What is a Poetry Marathon?
A Poetry Marathon is a creative endurance test. Writers from all around the world are invited to take part. Throughout the event all participants will be writing at the same time, to the same creative prompts which are posted at the beginning of every new hour.
Inspired by The Poetry Marathon, run by Caitlin Thomson and Jacob Jans, the ‘Race for the Crown’ format is an adaption of their event.
Why take part?
The primary reason to take part in this event is to write poetry.
The event is split into two sections; the first, a traditional twelve hour poetry marathon, is suited to all skill levels. Experienced poets and newcomers alike, are invited to try their hand at poetry prompt writing. Poets are free to interpret the prompts in whichever way they would like to do so.
The second half of the event requires the writing of a very specific, and arguably one of the most difficult classical forms of poetry, ‘the sonnet redouble‘ more commonly known as ‘the crown of sonnets‘. This extremely technical form of poetry is not for the faint of heart, but there is nothing to stop someone new to poetry from trying their hand at this second stage of the event. In 2022, of the four poets who completed the second stage, three had never written a redouble before and one had only just started writing poetry a few months before. Rules are there to be broken, and if at the end of the day you have written something that you are proud of, then there is nothing to say that this is incorrect.
FoDiByLi will always champion participation over perfection, and the point of a poetry marathon is to end your day with first drafts of new work that you can go on to edit and improve once the initial day of writing is over. Event like this are spaces to try something new, and to do so while writing alongside a community of creative individuals who are all doing the same thing at the same time.
At the end of the first stage, successful poets will have twelve new poems of any style to be proud of. Many people go on to publish some of these poems in literary magazines or other publications. Some even use their marathon poems to create a collection of their own. At the end of stage two, for those that go on to complete it, you will have created something quite outstanding that you could showcase in any collection of work you may go on to create.
A crown of sonnets is a significant body of work and something many writers would be nervous about attempting; but, doing so with the support of other writers all doing the same thing can often help us overcome those creative worries getting us to the end of a first draft that can be celebrated and improved upon at a later date.
There is no one way to showcase your work and even if you just write one or two new poems throughout the day, you get a chance to read other writer’s work and network with them throughout the day … and beyond. A poetry marathon is not just a place to find peers, but a place where friendships founded on shared creative energies can be formed. Creativity itself is rewarding, and though sometimes challenging, the rewards are returned the more we all invest together as a community of creative minds.
Testimonial from Danielle, one of the four 2022 Race for the Crown event finishers.
When I was young, I thought sonnets could only hold romantic themes. I devoured them in the hopes I, too, would experience such romance in my life.I have aged since then and have learned I am as unromantic as they come. This led me to believe I could never possibly write a sonnet.
But then Darren Coremans, a poet I met virtually during a poetry marathon, came up with the brilliant idea of running an event where we would write sonnets. Not just one sonnet, but a crown.
I was intrigued. What exactly was a crown of sonnets? 15 sonnets interconnected, not just by specific lines, but by theme. This was a challenge I wanted to try.
I learned that Saturday how difficult it is to write a sonnet and I quickly feared I would never be able to write a full crown. I was wrong. I did write the full crown. It took much longer than I expected, but I did write it.
Was it full of romantic references? Absolutely not. It did, however, tell a story of reoccurring events in my life.
I will always be grateful to Darren for the challenge to write in a form I had previously avoided and the encouragement to see it through to the end.
Danielle Wong (2023)
What we learn most of all from Danielle is that to finish this event you need to be perseverant, kind to yourself and open to approaching things in your own way. These forms have a rich history and certain themes or tropes do crop up over and over again, but if that is not what you are inspired to write don’t feel constrained by form. The form should guide, never stifle, and in playing with the rules sometimes we create new things. Crafting a completed crown is a marker of a poet who is patient and committed to their craft and it is a wonderful feeling to cross that metaphorical finish line anyway you can.
The event takes place on Saturday, 6 January 2024 and depending on how long it takes those who decide to take part in the second stage of the event to complete their sonnet redoubles it may take some time for the event to end. In 2022, four people completed the second stage of the event the first redouble being fully drafted within eighteen hours of the first stage ending, the last of the four completed redoubles was confirmed almost four weeks after the event took place. With the current record for fastest finisher being DS Coremans with a (self-)confirmed finish time of 17 1/2 hours in 2022 could this be the year for someone else to be first across the line?
‘A poetry marathon is not just a place to find peers, but a place where friendships founded on shared creative energies can be formed.’
DS Coremans (2023)
Publication
To make this year’s event all the more exciting FoDiByLi Publishing will be accepting submissions for an anthology collection of poems written during this event. The first three poets to confirm completion of a second stage sonnet redouble, written during this event will be able to submit their sonnet redoubles to be featured as the central piece in the anthology collection. All other works will still be considered, but only the first three returned redoubles will be considered for use as the central piece in this collection to be published in its entirety.
