I read this post and the next day I was at work with nothing to do. So I wrote. I don't write alot anymore, when I was in school I'd keep a journal. But I got tired of my own bitching and observations, so I stopped. But usually it was because of music that motivated me to pick up the pen in the first place. Just something about how I'm not very musically inclined that makes me want to make the song better (haha, better as in about me).
But anyway here's the stuff I wrote at work.
Someone once asked of me
"How do you write?"
And even if I pricked'myfinger - and drained
all my blood -
You could never understand
What it means to be in it alone.
Location: in the middle of the world on a fishhook
Posts: 333
Bincount™: 337
Re: How You Write
i usually write when i'm sad or mad or when someone pisses me off. since i started listening to tool, i find i write a whole lot less because everything i write is shit compared to his. i realize that it's mine and my thoughts and such but i still think that nothing is good enough to be put into more... a poem, a song...
I can't "force" myself to write or it comes out sucky and I'm not satisfied with it. Once in a while if I'm feeling really down or really great I'll just feel the need to spill my soul out onto a piece of paper. No syllables, no order, no specific number of lines, just words.
i usually write when i'm sad or mad or when someone pisses me off. since i started listening to tool, i find i write a whole lot less because everything i write is shit compared to his. i realize that it's mine and my thoughts and such but i still think that nothing is good enough to be put into more... a poem, a song...
Is there a standard to be reached? At what point does a collection of words become 'good' enough to be shaped into verse?
It's very hard to find any emotional solace in your own words, or any sense of worth in them. It's an ongoing struggle. Don't give up.
__________________
So they built as men must build
With the sword in one hand and the trowel in the other.
You know, while I've read all of your replies to this, I've thought of why I write, and to be honest...I usually write because that's how I let things go. That's how I let go of my hurts and my anxiety and my fear, because I know that while it's on paper, it's infinite. Once my feelings are words, they're eternal, and that's all I need to know, so I play around with a few words in my head, and I let the rest come to me until I've written all that I can. Until I'm empty of whatever was plaguing me.
__________________ Public education; mind control for the masses.
Organized religion; brainwash for the soul.
National government; forced morality for the people.
I've been writing for the better part of 10 years and for me, any poetry or writing I do comes at the spur of the moment. I may be listening to music or have just watched a particularly good movie and an idea or image in my head will suddenly strike me and I'll immediately want to start writing.
Other things always inspire me to write things of my own, basically. It's never happened any other way.
I've been writing for the better part of 10 years and for me, any poetry or writing I do comes at the spur of the moment. I may be listening to music or have just watched a particularly good movie and an idea or image in my head will suddenly strike me and I'll immediately want to start writing.
Other things always inspire me to write things of my own, basically. It's never happened any other way.
Hmm. Can you post something? It probably won't get a response because we're all apathetic and lazy, but I will endeavour to read it.
Then I can live through you and pretend that I've finished and posted something.
__________________
So they built as men must build
With the sword in one hand and the trowel in the other.
Often the thought or concept I start off with ends up buried in some other stream of concious drivel. I'm never happy with the finished product only because I don't think that I ever adequately express the feeling that spurs me to write. But sometimes what ends up being the finished product, to me at least, takes on a life of its own. I don't give thought to 'proper' poetry with rhyme and meter. If I do, it's definately to the beat of my own enslaved drummer. I read some of my shit out loud and I thought it just fucking barfed. Perhaps I wasn't taking the time to vocalize the inflection that I read in my head. Either way, I think I'm going to lean more towards spoken verse just so I can get a better idea of flow
Ulitmately though, as far as inspiration goes, that stuff just sits in the crock pot and simmers. When shit inside stagnates and overflows, it's pretty much an outpouring of various emotions that I'm never able to reproduce in the present world. It's the shit that I keep bottled up with no social means of output.
In that I keep myself strangely detached from what I write. After the puking is done, it pretty much considered ejected and buried. So I suppose in a way, it's not formal poetry. Rather, it's the way that I prefer to vent emotion instead of kicking someone's head in or vandalizing some hapless object that happens to be in my way. The source of that emotion is whatever was pent up for the weeks, months, or years prior to the last outbreak.
