Sticky:: Writing Tips

[The Witness.]

Writing Tutorial[/u]

Short explanations for some different ways to do metas.

metaphor
you say one thing is another. like if you said 'my style is gravity', that's a metaphor. your style = gravity.

allegory
metaphor with a full explanation. like if you continued your meta and said, 'my style is gravity, everybody fall because of it' this is an allegory.

symbol
symbol is a part of something that stands for the whole thing. like instead of saying like you smoke cess, you say you smoke puff. cos when you smoke cess, you breathe out the smoke, you puff. so puff = cess. or if you said 'my @@@@@s is the peel and you: straight slippin' that could mean peel = bananas = crazy and slippin = meet your downfall if you step to them.

metonymy
when you compare something by what it what happens when you do it. like when some people call freestyling spittin, that's a metonymy. talking = spittin (while you talk)

metalepsis
like a metonymy but even more intense. like if you said 'my spits drown your earsnares' then spits = words, drown = fill cos you're talking loud, and earsnares = eardrums cos snares are drums.

implication
you sort of say something without saying it directly, you imply it. like if you was to say 'me and my @@@@@s break bread together' you don't really mean real bread, you mean you divide up your money. but the way you say it, people know what you mean. so bread = money here.

personification
you make inanimate objects act like people. like when bounty killa says his gun bark and bite, he means his gun makes nuff noise when he bus off shots and the bite is when bullets lick people. bark = gunshot noise and bite = bullet wounds here.

antipersonification
is the opposite to personification. you make people act like inanimate objects. like if you said 'ya moms is a doorknob, she gives every @@@@@ a turn.' then mom = doorknob.

simile
when you say something is 'like' something or 'as' ... as something. if you said 'got honeys like sand on the beach' that's a simile, (lots of) girls = (lots of) sand on the beach

parable
when you compare the two different things in your simile. like if you said 'got honeys like sand on the beach, love to get tossed up, always in reach, grab a handful of fine brownskin tans, and when they get all wet they just stick to me, man.' that compares sand and your girls, cos it describes both.

quotation
is where you repeat something else someone said before you. like if you said 'common is right. i see the bitch in yoo too' that's a quotation.

colloquialisms
colloquialisms are slang words or phrases like 'get busy' or 'drop it like it's hot' or 'beat that face' that people use. you build on these when you're using metas and punchlines so it's good to know lots of them.

metallage
when you treat a colloquialism like a person. like if you said, 'i ain't tryin to hear yes yes y'all, i done robbed yes yes y'all and beat it down in the hall' that means yes y'all = played out

proverb
an old saying that you repeat. like when meth said 'i'm a simple man, still i'm never satisfied like the stones' that's called a dueling proverb cos you take two proverbs that are opposite to each other and put them against each other.

apologue
apologue is a fable, you talk about animals or inanimate objects like they're people. any of aesop's fables are good. so is ll cool j's 'milky cereal' from mama said knock you out.

hendiadys/2 for 1
use 2 nouns to describe a thing instead of just one. like if you said '@@@@@s bite my style like kibbles and bits, head out to cyphers and hold their quibbles and tiffs' that's a hendiadys. style biting = kibbles/bits (different types of dog food). and later, cyphering = quibbles/tiffs (different type of arguments)

hendiatris/3 for 1
is like hendiadys but using 3 nouns instead of 2. when eminem says 'i'm a cross between manson, esham, and ozzy' that's a hendiatris.

FLOW

First off I'm not the best around here by far, but here are a few things I did to help myself improve on flow.

BAR LENGTH

in most cases (not all), when your flowing you want to have all your bars similar in length. this way your rhyming words will be pretty much always landing in the same spot. but where you put your rhyming words is another topic I will touch apon later.

SYLLABLE COUNT

this is partially hand in hand with bar length. IF you count your syllables in each bar you want to have them around the same as well.. I usually stay around 12-15 syllables per line/bar.
Practice and you'll find a syllable count which your comfortable with.

