posted
Ladies and Gentlemen of Hatrack, I am really interested in the tension that can be created when two words that don't seem to belong together are paired-up.
It can be a really interesting exercise to grab two odd words, whack them together and then make up a reason why they belong together. It stretches the brain and is a bit like limbering-up creatively.
It is an exercise that you can't always see the benefit from until you give it a go.
Here is an example from one I have done (picked at random from the dictionary):
quote: null : vocabulist
The words 'null vocabulist' refers to a man's obsession with a missing word. One that he believes will give him power over chaos and the void. Within the library of Alexandria were holy books and sacred texts gathered from throughout the Greek Empire. Among the stacks of dusty scrolls, a scholar of languages compiles a list of words considered holy, sacred, powerful or taboo by the various peoples of the empire. Doing so, he notices too many commonalities to be coincidence and pieces together an ancient vocabulary of words used by the first men (the ones that became heroes and gods). However, the words were so powerful that these first men scattered them among all people and confounded their languages so that no one man could have them all. The vocabulist succeeds in gathering all but one. He knows that his list is not complete and has found references to the last word. It is the word of undoing, the word of nothingness. He knows it belongs to a people without a written language and now he must go to them to find it -- to hear it.
So, below is a list of a few weird couplets. I would like you to choose one or more and write a single paragraph as to why these words wound up together. If anyone comes up with a couplet that they really want on the list let me know and I'll add it to the list.
There is something I want to to do with these individual entries a little bit later in the thread so I hope someone responds. It is actually an interesting and productive idea generator.
Please start by referencing the word-pair you are explaining or alternatively, come up with your own couplet and start from there, but allowing others to use your new couplet too.
Edited: as per Snowden's suggestion
[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited April 12, 2006).]
posted
The paragraph is to be about 'why' the words go together. But we could make it so they must appear together in the paragraph if you like. I will go back and change it.
[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited April 11, 2006).]
posted
Shouldn't "belfry" be spelled with one "l"?
Anyway..."belfry: forge"
"A new bell was needed for the belfry of the church steeple. The old one had cracked and shattered. But the church elders did not want to go to the expense of ordering a new bell from the bellmakers of the east and across the ocean. [Set in pre-independence America].
"A canvas of the townsfolk produced none who had the skill to recast the bell. But at the last minute an itenerant tinker turned up and said he had the appropriate skills.
"He gathered up all the fragments of the old bell he could find, plus all the metal he had to hand. He collected his fee in advance from the church elders---maybe a quarter of what real bellmakers would charge, not including shipping and handling---in order, he said, to buy up further stocks of metal.
"In the church courtyard, the tinker built a great forge, an impressive-looking piece of flame and fire. Then he made a mold, of sand and plaster. He melted the metal down, poured it in, broke the mold, and polished the bell until it was ready. [Note: check bellmaking techniques for accuracy].
"Came the day when the bell was hoist to the tower. When the bell was almost there, the ropes and pulleys gave way and the bell fell down to the courtyard, where it rang once. It didn't break or shatter. But all who were musical in the town agreed that the note it rang was wrong. Further tests revealed the same thing. It was the wrong note all right. [Check musical terms.]
"By that time, the tinker was far away, counting his money, and laughing. He knew enough about bells to make one, but not enough to make one in the proper musical key."
posted
I used the word saffron and I used the word lurched. ------ Huy put the empty gas can down on the sidewalk. In the heat, the gasoline immediately turned to vapor, surging through the folds of his saffron robes. Huy didn't hate the Americans, but someone had to show them their lack of understanding when it came to Vietnamese culture.
One of the soldiers lurched out of the hut. The soldier stopped, torn between duty and fear. The mission was clear- stop the fire, but could he get there in time to prevent them both from going up in flames?
Huy watched the lesson playing across the soldier's face. Would he understand this? Or just turn it into a story told over a couple of beers? Huy knew the latter was most likely, but that mustn't stop one from trying to teach. With a smile, he began running his thumb across the Zippo to elicit a spark.
I think hoptoad wants someone to explain what a saffron lurch is, not use the two words in writing.
And a symbol purse (a small bag that a wizard carries in which he places things that have meaning to him and that he is therefore able to use in his magic).
And hex chatter (the kind of mumbling a witch uses to psych herself into a really malicious mindset so she is able to set a truly nasty curse--or hex--on someone).
I suspect that a saffron lurch is a way of walking that an apprentice cook manages after having used too much saffron in a recipe and been beaten for wasting that valuable spice.
posted
Snowden, that's a short story. Well done. Do you write flash fiction?
Corky, I am interested as to 'why' the words belong together and you have all done it. All the words have connotations, some are obvious others are not. I am interested in where the tension between the words takes your thoughts. Your hex:chatter was creepy BTW and evoked the image of Mother Cloot, in Gene Wolfe's Devil in a Forest -- one of my favourites. Also, the saffron lurch definition struck me as slightly Mervyn Peak-ish. Are you a Gormenghast fan?
Robert, can I wait to comment on yours until after the next bit? Only I think I'll wait for a few more responses before I move on the the next bit.