I do hold a conceited perspective on the whole thing. In a sick way it's really like puking whereas I come back later to what I've tossed out and dig through it with a stick for the more interesting chunks. I guess it's just personal therapy. *shrugs*
Have I said too much?
Extremely well put, I couldn't have said it better myself.
You can never say too much, at least when expressing yourself.
ive never written a poem but i have written my first 7 songs this month. they just poured out of me and got better each time.
i have trouble though deciding how they should be sung...and how to make them sound good.
anyway what i do (for songs anyway)..is not listen to music or read or watch TV for a while. clear your mind and then just think of something that you want to write about and it should come to you after a long while of blankness...then it just comes (to me anyway) like an avalanch..other things pop in my head...i end up writing for ages and ages..maybe a whole night. ill fall asleep doing it and wake up the next day with some intelligence and edit them, and assess what is good and what isnt. also, this may sound strange...but i cant write with a pencil and paper..notepad on the pc is what works for me. doing this i think ive come up with some really respectable stuff.
also, sometimes ill just be surfing the net or watching TV and thought will pop in my head and ill just run to the nearest pc or stack of paper or whatever just to get it down.
again tho...thats for songs...never written poems...not some stupid casual rock songs though..i dont and wont scarafice the quality of lyrics for the sake of rhyming...you can make the words far more beautiful and meaningful and artistic without rhyming.
interesting. ive always found writing while lookin at a computer screen difficult. (refering to stories\poetyy etc) i prefer greylead and paper - no pen. i dunno i just love the scratch scratch u get with the lead on the page. i dont quite get an avalanch of ideas altho i wish i did, but after ive dedicated myself to it for a few hours, ideas do start to sludge throught a bit.
i have a question...
how do you make sure something doesnt sound like it was written by a "try hard". i try to prevent my lyrics from rhyming too much because i can never make it rhyme and sound genuin. it sounds like ive tried to make it rhyme and end up sounding like some faggy "new age punk" song and that really bites.
ive havent completed anything as of yet, but ive started several songs\poems\stores i just get lost and lose interest because theres nothing helping me break through the "try hard" barrier
I find it hard to provide structure in my poems and lyrics without sounding like a 'try hard'. I much prefer just sitting down and scratching away. The results are never perfect, and there isn't usually much feeling of a cohesive whole, but I come up with much better lines and word couplings this way.
I could trawl through the piles of words scattered around my room, looking for good bits and sticking them together, but this just seems wrong. I haven't tried it and don't think the results would be worth the bother. I think the best way forward is just to keep writing and writing until poems coalesce out of the cloud of words filling up my head. It sometimes works.
[/QUOTE=lilli]That's where life get's creative, that's where you get the chance to think about why the world isn't interested in your 'thing'. Once you've figured that out you will know what the world wants to hear ... then all you have to do is make your 'thing' sound like that.[QUOTE]
I ono if this helps anyone, but it was part of a reply on a thread I started, and I kind of agree with some of it, so hopefully it will help somehow
__________________ "Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable"
I usually just pick up my notebook and pencil, play music, and write the thoughts that invade my head. Sometimes they don't make sense together, sometimes they do. But it's all emotion.
i reckon getting a worthy idea is the hardest bit, because the amount of times ive started writing and noticed that after about 5 mins i realise that theres nowhere else to take it and so i close my book and dont go back for a while
i reckon getting a worthy idea is the hardest bit, because the amount of times ive started writing and noticed that after about 5 mins i realise that theres nowhere else to take it and so i close my book and dont go back for a while
That happens to me a lot. I usually leave them and come back again, but then what happens is all of the little tidbits and random ideas all somehow manage to form one collabloration, and after some revisions and vocabulary changes, it is all morphed into a poem or words or letters, stories, lyrics, or whatever you want to call it.
