1. Staying On Topic
Staying on topic is key to a topical. Be sure each of your lines ties into the topic, or builds up towards it, or reflects it in some way. It's just like battling, you shouldn't include fillers that have nothing to do with your verse and detract from the overall flow, message, and consistency. There should be a reason behind dropping each of your lines.

2. Flow and Vocabulary
These two elements are key to a strong and effective topical verse. Your flow should be smooth and on point. It's always a plus to use inners, and even better to use multis. (This will be elaborated later). However, do not force the flow and use words that don't necessarily tie into the complexity of the verse or the overall topic. This is where vocabulary comes into play. The way you use your words and put them together not only helps with the flow, but also with everything else, such as staying on topic, imagery, and metaphors. Choose your words wisely.

3. Imagery
Imagery is important to a topical verse, especially if it pertains to the topic. Some topics may be harder to use imagery with, but most are not. Imagery is basically using strong words to paint a picture in the minds of reader. This not only makes your verse seem better and more complex, but it helps with conveying your message or topic. Detailed descriptions may enhance this aspect of your verse. Paint a picture with words.

4. Metaphors and Complexity
This is the hardest and most complex aspect of a topical verse. Often, regular readers will not catch metaphors, but most experienced topical critics will. By dictionary definition, a metaphor is: A figure of speech in which a term is transferred from the subject it ordinarily designates to one it can designate only by implicit comparision or analogy, as in the phrase evening of life. This is a difficult concept to grasp, but when perfected, can create wonders out of your pieces. Metaphors create complex verses and often convey strong images and messages to the reader...it is mostly meant to be deep and thought provoking.

written by Shao