A poetic novel is a special art form that is designed to reach mainstream Americans. Therefore, to be accepted, it must be presented to them in a format to which they relate. Most Americans were taught in school that poetry is written as a series of phrases that each end in rhyming words. Hence, many readers recoil in abhorrence when they see a work described as poetry without a rhyming scheme. Secondly, a novel suggests to a reader that it contains a logical progression of events (a plot) rather than a collection of individual works or streams of consciousness. With these two concepts, one must approach the act of writing a poetic novel as both an art and a science.

The art is the same as in writing any fictional novel. There must be a good plot that is believable. The story should be a balance of the predictable (happy endings) and the unpredictable. There must be a hero, a heroine, and a villain. Characters should be realistic; their personalities should be steady, yet have shifts when under stress. They should have emotions, think, and respond to events as real people. (As such, the poet has a particular advantage in the romance genre where searching for and expressing emotions are key elements.)

The science is in framing the work in a rhyming scheme with some semblance of meter (at least within each rhyming couplet). Obviously, it is necessary to stay away from words like orange and elbow. It is also advantageous to select names for people and places that easily rhyme. Additionally, for characters, it is essential not only to choose a first name and last name that are easily rhymed, but that also have different syllables. (If the first name is one syllable, choose a last name with two, as in Ray Ellow.) This will help with meter in the rhyming couplets. You will then be able to use any combination of the name such as Ray, Ellow, Ray Ellow, Mister Ellow or Mister Ray Ellow to give you the opportunity to adjust the number of stressed syllables in the line.

The real challenge in this art form is being able to weave the story line within phrases that can rhyme. It may become necessary to change minor parts of the story to enable the rhyming scheme. While writing The Roses of Haye, I would often end a phrase with a word and then select a rhyme that had the most potential to finish the thought or action. Sometimes, I couldn’t find any word that worked, so I had to slightly adjust the story. Inverting the sentence by moving the subject or verb to facilitate a rhyme is not recommended, as much of the story is speaking. Other than Star Wars’ Yoda, there aren’t many people who talk in an order other than subject-predicate-object.

In summary, writing a novel is a huge undertaking; writing one in poetic form is a monumental task. In reality, it is no different than writing a ballad; it just takes a whole lot longer. Use the eating the elephant principle—one bite at a time. Once completed, it becomes a piece of art that, in my experience, captivates the reader in two ways. The first, as in any story, is the plot. The second is the reader’s fascination with the rhyming scheme.

Andrew Verrett is author of The Roses of Haye,