(The) Writer's Mind: The Superstition Lyric
Our way into writing the lyric is to begin with trying to unravel what it means to say that
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In your attempt to write in response to this prompt, unravel the meaning of these contradictory statements for your addressee, who is NOT a member of this class.
That is, write a provocation in which you try to bring your addressee to confront what these statements might mean. Use examples to "unpack" it (unpack means: unravel its various possible meanings). A Suggested ApproachBegin in scene. Have the character-narrator begin to reflect on the meaning of the statement given above by first trying to define "superstition." Use your immediate understanding of the word, with examples, but then move on to use a dictionary (such as the Oxford English Dictionary: OED) to find other suitable definitions of the word. Then examine the meaning of the definition using in scene narrative to explore possibilities, including even other words that might work within the "formula" given above.
Include these two tools while writing this:
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Fictions are useful so long as they are taken as fictions. They are then simply ways of "figuring" the world which we agree to follow so that we can act in cooperation, as we agree about inches and hours, numbers and words, mathematical systems and languages... |
Have this effort lead you toward inquiring into what superstitions you have that you don't know you have. Have the character-narrator inquire into the meaning of superstition through unfolding the puzzle: “a superstition is a superstition only when it isn’t.” The character-narrator may or may not arrive at an “answer.” Indeed, she may find numerous contradictory answers, or merely suggest even more provocative questions.
Simply put, a lyric inquiry takes an audience from one state--being right, looking good, and complacently already knowing who they are--to another state, through questioning what they know to be true and exposing the limits of the self in some way or other. One method to do so is to assume the point of view of someone who herself is undergoing such a challenging inquiry.
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