How do you write yours?

I think that Keats is right to some extent - I tend to get something down and then hone it up - usually by getting rid of bits of it!

Keats' poetry is very finely wrought - I refuse to believe that he did not work on it in detail.

I prefer to be fed an idea. It might be topical or just something I've overheard but once the cogs start whirring I have to finish it.

I have written scripts based on experiential drama workshops in order to turn the loosely connected pieces into a stage production. For my sins I also churn out the odd panto script!!

I have written a few poems and they have just seemed to appear in my head ! They have mostly been about personal thing. My three favourites are about my DDs growing up and meeting my DGS for the first time and one I wrote for my best friends 40th birthday. I do find if I try to write something it just doesn't seem to happen. It seems in my case Ariadne is correct.

I agree to a certain extent, Ariadne but I do find that often I will just get an idea for a line or phrase and in some cases that will be all that is written down until I have further ideas or inspiration. I'm not saying that I pick things apart like re-doing knitting, just that sometimes it takes time.

But then, to relate to the Keats line, perhaps sometimes it takes a while for the buds to become leaves?

"If poetry comes not naturally, as leaves upon the tree, it had better not come at all." (Keats)

I think this is true - the more contrived and self conscious a piece of writing, the more it shows.

Is this not a topic for another thread?

Update!

Right, I have now tried one of the Gu Chocolate & Vanilla cheesecakes, as mentioned by loopy and am sorry to say that they are not a patch on the Waitrose chocolate cheesecake

My main observations are that whilst it is indeed chocolaty, the crumb base has not melded with the chocolate ganache in a satisfactory way, vis crumbs all over the crossword. Currently I would give the Waitrose chocolate cheesecake 10/10, but the GU chocolate & vanilla cheesecake only scores 7.5/10.

Galen biltong I quite enjoy, but some of the recipes I found while Googling were yuk!

loopy yes, they were one of the ones I selected, it will be interesting to see how that compare to the Waitrose chocolate cheesecake (of course, for purely scientific reasons I should have both of them offered to me on a plate whilst blindfolded, I cannot see any other way of validating the results. In addition the experiment should be repeated several times, just to be sure.)

The other ones (which I had to buy, purely to get best value from the offer, so kind, it would be rude to refuse) were labelled "After dark zillionaires puds"

Now, with these I might have a problem. Although as I type it is indeed after dark, I am not a zillionaire. Does this render me ineligible to eat them? If I waited until after tonights Lottery Draw, and found I had won, would it then be ok to indulge, even if I had only won a million or so?

Of course, this question might have more relevance if I had actually bought a ticket.

It's only a type of biltong

How dare they run out, knowing that you were visiting specifically for choc cheesecake! Have you bought the chocolate and vanilla cheesecake Gū? They are yummy, as are the Key Lime ones
4 means one for me, me, me ....and one for you in this house according to DH.
Indulge & enjoy!

I had to google that Galen, sounds disgusting!

Oh dear! how will you survive. I told you that you love in the back of beyond. What can you expect
Shuffles off muttering ( she'll be expecting shops to stock fresh food next instead of tinned stuff and dried pemmican)

Jane10 I still have something unfinished knocking around with the title "The Unexpected Ankle Chain" which was inspired by a tweed clad lady on Carnforth Station over 20 years ago!

Galen & loopy I am distraught, DISTRAUGHT I tell yer!

They didn't have any

I had to make do with some Gu puddings that were on special offer at 2 packs for £5. Of course what that actually means in real terms, it that there are currently 4 portions of dessert in the fridge.........

Sometimes a complete story comes to me. I have to jot down the bare bones of it while I remember then write it up fully sometimes months later. Middle of the night is when inspiration can suddenly hit me. Not very convenient.
Sometimes a person I see in a queue or at a bus stop catches my eye and I want to write around them in some way. The murderer in one of my stories looks exactly like a nice check out lady I once saw in M&S. Occasionally I write about a person from my past. Well disguised of course but I know its them. Its very satisfying when you get one (story in my case) just right! Very therapeutic activity.

Late at night, often when I can't sleep, a phrase will come to me. I am very good at writing on a notepad in the dark now. I may not be able to read it come the dawn, though!

Does it freeze phoenix? [ever hopefull]

sorry! But seriously, will two slices be enough?
You know how moreish it isn't!

Now you've done it Galen , I'd already planned to go to Waitrose soon, and until you put the idea in my head I had absolutely no desire for that chocolate cheesecake they sell but only in packets of 2 slices

Current or currant? Chocolate spotted Dick?

Galen Actually it's currently about a bathrobe...............

Chocalate fruit biscuits!

Can anyone explain why I have just added "No Proustian Madeleines, something less tangible, yet stronger in it's message" . (Wanders off muttering about thoughts being invaded by pretentious twaddle)

Sometimes things just flow out onto the paper - I wrote a sonnet about the Charlie Hebdo killings and that was somehow just in there waiting to happen. And two poems that I have written about my recent experiences seemed to come from nowhere.

I do love the sonnet form as it gives the opportunity for a litle twist in the tale in the last two lines.

Keep on scribbling!

I've always considered myself a bit of a poet Seriously though, I have scribbled a few down over the years. Last year in a bored moment
I was mooching about online and saw a poetry competition being advertised. There and then I just jotted one down that came into my head. I submitted it and although it didn't win the £100 main prize, they said they would publish it in a book of poetry (I actually submitted two, but they didn't want the other one!). There was no catch, no fee and although I wasn't paid for it, I was rather chuffed. Must get my act together and do some more.