BREATH CONTROL

this is a really important factor when doing audio. text not so much. but important none the less.. the previous sections are contributing to breath control as well.. you want to have a steady supply of air in your lungs almost at all times.. theres nothing worse than hearing someone gasp for breath in thier audio. you dont wanna be paced on one bar, then hafta rush the next to spit it out on time for the beat. (I've been guilty of this, I admit it)

RHYME SCHEMES

a rhyme scheme is basically like a blueprint for your writtens or freestyles for that matter. Its all about where your rhyming words are that make this important. Cuz where you rhyme in your lines drastically dictates how your flow will sound.

the "x" represents filler words that pertain to the line but doesnot rhyme

the CAPPED letters such as "A" "B" "C" "D "E" represent your rhyming words.

examples.)
Ex. 1)
xxxxxx xxxxxA
xxxxxx xxxxxA

Ex. 1a)
"one day I plan to see amongst all of this, smoke and the ashes
to be a part of this hip hop when you, hopelessly gassed kid"

this is a fairly simple rhyme scheme, the end of each bar is what rhymes. basic, but a good start.

Ex. 2)
xxxxxA xxxxxB
xxxxxA xxxxxB

Ex. 2a)
"I try to see the light but Its seems to me it's dimmin
and every time i try to do whats right I end up sinnin"

notice the words "light" and "right" approx. in the middle of each bar. that adds an internal rhyme scheme to this.. this is a little more advanced but not hard to get the hang of once you get crackin at it. as well as you have the original end words rhyming..

Ex. 3)

xxAxxx xxxxxA
xxAxxx xxxxxA

Ex. 3a)
"I'm tired of wakin-up, havin ta take-the-bus
sick a not makin-bucks, an bein... flat on my face-wit-luck"

this takes a little more practice and as you get better with multisyllable rhyming you will find this scheme alot easier.

Ex. 4)

A B C D E
A B C D E

Ex. 4a)

" I spray fools like grafitti with my nouns and verbs
and stay cool like tahitti smokin pounds of herb"

that one there takes a long time to master and follow through on a whole verse like that, and you rarely see it done for anylonger than a few lines.. but it is quite a nice addition to a verse mos def.

well there you have it ... my little guide on somethings that can help you to being better at riding a beat.
If I think of anything I will mos def add it to this post. and if you have any additional comments feel free to speak your mind.. we're here for eachother.

peace out and happy flowin...lol

[The Witness.]

Further Improvement

Topic

The topic you pick is probably the most important part of a piece. If you wind up writing about a played topic, the chances are a reader is gonna lose interest before s/he gets halfway through your first verse. Some common shitty topics are:

'Gangsta' related stuff: no-one wants to read how you claim to have been hustling crack from the age of 6 and killed 25 men with an orange peel and a paper clip or how you're macking bitches by the boatload. If you're writing stuff like this on the internet, the chances are you don't do any of this stuff. But who knows? There might even be a few gangsta's on rb (There's 30,000 odd members, there's probably a few in somewhere). But talking about that kind of stuff in a 50 cent/NWA style usually sounds fake as hell, and it tends to be the younger members who do this because they don't know any better. You are never gonna get any respect (net respect or actual, real life respect) rapping about this stuff unless you really are a gangsta, and on the net you can't prove anything. Avoid at all costs.

Club raps: Played, played, played!! Everyone's bored to death of seeing this shit on mtv, no-one wants to read about it on a website as well.

Boast/Threat pieces: Are ok for a chat cypher, or the occasional drop. But if all you're doing is rapping about how good you are at rapping, what a badass you are, etc. You'll see that people get bored of it pretty quickly since nearly everyone else is doing the same thing.

Bush/Terrorism:Unless you write something exceptionally dope, you're on to a loser here. The site got bombarded with terrorism type pieces for about 2 fucking years solid after 9/11. We KNOW Bush is a dick, we KNOW terrorism is for cunts. Drop the fucking subject and move on.

Diss Pieces: Don't waste your punchlines in OM, if you hate someone, battle them.

