One type of poetry that tends to get overlooked in blogs like mine is that of song.
Sure, ballads are musical, but writing a poem with the intention of it being a song is very different from writing a regular poem.
For one thing, a chorus is a lot more common in songs than poems. Irregular rhyme scheme is more often seen in poems than songs. That does not mean that poems or songs can’t have aspects more commonly seen in the other, but that is just something I’ve noticed.
It can be very hard to try and turn a poem into a song, but if you write it with a melody in mind, then it’s a different story. That’s not to say that you can’t make a poem into a song, but it’s more likely that you’ll have to change it a bit (or a lot) to do so.
I don’t really know much about writing songs, so please pardon me if I’m being incredibly stupid here.
I’ve tried to write a few, but it just doesn’t come to me as easily as writing other things, so I tend to avoid it. I never seem to have an original tune in my head. I’m just not terribly musically inclined, which is a bit unfortunate.
But that just means I can either spend more time writing things I enjoy writing or try to work on writing songs because I don’t know how. It’s good to get yourself to learn and try new things.
So spend some time writing a song. Feel free to write it about characters or stories you already have in mind. I think trying to come up with an idea for a song is a harder part of the process, so if you have a character you think deserves an aria, go for it! Let the song flow from your heart. You don’t need a tune. In fact, you can even use a pre-existing tune! If you do that, then try to capture the original rhythm of the song or even use it as a springboard for a totally new one.