I find myself, to my surprise, writing a novel in verse. Though I have written poetry in the past, novels in verse always seemed mysterious to me, almost as much so as the work of those sorcerer illustrators. How does one write a story, with narrative, out of a poem? How do you even begin a novel in verse? Eking out one poem feels like I am scraping my insides with a sharpened flint—to write a whole novel of them? Impossible.

At the same time, the appeal of novels in verse is undeniable. A poem can express a feeling with such truth and economy that it pierces through our distracted minds. For readers who struggle with longer texts, they offer a complexity of story without the daunting word count. All that white space can be much more inviting for someone who is new to reading.

And I had this idea—a shiny, seductive idea that I couldn’t shake. It was definitely a novel in verse. Only poetry could capture the passion of these characters. If only, I thought. If only I could write a verse novel.

Two pieces of advice, both from talented poets, offered me a way in. The first was from Linda Sue Park. I attended a class with her at the New York SCBWI conference last February. Park is known for her exacting attention to editing. She exemplifies the Martin Amis quote, “You say the sentence or you write the sentence again and again until the tuning fork is still.” One of the numerous edits she does to her work is to break up a portion of text into its beats—everywhere you would pause while reading, hit the return key. This forces you to isolate separate phrases to analyze where you have fat that can be cut. It also, incidentally, turns your prose into a poem. As I stared at my words, magically transformed into poetry, a moth wing of possibility fluttered in my chest. Maybe, just maybe, this grandiose idea I had for a novel in verse could be something that I could actually write.

I still felt tentative about it. I had lunch with my friend, Laura Shovan. Shovan is the author of THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY, an award-winning middle grade novel in verse with an astonishing eighteen narrators. How do you do this? I asked. She gave me the second foothold into my novel in verse. Think of it like a play, she said. Each poem is a different character’s monologue.

Suddenly, I could see it—the way that different poems could come together to form one story. Each character’s voice (or monologue, or song) expresses both who the character is and the events that he or she is experiencing. And with that, I had my way in.

That isn’t to say that it’s been easy. I still struggle. I don’t have Shovan’s facility with poetry—she can write two poems a day, while for me, one a week is a lot. But it is amazing and a whole lot of fun to see these characters, and this story, taking shape.

Looking for more advice? Check out this post from Caroline Starr Rose with 9 Tips on Writing a Novel in Verse. For inspiration, read Shovan’s LAST FIFTH GRADE and her new novel, TAKEDOWN. Park’s classic, A SINGLE SHARD, won the Newbery Award. Her TAPDANCING ON THE ROOF is a book of poems in Sijo, a traditional Korean verse form. Rose’s BLUE BIRDS and MAY B. are master classes in both historical fiction and verse novels. Finally, Julie Artz put together a list of fantastic novels in verse here.

Have your own advice on writing poetry or novels in verse? Share them in the comments! I’m still looking for ideas!

For more advice on writing middle grade or young adult fiction head to our Master Your Craft page where you’ll find dozens of posts to choose from!

Kate Hillyer blogs here and at From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle Grade Authors, where she recently posted a round-up of funny poetry for kids. She is a Cybils judge for poetry. You can find her at www.katehillyer.com and on Twitter as @SuperKate.