How I Use Poetry to Better Understand My Fiction Characters

I've mentioned my previous dislike of poetry before, and how that changed when I found villanelles.  I actually really enjoy writing these poems now, and it's become kind of a fun way for me to explore my characters in my stories.  Or even characters in stories I didn't write.

For example, I wrote a poem after watching an episode of The Originals a few years ago.  (I'm still not over the way that series ended - nor will I ever be - and I don't really want to talk about it, thank-you-very-much, or I literally won't stop talking about it - well, ranting about it and how it destroyed me - so please don't bring it up again!)  Anyway, I wrote a poem from one character to another: from Cami to Klaus.  In the show, there was a bit of a will-they, won't-they thing going on (and I'm still Klaroline forever, so I wasn't exactly thrilled about it).  I had been browsing Pinterest during that time and came across a quote I had forgotten about.

I don't own this image.  Please don't sue me. 

So, inspired by a mix of that quote, the relationship between Cami and Klaus, and one of my own books (more on that part later), I wrote the following poem:

Liar, Thief, Murderer

I get it, you’re a jackass of all trades.
Liar, thief, murderer: talents for sale.
You try to convince me my love fades,

but I see haunted blue eyes behind your shades,
and I know your conscience will always fail.
I get it, you’re a jackass of all trades,

bent on ripping opposition with blades
made of scorn, not allowing love to derail
you.  Try to convince me my love fades,

I dare you.  But know I always win charades,
and without your lies, our love will prevail.
I get it, you’re a jackass of all trades.

But I don’t care.  I’m sick of your tirades
on betrayal.  I’m bored with all the tales.
You try to convince me my love fades

into abyss.  It’s useless.  You can evade
my gaze, but my heart will never set sail.
I get it, you’re a jackass of all trades,
trying to convince me my love fades. 

Now, it's not a one-to-one for these characters - and I didn't even use the same quote anywhere in this poem - but it was still fun for me to write nonetheless.  And that was something that I realized I could do with my own writing.  Something to let me get inside my own characters' heads a little better than just brainstorming alone.  

The poems that I began writing were a way to explore specific scenes in a character's backstory, or even to provide an understanding of a character's personality.  Actually, the line about being "a jackass of all trades" was a phrase I had written in one of my stories (after also being inspired by the Klaus line myself!).  And I liked the line so much that it found its way into this poem too!  

The original scene where this line appeared in my book Conning a Vampire.

In this example, the tone of the poem is very sarcastic.  Cami would constantly throw sarcasm at Klaus during the show, and in my story, Lexi was very sarcastic to Xander throughout the entire book.  By using that one line in my poem, I was able to write 19 more lines of sarcasm that really fit what these characters were going through, and it helped me gain a better understanding of them.

Since villanelles require some really snappy repeated lines, I began searching through my writing to find even more lines I could explore deeper with.  And lo and behold, I found another one in a book I had been writing called The Redemption of a Hero.  In that book, a woman had basically been trained her entire life to be an assassin for her father, and at the turning point of the book, she decided she was done with that life - with her father in particular.  Below is the original appearance of the line, followed by the poem it inspired.  

The last line became the inspiration for the following poem.

War

Consider this my declaration of war

against the ghosts stifling the breath on my lips,

signed in the black blood of the one I abhor.

My will sailed me through the ocean, back to shore.

Commander of my navy, I yell from the ship,

Consider this my declaration of war!

Storming the beach, my silence will roar

into explosive noise.  Machine guns tick,

signed in the black blood of the one I abhor.

I wait until I can see the whites of your

eyes, then strike, bombarding the bricks.

Consider this my declaration of war.

You think guerilla warfare will even the score.

My rage burns stronger.  I’ll leave you a tip

signed in the black blood.  The one I abhor

will yield.  Unconditional surrender! you swore,

giving up your control, your lies, your tricks.

Consider this my declaration of war,

signed in the black blood of the one I abhor.  

In the book, my character was done with her father and being his personal assassin.  So, in the poem, I got to use all sorts of different war references, plus really bring it home about how done she was with that old horrible life.   It brought so much more depth to what that one line to her father really meant to her.  And I loved it. 

I think what I find so helpful about writing these poems using my own characters' lines is how deep I can get into their emotional state of being.  It gives me a chance to really live inside a specific moment for awhile, and really explore all the emotions that can be contained in one single line of a story.

So, while this method of delving deeper into your characters' emotions might not work for everyone, it's definitely helped me.  And it never hurts to give it a try!

Write on!
Amy