You should have listened to “Barbara Allen”, “The Ballad of Casey Jones”, and other ballads by now. If not, you can listen on YouTube. Notice how a good ballad contains specific details – proper names, locations, dates or time references – almost like a newspaper article does.
Write your own ballad. Tell a story. The story does not have to be true or about you. Include several proper names (Sue, Sam Smith, Joe Brown, etc.) and specific details (in the month of May, late one hot August night, early one December morning, in Wilmington, at Wrightsville Beach, near Lockwood Folly, etc.).
Write 4 or more verses of 4 lines each. There must be some rhyming within each verse at the ends of lines. For example, the last word of the first and third lines may rhyme, or the second and fourth lines may rhyme, or the first and fourth. Give your ballad a title. Punctuate the end of every line and check your spelling. Errors in typing or grammar count off.
