Elevate Your Poetry and Short Stories with One Ancient Trick

From sonnets to haiku to sijo, from Shakespeare to Bashō, great poets from antiquity to the modern day know this one trick to elevate their writing. And by using this one trick, we can turn a 17-syllable haiku into a killer short story. Join me in this video essay as we learn how to take just a few words and transform them into flash fiction.

0:00 What do these sonnets have in common?
4:39 What is a volta?
6:39 Haikus
9:18 Sijos
12:13 Flash fiction
17:20 Writing exercise: turning a haiku into a short story

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Editor: Khabi Javan

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#writing #creativewriting #literature #poem #poetry #shakespeare #haiku #flashfiction #shortstory

[hebedite]

I think it's poetic that Shakespearean sonnet always ends with 'gg'

He was truly the most respectful gamer.

[Kristina-dljv]

A bright April day
While my cousin is buried
I wish it would rain

[t-xq]

my haiku:

then the credits roll
and i check if you’re awake
we drown in our tears

i absolutely loved all three short stories and would love to see more of yours in spoken word form on the channel!

[benjip]

I’m watching youtube
awake past midnight again
time to take a pill

[A.R.T.C.R.E.W]

straight up jorking it
and by "it", well let's just say
i mean my peanitz

[mikahbee]

I was shocked by my sudden tears at the end of the wolf story 😭

[cadianst]

Just a note, since the video uses technical language it should be clarified that haiku are not syllable based, rather mora based. While we don't really distinguish between syllable and mora in modern English poetry, they are very distinct in Japanese. Take 'Nippon', the (slightly archaic) Japanese word for Japan, it is two syllables but four mora

[ArtArtisian]

So many things to write
Deadlines loom over my shoulder
I'll watch one more video

[aethelwyrnblack]

Define "infinite"
Is it truly limitless?
We must count higher

[ayamaguire]

learning poetry
I feel a change in myself
knowledge I cherish

[Window]

Even a lone duck
When it alights on a pond
Makes many ripples

[katiereed]

I did the haiku and flash fiction in defiance of today's brain. I didn't like the results, but it opened me up to a poem that worked better. Here is that poem, assuming you have a moment:

The pleasure of a purpose,
Never merely monopolized
By moments of momentum,
Shows in a stalled path's blackness
Like glow-in-the-dark stars.

Now I'm never far from finding
No more reasons to face forward.

But the way-making
In an answered why
Cries out
With a dim, green shine of options
Anyhow.

So I sit at the desk,
And write what seems
Insane or trite,
Nevertheless.

[GelatinSkeleton]

my haiku:

death in the mountains.
the hunter’s broken femur,
the leopard’s mercy.

😅 tried my best to focus in on a short story idea i have

[NunyaBiznessss]

I sit with my cat
Cozily draped in blankets
God I have to pee

[lyshlysh]

9:15 am
This belt will not sew itself
My lamp keeps dying

[goodlookingcorpse]

[a not-quite-haiku I wrote years ago]

Dad holds us together
we tiptoe round his throne
on the mantlepiece

[danevans]

A bleak winter morn
and my voice frozen in air
Her smile a bright flame

Well, it's by no means as good as some of the other commenters, but thanks for this chance to practise! Been really enjoying your content recently and would be really interested to see more of your creative writing; the pieces in this video were excellent (loved the revised haiku).

[linm]

**Voltas**

Thirty-Nine Years of Carrie Wallace: "In the hallway, this insane guy from Texas dribbles a basketball and sings a song about cheese."

This is the first line that took me out of the warm bubble of the author and Carrie's shared world. The author's attention is no longer on Carrie—or rather, it seems that this is like the moment of shock you have when you receive unwanted/unexpected news, and your brain latches onto some random, environmental detail. This line was where their shared world shattered for me.

(The last paragraph comes off as a more... obvious? volta, both in style and tone, but I liked the "shock" the above line gave me.)

The Wolf Wears Jeggings
- "The wolf trembles with lust for the forest and one gingko tree in particular."

I felt like the volta occurred with this line, when the perspective switches from the external (what others are ready to perceive about the wolf) to the something closer to the internal (her specific desires and beliefs). The tone switches from being aloof to being vulnerable.

Also, thank you for sharing more of your writing! It's always a pleasure to hear 😊

[girlhag]

Also, being from Roanoke, Virginia, 39 Years with Carrie Wallace melted my heart

[girlhag]

This is also an incredibly useful bit of knowledge for songwriters! Not only for lyrics, but also composition. Thanks for the video, amazing as always. You’re quickly becoming one of my favorite YouTube channels :) Keep it up!