Career Songwriter

One great way to exercise our writing chops without digging deep into the lyric writing process is to do some plot development. I like to do this when I’m just motivated enough to sit down to write, but not motivated enough to commit to a few hours of working out the nuts and bolts.

Try taking out that notebook of titles you carry around with you, choosing 3 titles that spark your interest. If you don’t have a notebook of titles, consider sifting through your daily Object Writing or Destination Writing for title ideas. Take each title and challenge yourself to write out the basic plots for 3 different songs around that title. If you continue to do this for a week, you might notice your plot ideas moving from less expected or cliche, to more original and authentic. I also like to challenge myself to keep the ideas simple. Too many twists and turns or late introductions of more and more characters can complicate a song and leave the listener feeling disconnected and disinterested. You might also use the worksheet technique described in the blog What’s In A Title to help you brainstorm for subject matter. Taking each word of the title and letting it suggest related ideas can lead to some great new takes.

Happy writing,

Andrea Stolpe

One of the hardest questions we writers can ask each time we sit down to write a song is, “what should I write about?” It seems almost ridiculous, with there being so many experiences, events, ideas, beliefs, values, hopes, discouragements, struggles, etc. to write about. After all, no-one is more equipped to write about our own experiences than us, and no-one else can give the song the personal perspective we can.

I think the real question lying behind the question ‘How do I come up with themes to write a song?’ is ‘How do I narrow down my ideas to write one, singular and strong theme?’

When I’m staring at an empty page and coming up blank, it is not usually a lack of ideas that prevents me from putting pen to paper. It’s that I am grazing the surface of so many choices that no one choice seems worthy enough to follow. To combat this problem, there are a few things we can do.

First, we can start a daily journal using Object Writing and Destination Writing. With this kind of writing, we’re coming in through the back door of an idea. We’re letting our journaling lead our creative minds to ideas that are worthy of songs, instead of starting with the idea and trying to conjure up angles that make that idea really shine. By choosing an object at random as we do with Object Writing, the pressure is off to start with anything remarkable. The same is true for Destination Writing, where we start with a person or a place as our topic. Then, we just write for a few minutes using sensory language, letting the ideas flow where they will. For more detail on Object Writing and Destination Writing, see Writing Better Lyrics and Popular Lyric Writing: 10 Steps to Effective Storytelling. These types of journaling are the currents running through the two songwriting courses, Lyric Writing: Tools and Strategies and Commercial Songwriting Techniques.

Other ways we can hone in on a song theme is by starting with a title. Instead of choosing such a broad theme like ‘love’, or ‘letting go’ or ‘schooldays’, we can make a quick list of words associated with a broad theme and let it take us to title phrases. For instance, with ‘schooldays’ I might list the first nouns, verbs, and adjectives that come to mind:

Tardy
bell
bus
note from the doctor
homeroom
homework
empty locker
gossip
bag lunch
milk money
ring
teenager
golden days
naive
having fun
football games

As I’m making this list, experiences I had come to mind. I remember what it was like to walk into a classroom of faces I don’t know. I remember eating the same bag lunch 5 days a week, sitting with a group of friends, counting down the 30 minute break like waiting for execution. I remember some things vividly, and they all paint a picture of how I perceived that time in my life. Now, if I step back and sum up how I think and feel about that experience in just one statement, it might be:

Though my schooldays were doused with excitement and spiked with horror, I will always keep them close to my heart, as the time I was learning to be me.

Looking back over that list of words and my simple statement here, there are more specific song directions emerging. If this tune were uptempo, it might be a light and fond look at those schooldays now that I’m an adult. If it’s a slow, melancholy tempo, it might be a look at how I’ve changed since those days, learned hard lessons from those days, or perhaps need to recapture something I’ve lost since those days. As a country tune for a male vocalist, maybe the idea is about my rebellion during that time of my life and the feeling I could carry on like that forever. As a female country vocal, perhaps the tune is a bittersweet remembrance of a coming of age.

