This is all quoted/ saved from Eric S. Raymond's Home Page. The site fails to load but then if you leave it, does load on the second try. I've linked to the web page the riddle poems are on at the bottom of this post. The entire post has much more information, ideas, even challenges and history.

We know of many cultures that have riddle-poem traditions. The best-documented, and the one we'll be taking our model from, is the riddle-poem tradition of the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings, and the Teutons. These peoples of the Dark Ages played the riddle-game around their hearth-fires for more than five hundred years. Some of their riddles have come down to us.

Basic Riddle-Poem Construction

Here's an example of a riddle-poem in modern English in very traditional style and subject:

Riddle: A hoard of rings am I, but no fit gift for a bride; I await a sword's kiss.

Answer: A suit of chain-mail.

Note that it doesn't rhyme. Rhyme is nice in a riddle-poem, but strong rhythm (what poets call good scansion) is better. Actually, traditional riddle-poems hardly employed rhyme for structure at all; they used an elaborate set of stress rules and a technique called alliteration which we'll describe later on.

Rhythm --- speech rhythm --- is all-important. In composing riddle-poems that sound good, a bit of role-playing helps. When you're working on one, try to imagine yourself chanting it to a hall-full of drunken Vikings. Do they pound the tables and roar? Do they laugh? Or do they just plain not get it?

How to Make a Riddle-Poem

Work backwards. First, pick your answer. Then, imagine it speaking to you; describing itself, telling you what it does. Then make that into a little poem.

As I was thinking about the last paragraph, my eyes lit on the telephone beside my keyboard. I decided to make a riddle-poem for which telephone is the answer.

So I imagine the phone speaking to me. It says I carry the voices of people over many miles. That's a good start, but it's not specific enough; it could apply to a radio as well.

What distinguishes a phone from a radio? Wires. But if I mention wires directly, the riddle will be too obvious. So I think instead about what a phone looks like, analogizing it to a body. And I have it:

Riddle: One ear, one mouth, no legs, But I will carry your voice a thousand miles.

This is pretty nice. But the scansion in the second line is not quite right.

_  /  _    /  _   _    /   _   /  _    /

But I will carry your voice a thousand miles.

This is close to iambic pentameter. It could be improved by a one-syllable verb replacement for carry. There are lots of possibilities; take, waft, send, bear. I like bear for its archaic sound. And so we have it:

/   /       /    /        /   /

One ear, || one mouth, || no legs, _ / _ / _ / _ / _ / But I || will bear || your voice || a thou- || sand miles.

This is an easy riddle, but the construction worked well. In general, these are the steps you'll usually go through:

1. Pick a subject.
2. Imagine the subject speaking to you.
3. If that doesn't work, analogize the subject to a body or creature.
4. Adjust the description to the level of difficulty you want.
5. For best poetic effect, fix the scansion in the result.

Source: Riddle-Poems, and How to Make Them

I've written some flash fiction, usually under 1000 words (or less). It's fun. Finding sites posting about writing flash non-fiction was interesting. I think we have all written flash fiction at some time. A note, a few thoughts about this or that. Is flash fiction really more than a short personal journal entry? Maybe, if you're thinking about writing it for others to read. That would make a difference.

From When you Write - Flash Non-Fiction

Key Takeaways

• Flash Nonfiction requires concise and engaging writing that balances storytelling and factual accuracy.
• Choosing a topic that writers are passionate about and researching sources is important in creating successful flash nonfiction.
• Cutting unnecessary details, using specific language, and avoiding repetition are key components of tightening prose in flash nonfiction.
• Sharing work with others and receiving constructive criticism is essential in developing skills and improving as a writer in flash nonfiction.

Sarah Domet wrote a book for Writer's Digest, about writing a novel in 90 days. I started reading the book when it was new out in the bookstores. Then, I got sidetracked and it began gathering dust bunnies on my bookshelves like so many other books I bought with such good intentions. But, Sarah's book, 90 Days to your Novel, stuck in my mind. Her methods were not fluff, or talking about writing like it was a nice job someone else could do.

One reason I don't finish writing the book I want to write is a problem with staying focused on one thing and seeing it through to the end. Sure, you can take breaks, visit family, make dinner, all those ordinary things. But, I tend to make great progress, write up notes for characters, plots and descriptions of scenes and then... nothing. They are all just great notes I made during that hour I let myself actually work at it.

The dust bunnies think I'm wonderful. I give them plenty of fodder. They've built whole villages around my attempts to write a book.

90 Days to Your Novel is a Challenge from Sarah Domet to Every Writer to Commit to Doing the Work of a Writer

In Sarah's book she explains how to outline a plot, how to make progress beyond the notes and ideas and scattered elements (enough for a series of books) I have tucked away. She writes about writing your book scene by scene rather than starting with characters and actions. This is one of the things which made so much sense to me when I first started the book. It gave me so much hope for my own writing because I could see the structure forming rather than dissolving around my bits of paper as it usually does when I try to pick up and work on my ideas again.

I highly recommend 90 Days to Your Novel. The only odd thing I found this second time around with the book is the disappearance of Sarah Domet herself. I found an old Twitter account and an old website, abandoned since 2011. There were several interviews about the book when it was new out and then... silence. So, where ever Sarah is, I hope she is (also) still writing. Her book is one of very few who don't tell writers to be more creative but to actually work at writing, because it is work not a fantasy we are living as the writer from some story someone else has written.

Thanks for your book, Sarah. I'm putting my outline on paper and will start Day One of our adventure together (without finding you) on Monday. Hope you're well.

Sarah Domet - Instagram