To polish your writing expertise, seasoned and beginner writers must take part in poetry contests. Taking part in these competitions will add to your writing experience and also bring your creativity to work. Writing poetry can be quite liberating to poets and will help to hone your writing techniques. To ensure that your writing expertise is solid, here are a few tips to boost your chances of winning poetry contests.
Always Have a Pen and Paper
As a writer, you should always have your paper and pen or your ipad in hand. You never know when your words will start flowing from the mind. Whether you are staying home or traveling, you should have it close to you so that you can write down any thoughts that come to your mind. You never know which piece of poetry will be the winner. So keep writing whenever you can.
Avoid Predictable and Common Topics
You should avoid the common topics because most poets will likely write about them. If you wish to win free poetry competitions, you should rise above the obvious and trite poet themes. Avoid writing about love life complications, discrimination, racial abuse, and other common topics even if you are tempted to write on them. Going for the less common topics will give you a significant edge over other poets.
Understand the Type of Poetry
Some contests are open to both free verse and rhyming poetry. You should never confuse free verse poems with prose slab poetry because they are completely different. For your poem to be a decent form of poetry, it must have structure and rhythm. You need to take a more relaxed or imaginative approach when punctuating your poetry. Finding the type of poetry that is required in contest will prevent your poetry to be rejected.
Check the Competition Rules
When writing poems for poetry contests, you need to keep the rules in mind. If the judges set the limits of the poetry to just 40 lines, then you should adhere to the regulations. If you exceed by a line, you will be spoiling your winning chances. Furthermore, this will reflect on your personality as it will show the judges that you are not willing to adhere to the rules or you want things done your way.
Ensure your Poem is Complete before the deadline
You should never wait for the deadline to approach for you to complete your poem. This is because creativity requires time. Ensure that your poem is ready well before the set deadline. You need to evaluate your poetry for a few days to determine whether any improvements are required. This will help you eliminate any flaws in the poem and ensure that it is perfect. Regardless of your writing prowess, writing a poem last minute will result in a poorly done piece of art.
Free poetry competitions can help you boost your writing career and it can open you up to endless opportunities. This is why you should always be prepared with the best poem when entering any new competition or contest. Whenever you write, you should give your best regardless of how small or big the prize money is.
