Word Press(ure)
I’m fond of a show, one you might not have heard of. It’s all voice: not a thing to see. The guys who act in it do a fine job, though. I’ve got to know them through the words, like the folks in books I love – and the scripts are the best thing of all. In fact I might learn to love them more once this blog is done.
You see, in this show, the guys (who fly a plane, and get bored a lot) like to play word games. Lots of word games. Names of films, slipped in so no one hears them. Towns that rhyme. All daft, but they make me laugh till I’m out of breath. They make me want to play too.
Guys who fly a plane and play word games, in a show, though not the kind you watch. Click to hear it.
One of their games means you can only use words of one beat. ‘One beat’ is not quite the right term, but the right term has more than one beat too – and this blog has played the game since the start. If you read back, you’ll see that every word used has just one beat – which is why you might have read it with a frown on your face. It looks and sounds strange. I’ve had to choose words that weren’t quite right. But if you think hard, and try not to tell too much, you can say a great deal with just one beat in each word.
Why not try it too? You could type your try in the box at the end of this post. I should warn you: it’s hard!
So if it’s hard, why would I tell you to try it? Well, if you hope to write books like we all do at Girls Heart Books, I think it’s a fine thing to be made to choose each word with such care. I talk fast. I type fast. This game has forced me to slow down. I have not picked the best word, at times, but this test has pushed me to think on the words I can’t use: none that end in -ly; not much chance to show style, or to paint a scene.
If I were stuck this way, I’d miss the sense that I’m free to write any old words I like – yet in this post I could still tell you my tale, of a game played by bored folks on a plane in a show that I love. We might all write quite well if we took it slow and kept it all tight, neat, down to one beat.
Wow!
Love the new cover:
Pea's Book of Birthdays
This post is SO… ace! (Wow, that was hard) Cx
You have done well, Ms Brett. (It is!)
I love this post and that show too (thanks to you).
I thought you might be a fan.
Of course it does make it tough to play that other game, where you shout when you see a type of car…
I read you blog of words with one beat, and will try to do the same, feel stuck now! Lots of words I want to use have two or more beats. Your post is great. I could set this task for the kids at school, they might find it fun to try. Have I done it! Let me look back and see ….. I think so!
Thank you for the ……ummmm ……. chance to do this job!
Can’t help it – I read as one who reads proofs and have to say I found an “every” … WANT to hear the clip but can’t just yet due to stuff that’s not up to me. Oooo, this is fun! Thanks, Sus…
I LOVE to play word games
I must hear the show; I don’t switch on to the thing that is not the ‘watch box’ much…;-) I write books for kids who don’t like to read or find it hard, so this kind of task is one I love to try! (I thought at first this was a Dr Seuss blog post! – and you’ll have to let me have ‘Dr’!)
In fact, this post has made me think we should have a ‘task of the month’ thing here on Girls Heart Books. Let girls try their hand at new ways to write! Will add it to the long list of things we have to do!!
I love this post, it made me smile and then it made me think a while. Words like full stops on my tongue, like things that shoot out from a gun, like ice, like stones stuck in my shoe, like things you chop to make a stew. A stew of words you stir and mix, a house built up of tons of bricks. A tale that’s told from words that spit is fun but lacks a bit of grit. I like a tale that weaves and winds with words that stretch and pull my mind, with words that thread and loop and swirl and leap and fold and dance and curl. But now I need to stop this game and write a book that has no name!
Gosh, Kate, I was proud of my rhyme, but mine was just ONE line! Fab. U. Lous.
Thanks Keris!
I love the game of words by Kate, I wish I was as good at that kind of mix up word game where the words all rhyme , my dad has been a fan of the show for a long time and begged me to hear it but til now I did not find the time!
Our form once tried to do this in a class we had. It was SO hard! I had a want to say things that were more than one beat a lot! I guess if we all thought about what we say this much all of the time then we might be a lot more… Kind with what we say. Ugh! That WAS hard!!!
This got me in a state of fun when food had not this morn been had! Have told friend to tune in too as he is a man of the sky (with a hat). Most up his street. Or cloud. Thanks to you Ms Day:) x
I love to play word games, they make you test your brain. This is a hard task for sure. A lot of words I want to use but can’t. Makes you use more of a mix, words you don’t use all the time.