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What Is the Cut-Up Method?
The cut-up technique (also known as the cut-up method) is a creative process used by artists and writers like William S. Burroughs, Julio Cortázar, Kathy Acker, David Bowie, Thom Yorke, and others to help inspire new ideas.
When it first began, the method involved taking the text from books, newspapers, or magazines and cutting the pages into small text segments - each piece containing a few words or so. These cut-ups would be picked at random and placed beside each other to form new surprising pieces of text. This cut-up technique tool is the digital version of that process.
How to Use the Cut-Up Technique Generator
The easiest way to use this tool is a simple three step process.
- You choose either the "news" button or the "fiction" button. This will load some original source text that will be cut-up.
- Click on the "Create Cut-Up Text" button to cut-up the source text. If you don't like the remixed results then click on the "Create Cut-Up Text" button again to remix the text once more.
- Now you can edit, copy, or download the newly remixed text.
If you want to get fancier, you can load in your own source text and play with the cutting and formatting options. The default options are, I think, the best options but play around with them to see if you prefer one of the alternatives.
It's a very easy and fun tool to use so give it a go.
Cut-Up Technique Examples
Art relies on surprise. Surprise is what gives art its power and lifts it out of the mundane - far away from the boredom of day to day life.
One way to produce surprise is through juxtaposition - the act of putting some unexpected elements together to produce novel results.
Juxtaposition is the heart of the cut-up method. This generator helps us to reconstruct language in a way that, at times, can be resonant and appealing.
But it also creates a lot of uninspiring text. Your job is to use your taste and sensibilities to pull an inspirational jewel or two out of the literary wreckage this app produces.
Here are some examples of some fragments I just pulled out of tool:
- Oklahoma whipping in darkness
- Your business for celebrating hope and sacrifice
- Emotional testimony from a killer of time
It takes some work but look for the pieces of text that intrigue you. Once you find them, take them away, and go build on them for your song lyrics, stories, and other creative endeavours.
Hopefully, this tool proves useful to you. I tried to make it as best I could.
Wishing you good luck in your creative pursuits, Scott.