Want to Be a Writer? Try Haiku First

Many aspiring writers, with varying levels of writing experience, often imagine writing a book. Over the course of my editorial career, literally hundreds of people have reached out to me saying they want to write a book on their own — when they have zero experience. 

Let me be clear on this — I don't want to discourage anyone from writing, ever. 

But you should know that you don’t have to go big right away if you’re new to writing. Writing a book is genuinely time-consuming and headache-inducing, no matter what some marketers may tell you. 

Deciding to write a book or novel when you’ve written nothing but required papers in your school and work life is like attempting pole vaulting with no training at all.

If you want to write, a book doesn’t necessarily have to be the primary goal. Meaning well, we forget we humans have other options to develop our writing skills. Blog posts and social media posts are obvious choices. Journalists once loved Twitter for good reason. 

Other short-form writing that we neglect exists, too. You can snazz up your texts and emails. Or go old school and handwrite notes and letters to people. (I’m a huge advocate of writing by hand. It’s a natural way to slow down thinking and tap into the complexity of our humanness.) 

I’ve also recently discovered the magic of haikus for writing practice. 

Why Haiku Are Good for You 

Does writing haiku (a three-line poem with a strict 5-7-5 syllable count structure) have the same lofty air of writing a book? No, because of the aura of  prestige associated with book writing that society has imprinted on our brains. But haikus are highly underrated. No other writing form will work your brain quite so hard using a tiny number of words. Haikus are like HIIT for your creativity and vocabulary muscles.

If you’re unfamiliar with haiku, here’s a brief explanation: https://www.britannica.com/art/haiku

Counting Sheep. Counting Syllables

The other night I couldn’t sleep because I had an idea for a haiku, and my right brain would not let it go until I had a final draft written in my head. With each version I came up with, the syllable count for the second line kept landing on six or eight syllables, rather than seven. Or the word choices to make everything fit didn’t convey the right feeling and image. 

For the record, I fell asleep at around 3 a.m. But this is what I settled on. It’s based on a memory:

Rogue chocolate mousse

splatters constellations on

the kitchen ceiling.

The next day, I wrote another haiku inspired news events:

Yosemite’s trees

peer down at billionaire’s saws, 

silently pleading.

Two very different poems. Two very different feelings.

Now, Challenge Yourself

If you’re thinking about writing, or you’re feeling a bit rusty, haiku are a great way to give your creativity a workout. Writing these tiny but mighty poems can help you determine whether you have the stamina for a larger writing project. Writing haiku also forces you to call up vocabulary you may not use often. I’m so inspired by this practice, I may pick up a new print thesaurus. (I gave my Roget’s to a friend in need a long time ago. Je regrette.)

May multi-syllabic forces be with you.

Happy writing!