Writing Exercise

May 7, 10:53 AMSeattle Literary ExaminerDave Clapper

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Oops, I missed a day yesterday. I had an exercise I meant to post, but just didn't get to it. And it's a good one, again from a guest. Dennis Mahagin (fair warning, lots of mature content on his blog) lives over in the Tri-Cities, and is a gas. His writing is fearless, funny, and often filthy. Like me, he is a huge Mariners fan—a recurring character in many of his poems is a brawny cat named Brett Boone. I often say that I don't "get" poetry, and quite often, that's true. Dennis is one of the very few poets who I almost always "get," and equally often, enjoy. Check out some of his stuff (again, far warning on the mature content) in the current issue of FRiGG, Underground Voices, and Everyday Yeah. Or google your way to more Mahagin madness. You may find yourself losing an afternoon in his words, and ecstatic that you did so. Anyway, here's Dennis's exercise:

Ever wonder why rock stars make the big bucks, while poets and storytellers often dwell on the fringes of Pawn Shop and Welfare Office, scribbling character sketches on the backs of empty Food Stamp booklets?

It's because a powerful lyric is the fastest path to the human heart. Learning to write
lyrically, for many scribes, is the key to nailing down an original vision, and/or voice. Also, working within the song form forces the writer to explore his or her craft with economy, and "right brain" ingenuity.

Here's the exercise:

Take a story or poem of yours that, for whatever reason, has up to now, not "cut mustard"-- and that you've "shelved." Or, take a piece for which all you have is an idea, or an opening line, or the barest glimpse into the hearts of a couple sketchy characters. You get the idea? Now...

Turn the unrealized piece inside-out. Make a song out of it, using the following format:

1.Verse

Chorus

2. Verse

Chorus

Bridge

3. Verse

Chorus

As a template, I refer you to this amazing song, by Steely Dan.

Haitian Divorce

Verse 1. Babs and clean willie were in love
they said...
So in love the preachers face turned red.
Soon everybody knew the thing was dead--
He shouts; she bites, they wrangle through the night, yeah,
She go crazy; got to make a getaway
Papa say

{Chorus}

Oh - ohhh

no hesitation
No tears and no hearts breakin
No remorse
Oh - ohhh
congratulations
This is your Haitian
Divorce

Verse 2. She takes the taxi to the good hotel
Bon marché as far as she can tell.
She drinks the zombie from the cocoa shell
She feels alright, she get it on tonight, yeah... Mister driver
Take me where the music play
Papa say

{Repeat Chorus}

BRIDGE

At the grotto
In the greasy chair
Sits the charlie with the lotion and the kinky hair
When she smiled, she said it all
The band was hot so
They danced the famous merengue

Now we dolly back
Now we fade to black

Verse 3. Tearful reunion in the usa
Day by day those memories fade away
Some babies grow in a peculiar way
It changed, it grew, and everybody knew
Semi-mojo
Whos this kinky so-and-so?
Papa go

{Repeat Chorus -- Fade}

You may find that your story, having "tried on a song" for a short time, has now become something totally different from what you'd originally intended it to be. It may clue you in--to what is missing in the unrealized story. It may solve problems of structure and pacing that previously plagued the embryonic piece of writing.

Or, you may just write a hit song!

Either way, I hope this exercise unlocks some doors, and that you have some fun, which is, after all, what writing is supposed to be about.

Good Lyric Hunting-- to you all!