Pretentious Lyric Workshop: On Inspiration

For our first proper workshop we'll consider the issue of "inspiration" as relates to lyric writing as well as inspiration's red-headed step-brother "writer's block."

For the purposes of this blog, there's no such thing as writer's block. I've been employed as a professional/technical writer for 10 years. I write stuff I am not terribly inspired by every day. Those days where I am particularly productive and sharp are those days I think of myself as “inspired." When I have those days, I like to make the most of them. Making the most of those "inspired" days means doing adequate pre-work (outlining, research, etc.) on "uninspired" days. I found that similar practices work when it comes to writing song lyrics.

How can you take advantage of your high-energy, high-productivity days? Preparation. Which begs the question, how can you prepare to write lyrics?

The first and best suggestion I can give you is to take notes.

As I am struck by things that pop into my head or that I read or see out in the big wide world I jot them down, often without context. Some writers (songs, fiction, poetry) are diligent and keep proper journals. I'm a spazz. I'm fond of Post-Its. I jot down potential titles, couplets, possible song subjects, lists pulled from new articles and other ephemera that I come across and then pop them in my wallet, in a book, or stick them on the back of a jewel case where I will find them and use them later. I also keep running txt files on my work laptop of things I thought of but didn't have time to work with b/c I was on the job. I'll go back to these notes and files later when I feel motivated to write a full set of lyrics -- lyrics that often combine multiple notes out of context, creating something I'd not imagined when I took the note.

I just pulled two post-its from a few months ago out of my wallet. Here's what they say:

Post-It 1 [FRONT]

Dear Marie in pink and blue
Powder sweet + rotten through
____________________________
40 Icons of Mary
in Byzantium
____________________________
Give drink to the sun

Post-It 1 [BACK]

Athena's Owl
Here is my work, my victory
Snow within the
Ghost Witch ---> woods

Post-It 2 [FRONT]

Oregon Vortex
Paulding Light
Brakeman's Wake
Coral Castle
Mel's Hole
Sea Panther of Lake Mich.
(All written over a red pen doodle of an owl)

Post-It 2 [BACK]
Werewolf Song/Time
Morbid Frolic
Montreal Underground
Red Planet Song
Feast of the Lemures
Mt. Shasta
Skinwalker Ranch

As you can see, all total nonsense. I have in the last 6-12 months written songs with the titles "Athena's Owl," "Werewolf Time," and "Feast of The" so I apparently went back to these notes during a productive period. I can remember that the place and thing names on Post-It 2 came from a Yahoo Article about supposed hauntings or supernatural sites in the US. I think I was thinking of writing a song about the guy I saw shutting down and locking up the Montreal Underground ten years ago, so that explains that note. The others were things I snagged from books or websites or made up. Anyway, these notes provided prompts enough for 3 songs that I might not have written when I was in the mood had I not taken the time to remind myself of things I found interesting. Your notes should track those subjects/phrases you are engaged with. They will give you something to discuss, reimagine, and tell your audience about when it comes time to write lyrics.

Great. Take notes. Keep lists. Give yourself ammo when it comes time to take aim at a particular set of lyrics. But how do you know how to use all this stuff?

Imagine what sorts of songs you want to have written. In a perfect world, what album would you make? What does the cover look like? Who is the audience? Are you writing songs that will excite a big rock audience, or do you want to write four songs as a gift for a good friend who is moving away? What are the lyrics like? What are the songs about? Your answers to these questions will determine your next steps. Jot down a few "goals" as a bulleted list.

Here's a silly example...

I want to write

• a concept record about my 1st high school crush
• love songs (duh)
• songs with futuristic settings
• songs in the style of Ziggy Stardust

So here I am imagining the kickass artwork for the world-conquering Space Opera self-produced concept record about going to Mars with Erin McBreathtaking from 9th Grade World History and I haven't even written a single verse. Is failure certain? Nope. We just have to start working slowly to get where we want to go.

