Tag: rhyme

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Kids Lit

Don’t Commit a Rhyme Crime

Kids Lit

You might have heard that “Rhyme is a crime,” and that editors don’t like rhyming board books and picture books. That’s not exactly true. Editors just don’t like BAD rhyme. They like rhyming board books and picture books that are written well. It’s just that they have seen so much bad rhyme over the years, their hearts might be a bit hardened toward rhyme.

But if you can write good rhyme—then go for it! Most of my children’s books are written in rhyme, and I continue to sell rhyming manuscripts. But, let’s write good rhyme! Don’t be a rhyme criminal!

Let’s take a look at the top rhyme felonies I see when judging contest manuscripts.

 Felony #1: Letting rhyme dictate the story.

If your story has been kidnapped all to make a rhyme work, then you’re a rhyme criminal. In other words, if your story is about a lizard who becomes a wizard simply because the rhyme worked, then it’s probably not a very strong story and if you wrote the same storyline out in narrative, you’d soon realize that the rhyme is really the only thread holding it together, and that’s not enough.

Clever rhymes are fun to read once or twice but if the storyline is weak and the characters aren’t very strong, your story won’t be able to keep the attention of children through endless readings. It won’t have that re-readability factor that’s so needed in picture books.

Felony #2: Using odd sentence structures to make a rhyme work. #justsayno

For example, in the song you might’ve sung in Vacation Bible School, “Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man” (Remember that one?), the lyrics go:

Zacchaeus was a wee little man

A wee little man was he. (Why would we ever restate that he was a wee little man, and why would we say it in this odd sentence structure? Because we need it to rhyme with “see”.)

He climbed up in a sycamore tree

For the Lord he wanted to see. (Again, we would normally write, He wanted to see the Lord. But we changed the sentence structure so we could make an easier rhyme…)

If you find yourself changing around parts of speech for the sake of rhyme, your name might as well be “Felony Melanie” because you’ve committed a rhyme crime. Just say no to doing that—promise?!

Felony #3: Being a lazy rhymer and settling for near rhymes.

For example, nursery rhymes and song lyrics get away with this lazy rhyme crime a lot, but it’s not going fly with most of today’s picture book editors.

Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir,
Three bags full.
One for the master,
One for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane

Though “dame” and “lane” have the same long vowel sound, they aren’t perfect rhymes. They are near rhymes. A perfect rhyme would have been to rhyme “lane” with “Jane”—see how that works?

Don’t ever settle for the easiest rhyme. Don’t name a character “Forange” simply to rhyme it with the color Orange.

Felony #4: Writing a poem and calling it a picture book.

Just because it is a nice rhyming or rhythmic poem doesn’t mean it’s a picture book. It might just be a nice poem for you to sell to a poetry anthology for children or possibly a poem you can sell to a children’s magazine that features poetry.

For example, I wrote a poetry book for kids called, “My Funny Valentine” for Ideals Children’s Books, and it has over 30 rhymes in it, but they are simply fun poems—not stand-alone picture books.

“Secret Admirer”
I see her every single day.
I think she is the bomb.
I’m making her a valentine.
But please, don’t tell my mom.
I think I’ll write: “You really rock!
You’re very, very cool.”
But if I say that mushy stuff.
She might think I’m a fool.
So I won’t sign my name to it.
She’ll never know it’s me!
I’ll tell her that she rocks my world,
And makes my heart run free.
I’ll sign it, “From your biggest fan.”
I slide it in her locker.
But if she finds out it’s from me.
I’m gonna have to sock her.

A picture book will have re-readability; it will have a need for at least 12 scenes of artwork; it will have page-turning breaks; it will have a story arc; etc. Just because it rhymes, doesn’t make it a picture book.

Also, just a series of events or a rundown of a day, no matter how well they are written in rhyme, is also not a picture book. There’s no story arc there.

Felony #5: Writing in rhyme and being the only one who can make it rhyme.

This is maybe the worst felony of all. If you can only make your story rhyme while standing on one leg and holding your head just right, it’s probably not written in good rhyme and meter.

Always read your manuscripts out loud to see where you get tripped up, but most importantly, have others read your manuscript out loud and see if they have trouble with any part.

Study other rhyming books that are published and use them as mentor texts.

Take Crystal Bowman’s class on rhythm and rhyme through the Serious Writer Academy to learn more about the various kinds of rhyme.

Love this book, “R is for Rhyme: A Poetry Alphabet” by Judy Young (Illustrated by Victor Juhasz).

Felony #6: Writing in rhyme just for the sake of it.

Sometimes stories can be told WAY better via prose, not rhyme. You’re robbing yourself if you don’t try writing your story both ways. You might be surprised which version is stronger.

 Now that you know, go forth and write crime-free!

If you want to learn more about creating GOOD rhyme, check out Michelle’s rhyming class at Serious Writer Academy.

Michelle Medlock Adams is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author of over 90 books with close to 4 million sold. Her many journalism and book awards include top honors from the Associated Press, AWSA’s Golden Scroll for Best Children’s Book, and the Selah Award for Best Children’s Book. Michelle currently serves as President of Platinum Literary Services, a premier full-service literary firm; Chairman of the Board of Advisors for Serious Writer, Inc.; and a much sought-after speaker at writers conferences and women’s retreats all over the United States.  

