Writing original text can be really complicated. Create it from the heart. You don't need to use magic though - it is a skill that you can develop and improve over time. Express your individuality to make the text as unique as you are. This article provides tips to help you find the right words, and gradually improve as an author. Keep reading!
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Writing from the Heart
Step 1. Get inspired
We often start writing a song trying to compress what we want to say into four or eight bars, a couple of rhymes and maybe a chorus. If we're lucky, we can get the message across.
That's fine, but it's not a very inspiring or unique method of writing a song - we're limited from the start. Instead, try to write your thoughts down without tying them to a specific structure
Step 2. Practice every day:
first thing when you wake up, sitting at the table while drinking your coffee, take out a pen and paper.
Step 3. Choose something in the room
Everything. You can start with the coffee pot, or the mosquito that just landed on your arm. Write for ten to fifteen minutes on that subject in as much detail as possible. You can be precise, or sophisticated - but don't limit your creativity. Don't spend too much time on this lyrics - you're not writing a song; consider it an exercise to stimulate your creativity.
Step 4. Choose the main subject of the song
When you are ready to write a song, use the skill you have developed and practiced every day. This time, instead of an object in the room, choose the topic of the song. A girl, or a car. You can talk about an abstract concept like love or a situation like traveling by train. Now, instead of summing up your thoughts into four stanzas online, write a story and use all your senses to describe it.
- It doesn't have to be well written or grammatically correct. Consider it a stream of consciousness or a "poem of thoughts" and write down everything that goes into your head.
- When you are done, analyze what you have written. Which parts arouse strong emotions? Which parts are descriptive and which ones deserve to be repeated?
Step 5. Start developing the song
Some songs tell a story, while others are small cartoons with a central theme. After working on the writing exercises, you probably already have an idea of how it will develop.
- If your song is a story, tell it all in the exercise. If it is made up of pictures, write several short stories related to the central theme and another story that describes the theme.
- For example, Bob Dylan's "Shelter From The Storm", although it contains elements of a story, can be considered more a series of scenes that portray the image of a time and a place and a difficult life, which revolve around the figure of a benefactor, offering shelter from the storm.
- Another Dylan song, Lily, Rosemary, And The Jack Of Hearts, is a story told in sequence, which like Shelter From The Storm, revolves around a central point: the Jack of Hearts.
Step 6. Identify the basic elements of the song
These will form the backbone of the text, the motif of each verse, the chorus or both. Don't overdo it though, or you'll end up with a 20 minute song! We will stick to the standard formats for now.
- Once you have the ideas for each verse down, work them out to express them. Commonly, the idea is expressed in the last verse of the verse, while the first three are used to anticipate, motivate or create a rhyme.
- Keep filling in the "blanks" until you complete each verse. You may find that you find rhymes that you can reuse in other stanzas, and others that are unique. Remember, your song must be unique. Don't worry if it doesn't follow fixed rules - you can always delete anything that doesn't work later, even rhymes!
Step 7. Develop the refrain
Generally, a song is about something. A good way to organize the song so that this "something" is the focal point is to express it in the chorus. Each verse prepares the way for the chorus, helping the listener arrive at their destination and understand the message.
Listen, for example, to Jack Johnson's "Better Together". The chorus is simple: "It's always better when we're together". Each verse describes an image of how everything that happens always brings back togetherness, the best thing. You can write a song about something you've experienced or about the life of a friend or someone else. Good luck
Part 2 of 2: Making the Song Personal
Step 1. Write a deeply personal song
You will give the audience the thrill of sharing a confidence, and at the same time give yourself a chance to let off steam.
Step 2. Decide how to write the song:
text or melody first. You can also decide to write the two parts together, a process that can be simpler. Whatever you decide to write later will be made more difficult by the fact that you need to adapt it to the part already written, so you may want to leave for last the one where you can express yourself best.
- Some famous artists start with the melody, then find the right words to accompany it. There is a song that everyone knows that was written like this, "Yesterday" by Paul McCartney.
- This is also Peter Gabriel's favorite technique, who often uses nonsense syllables as he searches for a melody, adding words only once the music is decided.
Step 3. Make a list of what you might write in the text
Jot down as many ideas and words that refer to them as you can (this is especially useful if you plan on composing the text in rhyme). Write as detailed as possible; keep in mind, however, that not everything could end up in the final text. Be creative!
Step 4. Start with the chorus
Sing it to make sure the text meets the metric.
Step 5. Use accents and dialects, but do it naturally
This can allow you to find rhymes not possible in the traditional language.
- Even if being able to rhyme words that end in a different way and finding continuity between words that are distant from each other is an added value, do not overdo it.
- You can use sayings or phrases typical of your area. This allows you to write text that has local roots. Moreover, some authors are used to bend the accents to their specific purpose, creating an absolutely unique beat. However, it is not absolutely necessary to adopt a dialect or accent that does not belong to you in order to write a "unique" text.
Step 6. Think of an unusual pace for your text
You could repeat the same line several times, use an unconventional rhyming pattern, or alternate very short lines with very long ones.
Step 7. Listen carefully to how people around you are talking and what they are talking about
You might get some text out of their conversations.
Step 8. Make your text a literary work
Make the text deeper and more interesting by using similes, metaphors, and other literary tools.
Step 9. Use a sense of humor
Include funny things or refer to current fashions or events, because people tend to remember them more.
Step 10. Create a headline that makes you think
Make sure it's relevant to the text, but if the reference is obscure or subtle, don't worry too much. The title Rainy Day Women No. 12 and 35 has no meaning for mere mortals (and perhaps not even for Mr Dylan), but when he wrote that song, Everybody Must Get Stoned was not a title that would have allowed him to propose the song to the radio.
Avoid names that are too long, like Joan Miro's Procession Through The Insides Of A Purple Antelope Across A Sea Of Tuna Fish by Adrian Belew. If you choose a title that is too long, people will ignore your song, find an alternate title, or become a cult song just because of the title. If your muse inspires you, follow her
Advice
- Make sure the lyrics and riffs are in tune. Don't write a lullaby on a grunge piece.
- If you think your text is trivial, don't settle for it and rewrite it.
- After writing the lyrics sing it to find a beat that goes well with it.
- The lyrics of the songs do not necessarily have to follow rigid rhythmic and metric patterns, so you are free to say anything you want without constraints. In this sense it is very similar to writing a poem.
- Write from the heart and base the text on your life.
- Always think about the theme of the song first.
- Find inspiration from other songs. Don't copy though.
- Try writing a text about how another person feels about you.
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Be yourself!
The best songs are the ones that come from the heart.
Warnings
- While offending someone or infringing on copyrights will undoubtedly allow you to write a memorable text, it will not be for the right ones.
- Don't put sentences together just because they rhyme, but make sure the lines are quality and interesting.