Setting the theme in context of a specific genre can help to narrow the idea. With this process, we’re going with what our gut knows is typical of that genre, and what fans of that genre are accustomed to. Of course, we can certainly push the limits of a genre, providing we’re still relevant to the fans who listen.

As I hoped to clearly express in my book, Popular Lyric Writing: 10 Steps to Effective Storytelling, what makes our songs unique is our perspective. In songs in which the lyric takes a major role, ‘what’ we write about isn’t nearly as important as ‘how’ we write it. We can all write a love song, but what makes that love song believable and heartfelt are the details each of us brings based on our personal perspectives. So write your next song boldly, and infuse it with experiences that matter to you. And when you don’t know what to write about, ask yourself if you’re getting specific enough. Choose a major theme, and think of a time in your life when that theme became real for you.

Happy writing,

Andrea Stolpe

Mapping out the direction of our song before writing any actual lyrics can be a great way to keep a tight reign on that final version. I find that drawing up a simple outline helps to iron out any potential issues that might come up as a result of under-thinking and over-thinking my title idea. To get started, take your title and think about the main message of the song. Try to summarize in just a few sentences what that main message is – and frame it in the title. If my title is, ‘Running with the Wind’, I might summarize like this:

Chorus:
‘Running with the wind,’ I’ve let it blow me where it will. But I’m tired of ending up where I feel I don’t belong, so from now on, I’ll stop ‘Running with the Wind.’

It’s a simple idea about taking control of my life and changing the future. So, now that I know my overall point, I’m going to approach the verse sections. In my course Commercial Songwriting Techniques, I introduce a few short-cut tools for determining the direction of our verse and bridge sections. One option is to use time to determine where to move to. So, I’m going to start my first verse in the past. Here goes:

Verse 1:
I grew up with the cornfields, with thunderclouds and flat land, and deep dark nights with the brightest stars I’ve ever seen. But I got restless there in that small town and one day I thought I saw my future on the horizon, and I took off.

Now, in the prechorus I’ve got to connect the ideas between my chorus and verse. To do that, I’m going to ask myself ‘does it have to be this way?’ or ‘was there hope?’

Prechorus: I thought I was breaking free, becoming who I was meant to be.

Chorus:
‘Running with the wind,’ I let it blow me where it will. But I’m tired of ending up where I feel I don’t belong, so from now on, I’ll stop ‘Running with the Wind.’

The end of that chorus section clearly explains that I’m tired of running, so my second verse might jump off that idea. I’m going to try to explain what happened that made me tired, and all the places that I didn’t belong. Again, I’m talking about the past, however, a more recent past than verse one.

Verse 2:
I’ve been so many different places I can’t recall. I skimmed the surface, I changed direction, always thinking I’d find what I was looking for around the next corner. A rumble, a flash of light, a little rain, and I’d be gone.

Notice how I tried to incorporate ideas linked to the ‘stormclouds’ and ‘wind’ ideas of the first verse and chorus? That metaphor came from that crucial word in the title, and so I’m going to be sure to use that throughout the song to give it a cohesive identify. The title will then be inextricably linked to the content within the song, and that strengthens my main message.

Now for that second pre-chorus. Again, asking myself the question ‘does it have to be this way?’ or ‘is there hope’?

Prechorus:
I could grow some roots, slow down, finally see what went blurring by when I was…

Chorus:
‘Running with the wind,’ I let it blow me where it will. But I’m tired of ending up where I feel I don’t belong, so from now on, I’ll stop ‘Running with the Wind.’

Now in the bridge section, I could write about what the future will look like to contrast with the present and past that I’ve described in my other sections. Remember how I said I would use ‘time’ to direct the plot? By moving between the past in the verses, and present in the chorus, and the future in the bridge, I’m doing just that:

Bridge:
Someday I’ll look back on the places I’ve been, and I’ll know that I couldn’t have found where I am if I hadn’t been…

Chorus:
‘Running with the wind,’ I let it blow me where it will. But I’m tired of ending up where I feel I don’t belong, so from now on, I’ll stop ‘Running with the Wind.’

