Monday, April 04, 2016

PLAYING MUSIC CALMS SAVAGE BEAST

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Today, thanks to prompter, Woody Leslie, we're trying WordBlocks:
Words have multiple meanings. Meanings have multiple words. I think of wordblocks as a single-word stand-in to express multiple meanings, or an ambiguity of meanings. I use them in my writing all the time, and often generate them as a warm-up exercise before I write.
  1. Write a word.
  2. Make a list of other words that are related to this word, in meaning or in spelling.
  3. Combine these words into one wordblock sharing letters. (See pictures for example)
  4. Keep rearranging, adding, or subtracting words until you have a wordblock you like aesthetically both visually, and linguistically. A wordblock rarely looks great on the first try. Wordblocks have vast potential both handwritten, and typeset either digitally or with moveable letterpress type.
  5. Your wordblock can stand alone as a one-word poem, or be placed in a sentence. Try stringing multiple word blocks together. The result is a sentence that provides multiple ways to navigate it.
I've already spent far too much time on this one and this is all I've got:



And then, after sitting at the beach sipping a tequila and watching the sun go down an hour later because the time changed here this weekend, I realized I meant more like this:


Nobody can be more surprised than I am at how this particular prompt is staying with me. Look what happened today (April 5)! Whatever can it mean?



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3 comments:

Avacnola said...

I spent a lot of tome on it, as well. I do like how yours turned out. Music does calm. Bravo!

Linda Crosfield said...

Thank you! Turns out, I wasn't quite done. If I had access to my layout program I'd attempt to make it look more like a note.

Anonymous said...

I am impressed, Linda! Wish I had some of your talents!