Symmetry, pacing, development, tension — how to make a verse feel like it actually goes somewhere.
A good verse is a building. Not a shack. Not a shed. A building — with weight, intention, and the sense that someone actually planned where the hallway goes. Continue reading
If Chapter Three was about the bones of a song, Chapter Four is where we slap skin, hair, teeth, and a questionable hat on it. This is where you stop describing and start showing. Where you ditch the abstract fog and pull listeners right into the room with you.
People don’t remember philosophies.
They remember the taste of the coffee, the wet shoes, the flickering neon sign that promised nothing good.
Songs live or die on pictures. Continue reading
(Expanded, spiced up, and ready for the dance floor)
Rhyme should feel like butter melting on hot toast — smooth, inevitable, pleasing, and maybe just a little sinful.
But too many writers treat rhyme like jury duty: mandatory, confusing, and avoided whenever possible. Continue reading
Words That Sing: Choosing Language That Fits the Music
(The Surrealist, Gonzo, Universe-Bending Truth about Music)
Words are not “things” you choose.
They’re wild animals hiding in the bushes of your brain, waiting for you to step too close so they can leap out and bite your ankle. The entire craft of songwriting is basically learning to coax these feral creatures into the rhythm without getting personally mauled. Continue reading
(The Simple Method That Always Works)
Most people freeze when you tell them to “write a song.” They think it takes special talent or complicated theory. But here’s the truth:
If you can tap a rhythm, you can write a song. Continue reading
There are six congresspeople who tried to tell military about unlawful orders, and they’re now in a whole lot of trouble. I’m at the lower right in the photo, and none of those pictured here would follow an unlawful command, not one of them.
(comic folk-protest, acoustic guitar + harmonica, spoken asides encouraged)
[Verse 1]
The captain barked an order with his hat on tight,
Said, “Do this thing immediately—don’t you question why.”
I looked at him sideways, said, “Sir, don’t take it hard,
But that command’s so crooked it needs a bodyguard.” Continue reading
Most people think a video game is something you play and then walk away from and forget about. A whole world inside a wearable amulet.
But what if the game didn’t stay inside the computer?
What if the game followed you around?
What if the more you played it, the stronger the already powerful amulet on your chest became? No skills necessary, the game unfolds as you wander through the afterlife worlds.
That’s what I’ve built for you to train yourself for your next Bardo journey. Continue reading
Most people shut down the second they hear a language they don’t know.
Instant mental click: “Oh, that’s foreign — I won’t understand it.”
And boom, they’re gone. No attention, no engagement, no participation. Continue reading
It occurs to me tonight that we have several forms of communication with our circle. We have zoom, second life, quake, quake fortress, fortress classic, team fortress 2, diablo 2r, and of course, email, letterbox and phone — along with a few other lines. I think we’re about to lose one or more of those through government takedown, business failure or old programs that no longer work, and we’d better be prepared for that — this is not the most stable administration we’ve ever endured.
Here’s how it looks from my high perch: Continue reading
Yep, I’m writing an Italian opera fashioned after the manner of Joe Green, with just a twist of Puccini. Continue reading