08-10-2018, 07:35 AM
Beg pardon if this was already mentioned above, but as I see it if you're writing (for example) an Italian Sonnet, writing in perfect meter is perfectly alright. Departing from meter should have a purpose beyond inability to fit the meter, but, then, writing in the form should have a purpose beyond just fitting the form (learning it in order to use it later, with or without departures, would be an example of a purpose).
Personally, I find that sometimes being forced (i.e. forcing myself) to write in a form can lead to creative thinking. For example, if I'm writing a sonnet which requires problem and solution (rather than statement and turn), the commonplace search for a solution is actually broadened by the desperate need to find one that fits the form rather than one that fits my predisposition as to what the solution "should" be. Same can happen anywhere: finding the rhyme can also reveal a different and better direction for the work.
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Personally, I find that sometimes being forced (i.e. forcing myself) to write in a form can lead to creative thinking. For example, if I'm writing a sonnet which requires problem and solution (rather than statement and turn), the commonplace search for a solution is actually broadened by the desperate need to find one that fits the form rather than one that fits my predisposition as to what the solution "should" be. Same can happen anywhere: finding the rhyme can also reveal a different and better direction for the work.
[/soapbox]
Non-practicing atheist