Pick a topic you're passionate about for the base of your poem. Use common ballad themes such as love, death, grief, heroes or legends or use a personal experience. Keep in mind that ballads are stories that have a beginning, middle and an end. Think of the message you want to send before you begin.
Write your ballad using four-line stanzas, or quatrains. Create a rhythm for your ballad by using meter. In most cases, the meter for ballads works best when the first and third lines of a quatrain use a tetrameter, a line with four stressed syllables, and the second and fourth lines use a trimeter, or three stressed syllables. Use this pattern to build the quatrains.
Use a single rhyming pattern such as abab, aabb or abac throughout the ballad. If you aren't sure which one to use, write the first verse of your ballad three times, once in each rhyme scheme. Choose the one that has the smoothest feel to it and gives you a sense of how you'd like it to sound when read aloud.
Include a chorus or repeating line in each stanza where only one word changes to give a sense of repetition. Use this repetition to break up the story of your ballad. This will allow your readers to reflect on what they've read so far before reading the next stanza.
Use dialogue in your ballad or create a conversation between two characters where they speak on alternating lines. The dialogue can help break up tension or when you feel there's too much detail being shared about your story. Slow the story down by using dialogue.
Write your stanzas so your ballad has a beginning, middle and an end. Close the poem with a final quatrain that gives your ballad a bittersweet or refreshing ending.