The most general area of agreement is on form. It is generally taught that form should be 17 English syllables divided into three lines of 5, 7 and 5. A few modify this by adding "about" or "approximately." Almost all specify that haiku should be unrhymed.

One danger of insisting on a strict 5-7-5 form is that a beginner may get the idea that form is all important -that any conglomeration of words in 5-7-5 is a haiku, and that every haiku must have that form exactly. It is a real danger, as this idea is already too prevalent.

Another danger is that an English verse can have a strict 5-7-5 syllable count and still not sound right. However, such verses seem to occur rather rarely in actual practice. When they do, they can usually be quite easily corrected.

One set of guidelines: A haiku has 3 lines ( 5 -7 -5 syllables ). We can define the rule that each line has one definite element as follows:

Line 1: where the event happens ( 5 syllables )

Line 2: what is happening ( 7 syllables )

Line 3: when it occurs ( 5 syllables ) ... Better to include seasonable phrases

And the steps to follow are:

1. Decide on your topic. (Much better to use a picture or an object.)

2. Make a list of phrases that tells where the action is occurring.

3. Make a list of phrases that tells what is happening.

4. Make a list of phrases that tells when the action is taking place.

5. Write a haiku using your favorite phrase from each list.

6. Make changes until you have your 17 syllables.

Suggestions For Beginners And Others: J. W. Hacket, who represents what may loosely be called the Basho school, and who is the author of Haiku Poetry (Tokyo, Hokuseido Press, 1964), has this to say:

1. Life is the fount of the haiku experience. so take note of this present moment.

2. Remember that haiku is a poetry of everyday life, and that the commonplace is it province.

3. Contemplate natural objects closely . . . unseen wonders will reveal themselves.

4. Identify with your subject, whatever it may be: "That art Thou."

5. Reflect in solitude and quiet, upon the notes of nature.

6. Do not forsake the Suchness of things -nature should be reflected just as it is.

7. Express your experience in syntax natural to English. Don't write everything in the Japanese 5,7,5, form, since in English this often causes padding and contrivance.

8. Try to write in three lines, of approximately 17 syllables.

9. Use only common language.

10. Suggest, but make sure you give the reader enough, for the haiku that confuses, fails.

11. Mention season when possible, as this adds dimensions. Remember that the season can be implied by the poem's subject and modifiers.

12. Never use obscure allusions: haiku are intuitive, not intellectual.

13. Don't overlook humor, but avoid mere wit.

14. Rhyme and other poetic devices should never be so obvious that they detract from the content.

15. Lifefulness, not beauty, is the real quality of haiku.

16. Never sacrifice the clarity of your intuition to artifice: word choice should be governed by meaning.

17. Read each verse aloud, for unseen contrivance is usually heard.

18. Bear in mind Thoreau's advice to "simplify! simplify! simplify!

19. Stay with each verse until it renders exactly what you wish to convey.

20. Remember R. H. Blyth's admonition that haiku is a finger pointing at the moon, and if the hand is bejeweled, we no longer see that to which it points.

 Sources: http://www.taoismandpoetry.org/school2.htm http://www.vcnet.toyama.toyama.jp/~nabe/Haiku.htm