With a few ideas about how to develop the plot, I can better organize the lyric ideas I gather while Destination Writing. A great idea would be to write a few different plot progressions for the same title. Challenge yourself to become flexible with your outlines, letting go of ideas you cling to, and fearlessly writing down what you think isn’t your best material. The outline above may not be my best work, but that’s not important. What’s important is that I’m flexing my creative muscles to arrive at stronger ideas in the future. Give it a try yourself – you might be surprised the quality of material that slips out when you least expect.

For an in-depth audio lesson on writing second verses and outlining the plots of our songs, please visit www.songwritingtechniques.net and click play on the music player.

Happy writing,
Andrea Stolpe

If you are Object Writing or Destination Writing each day, you’re undoubtedly coming up with lots of material you can turn into songs. Many times we think we’ve got to start with a theme or topic clearly outlined to get a good tune. But, I’d like to show you how you might burst open another pot of ideas just by pulling interesting words and collisions out of thin air.

Whether or not we have a theme, we can start by choosing an ‘object’ to be the center of our song. I might look around the room and make a list of objects I see, like this:

Chimney
Wicker chair
Loveseat
Fax machine
Keys
Painting

Next, I’ll describe those objects in more detail with some taste, touch, sight, sound, smell, or movement ideas:

Chimney: puffs of smoke, exhaust, burning, fireproof, clogged, cords of wood, soot, ashes, brick, mortar

Wicker chair: Lacquer, hard, weave, cushion, pattern, frayed ends, peaceful, summer

Loveseat: Soft, worn in, cushion, bright pillows, sagging, beige, velvety, lived on, inviting, stuffing bursting

Fax Machine: buzz and beep, signal, flashing light, out of paper, cable, call, tray, jam, frustration, test

Keys: clink, hang, lost, sawed edges, unlock, secure, jingle

Painting: vivid color, texture, paint, brushstroke, curve, impression, wavy, outline, frame, gold, black, reflection, fine art

Now that I’ve got short lists of some of the characteristics of each object, I can draw some comparisons. I’m going to choose a few universal song themes and throw them against my nouns. Some universal themes we all know are finding love, losing love, longing for love, moving on, taking on the future with optimism, etc. So I’ll start with the first:

How is love like a chimney? In what ways does love burn, turn to ash, feel like brick and mortar, send up smoke signals, leave a layer of soot? We’re not talking literally here, of course, but metaphorically. This love could rage like kindling, could burn out and leave nothing but wisps of ash, the memory of it caked like thick soot, or block me in like brick and mortar.

How is love like a wicker chair? This love is woven tight, is weathered and hard from years of wear and tear, frayed on the edges. Or, it’s playful like a summer vacation, comfortable, peaceful and unassuming.

How is love like a fax machine? What kind of relationship runs out of paper when you need it most? How about has trouble connecting, requires a progress report, rings but there’s no-one on the other line, gets jammed?

The trick here is to let your imagination run, lengthening your list of characteristics of your noun and tossing each against the thematic idea. Though you may start with the same theme each time, such as love, you’ll get quite different song ideas depending on the noun you choose.

We can use this technique to brainstorm our song beginnings, or we can choose to return to metaphor to liven up a second verse, for example. After the first chorus, we move back into verse territory, and metaphor can provide excellent content that allows the story to progress while adding weight and purpose to the story. Just be careful to choose metaphor that stays relevant to the mood of the song. In other words, keep your metaphors consistent. We’re painting with a specific palette of color when we’re using metaphor, and changing that palette midway through the song can feel like switching out our main character for somebody else. If you begin with a wicker chair, consider the mood you’re creating. Then consider what other objects also reflect that same mood. If ‘wicker chair’ symbolizes comfort and hope, I may disrupt that mood if I later use ‘sleek business suit’ as a metaphor. Instead, I can move to a metaphor in which ‘wicker chair’ still has context, such as ‘leather-bound book,’ or ‘tea cup.’ Give it a try next time you’re searching for that unique perspective making your universal theme songs different from any other.

Happy writing,
Andrea