Need advice on writing assignment (due in a month)

[00ts]

I have a lot of creative freedom with a topic I'm working on but am unsure about using it. I need to write around a thousand words, so my safest bet would probably be to use an essay module, but that seems so ordinary. I really wanted to try writing it as a poem, but I don't know if I could make such a lengthy and satisfying one. I'm not the most experienced when it comes to even prose. Is there anyone who can offer me some advice?

Comments

[lunabee34]

Is it an assignment for school? If so, what are the parameters of the assignment?

If you want to think about writing a poem, it might be helpful to think of writing in terms of drabbles. People outside of fandom tend to be unfamiliar with that form. A set of ten drabbles looks like a prose poem. So rather than thinking of 1000 words of poem, you can think about breaking whatever you're writing into ten discrete parts and writing a very short bit about each.

[00ts]

It's actually for a writing contest. The guidelines say "style: academic or non-academic" so I'm assuming the boundaries are just about limitless.

A series of drabbles might work; I'd have to think about it more. I want whatever I write to really stand out in a clear, hearty, but creative sort of way. I don't know if I could do that with a series of brief passages, no matter how witty or well-related (of course I don't know it wouldn't work either). Does that make sense?

[inevitableentresol]

You could alternate prose and poetry. Have the characters break into poetry when they speak. Have the characters speak in prose and have everything else in poetry.

Your problem here is that you have too many possibilities. Perhaps write down five ideas, and then choose the one that looks easiest to pull off.

[00ts]

I hadn't thought of altering, that's not a bad idea, although I don't know how I'd work in it--it's not a short story or anything, it's more or less an opinion on a topic. (Sorry for the confusion!)

Thanks for y'all thoughts, I'll try working them into an outline.

[lunabee34]

*nods*

Given the guidelines, I would suspect that most people will turn in an essay, either argumentative or of the personal narrative variety.

It could really set your entry apart to have a different format, but that goes both ways. If your entry is written in a different format and is awesome, it's going to be a breath of fresh air after reading two hundred personal narratives in a row. If your differently formatted entry isn't successful, it might seem even more unsuccessful next to a bunch of entries that have the same structure. Does that make sense? I am not at all trying to be discouraging here; I think you're going to do really well.

[serria]

I get the feeling that when an assignment becomes too open to different possibilities, it's a lot more difficult to settle down on one idea! I like the drabble idea - maybe ten hundred-word mini-stories that are thematically related? The short length of each gives you more room to be a bit more poetic about it, even if you aren't necessarily writing with set line counts. It at least gives you a bit more flexibility than strict poetry would, but in the end I suppose it just really depends on what exactly you want to write about. Whatever you choose, best of luck!