Once the Marathon is complete there will be an opportunity for everyone to take time to rest, recover, then return to their writing to edit before the submission window opens in March 2024 for anyone who took part to submit their work to be included in the anthology collection.
Whether you write one poem, twelve, or go on to complete the full crown of sonnets your work will be eligible for submission; so take part and give yourself a chance to be creative, to network with other writers and even showcase your work in a publication to be released within the next year.
Testimonial from Karen, one of the four 2022 Race for the Crown event finishers.
‘Having only dabbled in Sonnets before, the race to the crown felt like a good challenge to really get to know the form. Completion was a challenge, but I am proud to have done so and thoroughly enjoyed the process. I’m looking forward to the next one!’
Karen Todd (2023)
Rules:
Before the Marathon
The hourly prompts will be available on the main FoDiByLi website, as well as on the Friends of #FoDiByLi Facebook group. To take part in the social experience of writing during this event you should join the Friends of #FoDiByLi group before 12pm on Friday, 5 January 2024. Applications to join the group after this time may not be processed until after the event has been completed.
FoDiByLi is run by a small team of volunteers and the administration necessary to run this event means that on the day there will likely not be anyone available to process requests to join the page or help with technical requests, but all efforts will be made to make this event accessible to anyone who wants to take part.
During the Marathon
Stage 1 – The Marathon
Begins at 12pm GMT (Saturday 6 January 2024)
12 Prompts, 12 Hours, One Prompt Per Hour
Write one poem per hour, using the prompt given as inspiration.
To take part you simply have to write along with the hourly prompts. You do not need to share you work publicly to take part, but the two main spaces for doing so are under the post as comments, here on the FoDiByLi website, or you can share your work a little more privately in the Friends of #FoDiByLi Facebook Group where you can share you work on the posts for each hour, you are more likely to get feedback and comments on your work in the Friends of #FoDiByLi group. Sharing your work this way is a valuable way to engage with the other writers taking part in the event and by sharing your own work and commenting on the work of other writers there is an opportunity to gain feedback on your writing that may help you during the editing and submission phase of writing as well as being part of the networking experience of the event itself.
Poems can be any style, length or topic. However, if you are taking part in the second stage of the marathon at least three of your poems should be sonnets, of any style or rhyme scheme preferred. The only strict rule for sonnets is that they should each have 14 lines and 10 syllables per line.
Poets who fall behind can catch up, but should not write ahead of the next hourly prompt. During stage one only one poem per hour is required but of course you are free to write more for any one prompt if you feel so inspired.
Everyone should aim to finish stage one by midnight on Sunday, 7 January 2024.
Stage 2 – The Race Begins
Begins at 12am GMT (Sunday 7 January 2024)
1 Prompt, One Fully Finished Crown of Sonnets
Using the template provided; you should craft a fully finished first draft of a crown of sonnets:
To save confusion during the marathon it is recommended that all participants look at this template prior to the event and email dsc@fodibyli.com if you have any problems with the spreadsheet not working as it should – an older version of the spreadsheet can be made available via google drives, but this is less user friendly and technical support WILL NOT be available on the day of the event.
A Crown of Sonnets is 15 individual linked sonnets where each successive sonnet start with a line from the 15th sonnet which you will have written during the first stage of the marathon. The first line of Sonnet 1 starts with line 1, and ends with line 2 of Sonnet 15; The first line of Sonnet 2 starts with line 2, and ends with line 3 of Sonnet 15…The first line of Sonnet 14 starts with line 14, and ends with line 1 of Sonnet 15.
There will be a full explanation of the style on the Friends of #FoDiByLi group page before the event and additional detail about this form and how to use the spreadsheet template will be made available prior to the event.
After the Marathon
All participants who took part in either stage of the marathon should email their work in an attached word document, or within the spreadsheet template for the second stage which has spaces for your stage one poems as well as your crown of sonnets. These poems will not count as submissions, but poets who are confirmed to have completed all twelve poems from stage one, or the full crown from stage 2 will be sent a certificate to commemorate this achievement. All emails should be sent to dsc@fodibyli.com with the subject line ‘Race for the Crown Confirmations’.
All participants taking part in the second stage of the marathon will have one month to finish their Crown of Sonnets and send it to DS Coremans, crowns finished after this time are still an achievement but may not be considered for publication in this first anthology collection. However completed crowns should be sent to DS as soon as possible after they are finished, even if the draft is very rough, the email time signature will be used to confirm which of the three poets who finish first will be eligible for submission as the primary feature of this anthology collection.
Contact DS Coremans at dsc@fodibyli.com for any help in accessing the event resources or if you have any questions about the event before it begins.
Remember:
Participants who would like to engage with other writers during the event are encouraged to join the ‘Friends of #FoDiByLi’ Facebook group before the event begins: https://www.facebook.com/groups/891980424800372
Recent Writing Prompts from #FoDiByLi
