Level Up Your Poetry, Part 6: Advice from Other Poets

Throughout this series of essays, I’ve shared my own viewpoint. It’s time now to hear from others who have tackled the exciting combination of games and poetry—namely, the contributors of an entire anthology of it. Manawaker Studio recently published Dangerous to Go Alone! 2, their second volume of gamer poetry, which includes a reprint of one of my Sidequest poems. I couldn’t resist the chance to ask the other authors one deceptively simple question: “What advice would you give poets who want to use games as inspiration?” I challenged them to answer in only a couple sentences.

Consider this your warp whistle to a new set of doorways below.  Choose to your heart’s content and step on through…

“As is true with anything, write towards the feeling—the feeling you have (or had) while playing the game, the heartbeats of the characters, the air and light of the world, the strange hinges of the narrative structure, the joy and frustration and nostalgia and curiosity: all of it. Games speak to us, to our experiences as human beings, just as much as any art form—so give yourself permission to write about them that way, with total sincerity, with total respect, and with total enthusiasm. There are people out there who want to feel that with you!”

—Gwendolyn Maia Hicks

“Games are worlds we can enter, for a time. Just as I derive inspiration from the landscape around me, writing myself into places I’ve been and places I want to visit, we can do the same with games. We go to art searching for connection and resonance; pop culture is no less relevant than mundane everyday experience.”

—Marisca Pichette

“Rather than putting yourself in a state of mind where you’re primarily writing about the nouns of the game (for example, getting together a list of iconic characters/settings from said game and making that your main subject), try tapping into your emotion for that game/for an aspect of that game. This emotion is a little different for all of us, and it’s what makes your piece speak with your authentic voice.”

—Paula Ardito

“The most important thing is capturing the tone and emotion of the game, or part of the game, that really inspires you or draws you to it. Nail the vibe, and the rest will follow.”

—C. Payne

“Don’t be constrained by what you’ve been taught. Don’t hesitate to explore an idea because of what you’ve been told poetry has to be – use your passion as your guide and listen to it. Try new things.”

—Sarah Jane Justice

“Don’t be afraid of writing fanfiction. It can be a good start to a poem that you can re-tool later to be less derivative or just a way to keep writing when you’re feeling stuck.”

—Jennifer Elise Wang

“I prefer poems with unobtrusive structures where the innovation comes from the topic handled and what the poet is trying to convey about the subject, whatever that may be. Now, in certain cases, playing around with the structure would enhance what the poem is aiming for, and that’s when experimentation isn’t just encouraged but required. In other words, I think experimentation should be the exception, not the norm.”

—J. D. Harlock

 

Coming up in the next installment, CB Droege will share an editor’s perspective.

Read more of the Game Enjambment series.