Tight writing, big impact
Novels in verse that influenced me as I wrote MARI IN THE MARGINS
A verse novel can be Catastrophe Heartache Friendship Woes Fantasy Magic Family Foes. The only thing it can't be is prose.
Hi friends,
I’ve written before about how much I love novels in verse, and why. When a novel in verse is done well, it packs all the best things about a story into a tight little package that has big impact, particularly emotional impact. I love the concise, lyrical language; the use of white space; the imagery. The novels in verse that I’ve read over the years have been richly varied both in terms of style and story.
Though novels in verse are often heaped together into one genre pile, the truth is they can tell any kind of story—historical fiction, contemporary fiction, fantasy, science fiction, paranormal, biography. There’s really no limit!
There is also no limit (under the wide verse umbrella) to how a novel in verse is written. Many, perhaps most, novels in verse are written in free verse (which, depending on the poet, can come in many different flavors). But there are also many which use specific forms. For example, Garvey’s Choice by Nikki Grimes is told completely in the ancient form of tanka. Gone Fishing by Tamera Will Wissinger is told in 32 different poetic forms!
My novel in verse Mari in the Margins is written primarily in free verse, but also uses several other poetic forms, including haiku, limerick, and list poems. I’ve been influenced to some extent by all the novels in verse I’ve read over the years (even the very few I didn’t particularly like), but I wanted to tell you about those that influenced me the most as I wrote Mari in the Margins.
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. This is the first novel in verse I ever read, and it basically crushed my heart then put it back together again. Reading this book made me realize that verse can be a really powerful storytelling tool.
Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell. This book is young adult, not middle grade. An Arthurian tale that isn’t really fantasy, but feels like fantasy, it is the verse novel that first made me think I could write one. That’s partly because, back in those days, I wasn’t all that interested in writing realistic fiction, but I was interested in writing in verse.
Sharon Creech’s Love that Dog. This book packs a lot into a small package, even compared to other middle grade novels in verse. It’s a perfect example of how concise a novel in verse can be while still telling a rich story full of emotional depth. The sequel, Hate that Cat, is great too!
Heartbeat, also by Sharon Creech. I thought of this book a lot as I was writing Mari in the Margins because I wanted a story that was as full of heart as Heartbeat is, with its themes of family, friendship, and even creativity.
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. I love how so many of the poems in this book feel like spoken word poetry. They have such pizzazz, such motion. There’s a specific scene in Mari in the Margins in which Mari is dealing with her active little sister. As I wrote that poem, I kept Kwame’s active verse in mind, and I think it helped me capture the vibe I was going for in that particular poem even though the story overall is quiet compared to The Crossover.
If you’ve never read a novel in verse before, perhaps you’d like to begin with Mari in the Margins!
I love this. I am deeply fascinated by verse novels and wish, dearly, I could figure one out.
Also, if someone told me their heart was *not* crushed by Out of the Dust, I'd probably stop trusting them immediately. That book is incredible, full stop.