(waiting excitedly)
[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited April 12, 2006).]
posted
Feel free. I don't usually write flash fiction---I'm not sure I'd even heard the term until I started hanging 'round here---but once in awhile something suggests itself then and there, and off I go...
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posted
I saw your posting for the first time today, so I started writing, and here's the result. I know it may not be what you intended, but it was fun.
Hex McFarlane, the world famous horse trainer had no choice, he had to run Symbol and he had to run her today. The 2 ½ year-old mare did everything that was asked of her so far, but this latest request may come at too high a price.
“What’s the Hex chatter?” the reporters covering the state’s biggest race asked as they buzzed around the press box like bees to a newly discovered poppy field. “Can’t say-you know how Hex is. Likes to keep things close to his vest,” was the most anyone could surmise. The reporters salivated at the prospect of Symbol actually in this race so soon after that horrific crash at Santa Ana a month ago. And if she won, this race’s Symbol purse would be beyond anyone’s imagination.
“If Symbol’s not running, my money’s on Bats In The Belfry,” came a voice from the crowd. Bats was Symbol’s main competition and was famous for his unfailing courage, especially when the horses bunched up in the corners. Anyone who saw Bats In The Belfry forge ahead in the middle of a pack, knew he was a warrior.
Hex surveyed the track. His vantage point from the stables gave him a clear view of the track, the grandstands, and the sun rising slowly over the Sierras. The field inside the track was immaculately maintained, even in this, the fifth year of the state’s worst drought. Flower’s of every variety opened to greet the new day, but what they really needed was water. Almost as if on cue, the automated sprinkler erased the morning mist and gave the flora the much-needed water it craved. Hex stared in amazement as he almost saw a saffron lurch to catch the water it so desperately needed.
[This message has been edited by Hygge (edited April 14, 2006).]
posted
I don't know if I would qualify as a Gormenghast "fan" exactly. I read the books ages ago, and thought the castle was cool. I thought the third book was the least interesting of the three, but maybe that was because I remember it taking place somewhere other than in the castle. The first two books were (I find myself wanting to say "deliciously") eccentric, and the movie they made was a good try at capturing that, but fell short in too many ways to make me want to see the whole thing.
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posted
Aside...with "Gormenghast," I liked the first two books but the third seemed weak (I may have read the third before reading the second, but I forget after so many years---I read the first in a library copy and then went hunting copies of the rest)...I read around that time that Mervyn Peake became too ill to do a proper job on the third (and maybe other books beyond it), and it was pieced together by others out of what Peake had done. Stick with the two books.
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posted
So we have only a few takers at this point. That's okay.
Perhaps we can add a couple of word-pairs to our list to get the ideas flowing
tempest : corporal tramway : helix
What I want to do next is an experiment similar to the first exercise, but want to wait a few more responses first. We need a few more descriptive paragraphs before it will work. The more ideas the better.
(IE: I am not ignoring the thread I am just waiting)
[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited April 19, 2006).]
Corporal Hagen was splattered with the blood and brains of his sergeant. Taking command Hagen became the center of the tempest. His men were the wind and blood the raing as the troops swept over the insurgent forces.
did you want something longer?
[This message has been edited by wyrd1 (edited April 19, 2006).]
The tempest corporal is a condition of nature. As the ancients worked to make sense of the natural weather patterns on which they based their very lives, a system of identification was introduced to classify various storms. Tempests being the most severe (and the greatest threat to their civilization) were given the most respect and identification.
A tempest whisper was a condition where the elements of what we could now call a pre-storm. A rapid change in temperature, the wind blowing stronger during seasons of usually mild weather are examples of this condition. However, the storm would not develop into anything serious.
A tempest neutral identified a storm of significance, for which one must prepare. The duration and level of devastation following the storm would help classify the storm. If few were affected (loss of crops, flocks, etc.) the storm would be labeled as such.
Any storm where human life was taken as a direct result of the weather anomaly was called a tempest corporal. The physical manifestation of weather to inflict its will upon man increased the severity and seriousness of the storm. The ancients feared the tempest corporal most of all.
posted
Do they have to be in the order you give them?
Tempest: corporal got me going when I switched the word order. Corporal tempest. It might be a god-sent storm sent to punish the wicked. Or even a monster sent by the gods to defeat a mighty hero.
A saffron lurch might be a dance step in a culture in which saffron is highly prized and in which the yellow spice is used to make an alcoholic drink, causing a lurching step that is buffooned in the dance. It's very Irish in flavor, eh?
A hex chatter might be a woman in the village to whom you go to have a hex 'chatted', or intoned over and over again so you don't have to waste your time doing it yourself.
Tramway helix took me straight into sci-fi. I thought immediately of a complex coil of tram lines that rise up from the city streets until they are high overhead, only to split and take the trams in myriad directions. The 'trams' could even be flying machines of some kind that must be carried high above the city in order to be launched from the top of the helix.
posted
Tempest corporal: a low-ranking Marine in charge of watching the weather radar on a naval vessel. His uniform insignia is a hurricane. Trained in the basics of meterology, his knowledge of wind patterns invariably causes him to be addressed by his fellow servicemen as "Columbus," in contrast to the navigator, who is always addressed as "Magellan." Or, to transfer things into a more SF environment, make it a spaceship, and the tempest corporal is in charge of looking for signs of solar tempests (which actually exist, IIRC), flares, dust, and the like.
