31 days of fandom poetry meme.
DAY 1: write an acrostic poem for the character of your choice (i.e., a poem where the first letters of every line spell out the character’s name).
DAY 2: write a poem about the fannish subject of your choice (character, ship, non-shippy relationship, episode, moment, scene, etc.) that prominently uses anaphora.
DAY 3: Quickly jot down four verbs, four adjectives, and four nouns. Write a poem for the character of your choice that utilizes all twelve words.
DAY 4: write a poem in the form of text messages or similar between the two or more characters of your choice. the texts can be sent or unsent, anything’s good.
DAY 5: write a poem about a character you don’t like very much (whether you hate them or are just kind of “meh” on them is your call), and be positive about them when you do it. for extra credit, be positive without being sarcastic, grimdark in the case of villains, or otherwise disingenuous.
DAY 6: write a poem telling the story of your favorite character’s life in six to ten words per line. you can have an unlimited number of lines and stanzas to do this in, but each line must be able to stand on its own as a life story (not necessarily as a complete sentence). for extra credit, try to have the same number of words in each line.
DAY 7: Richard Siken day! Fandom loves Richard Siken, so it’s only fair that he gets his own day. So, pick a Richard Siken poem and write something inspired by it, about and/or from the POV of the character of your choice.
If you need some help here: here is a PDF of Siken's collection Crush (also a download; also on google drive) and here is a master-post of everything he published in the Spork literary journal. If you're not into Siken, then do the same basic thing for another poet of your choice.
DAY 8: write a list poem from the point of view of one character, about at least one other character. any relationship is up for grabs here: romantic, sexual, both, familial, friendship, enemies, mentor/pupil, anything.
DAY 9: write a poem with no narrative. it can be about any character, relationship, or fannish subject matter you want, just say something without actually, explicitly saying it. reveal what you’re talking about through how you use images, feelings, sounds, and so on.
DAY 10: Open the nearest book to a random page. Write down the first ten words. Write a poem about the relationship of your choice that incorporates all ten of them.
DAY 11: write a poem from any POV, describing the character of your choice by their belongings.
DAY 12: write a poem with no figurative language or symbolic conceits. no similes, no metaphors; your goal here is to break down the walls between poet and reader. use concrete language, use visceral language, get into the meat of the poem, if you will.
DAY 13: pick a favorite episode/scene/moment/etc. and write a poem exploring the thing of your choice in thirteen different ways, after “Thirteen Ways of Looking At A Blackbird" by Wallace Stevens and “Thirteen Blackbirds Look At A Man" by RS Thomas.
DAY 14: write a sonnet from one character to another, or about the character or relationship of your choice. If you need some more help with iambic pentameter, this video is a bit more concise and accessible than wikipedia.
DAY 15: write down fifteen "free association" words (the first 15 words that come to mind). Use these fifteen words in a poem about the fannish subject of your choice. Variation: trade lists with someone else and use their fifteen words.
DAY 16: write a poem about the ship of your choice without using any of the following words: love or any derivation of it (e.g., "loved," "lover," "beloved," etc), romance or romantic, feel, heart, fall or fell, long or longing, or sweet. For optional bonus points: also don't use the words "want" or "need."
DAY 17: fanmix day! pick a fanmix, any fanmix, and write a poem inspired by it. Extra credit: find some way to work every song on the mix into the poem. Alternately, do the same thing but with a non-fanmix album of your choice.
Caveats: if you’re someone else’s mix, you should ask the mixer if they’re okay with this first. Don’t turn someone else's mix into something for a different ship or character. However, if you really want to do this across fandoms (e.g., someone’s Ron Weasley mix gives you a lot of Finnick Odair feels), then definitely ask the mixer first.
DAY 18: quoteswap poems! write a poem for a character/relationship of your choice inspired by or incorporating a quote from a different source, e.g. Derek Hale + “on Wednesdays, we wear pink” (Mean Girls). get creative.
DAY 19: Ekphrasis day! When it comes to poetry, ekphrasis refers to basing a poem on a work of art (illustrations, photographs, sculpture, whatever). Find an artwork that speaks to you and write an ekphrastic poem relating it to the fannish subject of your choice. If you want to use a fanart, ask the artist before writing about it, credit them if they let you do it, and respect their wishes if they'd rather you didn't.
DAY 20: write a poem in the style of Facebook status updates, Twitter posts, tumblr text posts, or some other social media posts exchanged between two or more characters of your choice.
DAY 21: Nontraditional sonnet forms day! (sonnets are really cool, okay.) Write a non-traditional about any fannish subject you choose. Some examples of nontraditional sonnet forms include, but are not limited to the ones outlined here.
DAY 22: write a poem from one character to another character, saying the thing they've been afraid to say.
DAY 23: pick a song lyric to serve as the epigraph for a poem about the fannish subject of your choice. the poem need not be directly related to the song.
DAY 24: write a poem about the character or relationship of your choice that focuses on intensely physical experiences (be they actual canon events or things you made up). try to avoid feelings, thoughts, contemplation, etc. as much as possible.
DAY 25: write a poem in the form of a horoscope for a character you don't write about very often.
DAY 26: working from the POV of the character of your choice, choose an "unremarkable" everyday item that represents all that is important and necessary and write a poem about it.
DAY 27: we've all had disagreements with canon before. pick a moment (scene, episode, arc, book, or whatever) that you want to change and write a poem about it, in response to it, and/or about how you'd change it.
DAY 28: any poet BUT Richard Siken Day! it's the same concept as Richard Siken Day (write a poem on the subject of your choice inspired by or incorporating another poem), but you're not allowed to use Richard Siken. break out any poet your heart desires EXCEPT for Richard Siken.
DAY 29: another musical prompt day! put your ipod on shuffle, and write down the first five songs that come up, then write a poem for or about a character or character(s) of your choice inspired by them. You can use as many songs for this as you think you can handle, but try to get at least five.
DAY 30: a variation on the "open a book" prompt: pull up one of your favorite fics, scroll to a random point in the fic, and write down the first ten words that grab your eye. write a poem that incorporates all ten of them.
DAY 31: pick a personal headcanon, any personal headcanon, and use it as the inspiration for a poem.