How can you start biting off manageable chunks of this big (15 songs?) project? Well, start documenting what you do have.

For the purpose of my ridiculous example, let's say I have...

• three titles "Eyes Skyward," "Computer Doom," and "Someday I Will Fly"
• a Xeroxed copy of the Mars pages from Alan Moore's The Watchmen
• my Frosh. high school yearbook
• bootleg mp3s of tracks from Weezer's Songs from the Black Hole (as reference for a similar space + love rock opera)
• this couplet "I've wanted to tell you for so long/so I'm writing you this stupid red planet song."

Given this stuff, I'd probably start working on a lyric that unifies the themes that I've identified as crucial to my desired output -- a big, dippy concept record about nostalgic teenage space love.

Going back to my own notes, I snagged "Red Planet Song" which makes a good enough title for the moment. The sample couplet "I've wanted to tell you for so long/so I'm writing you this stupid red planet song" could be a good chorus or part of a chorus so you've got that. If that's your chorus, you could use the verses as if the speaker is directly writing/speaking to Erin McBreathtaking...

Lousy Example 1:

Hey Miss Erin
see you sittin' there in class
I'm feeling like a dummy
I'm grinning like an ass...
In this case, your chorus would drive the speaker's point home directly.

However, you don't have to make this song into a standard declaration of love. You could take a third person approach and use the chorus to take us into the mind of your main character. Or you could write the verses as a conversation between two characters, with the chorus serving as one character's rebuttal. Anyway, you have options because you have your notes, you know where you want to go, and you have some sources to "borrow" from. By preparing and planning, you have a clear picture of where you're going when you feel like you're in a comfortable place to begin writing.

Of course, you might be wondering how people come up with the idea to write a lovelorn rocket opera about your highschool crush in the first place. (I really did just come up with it while writing this entry.) Well, this initial sort of inspiration can also be aided by prep work.

The following best practices can sharpen your ability to conceive of "good ideas" that will guide your note taking and your eventual lyric writing process.

• Be attentive. Start with songs you admire. Identify the speaker(s), themes, political/religious/social positions advocated by the speaker, the types of rhymes used, etc. How do your favorite songs work? Can you identify the distinct parts? Also look at songs with lyrics you HATE. Why do you hate them? What do they do wrong? What do they do right in the parts you hate less?
• READ READ READ. The best way to get better at "words out" is spend tons of time putting words in. Read fiction, read poetry, read non-fiction, read advertising copy. Read random Wikipedia articles and stuff your head with stupid facts. Get a feel for the types of words used. Pay attention to the meter/rhythm of the language. Reading also builds your vocabulary, knowledge-base, and your familiarity with symbolism, metaphor, etc. Watching movies and listening to records can give you good ideas too. Still, developing good reading habits will help you cram your head so full of things that you won't be able to stop it from overflowing onto your own pages.
• Challenge yourself. Check out the sorts of prompts (http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/) that creative writers use to practice their skills. Write a set of lyrics based on the prompt. Pick an old ballad or standard and rewrite it in your own voice. Look up standard poetry forms (sonnet, haiku) and write a few. Get comfortable limiting your language according to rules. Write a verse or two in standard song rhyming schemes like ABAB or AABB.

Whatever you do, don't mystify the process. Be relentless about borrowing and reworking other people's stuff and making it your own. Write about what interests you, regardless of whether or not it seems like the sort of thing that belongs in a song. Don't get suckered into writing in that stilted "timeless important declaration" voice that a lot of new writers fall into. Worst case scenario, focus on telling a story. Who would have thought that Neil Young giving a rather biased, mostly naive history lesson would result in a compelling song like "Cortez the Killer"? Write what you know and worry about whether it’s good enough later. There'll be plenty of time for that.

I recognize that this post is rather long. The more technical pieces should be shorter. Inspiration and process are major issues. With any luck, this hefty introduction will lay the groundwork for more a “less talk, more rock” future.