Tips for pupils | Donnersberger Literaturverein

Tips for pupils

We appreciate your interest in the written word. Together with the DLT, we are committed to promoting young people's enthusiasm for writing. If you are considering entering the Susanne Faschon Prize writing competition, we would like to share some comments and suggestions we received from the jury:

On poems:

Poems are strongly influenced by feelings and images. Writers usually experience their feelings as very individual, but the stars, the rose and many other things have been used countless times before. To reach readers, you should therefore be original and stand out from the crowd, whether through a new idea or the way the poem is written.

'Schmerz' rhymes with 'Herz'; we've read that a hundred times before. So please, no "Rhyme with me or I'll bite you!"
Poems should contain condensation! A prose text in verse form is not a poem.
Metaphors, symbolism, ambiguity and wordplay are particularly well suited to poetry (for this reason).
Nowadays, poems are mostly no longer rhymed. But if you do rhyme, then a poem should also have a metre (rising and falling in a clear rhythm) and a rhythm (the same number of such metres), and thus a melody. You can break the metre/rhythm, but this should be intentional; i.e. it should have a connection to the content and draw attention.

Regarding prose texts:

As soon as the reader gets bored, the text is rubbish.
Texts should be written without pointing fingers.
Texts should not explain either.
Good texts make the reader think. Not by nudging them, but by allowing them to identify with the protagonist, put themselves in the situation and think for themselves.
The writer should therefore confidently rely on the reader's intelligence.
Texts become long-winded through repetition, whether through descriptions of similar experiences, explanations, or, of course, word repetition (He said ... and then he said ...).
As with poetry, a good idea or an original way of presenting the text will earn the most points.
We are not looking for texts that resemble an essay or discussion.
Surprising twists, open questions, a punchline or even ambivalent characters leave the jury members clicking their tongues in admiration.
Colloquial language can be expressed in direct language. Otherwise, words such as "yes" (That was very important), "somehow" and other filler words are not only superfluous, but also slow things down.
It therefore makes sense to read your text with a view to shortening it as much as possible.

As soon as the reader gets bored, the text is rubbish.

Texts should be written without pointing fingers.

Texts should not explain either.

Good texts make the reader think. Not by nudging them, but by allowing them to identify with the protagonist, put themselves in the situation and think for themselves.

The writer should therefore confidently rely on the reader's intelligence.

Texts become long-winded through repetition, whether through descriptions of similar experiences, explanations, or, of course, word repetition (He said ... and then he said ...).

As with poetry, a good idea or an original way of presenting the text will earn the most points.

We are not looking for texts that resemble an essay or discussion.

Surprising twists, open questions, a punchline or even ambivalent characters leave the jury members clicking their tongues in admiration.

It therefore makes sense to read your text with a view to shortening it as much as possible.