How to get your Neo-Poetry Featured!

While we all use this beautiful piece of the interwebs for different reasons, one thing that people will always agree on is that winning is a pretty fabulous feeling. Everyone likes to be a winner at least once in their life. Neopets has a lot of different ways to be a winner. Lottery, spotlights for art and story writing and clever captions just to name a few. This article however, is about the Poetry Spotlight and if prizes, glory and shiny new trophies are your thing, keep reading because you're gonna love this.

So you're a long time Neopets user who has always wanted that beautiful Poetry trophy for their lookup. Or perhaps you're a relatively new user who wants to improve their account. Maybe you're just someone who likes poetry but never submitted because you feel intimated by the incredible talent that is featured all the time. Whoever you are, I am here to tell you that if you follow these tips, you definitely, probably, most likely will maybe increase your chances of having a poem featured and get that shiny new trophy you've always dreamed of!

First thing you need to do is pick a topic! Choose something you are passionate about because you will find the words just flow out of you, rather than struggling to write more than a single verse. My personal method involves checking out the Calendar for upcoming events, picking something that speaks to me and just going for it.

If you are new to poetry writing, choose a day that is a month or so away and spend some time practicing until you come up with something you are happy with. Research some different styles of poetry or read past entries and look for something that appeals to you and your style of writing. There's Haiku (though you will need to submit at least 3 for your poem to be considered long enough), free verse, sonnets, limerick, narrative and more! Take your time making these decisions. While you can always change your poem and style several times before submitting, it's better to take that extra time to be sure about your choices so you don't doubt yourself later on and try and change it all last minute.

Next, decide what you want your poem to do for people. Do you want people to laugh? Do you want people to cry or be able to relate to it or maybe just go aww that's beautiful? If you're new to writing, pick any topic at all and just write! Do you automatically find yourself writing something with a certain tone? Then that's your pick! Congratulations, you're nearly ready to start your piece.

Poems come in all shapes and sizes so don't worry about rhyming if that isn't the way you want your poem to be read. I've seen a lot of poems that rhyme and a lot of poems that read more like song lyrics or short stories. Whatever your preference is, just go with it and remember that you can't do any of these things wrong. Poems are as unique as the individual writing them and I promise that as long as you follow the guidelines, you can't do anything wrong.

Now it's time to start writing. My biggest tip is to make sure it sounds good when you read it aloud. While I'm sure that very few people who see it will read it aloud, it helps you make sure that everything flows properly and will also help you notice any spelling errors or areas that need a bit of tweaking.

Finally, when you are happy with your creation, submit it and don't look back! If you get chosen, congratulations! I knew you had it in ya. Go enjoy that new trophy you talented little Slorg! If you aren't chosen, don't give up! There are so many entrants for each topic and sadly, they can't choose them all. Just keep trying and keep working on new poems whenever the urge takes you. You will be successful eventually, I promise.

A final tip for those looking to cross this off their Neo-To-Do-List, you can submit more than one poem a day so if you have a few hours where you pump out some real winners, submit them! While I highly suggest doing them for themed events, you never know when your off topic Neo poem might tickle the fancy of our magnanimous judges so don't be afraid to submit a few different styles and topics on the same day. To prevent writers block, choosing a few themes and styles and working on them when the mood strikes you is a great way to keep from getting stuck. You can take a break from one to work on another and come back when inspiration returns. It is also a great idea to have a future topics list so that you don't forget any of those awesome ideas you have on the fly. You never know when inspiration will strike so don't be afraid to write things down, even just vague ideas that you can elaborate on later. Some of my favourite poems were written purely by accident when I didn't even feel like writing.

I wish you all the best of luck with your poetry related ventures. While I have only been featured 3 times myself (though I recently submitted some more so fingers crossed!) it is always so thrilling to see my work for everyone to read and I sincerely hope that everyone reading this today gets to experience that feeling someday in the future.

Never underestimate yourself and your ability to succeed. You haven't failed until you stop trying.

'Just do it!' - Chia Labeouf

    Finally, please enjoy this short poem I have put together just for you, dear readers.

---

There once was a Wocky named Clem

Who was zapped again and again

She was poked and injected

Overfed and infected

From dailies that drove her insane

Now Clem's gone a little bit crazy

Collects rotting driftwood instead of pink daisies

She's obsessed with the dark, has a super villain laugh

And she's basically one scary lady

Clems owner warns all that are like her

Indecision can lead to disaster

Just make up your mind or you just mind find

that your pet makes you choose a bit faster

*written whilst under the watchful eye of Clementide, my beautiful, talented, perfect pet who I will NEVER zap or change ever again*