Confusing Words. OneLook Dictionary Search. Bullshit detection tool. WriteWords - Writing Community - jobs, directory, forums, articles for writers. Songwriting Exercises - Handout. Songwriting Exercises by Joel Mabus Scaffolding Stuck? Here’s an old trick to get you going. Try this exercise: A) Take some song you like — any song at all from any era, any style — just so long as it is familiar to you. B) Write a new lyric to that song. C) Take that new lyric and write completely new music to it. D) Edit. (Or you could do A-C-B-D — write the new music to the “scaffold” song and then write a new lyric.)
What remains is a new song with only a hint of the “ghost” song that acted as a scaffold for the process. Listmaking Out of ideas? A list could become a song (remember “My Favorite Things” or Tom T Hall’s “I Love...”) or could be a starting pad for an essay song, enumerating facts or feelings. Focused Imaging Similar to listmaking, but more purposeful, is putting your imagination to work in creating a scene, place or mood. Imagine a perfect day in your childhood – or the day your childhood sweetheart left you. Out-of-context Images Brain dead? New Sounds Journal ©Joel Mabus 2001. Lyric Writing Exercises: a 5-Day Workshop. Guest post by Maria Rainier If you’re anything like most songwriters, you’re all too familiar with that frustrating sensation of being stuck in a rut.
You know it’s important to write something – anything – every day, but there are times when that just seems impossible. Maybe you don’t have enough energy, you might be too critical of your first attempts, or you could be missing out on the muse. Whatever the reason, you can still get your daily writing done in a productive way if you introduce new exercises into your routine. The next chance you get, try starting this five-day lyric writing exercise workshop – it’s the perfect way to begin a week of successful songwriting.
You can rearrange the order of the exercises, tweak them according to your preferences, add new dimensions to them, or replace some of them with your own favorite exercises. It’s up to you, but committing to a solid five-day block of writing lyrics will help you break out of your rut and establish some helpful habits. [places for writers] - connecting writers with places to publish. Whole by Katrina Wendt. General Fiction. Getting Around... Career Essentials Getting Started Queries & Manuscripts Market Research Classes & Conferences Critiquing Crafting Your Work Grammar Guides Research/Interviewing Writing Contests The Writing Business Income & Expenses Selling Reprints Collaboration Pseudonyms Negotiating Contracts Setting Fees/Getting Paid Rights & Copyright Tech Tools The Writing Life The Writing Life Rejection/Writer's Block Health & Safety Time ManagementColumn: Ramblings on the Writing Life Fiction Writing - General General Techniques Characters & Viewpoint Dialogue Setting & DescriptionColumn: Crafting Fabulous Fiction Fiction Writing - Genres Children's Writing Mystery Writing Romance Writing SF, Fantasy & Horror Flash Fiction & More Nonfiction Writing General Freelancing Columns & Syndication Newspapers/Journalism Topical Markets Travel Writing Photography Creative Nonfiction Memoirs/Biography International Freelancing Business/Tech Writing Other Topics Poetry & Greeting Cards Screenwriting.
Table of Contents. Synonym Finder » Find synonyms, antonyms & definition for (almost) any word. FREE Online Rhyming Dictionary. WikiRhymer - Best Rhyming Dictionary. 20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes. I’ve edited a monthly magazine for more than six years, and it’s a job that’s come with more frustration than reward. If there’s one thing I am grateful for — and it sure isn’t the pay — it’s that my work has allowed endless time to hone my craft to Louis Skolnick levels of grammar geekery. As someone who slings red ink for a living, let me tell you: grammar is an ultra-micro component in the larger picture; it lies somewhere in the final steps of the editing trail; and as such it’s an overrated quasi-irrelevancy in the creative process, perpetuated into importance primarily by bitter nerds who accumulate tweed jackets and crippling inferiority complexes.
But experience has also taught me that readers, for better or worse, will approach your work with a jaundiced eye and an itch to judge. While your grammar shouldn’t be a reflection of your creative powers or writing abilities, let’s face it — it usually is. Who and Whom This one opens a big can of worms. Which and That Lay and Lie Moot Nor. About Fuzzmail.