Rhyme Time

I have a picture book that is written in rhyme. It has not been published yet, but I'm not sure if that's because the rhyme is badly done (I don't think it is) or I just haven't had the good fortune to find the right publisher for it. In any case, I know it's been difficult to make the rhyme work. You may not believe this, but rhyming (and doing it well) isn't easy. 

But, I recently came across an amazing site for learning about, and working with, rhyme. Lots and lots of children's stories are written in verse. Many of them are done well; unfortunately, many are not. I've been learning about meter and rhyme and verse in an effort to improve my writing.

If you're interested in learning about it too, you should visit RHYME WEAVER. It is THE go-to site for all your questions about meter and rhyme. As defined on the site:

Meter is the arrangement of words, syllables, or sounds into a regular, recurring pattern. In poetry, it is the rhythmic pattern of STRESSED and UNstressed syllables that makes up verse.

Lane, the author of the website, says:

"Adding Rhyme to a poem or story can make it lively and clever, but you don’t have to rhyme to publish or be respected. Actually, it’s highly UNfashionable to rhyme.  Rhyming your poetry in grad school is the social equivalent of schizophrenia– you could talk to yourself in public and be cooler.  

The publishing industry is a little better, but there are many editors who won’t even look at rhyme because when it’s bad, it hurts to hear it.

So don’t torture people with bad rhyme, it’s rude.  Make sure that you are rhyming because you want to and because you’ve taken the time to learn to do it well."

So, come along with me and learn to write rhyme so the editors, publishers, and ultimately your readers will thank you.