Welcome to Wordplay Thursday! Well, it’s actually going out Wednesday night because on Thursday morning I’ll be en route to China to pick up the boys!
This particular Wordplay has absolutely nothing to do with that. Have fun!
“Clueless is __________.”
Here’s a writing prompt for you. It’s a simple fill-in-the-blank. You can use one word or several. Feel free to get as crazy, genre-appropriate, or as imaginative as you want. The point is to get the creative juices flowing. And it’s a good thing to dig deeper, so don’t stop at the first idea that hits you. Try coming up with at least five things- and try to get IMAGERY in at least one of your plays!
“Clueless is ___________.”
I’ll give you an example to get you started:
“Clueless is constantly checking the game on your phone when you could’ve been kissing her.
I’d love to hear what you come up with, so please share in the comments. Oh, and please keep your posts below an R-rating. It’s a family show, after all!
Wordplay Thursday is a fun way to generate new song ideas- and who doesn’t need more song ideas? If you’d like an inside look at the techniques I use to find song idea after song idea- ideas that YOU can use, too- I have just thing for you!
Here’s a writing prompt for you. It’s a simple fill-in-the-blank. You can use one word or several. Feel free to get as crazy, genre-appropriate, or as imaginative as you want. The point is to get the creative juices flowing. And it’s a good thing to dig deeper, so don’t stop at the first idea that hits you. Try coming up with at least five things- and try to get IMAGERY in at least one of your plays!
“America is ___________.”
I’ll give you an example to get you started:
“America is a BBQ sandwich on white bread from a roadside stand in rural Alabama.
I’d love to hear what you come up with, so please share in the comments. Oh, and please keep your posts below an R-rating. It’s a family show, after all!
Wordplay Thursday is a fun way to generate new song ideas- and who doesn’t need more song ideas? If you’d like an inside look at the techniques I use to find song idea after song idea- ideas that YOU can use, too- I have just thing for you!
Here’s a writing prompt for you. It’s a simple fill-in-the-blank. You can use one word or several. Feel free to get as crazy, genre-appropriate, or as imaginative as you want. The point is to get the creative juices flowing. And it’s a good thing to dig deeper, so don’t stop at the first idea that hits you. Try coming up with at least five things- and try to get IMAGERY in at least one of your plays!
“Dogs are ___________.”
I’ll give you an example to get you started:
“Dogs are furry garbage disposals.
I’d love to hear what you come up with, so please share in the comments. Oh, and please keep your posts below an R-rating. It’s a family show, after all!
Wordplay Thursday is a fun way to generate new song ideas- and who doesn’t need more song ideas? If you’d like an inside look at the techniques I use to find song idea after song idea- ideas that YOU can use, too- I have just thing for you!
“Mothers are __________ and daughters are __________.”
Here’s a writing prompt for you. It’s a simple fill-in-the-blank. You can use one word or several. Feel free to get as crazy, genre-appropriate, or as imaginative as you want. The point is to get the creative juices flowing. And it’s a good thing to dig deeper, so don’t stop at the first idea that hits you. Try coming up with at least five things- and try to get IMAGERY in at least one of your plays!
“Mothers are __________ and daughters are ___________.”
I’ll give you an example to get you started:
“Mothers are kisses on boo-boos and daughters are kisses on babydoll booboos.”
I’d love to hear what you come up with, so please share in the comments. Oh, and please keep your posts below an R-rating. It’s a family show, after all!
Wordplay Thursday is a fun way to generate new song ideas- and who doesn’t need more song ideas? If you’d like an inside look at the techniques I use to find song idea after song idea- ideas that YOU can use, too- I have just thing for you!
Here’s a writing prompt for you. It’s a simple fill-in-the-blank. You can use one word or several. Feel free to get as crazy, genre-appropriate, or as imaginative as you want. The point is to get the creative juices flowing. And it’s a good thing to dig deeper, so don’t stop at the first idea that hits you. Try coming up with at least five things- and try to get IMAGERY in at least one of your plays!
“Fathers are __________ and sons are ___________.”
I’ll give you an example to get you started:
“Fathers are two-legged jungle gyms and sons are piggie-back cowboys.”
I’d love to hear what you come up with, so please share in the comments. Oh, and please keep your posts below an R-rating. It’s a family show, after all!
Wordplay Thursday is a fun way to generate new song ideas- and who doesn’t need more song ideas? If you’d like an inside look at the techniques I use to find song idea after song idea- ideas that YOU can use, too- I have just thing for you!
Here’s a writing prompt for you. It’s a simple fill-in-the-blank. You can use one word or several. Feel free to get as crazy, genre-appropriate, or as imaginative as you want. The point is to get the creative juices flowing. And it’s a good thing to dig deeper, so don’t stop at the first idea that hits you. Try coming up with at least five things- and try to get IMAGERY in at least one of your plays!
“I’m as tired as ________.”
I’ll give you an example to get you started:
“I’m as tired as your whiskey-breath excuses.”
I’d love to hear what you come up with, so please share in the comments. Oh, and please keep your posts below an R-rating. It’s a family show, after all!
