Songwriting

Hi everyone,

I’ve set myself a personal writing challenge: I want to try writing something in every category, reaching for the omni badge. I think it’ll be fun, a bit daunting, and hopefully a great way to stretch my creative muscles.

The problem? I’m not equally confident in all the categories - songwriting, for example, really intimidates me. I love words and rhythm, but turning that into lyrics with flow and structure feels like a completely different language. I tried researching, but the concept of beats and bars goes over my head. Writing lyrics feels like poetry, but I have a feeling it's not the same.

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions on where to start?

I’d love to hear how others have navigated this kind of creative experiment. And if you’ve got a favourite category that surprised you, I’d love to know that too.

Thanks in advance for your wisdom and encouragement!

Okay, here are a few things for you to consider before you start (and yes, I ran this by a friend of mine who just finished recording their second CD):

Are you trying to get a message across or just idle word play, musings, et cetera?

Do you have a melody or rhythmic pattern? This may narrow down the pace, and the pace usually matches the choice of words and how they feel. E.g., aggressive vs loving vs sad.

Do you want rhymes or blank verses, or really just plain prose? Meaning: Is it a message/idea, a story, or just lyrics without much meaning?

What is the recurring theme? That will be your chorus.

How many lyrical/linguistic layers do you want to use? E.g., metaphors, straight to the point, or showing off your lyrical skills and knowledge by using razor-sharp innuendos and quadruple-meanings in every stanza?

For me, to sum all of that up. You're a poet already. You write song lyrics every time you write a poem. It only requires minor tweaking like repetition for the chorus. Although, some poetry has that in between stanzas anyway. It's heart and flow, beats and rhythm. All arranged to keep it flowing, to keep it moving. You don't have to have the music to have the heart of the message. Don't go at it as if you're writing a song; write the poem first, then make a song out of that.

Thank you. I'm definitely starting from ground zero here, so hearing it broken down like that makes it feel... well, still mildly terrifying, but less like I’m about to trip over a guitar string and fall into a drum kit.

When I decided to do this, I had no idea what I wanted to write about; it just had to be a song to satisfy the omni thingy. But once I started outlining it, everything changed. I'm now excited about doing this. I have two ideas (for now), so they might end up being two songs or one awkwardly merged song.

I love the idea of writing the poem first and not stressing about it being a “song” just yet. That takes some of the pressure off. Melody? Rhythm? I currently have neither… unless we count the rhythm of mild panic and the melody of overthinking. But hey, maybe that’s a start.

You’re right, poetry and lyrics live next door to each other. I might try writing a piece with a chorus in mind, just to see how it feels. Repetition feels like something I can play with... once I stop panicking about rhymes and metaphors behaving themselves. I can't write or read music, so it'll only be lyrics to a beat that's only inside my head.

Also... I did try writing songs years ago for one of my stories. Read them now. And oh, wow. Let’s just say there was a lot of emotion. A lot of rhyming. At least two death threats (“I could have him dismembered” was apparently a romantic turning point), and some intense gardening-based revenge fantasies. Somewhere in there, I rhymed “dies” with “eyes,” so we know the desperation was real.

Another one had a chorus that just kept begging to be taken to “eternal bliss”. Repeatedly. I don’t know whether I was writing love songs, villain origin stories, or some kind of off-Broadway melodrama. Either way, it’s all proof that I’ve always felt things. Loudly.

So yes. Growth is good. Subtlety is nice. But also… I kind of love that I just went for it. Maybe the cringe is part of the charm.

I totally agree with Molly. For you, write a poem first. For me, I took popular songs and changed the words all the time to sing to my son, so I did that with the Twinkle Twinkle song, but I wasn’t really creating a new song, just changing lyrics.

My hardest category was the play! Omg! Mainly because I wanted to write in the playscript format. But when you get to that, just do your own thing. And I’d suggest keeping it short at first. Write one act. You can always add on once you get the hang of having to think about how it could play out on stage. And read the others posted!

I have had poems that I kind of set to tunes in my head but have never really set out to deliberately write a lyric. That said, I love a good lyric and some of my favourite lyricists are also published poets (Leonard Cohen, for instance) so I think the idea of approaching it as poetry is a sound one. If I was going to try writing lyrics, I would probably listen to and read the lyrics of some of my favourites in the style of music I was targeting to get into the mindset, then see what came out of me rather than thinking about it too much. The thinking would come afterward when I started editing and trying to make it fit a tune. But more likely, I would just write poetry that had a nice, regular pattern so could be fitted to a tune easily. Among my current poems, Spooky People is the one that I can most easily see becoming a song.

Quote by WriterGirl

I totally agree with Molly. For you, write a poem first. For me, I took popular songs and changed the words all the time to sing to my son, so I did that with the Twinkle Twinkle song, but I wasn’t really creating a new song, just changing lyrics.

My hardest category was the play! Omg! Mainly because I wanted to write in the playscript format. But when you get to that, just do your own thing. And I’d suggest keeping it short at first. Write one act. You can always add on once you get the hang of having to think about how it could play out on stage. And read the others posted!

The play is another thing weighing on my mind. That and sci-fi, both bridges I will cross, then burn, once the time comes. I think I am comfortable with every other category, but I find it hard to write what I don't enjoy reading. That said, I enjoyed reading your play.

Quote by Mendalla

I have had poems that I kind of set to tunes in my head but have never really set out to deliberately write a lyric. That said, I love a good lyric and some of my favourite lyricists are also published poets (Leonard Cohen, for instance) so I think the idea of approaching it as poetry is a sound one. If I was going to try writing lyrics, I would probably listen to and read the lyrics of some of my favourites in the style of music I was targeting to get into the mindset, then see what came out of me rather than thinking about it too much. The thinking would come afterward when I started editing and trying to make it fit a tune. But more likely, I would just write poetry that had a nice, regular pattern so could be fitted to a tune easily. Among my current poems, Spooky People is the one that I can most easily see becoming a song.

Music is my soul's comfort food. So I don't want to muck it up. To be honest, I used to fantasise about being a musician… but unfortunately, I was born with the rhythm of a broken washing machine and the vocal range of a confused goose during mating season. So now I just vibe dramatically with my air guitar and pretend the cats are applauding me.

Quote by Sherzahd
I was born with the rhythm of a broken washing machine and the vocal range of a confused goose during mating season.

Yay. Someone else who makes self-deprecating comments about their musical abilities. 😊🤣

Quote by Mendalla
Yay. Someone else who makes self-deprecating comments about their musical abilities.

Finally, someone who understands that my biggest musical talent is enthusiasm.

There should be a choir for people like us. They'd have to lock us in a soundproof room to avoid noise complaints, but it would be fun. 😀