Voice of the Verse Novel in the Digital Age

Although written in 2005 by Joy Alexander, "The Verse Novel: A New Genre" has most excellent points which are still accurate today. In summary:

1. The digital revolution translates into oral/auditory exchanges.
2. Therefore, the voice of a written text rises in importance.
3. The verse novel, with it's intimacy of exchange with the reader and heightened voice, is the perfect vehicle to carry story in the digital age. With arranged lines, readers "experience the words as sound."
Children’s Literature in Education, Vol. 36, No. 3, September 2005

Here's to verse novels, past and future!

On the Verse Novel

I just answered an email about verse novels and thought to share my musings here with you all. If you write verse this might get your mind moving.

First off, definitely read everything written in verse. There are so many YA verse novels available now. We have carved out our own genre! Woohoo!

As you read, do you see a difference, say between, True Believer and What My Mother Doesn't Know and Your Own, Sylvia?

There's a wide range of how poetic verse novels feel. I think I've mentioned the three in order of poetic overtones. Virginia Euwer Wolff refuses to call her work poetry. Whereas, I'm sure it's high in the thoughts of Sonya Sones and Stephanie Hemphill. I guess I'm saying there's a bar that slides between narrative and poem. My work is closer to Virginia's, narrative.

If your work is more narrative, I suggest reading straight poetry that you enjoy. I love Janet Wong's work, Langston Hughes, and Walt Whitman.



You'll find poetic elements dropping into your writing. Your ear will pick them up and place them into your work.

If your novel is closer to poetry, definitely study books on how to write poetry. Know those structures, play with them, read other poets, rewrite your poems in various forms.

I tend to return to Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge's work Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words. I just ordered her Foolsgold as well.



Just a few thoughts on verse. That form that holds intense emotion with the barest language. I love it!

~Lorie Ann Grover, rgz diva/author