your feelings, let your mind do most of the work on the revision as you analyze the connotations, sounds, and subtle nuances of each word in your poem. Or, if your ear has been doing most of the poetic work, train your eyes to see what visual detail or imagery you might add.

By using one poetically attuned sense as you write a poem and another as you revise, your poetry can reach a new level of professionalism. More importantly, you may discover that your poems connect with God in inspired ways you had not previously experienced or imagined, for instance with humor, wordplays, sounds, insights, or images that your readers will also be blessed to see and feel and hear.

Read Bible Poetry. This includes Psalms, of course, but also poetic Wisdom Writings, such as Job, and beautifully inspired, poetic Books of the Prophets such as Isaiah.

Read poetry classics and the works of Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning poets, such as T.S. Eliott, Carl Sandburg, Mary Oliver, and Richard Wilbur.

Study poems that children love. A children’s librarian or a clerk in the children’s section of a bookstore can tell you which poets kids like and why. Also, look for poems by Robert Louis Stevenson and poetry anthologies that include classic works by Longfellow, Poe, Lear, and Tennyson.

Study traditional forms too. Children like classical patterns of rhyme and rhythm found in traditional metered verse, but adult readers and poetry editors who have tired of rambling free verse may welcome a sonnet, villanelle, ballad, or other time-tested form. Learning about these classical patterns usually takes much less time than most poets expect, yet the information can be used for however long you continue to write and revise your poems. For one user-friendly option, see the info on Poetry: Taking Its Course

Read your poetry aloud as though you’re reading to a specific child, adult, or group of readers. Revise your poems with the same person or group of readers in mind.

Read your poems as though someone else had written them. You may be able to see your work more clearly after you’ve been reading and studying poetry by other poets.

Get professional feedback and a fresh perspective of for your poems. For fees and more information about the type of help you can expect in a poetry critique, see the Critique Service page.

 © 2009, Mary Harwell Sayler
P.O. Box 62, Lake Como, FL 32157-0062
All Rights Reserved