Writing Tip: Free Verse Poetry

"Free Verse" poetry is a type of poetry that doesn't rhyme or use a certain meter (rhythm), but you can tell it is poetry. Usually, it has lines like a poem, each line starting with a capital letter. When you read it, it "feels" like a poem, even without the rhyming and meter, because the words and idea flow more like a poem than a story. Rosemary O'Hagan wrote a beautiful free verse poem for the animals issue. The first few lines of the poem are:

A summer night's wind blows against
A forest of Aspen trees. Each of their leaves
Flip and flutter making them seem as a
Glittering blur. Under the greenery of the
Trees a mother bear lies with her new bear
Cubs.

Read the whole poem and think about what makes a poem a poem:

Animals Issue

Writing Tip: First Person Point of View

Illustration by Kelsey Walker, age 9

The "Point of View" of a story or poem describes the narrator, or who is telling the story. "First person" point of view is when the story is told by the person who experienced it first hand. You can tell a story written in the first person because the main character is telling the story, and refers to himself or herself as "I." This can make the action in a story seem more intense and exciting. Other points of view can also work well. When before writing a story, consider what point of view would make your story most interesting.

James Gui uses the first person point of view in The Evil Magician and reading the first paragraph really makes you want to find out what happens next, doesn't it?

"I was nervous as I walked up the dark stairs to the stage of the magic show at the circus. The magician had called on me for a magic trick. I wondered what I was suposed to do ... pull a bunny out of a hat? Jump inside a box and get cut in half? Whatever I was supposed to do, I didn't think I wanted to know."

By using this view point, the people reading his story don't know any more about the mysterious magician than that main character so they feel just as frightened! Finish the story here:

 
Fairy Tales and Fantasy Issue

Art Tip - Cut Paper

Cut paper is a colorful way to make an eye catching piece of artwork. Use colorful construction paper, and consider mixing in some other types of paper, like wrapping paper or others. Be aware that newspaper will turn yellow as it ages, and magazine paper wrinkles when glued with wet glue (use a glue stick or other glue that isn't wet feeling).

Launch Pad has published several outstanding pieces of art done with cut paper. Check them out!

Coral Reef, written and illustrated by Richard Graham, age 10
Oceans Issue

Snakes, written by written by Clarie Moran, Age 8, and illustrated by Kieran Storer, Age 8
Animals Issue

At the Magical Fountain, written by Tatiana Soto, Age 11, and illustrated by Hannah Schmitt, Age 10
Fairy Tales and Fantasy Issue

Writing Tip: Repetition

And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep

Those are the closing lines of a famous poem called "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" by American poet Robert Frost. He uses repetition to create a mood and change the pace of the poem. It also makes you think about the last line. Repetition in poetry is often a great way to get readers to pay attention to what you are writing. But be careful when you use it, "repetitious" means repeating something in a way that gets boring or tiresome because your reader has already heard it. It is challenging to be an author who uses repetition without being repetitious.

Katie Yoder, age 11, makes a great use of repetition in her poem "Loons in Maine," in the oceans issue.

Hundreds on the ocean waves
Black, floating loons
Spotted, dotted, red-eyed loons
Black floating loons.

Read the poem and see the beautiful illustration here:
Oceans Issue

Art Tip: Complementary Colors

The Launch Pad blog is now featuring useful writing and art tips for aspiring writers and artists ages 6 - 12. Our first tip is on using complementary colors.

Complementary colors are the colors that are opposite from each other on the color wheel:

Red and Green
Orange and Blue
Yellow and Purple

Using complementary colors in a piece of artwork makes the colors stand out more, and almost always makes a good piece of art great. Hannah Schmitt, age 10, used complementary colors in her illustrations for At the Magical Fountain. Look at how she used bits of bright pink (pink is really light red!) to complement her greens and make the artwork interesting.



Read the poem and look at all the artwork in the Fairy Tales and Fantasy Issue:
Fairy Tales and Fantasy Issue