When not writing or teaching writing, Michelle enjoys bass fishing and cheering on the Indiana University Basketball team, the Chicago Cubbies, and the LA Kings.

Michelle is celebrating the recent release of her books, Cuddle-up Prayers; The Perfect Persimmon; I Love You Bigger Than the Sky and is anticipating the upcoming release of her book Writing & Selling Children’s Books in the Christian Market: From Board Books to YA (Iron Stream Media) with her coauthor and literary agent Cyle Young.

Categories
A Pinch of Poetry

Consonance: The Sound of Poetry II

How you create sound in your poetry will make it bloom or wilt. The whole purpose of a poem is to artistically express a message in a succinct, powerful way. Sound devices, such as consonance, add musical qualities—key elements that accomplish this.

Since we’ve recently explored alliteration, it would be best to distinguish its sibling, which also makes use of repeating consonant sounds.

[bctt tweet=”How you create sound in your poetry will make it bloom or wilt. #poets #poetry”]

Closer than a Brother

Consonance is a sound device in which many of the words in close proximity (in the same line) repeat the same consonant sound. Remember that alliteration is unique because it only emphasizes the first sounds of words. Consonance allows for the sound to be repeated anywhere within the words or phrases.

As with alliteration, consonance adds a musical element to the poem and creates a smooth-flowing rhythm.

Let’s look at a few more lines from Edgar Allen Poe’s famous poem “The Raven” again to understand how it works.

“And the silken, sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain”

In the above lines, the poet repeats the “s” sound even in the words that don’t begin with that letter. The resulting sounds harmonize, creating a musical effect. Not only are the sounds repeated throughout the line, but the word “uncertain” also rhymes with “curtain.” Both devices create a beautiful streak of sounds that easily roll off your tongue.

A few stanzas later, he uses consonance again.

“Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted”

Poe could have chosen any number of words to communicate the same meaning. However, each word has a purpose. Notice how and where the “d” sound is repeated—the beginning, middle and ends of several words in this line. Again, the sound repetition enhances the rhythm of the poem.

It simply sounds nice. Doesn’t it?

Working Together

Because alliteration and consonance are so closely related, the poet uses both at the same time. But don’t fret over which technique you are using to create pleasant sounds in your poems. If you are aware of the devices, then you can consciously incorporate them into your work.

Remember that all poetic techniques usually work together rather than in isolation to create the most effective poems. You probably recognized other sound devices in those lines, such the internal rhyme. We’ll explore other musical elements like this in future posts.

Now that you have a grasp on alliteration and consonance, see if you can work it into your own poems. If you have any questions, ask me below.

[bctt tweet=”Create a beautiful streak of sounds in your poetry! #poets #poetry”]

Categories
A Pinch of Poetry

Poetry From Odd Places

I don’t know about you, but once in awhile my poetry springs from the oddest of inspirations.

Not too long ago I was driving home from judging a high school poetry competition, and I was in a very poetic mood.

As I came around a curve in our neighborhood, I noticed someone had placed an old toilet by the road. For some reason I thought it sad and humorous at the same time to see the commode on the curb.

Don’t ask me why.  I’m not making this up.

[bctt tweet=”Sometimes poetry springs from the oddest of places. #poets #poetry”]

And then I realized so many words rhymed with commode and road that it kept going from there.

By the time I pulled into my driveway, I had “Ode to a Throne” rambling through my brain.

I highly doubt it will ever get published anywhere else, but for your entertainment, I’ve decided to share it below.

 

Ode to a Throne

 

Against the green, green grass you sit,

abandoned and alone—

a symbol of our progress

thrown beside the road.

Maybe you malfunctioned

and coughed up a filthy load,

or maybe you refused to swallow

the refuse that you bemoaned.

Throne of Plain White Porcelain,

how you long for a loving home,

But never shall you have one—

Oh woeful commode, dethroned!

 

I’d never claim that this is my next award-winning poem, but it was fun to write—a break from reality. And that’s all that matters.

A note on rhyming

Rhyming is not a technique I use often because to make it work effectively, you have to have patience, an extensive vocabulary and a good sense of syntax (word order). The exception would be children’s poetry which lends itself to rhyming much more easily.

A challenge of rhyming is that many beginning poets make the mistake of forcing rhyme which makes it sound contrived rather than natural.  You’ll see when you try to use rhyme.  It’s really not that easy.  And it will give you a new respect for William Shakespeare, Emily Dickenson, and Robert Frost.

Also note that I use approximate rhyme to make it work. No, that’s not cheating. Poets have done it throughout history, including the ones listed above.

Assonance is another technique I used for the purposes of rhythm and rhyme. So many words have the long “o” sound. And conveniently, a number of those words related to my subject.

Despite the Oddity

This poem was meant to be written despite its ridiculous subject.

Therefore, the point is that you don’t have to look far for inspiration. Poetry can morph out of everyday life experiences and from places you’d least expect.

So the challenge is to find out where your next poem is hiding. The trick is to pay attention to what inspires you even if it seems bizarre at the time.

[bctt tweet=”Poetry can morph out of everyday experiences and from places you’d least expect. #poetry #poets”]

Have you ever been inspired to write a poem or story by an absurd object or event? Tell me below.