Sara ReineMy big #fantasy doorstopper calls for a lot of #worldbuilding, which I have approached from an aspirationally Tolkienesque direction. I haven't spent as much time focusing on mythology. But I have needed to write mythic poems for the lore--in addition to modern poetry that gets peppered in here and there. I am weirdly enjoying the poems?? I've REALLY never done poetry before!
In order to write my poetry, I'm looking up poems from various historical time periods and cultures. It turns out poetry is generally a big gap in my knowledge. I avoided it avidly as a teenager...I think in a sort of snooty "well I write WHOLE BOOKS, anyone can write POETRY in an AFTERNOON" way, which is dreadful now that I think about it!
As everyone except Teenage Sara knows, poetry is such an elegant art form. I am SO accustomed to writing fiction that turning my attention to the sort of...aesthetics of the words themselves? in such detail, particularly... I was missing out. This is delightful. Also, The Song of Songs is QUITE a read!
It's especially interesting as a method of worldbuilding, since different cultures in my world have radically different ethoses in regards to art. My elves are not as meticulous about their music (the source of most prose) because it's everywhere, whereas dwarves really commit to writing precise short pieces with their relatively limited tongue.