Saturday 13 April 2013

L is for Lyrics

Image courtesy of digital art / freedigitalphotos.net
Struggling for something to write about? Try listening to some music.

One of the best ways of collecting a bunch of story starters or prompts is to listen to song lyrics. Put your music on random and really listen to the words of the next song that comes on. Are there any lyrics that jump out at you? They could be beautiful, intriguing, or even bizarre. Write down anything that gets your attention and either makes you think or paints a vivid picture in your mind and then move on to the next song. Fairly soon you will have a whole collection of hand picked prompts for when your creativity needs a little boost. You could take the lyrics from several different songs and put them together in a story, or just use one (obviously you will need to change the words), and see what your imagination can create.

Here are a few to get you started:

"It's easier to run, replacing this pain with something numb. It's so much easier to go, than face this pain here all alone." - Easier to Run by Linkin Park

"She had something to confess to. But you don't have the time so, look the other way." - Muscle Museum by Muse

"Keep your sympathy, don't need the healing to start. You've gone, gone and made a beautiful hole in my heart." - My Very Best by Elbow

I think all of these could be the inspiration for a good story.

Have you ever been inspired by the lyrics of a good song? Let me know in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you.

I'm going to be away on holiday until 15th April, but I have scheduled all the posts for while I'm away. I will try and log in once a day to check everything is running smoothly and reply to as many comments as I can. If you leave a comment I will visit your blog when I return and reciprocate. Happy A to Z'ing.

8 comments:

  1. I usually have music going as I write. It keeps the critics in my head quiet.

    Jenn @Scribbles From Jenn

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  2. I always have music on when I write. It drives me. I also use it as inspiration. We had a competition at our writing group, and the theme was 'feelings'. I searched through my music to find song titles that contained the word 'feel' and 'feeling' and 'feelings' and incorporated those song titles into a story. It must have been effective as I won the competition!

    PS. don't forget to turn off word verification on comments.

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  3. I love listening to music, but not when I write. I have never had a song inspire me, but I recebtkt read a book, Three Days of Rain by Christine Hughes, that was inspired by a song. I loved the book and enjoyed the song.

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  4. I often find inspiration in lyrics. A phrase or a word, sometimes even the entire song, can speak to me in terms of my own writing. However, I rarely write down the lyrics to look at later. Thanks for the reminder!

    Stopping by from A to Z.
    tantusamorscribendi.blogspot.com

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  5. I am often inspired by music. I love to right emotionally charged stories and their is so much emotion in music. Simply Sarah

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  6. Lovely blogpost, Love the topic of Lyrics that you have chosen!

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  7. Neat mix of lyrics/groups there!

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  8. Since I have been enjoying your blog so much I am nominating it for a Liebster Award. If your to busy to participate I understand!

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