Wordplay Thursday is a fun way to generate new song ideas- and who doesn’t need more song ideas? If you’d like an inside look at the techniques I use to find song idea after song idea- ideas that YOU can use, too- I have just thing for you!
Here’s a writing prompt for you. It’s a simple fill-in-the-blank. You can use one word or several. Feel free to get as crazy, genre-appropriate, or as imaginative as you want. The point is to get the creative juices flowing. And it’s a good thing to dig deeper, so don’t stop at the first idea that hits you. Try coming up with at least five things- and try to get IMAGERY in at least one of your plays!
“2016 was ________.”
I’ll give you an example to get you started:
“2016 was a long jagged scratch down the side of a shiny new Corvette.”
I’d love to hear what you come up with, so please share in the comments. Oh, and please keep your posts below an R-rating. It’s a family show, after all!
Wordplay Thursday is a fun way to generate new song ideas- and who doesn’t need more song ideas? If you’d like an inside look at the techniques I use to find song idea after song idea- ideas that YOU can use, too- I have just thing for you!
Here’s a writing prompt for you. It’s a simple fill-in-the-blank. You can use one word or several. Feel free to get as crazy, genre-appropriate, or as imaginative as you want. The point is to get the creative juices flowing. And it’s a good thing to dig deeper, so don’t stop at the first idea that hits you. Try coming up with at least five things- and try to get IMAGERY in at least one of your plays!
“New Year’s Eve is ________.”
I’ll give you an example to get you started:
“New Year’s Eve is a midnight confetti kiss.”
I’d love to hear what you come up with, so please share in the comments. Oh, and please keep your posts below an R-rating. It’s a family show, after all!
Wordplay Thursday is a fun way to generate new song ideas- and who doesn’t need more song ideas? If you’d like an inside look at the techniques I use to find song idea after song idea- ideas that YOU can use, too- I have just thing for you!
Here’s a writing prompt for you. It’s a simple fill-in-the-blank. You can use one word or several. Feel free to get as crazy, genre-appropriate, or as imaginative as you want. The point is to get the creative juices flowing. And it’s a good thing to dig deeper, so don’t stop at the first idea that hits you. Try coming up with at least five things- and try to get IMAGERY in at least one of your plays!
“Christmas is ________.”
I’ll give you an example to get you started:
“Christmas is posing for grandma’s camera in the matching red turtlenecks she bought for all us grandkids.”
I’d love to hear what you come up with, so please share in the comments. Oh, and please keep your posts below an R-rating. It’s a family show, after all!
Wordplay Thursday is a fun way to strengthen your “imagery muscle.” If you’d like an inside look at a bunch of techniques I use to find and use great imagery in my songs- techniques that YOU can use, too- I have just thing for you! (But this opportunity won’t last long- so check it out now!)
“Dirty Laundry” has a lot of great things about it- strong production, powerful vocals, a catchy melody and an empowering lyric. But for now, I want to focus on the songwriters’ use of imagery. Writers Hillary Lindsey, Zach Crowell and Ashley Gorley know what they’re doing, ya’ll.
Right off the bat, the songwriters hit us with images…
“That lipstick on your collar, well, it ain’t my shade of pink
And I can tell by the smell of that perfume, it’s like forty dollars too cheap
And there’s a little wine stain on the pocket of your white cotton thread
Well, you drink beer and whiskey, boy, and you know I don’t drink red”
This verse does a few important things – and it does them well.
The images show us the situation- they don’t just tell it. Showing is so much more powerful than telling. The writers could’ve just said, “I caught you cheating on me.” And while we’d understand the information, it’s not emotionally engaging or particularly entertaining.
Instead, the writers bring us alongside Carrie as she discovers the clues to his infidelity. We see the pink lipstick, smell the cheap perfume, see the wine stain, etc.
Showing us the clues involves us as listeners.
We discover the clues at the same time Carrie does, and we come to the same conclusion. Don’t believe me? Listen again and tell me when Carrie says the word “cheat” or “cheated.” She doesn’t. She doesn’t have to. The pictures are the proof. We don’t have to wonder how she knows he cheated or even if she’s mistaken. Nope. We’ve seen the evidence and can pronounce him guilty.
Also, the imagery tells you more about the characters than just “he’s a cheater.”
You learn that he drinks beer and whiskey, but not wine. We learn that Carrie’s character wears pink lipstick, likes quality (at least fairly expensive) perfume and drinks white wine- but not red.
I already feel like I’m getting to know these characters- and we’re just a few lines into the song! And we know them not because the songwriters TOLD us about them, but because they SHOWED us about them.
That’s some strong songwriting.
(Side Note: Normally if a man does Carrie wrong, she resorts to either property damage or murder. This dude definitely gets off easy!)
Strong imagery like we find in “Dirty Laundry” can really make a song stand out. If you want to build YOUR imagery skill so that YOUR songs stand out, I have a great opportunity for you. In Songwriting Pro’s upcoming live online workshop, I’ll reveal several techniques that I and other pro songwriters use to create killer imagery.
Brent Baxter is a hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, Gord Bamford, Ruthie Collins, Ray Stevens, and more. He’s written a top 5 hit in the US and a #1 in Canada… so far.
