My point:
Poetics can convey an incredible amount of implied emotion and detail through minimal words. Your narrative voice says more about your scene/story than any description. Pathos is always king in creative writing.

Or consider how Waits uses surreal imagery to paint a nightmarish picture in his murder ballad "Clap Hands". This is about being paid to kill someone btw

"Here there is no law but the arcade's penny claw hanging empty": desolate, bleak, lonely.

"They haunt this dusty beach road": achingly melancholic while so goddamn Americana it could be printed on a tin sign.

Note that they aren't detailed: they use small details and emotions to paint the picture.

"Outside another yellow moon has punched a hole in the nighttime": a sense of optimism

"Outside in the distance, a wild cat did howl — two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl": deeply ominous

And of course the end of "All Along the Watch Tower"

Another thing a lot of these songs do well is scene setting. Consider these from "Thunder Road", "My Name is Carnival" by Jackson C. Frank, and "Downtown Train" by Tom Waits

And Dylan follows up his trembling Joker's lament with an equally cryptic counterpoint from his companion, The Thief. Not the irony of The Thief telling The Joker, "there are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke."

There's also hints of long shared history and a sense of time (late)

Mitchell continues her odyssey. Without ever saying it, you can see the attraction she feels for this Greek redneck: he positively *delights* her with his presence. Her comfort felt is illustrated by the "good omelette and stews". She's given "the red rogue" a pet name. But her homesickness wins

And most importantly? The voice is *distinct*.

We can glean so much from this narrator just by the voice in the lyrics: he's folksy, he's blue collar, he's got a tinge of depression and a lingering sense of desperation. This flight in the night is a dash for survival. And a romantic adventure.

Follow it up with this incredible feeling of closeness that immediately follows it as the two do decide to run together. It's suddenly bursting with romance and intimacy, even as the darkness they drive into seems to be a portent of the future:

Springsteen offers us practically a painting: it's night, maybe a breeze is blowing ("The screen door slams, Mary's dress sways"). There's motion, but there's a deep loneliness and melancholy. We can feel the distance between Mary and the narrator, even while together.

Consider these songs and how they begin:

All three immediately grip you with an image. Bruce and Joni are pretty "normal" while Dylan's is surreal, but you're immediately transported — the scenario and *conflict* is set.

There's a lot of places one can draw inspiration for developing their prose, but I think an overlooked source is lyrics from the great singer-songwriters. The ability to paint a picture through words and detail a narrative through the restraints of music has produced some incredible results.

OOC Question of the Week:

Who's someone you haven't worked with that you want to?
Who is someone you *have* worked with that you'd be eager to work with further?

Who better to join a fed named "Low Effort Wrestling" than an expy of Kevin Nash?

//They're not on here, but mine's been Game Girl.

Projecting a genuine sweetness and being a true, pure babyface is a rare feat in a game where talking shit is encouraged. When it's done well, you can't help but root for GG as a protagonist. And with a video game flare sprinkled in... great stuff.

I'm not worried about AI music replacing actual artists, I'm worried about when AI is used to replace *songwriters*. Some band or record label will eventually be savvy enough to use AI to produce the base song and then just have actual people record it to launder the creative bankruptcy.

// I just really wanted to be a wrestler when I was 15

At this point, I think I was just a pugnacious philhellene who needed an outlet....

// If there’s one thing I’m proud of and want to continue to do running this fed, it’s having a place where people are really writing for them. I’m as loose with judging and meeting people where they’re at creatively, because this hobby needs to get back to indulging the players..

I've been vested in @kieranfuking.bsky.social for a minute, more so his Alias character but King is cool. Excited for some new things I've seen from others but gonna keep quiet for now.

//I've been on a fan of Kyle Shane as a character since becoming exposed to him in UCI, to the point where I've actively pursued a feud with him.

Love the stuff @crashrodriguez.bsky.social has been doing lately, as well as the stuff Helena Handbaskets has been up to since the beginning of last year

// Not gonna link anything because I know you have read a lot of his work but @crashrodriguez.bsky.social

I saw this sleeping beast in OCW when we began our feud with the Craze title. I knew would rise high once he found his niche and bygawd has he found it. He's headlining multiple angled feds1/2

I actually haven't read any Crash outside of UCI! And link stuff for others anyway!

Question of the Week:

Who's a character that isn't your own who you have fallen in love with or become an invested reader?

Drop some reccs on the works of others and tell me *why* they rock

I even liked the non-wrestling events that would be held just to gin up social media activity. Like the stuff Quag ran before it came out he was a weirdo.

I hope we get some crossover events happening again. It's probably a little difficult for UCI to network with us being largely on BSky while most feds stuck to Twitter, but it was incredibly fun for the few I did some years back.

👇👇👇👇

// Contrary to popular belief, you don’t NEED to let everyone into a fed space an actively allowing antagonists to exist tells me you think their antics are cool and okay. Efedding doesn’t need to be so fucking hacky. Do better. Spectators and prospects see you.

That's on my personal account 🥞