__________________ "Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable"
My favorite writing quote: Writing is easy, all you have to do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until liitle drops of blood form on your forehead. ~Gene Fowler
Its true, sometimes I have to just sit staring and then something great will come. But most of my writing comes from when Im feeling pain. I always seems better writing when its hurtful...not when its joyful...in fact all the happy poetry I write sucks. You read it and you think a four year old wrote it. And I absolutely can't write with distraction. If I get an idea I have to go away from people and things and write it down. I don't know how many times I've holed myself up in a bathroom while at a party or something. I guess thats the mark of a true introvert...writing in a bathroom...at a party. Sheesh.
It differs a lot for me. Somtimes I'll think of some really good lines and then try to form a theme around them and turn it into a poem. Other times I have an idea in mind and I just sit down and try to write. Generally I have music playing, to help generate emotions. Specifically Tool and APC. If I'm writing a song expressing rage or disgust I'll listen to "Judith" or "Pet". If I'm writing about inner struggles "The Package" works very well. Music plays a very important role in my writing. APC and Tool really inspire me to create, and I use the moods they convey and try to capture the emotions. When 13th Step came out, I wrote constantly. I wrote more the first week it came out then I had in the past 2 months.
i write in much the same way... some days words just seem to flow from my head, whether actually good writing or not, it feels like poetry... some days i have to really think... some days i think of one good line but building a whole poem seems impossible... mostly i think of my best stuff in the shower then forget it before i have time to write it down (i need to get one of those underwater notebooks).
i just started to write a song last week. im saying something that im not keen on sharing and i figured the best way would be conceal it in a song and make it sound like a tool lyric. i think im doin pretty well so far - ill post it when i finish (in about a week maybe 2) so keep an eye open
Recently, I noticed that sometimes I get my inspiration just from someone saying or my hearing a particular word. Its like I hear a word or see a picture and somehow I can apply it to my life. Not about all words or pictures, just certain ones.
Recently, I noticed that sometimes I get my inspiration just from someone saying or my hearing a particular word. Its like I hear a word or see a picture and somehow I can apply it to my life. Not about all words or pictures, just certain ones.
totally! i kno exactly what u mean. there are just some words that are appealing in a creative sense, and it just makes an idea for a lyric just pretty much write itself. other times it just fits perfectly into a song that im in the middle of and i can create a whole new stanza based on hearing that one word.
i have to make sure i write it down as soon as i hear it or i am sure to forget it less than 2 mins later
totally! i kno exactly what u mean. there are just some words that are appealing in a creative sense, and it just makes an idea for a lyric just pretty much write itself. other times it just fits perfectly into a song that im in the middle of and i can create a whole new stanza based on hearing that one word.
i have to make sure i write it down as soon as i hear it or i am sure to forget it less than 2 mins later
I usually hear it when I driving or something so I hardly ever get the chance to write it down, but if I can, I have to write it too or else I will forget. There are tons of little peices of cardboard and reciepts and what not in my binder that have little lines or whatever on them. I don't now why I keep em after I write it down though.
~peace~
__________________ "Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable"
sometimes it helps to keep the original source in mind? i dunno - mite help.
That's an interesting notion. I am going to try and pay attention to that more and maybe I could find a link or connection of some sort - maybe it will make more sense. Thanx a bunch ;)
__________________ "Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable"
i just started to write a song last week. im saying something that im not keen on sharing and i figured the best way would be conceal it in a song and make it sound like a tool lyric. i think im doin pretty well so far - ill post it when i finish (in about a week maybe 2) so keep an eye open
here it is so far..
[font=courier new]
01
Severed
Four wings upon your back,
Each signifies a revolution of our star.
Conscience weeping with every breath,
As I offend the morals that I whisper.
Aspirations drag me under
As I look into your eyes.
Desperations are inquiring, but
My conscience begs me otherwise.
With a spirit as high as you wings can take you,
I pray that you will take me along too.
Chastity can't rejoin us
Intentions go unnoticed
You shall remain undefiled
But you're too right to let go...