Thats kind of the general list that about 90% of pieces fall into, if you can rhyme about something else, you're already a notch above the average OM writer. The best pieces tend to have some kind of story to them, whether its love or violence, something which happened to you that day or something completely made up. OM is a place where you afford to be creative as hell because people are focusing entirely on your lyrics and not a beat you might put them to or the voice you deliver them with. Get some balls and you will do well. Check out the SS league for some inspiration.


Rhyme Scheme

This is really important when it comes to writing a good piece. If an OM contain nothing but monosylabbic (1 sylabble) rhymes it's probably going to suck regardless of what its strong on.

Multi's: A basic technique, but one which improves a piece hugely. For those who don't know what multi's are, here's an example from a master, Big L:

"Fuck all the glamour and glitz, i plan to get rich
I'm from new york and never was a fan of the nicks
And i'm all about expanding my chips
You mad coz i was in the van with your bitch?
With both hands on her tits?"

You notice how the first and last sylabbles of each bold section get repeated continuously? That's a multi, and using them improves flow instantly. You can also do multi's by repeating the same sound over and over, but the effect isn't as impressive.

The Problem with Multi's Is that people will sacrifice making sense in order to use them, if you've got to stretch logic beyond breaking point in order to make a multi, don't bother. I'd rather read a decent narrative than some well rhymed nonsense.


Vocab

More important to some than others. But the most important thing about vocab is this: DON'T USE SLANG BULLSHIT.

Yo, i be killing katz 4 der rings n things
Itz like, on dis wurld i'm da mu'fukkin king!

^wackness, bad vocab and shitty spelling makes a piece near impossible to read without going into a homcidal rage. Save your l33t and slang bullshit for the chatrooms and your next english exam. No-one wants to spend half an hour trying to figure out what you're talking about. Write in plain english. Occasional slang words are ok, but bear in mind there are people from all regions on this site. If you can write something they can all understand, thats a good thing.

The other end of the scale is this:

My perpetual symphony is a prodigious glory
Synthetic contradictions, my umbilical story

^^Equally bullshit, if you have to consult a dictionary, or at least read every line 3-4 times to understand it then the vocab is too strong. Whos got the time to do that anyway?

The objective with vocab is to sound intelligent, but not a pretentious cunt. The ironic thing is if you go over the top with vocab some reader will acually give you good reviews because they don't want to admit they didn't understand what you were writing! Fuck that, aim for a happy medium.


Imagery

Next to a good topic, this is probably the most important aspect of a good written piece. Good imagery can put you in someone's shoes, make you visualise the scene that the writer is describing, for instance:

"i swear the walls are closing in, feel like i'm locked in a box
this paranoia comes in waves of electric shocks
my body's trembling, something just darted out of my sight
wish i had some light, jesus christ, i want to take flight"

The use of action words, the thoughts in the charecters head and the slight panic at the end of those lines give you an idea of the scene. Of course, the imagery has to fit in with the mood of the piece. This is probably the most difficult part of writing, trust me when i say its takes a LOT of practise. Just try your best to get into the narrator's shoes, even if you're writing from your own perspective.


Other Stuff

Line Length: Keep your lines roughly equal in length and for God's sake don't overstretch them, you should be able to speak a couple of lines of text at a normal pace without pausing for breath. Overstretched lines look ugly. Really short lines will also fuck the flow of a piece up, it makes a piece too jumpy to read properly. Stick to between roughly 13-16 sylabbles per line and you'll do fine.

Line end: Keep it plain, ending a line in ... or / or // or whatever else looks pretty ugly. Try and keep the gaps between lines plain as well.

Paragraphing: Should be used in the longer pieces (over 32 lines is a good rule of thumb) break your piece up, preferably into equal parts, because a big block of text will make a reader's eyes water.

Title: 'Hot Shit', 'A lil' Freestlye', 'Hi, i'm new check me out', 'i bet this'll get slept on', 'fuck you all'. No, no, no! Just write something appropriate to the subject of the piece, try not to make your title too long either.



Follow these rules and your writing should improve. That's all i can think of right now, i'll probably edit this later.

[The Witness.]

For More Experienced Writers

This is aimed more toward those with a basic grasp of on how to compose a topical verse, and are looking to learn more about the mechanics involved in their verses.

