In 2022, I started going to the Imaginarium Convention in Kentucky with hopes of strengthening my skills and making lasting relationships with fellow writers and other creatives.

Now, three years later, it’s one of my favorite yearly events.

I began participating in panels in 2023, and I hosted my first workshop in 2024. This year, I have the honor of hosting another workshop, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

But what does that have to do with writing advice?

Imaginarium is a convention of creators, and every panel I attended had advice to offer on strengthening your craft, finding your passion, and becoming a better writer.

And, since I’m not a gatekeeper, I wanted to share some of that advice with you.

Advice on Writing Poetry:

• Poetry is not a way of writing- it’s a way of living, and that way of living is to become as aware as possible of the things around you
• Anytime someone says something about your writing, ask yourself “does that apply to me?”
• Poetry is not direct- it’s a peeper that sneaks around the corner
• A poet writes with a figurative language, not a literal language- therefore, it should NOT be read literally
• To increase your quality of poetry, be concrete.
• The meaning of the abstract isn’t determined by the writer, it’s determined by the reader.
• Describe your abstract in concreteness
• If you want to be a poet, you have to see the world through the eyes of a child (innocent)
• Show me, don’t tell me. It’s the difference between hearing the experience and experiencing it firsthand
• An important word is Strangeness. You HAVE to be strange (or add an element of strangeness) to write poems. However, it needs to be a natural strangeness.
• Listen. What are people saying? How are they saying it? Grab what interests you.
• Metaphors are stronger than similes. Instead of saying something is LIKE something, say it IS something
• Go for the Verbs instead of verbal’s (ing verbs). They’re stronger.
• The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug
• Write how you talk. Don’t invert to get rhymes. Every rhyme must be natural, not forced.
• Don’t add unnecessary sermons to the end of your poems. Let the audience infer the meaning.
• When your poem stops describing and starts making a statement, that’s your sermon.
• Titles are wonderful. Use them!
• A poem should be “Somewhere between two lines and crossing the ocean”- aka, as long as it needs to be to be finished.
• Never say anything that’s no necessary. The greatest creators of all time still revise.
  

Advice on writing a Short Story:

• Treat short stories as mini-novels. They can have the same plot, but fewer characters, smaller settings, and less-dramatic problems.
• Narrative hook- the opening of the story should be 75-100 words and create an emotional impact.
• Introduce a character who has a problem, add a setting and some action, and finish off with a question.
• The first character introduced should be the main
• You don’t have to begin with the character’s name.
• Make the words on the page from the character, not the author.
• Start a story with the same style you intend to finish it. Don’t shift writing styles in the middle.
• A reader doesn’t have to know the technicality of writing to know that something is off about a story
• Can explore a neat idea or observation without a standard structure
• The shorter the work, the fewer viewpoints you want
• Write your story until it’s done, then edit it until it’s done
• The ending will re-inform the beginning

These are notes from my first Imaginarium convention in 2022, and the poetry section was from none other than Kentucky’s previous Poet Laureate, Lee Pennington.

The advice above set me on the path that led me to where I am today, and I’ll always remember the first time I stepped into the convention and called it “home”.