Corrupt intentions entice
Silent minds are curious
Tempting an embrace
It's just too wrong to do so...
My blood is pulsing with the thoughts in my head,
I want you too much to heed what morals have said.
Hesitant to
Become partial to you.
...Too late
Even though
You're right beside me
Why is it that I
Still can't reach you?
Anything I do
May take your wings from you.
[/font]
Last edited by Torpid_Prey; 04-05-2004 at 06:05 AM..
tp, i like the poem... don't know what to say about it yet other than that i liked it. i might get back to you on that, or not.
__________________ "Fairy tales don't teach children that monsters exist.
Children already know that monsters exist.
Fairy tales teach children that monsters can be killed."
--G. K. Chesterton
when i write something, i try to think of an odd topic, something not usual. then when i usually get the first two lines, or a chorus, it just flows. i can edit a song after a day, a month, or even a year, or i can come up with an entirely decent song in one day or 30 minutes.
__________________ ...best to keep things in the shallow end.
i'll write when I feel fucked up, happy, sad, you know...
I write about emotion.
thats basically it for me... I mull around with the words in my head then I sit down at my computer and listen to music that reflects what my emotions are... then I just spill it all out.
yea pretty much only i cant just spill anything out - i have to sit there for hours workin around with things, making them work, getting the best possible word for the stanza,
it takes me a long time to write a song - thats why ive only written one so far
I didn't read the post, sorry if I am just repeating someone...
But what I do is; I basically wait untill I feel a strong emotion that I want to capture in a song, or I want to write a song to make myself feel better. Then I just write. But I have to make sure that the song is a prect example of what I feel. I have to capture it and be completely satisfied with it. If you try to twist lines to make it "sound better" it wont work, for me atleast. If what I want to say doesn't rhyme, then I will leave it at that, as long as it represents what I want it to perfectly. Basically, I write exactly what I feel, but not to the point where I would go out and say exactly what it is. Make it deep.
for me it's kind of like an idea inspired by music, a word, a specimen... images come into the clear in my head and i dwell obsessively on them for days. if it's too strong it usually comes out whether i want it to or not, paper and pen handy at all times now. others, it percalates until i can't stand rewriting it in my head anymore, so it ends up digitally spit up. it's an affliction, like a disease for me. goes dorment for a while to come back sparked by some thing or some one, like a hiccup in electric wave patterns. i appreciate the art i know, but it can drive me insane. it comes when it comes, it cant be forced.
__________________ "I have died, I will die, it's alright, i don't mind"
when I right...
it is just a stream of consciousness
i dont think about what i'm writing and if it makes sense thats great if it doesnt thats great too...
i usually am inspired by a couple words that catch my eye when i'm reading something else
Or when i am studying vocabulary i see a couple words that sound nice together then i put them together and then that opens the flood gates and i just start writing
i like to use slant rhyme a lot because that perpetuates my momentum
i also like to do spanish poetry which is a little harder because i use english more often
I don't write on purpose, I don't plan anything I write and everything I write is put down to paper as it comes out, and just as fast as I think it. Like I say, it's not planned, it's not edited, there is zero thought put into it at all ...
I have never tried to learn anything about any sort of creative writing, or poetry, or taken a class or anything like that - you can probably tell! hehheh I don't know what a stanza is, and I'm not concerned with 'imagery' or whatever ...
99.9% of the time I don't think about writing but then sometimes, usually when it's late and my wife's gone to sleep (I don't sleep much) I feel like I should put pen to paper just to express whatever I happen to be feeling at the time.
I've jotted down a few things over the years but generally only in my head, the two I've posted here over the past weeks have been the only writings I've ever shared with anyone, and I admit I feel some sense of security knowing that none of you will ever meet me and be able to criticise me to my face.
Having said that, criticise away because I feel this is an avenue I'd like to chase up and explore, as I said I'm very VERY new to this so any comments are appreciated.
Thanks, Ronch.
And a special thanks to lilli for reminding me what self expression is all about, you're a rose amongst a world full of thorns, cheers.