Structure:

Contrary to popular belief among the newer members here - the ‘structure’ of the verse has nothing to do with it being centered, given equal line length, or wrote with the so-called ‘Broken Bar’ style to make it easier to follow. Infact, the centering and equal line lengths are merely cosmetic - they serve no other purpose!
The ‘structure’ of the verse is simply - how the verse is structured. Each verse should have a clear beginning, middle and end. It’s a good idea that before you even ATTEMPT writing the verse, you get a rough draft planned out on how you want it to unfold. With this blueprint drawn up, I would then work on the transitions. The transitions are how your story gets from point A, to B, and finally to C. These transitions between the three stages ALSO count to how the verse is structured, so there’s something for you all to look out for and comment on when reviewing topical pieces in future. The final thing I would do during this planning stage of the verse is the finale. Usually I’ll have my basic plot online done, and then produce three or maybe four different endings. The tough part then of course, is depending which one to go with. Unfortunatly, I cant tell you how to do EVERYTHING, and this is one choice you’re going to have to make on your own!

The Five Senses

You would think this one was fairly obvious, but I don’t think it has been covered in any of the other topical tutorials. Basically, as far as the imagery goes - you want to be as vivid as you can with your stories to draw the reader in completely. Take for instance, a murder scene. You want to describe how the characters are feeling, what they see, hear, smell etc - All of these can add to your pieces imagery, and they help conjure up a great mental picture of whats happening in the readers heads as the story unfolds. The more descriptive you get, the better. Be sure to cover each of the five senses, not only will this add to the imagery of your pieces - but it should give you an added feeling of tension and suspense. No examples needed here!

Dialogue

Dialogue is a tricky one. When not done well, it can take away from the piece, but when pulled off correctly - especially during storytelling pieces - it’s a great tool to use. Not only does this add an extra degree of difficulty to your pieces - but it also helps bring your characters to life and lift them from the page, adding to the personality(s) of the character(s) you create. Here’s a couple of examples showing dialogue being used in pieces to emphasise my point:

Even my friends are like “What u thinking Darren, you’re 19”
I’m like “I know, & more worried about keepin my Nikes clean” - Flux

While there is nothing really ‘wrong’ with how this is done, you’ll probably note that the dialogue in the second seems forced. Its unnatural. The character wouldn’t speak like that - its over done. If you’re going to put dialogue into your pieces, which I think more of you should do - especially those into storytelling pieces with several characters - then try to make the dialogue between the characters as realistic as possible. Try to get into character and imagine how each character would speak. Keep the dialogue as natural as you can.

Multi-strings

This is aimed at the more experienced topical heads. Once you’ve grasped multies, and the fundamentals of what a rhyme-scheme is, the next thing Id like you to attempt are Multi-Strings. You may find this hard to begin with, but with practice - you’ll soon get the hang of it. Basically a mutli-string is precisely that: A string of multies. BUT it has to be the same multiple syllable rhyme you use, for four or more lines. That’s where the difficulty comes in. Multi-strings aren’t an entirely new thing, as far back as 2000 I came across a guy named Sordswinga who was pulling this off with ease, though at the time - I was too inexperienced to fully understand the complexity of what he was doing. He’s the only person I know of at that time writing this way, and later I discovered Rikoshay/Peru doing a similar thing - only to a more extreme level (Often writing entire verses with the same simgle string of multies!) Here’s an example to demonstrate a Multi-String:

The canvas cries for nourishment
The tantalizing surfaces expanse invites the purest prints
I cant describe the fervent lift a can of Krylon bursting gives
My blast provides affirmative enhancement. Im a muralist.
I handle mine with verve and grit to satirize a certain niche,
Romantise eternal bliss and advertise my fertile wit
The standards high so first I sit and analyze the curves and dips…

… I’ll stop it there, you should of got the idea by now! A multi-string is basically, running with the same multi syllable rhyme for four or more lines. Yes, its difficult. Yes, I hate Riko too for making it look so effortless, but yes, you CAN pull it off with enough practice. Try it, and more importantly - have fun toying with it!

[Bloodz4life]

Moved to elevation forum