Safron lurch: In the future, it will be far easier to grow the crocus, and the saffron lurch is a machine developed which can perform the delicate task of harvesting the flower, putting thousands of saffron harvesters on the dole, but reducing the price substantially. Named the "saffron lurch" because its motions are discontinuous, as moving cleanly on threads through a crocus field would plow the crop under.
posted
Hey guys thanks for the ideas. I love them. Dakota, the tramway helix was a vivid image. No, you don't have to keep them in the order they are written, so long as they remain paired you are fine.
English is a funny language, sometimes the order of paired words won't change the meaning and other times it will, like slave boy and boy slave are basically the same thing but class : clown and clown : class are very different.
Use whatever order elicits the best response/most meaning for you.
We almost have enough responses to do the next bit. Thanks.
[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited April 19, 2006).]
posted
hex:chatter hasn't been touched much I'll give it a go. It fit nicly into fantasy. Twisting into scifi.
Admiral Kouler stared at her screen watching for any signs of disorderly traffic on the UnRegulated planet Schissor. The hex chatter of her com-team filled her mind breaking her concentration. "ATTEN-TION" she shrieked at her subordinates.
[This message has been edited by wyrd1 (edited April 20, 2006).]
posted
If you don’t know what a TR-Amway Helix is, you soon will. When companies involved in multi-level marketing try and improve their image, they need sharp, recognizable symbols that garner instant product identification. In just such a move, one of the country’s largest, decided upon the “helix” as an upbeat, sexy, forward-thinking logo for their new line, The TR Line (short for Trendy/Racy). The company shied away from anything remotely associated with a pyramid, triangle, or the infamous “Ponzi Scheme” logo.
Upon announcement of the new logo, shares of the company stock soared 83 ¼ points, creating a buying frenzy, even from those many years disillusioned with the company. Orders of soap increased to the point where the cost per ounce equaled that of gold bullion.
(My apologies to anyone involved in such endeavors. I saw the two words together and that visual came to mind)
posted
So when's the next step or set of words? For the items I came up with an idea for, they were similar to what others had written (no point in writing mostly the same concept). The others just don't trigger anything compelling.
I find coming up with word pairs to be difficult by itself.
posted
Okay, tthis is where the experiment really starts to kick-off.
Take a word-pair definition that someone (else) has given here, and combine it with another word-pair definition someone else has given and tell us why these two definitions belong in the same story. Similar to the first exercise but using 'more complex' ideas rather than simple ones.
The first pair will be: Belfry:Forge and Hex:Chatter
The second pair will be: Tramway : Helix and Saffron : Lurch.
Why do these belong together? What others belong together and why?
[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited April 26, 2006).]
posted
Milicent crouched in the shadows behind the unsuspecting blacksmith. With each hammer ring, her chatter became more intent. A spell of this magnitude would take emormous effort, but it had to be done at the forge so the bell could be brought to life. As soon as the bell was finished and hanging in the belfry of the church tower, her hex would be complete. The irony of the bell's eventual residence was not lost on Milicent, as a smile came to her bruised face. The unknowing people of Salem would have no choice but to respond to the peal of her bell, and pay.
Kinda like that? I don't know if you just want explanation or an actual story Idea. I gave it a shot anyway...
posted
A dispatch was sent by the government's media arm to announce this year's "Dedication To Mankind" award. The governor of the moon’s third largest settlement was given the honor of presenting the nominees.
The buzz around Earth’s Unified Alliance nations began with a media leak-presumed to come from the Chancellor himself-indicating this year’s crop of beneficial discoveries would be quite diverse in their scope and function.
The first nominee-The Invisible Toilet. Well, who didn’t see that coming? Of course that would be one of the nominees, possibly the greatest invention since baked yeast products that came pre-sliced. Next, Synthesized DNA Replication, a controversial choice, to say the least. The developers promised any illegal use of the invention would be banned by interplanetary law. However, it was rumored scientists with The Uprising were secretly using the technology to create an army of bio-robotic terrorists. God help us all if they succeed.
The first two selections down and nothing shocking to report. The mystery must surround the remaining two, and in a bold move, the Governor announced them both together. The Tramway Helix and the Saffron Lurch. It’s hard to imagine two developments with so little in common. The Tramway Helix, the complex coil of tram lines which rise high above most advanced city streets, the various pathways spiraling upward until they veer off to their various destinations was conceived and built early in the 22nd Century. It’s a miracle it had not been nominated before. And it’s polar opposite, the Saffron Lurch, that machine developed to perform the delicate task of harvesting the flower, named for its motions being discontinuous, moving cleanly on threads.
Yes, for once the buzz lived up to the hype. It would be a tough decision for this year’s delegation.
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Also, the saffron lurch definition struck me as slightly Mervyn Peak-ish. Are you a Gormenghast fan?
