The Writing Thread

[DivCruz]

I don't if it's in the right board, though.

Here it is, the songwriting thread. We were discussing this kind of songwriting method at the "What are you watching now?" forum and it feels like it's going off topic, so might as well create one.

EDIT: This is for all the writing enthusiast now. Whether it's poetry, or story, or song. It goes here! Cheers guys!

[Lotha]

Make it a thread for writing in general?

[Dan Dando]

[youtube]http://youtu.be/7enqSgzzag0[/youtube]

[youtube]http://youtu.be/dKwPjsG1dGw[/youtube]

How about some advice from Mr Kennedy to get the ball rolling?

[DivCruz]

I am not actually filling a page on my notebook with words. Any word I can think of right? Like even it does not exist?

Make it a thread for writing in general?

Alright, there it is.

[Timotheus]

I suck when it comes to writing lyrics in Englsh.. It's always the last thing I do, even though it's such an important part of the song. I put one song on the TABN community album I was quite proud of though..

[Dan Dando]

I am not actually filling a page on my notebook with words. Any word I can think of right? Like even it does not exist?

Just do what you can - This is only Day 1 of the process, so try and get literally anything onto the page - but don't fret about filling it.

"Write a minimum of one page, every day. The earlier in the day you do it, the better. We’re talking 250 words. Though even more would be better.
Focus on writing one good scene at a time. If that’s too intimidating, get even smaller. Focus on writing just one good sentence, something modest but with a little charge in it. As a rule, a short sentence has more punch than a long one. Bluebottles thrummed. That’s a great sentence."

That's advice from one of my favourite authors, Joe Hill. Hill advises to start off by trying to focus on writing one good scene or sentence at a time. You can apply the essence of that to your song-writing - but instead of one good scene, try and aim for one good lyric, you know? - You can then open up your note-book tomorrow and try and build on it once more with another good lyric, and so on. If you enjoy the process you'll find yourself writing half a dozen good lyrics a day soon

[Lotha]

I am not actually filling a page on my notebook with words. Any word I can think of right? Like even it does not exist?

Just do what you can - This is only Day 1 of the process, so try and get literally anything onto the page - but don't fret about filling it.

"Write a minimum of one page, every day. The earlier in the day you do it, the better. We’re talking 250 words. Though even more would be better.
Focus on writing one good scene at a time. If that’s too intimidating, get even smaller. Focus on writing just one good sentence, something modest but with a little charge in it. As a rule, a short sentence has more punch than a long one. Bluebottles thrummed. That’s a great sentence."

That's advice from one of my favourite authors, Joe Hill. Hill advises to start off by trying to focus on writing one good scene or sentence at a time. You can apply the essence of that to your song-writing - but instead of one good scene, try and aim for one good lyric, you know? - You can then open up your note-book tomorrow and try and build on it once more with another good lyric, and so on.

I think that's the advice I follow, when I actually write scenes. Most of the time now goes on working out the scenes, plot, setting, world-building... I can't remember last time when I actually wrote a scene. For what I do right now I try to follow Myles' advice on writing something every day, but some stuff just need to sit for a while before I can make something of them.

[DivCruz]

Yep. That's what I'm doing right now. filling one page. just words though. probably tomorrow I'll start phrases then short sentences. Now I know what I'm gonna do whenever I'm in a boring class. I usually draw but I'd rather do this now.

[DivCruz]

I suck when it comes to writing lyrics in Englsh.. It's always the last thing I do, even though it's such an important part of the song. I put one song on the TABN community album I was quite proud of though..

I could not even write a song in my own language! FML.

[Dan Dando]

Awesome, guys (and girls!) This is a cool thread. Creativity can be a tough cookie to crack sometimes. Hopefully we can give each other a helping hand

[DivCruz]

Awesome, guys (and girls!) This is a cool thread. Creativity can be a tough cookie to crack sometimes. Hopefully we can give each other a helping hand

And hopefully we get a Creative Diarrheoa I'm loving that term.

[Ubik]

Cool thread! I always feel like I'm writing something, the main problem being that I do it all in my head and actually committing it to black on white is a feat rarely achieved

One day...

[Decay]

I find it very forcing and a lil bit intimidating, what Dan posted. Don't push it, if you don't feel like writing.

I suck when it comes to writing lyrics in Englsh.. It's always the last thing I do, even though it's such an important part of the song. I put one song on the TABN community album I was quite proud of though..

I could not even write a song in my own language! FML.

Well, I always write lyrics first, 'cause I don't play any instruments and I suck at singing. FML.

I've had about 100 songs written in English (currently, I've got 70, the other 30 have been lost forever. I wanted to kill myself when my HDD failed)

And I've got about 50 songs in my first language - Serbian. Feeling proud.

[Decay]

Awesome, guys (and girls!) This is a cool thread. Creativity can be a tough cookie to crack sometimes. Hopefully we can give each other a helping hand

And hopefully we get a Creative Diarrheoa I'm loving that term.

The one I came up with. Yeah, I'll go in history of TABN.com

[DivCruz]

Awesome, guys (and girls!) This is a cool thread. Creativity can be a tough cookie to crack sometimes. Hopefully we can give each other a helping hand

And hopefully we get a Creative Diarrheoa I'm loving that term.

The one I came up with. Yeah, I'll go in history of TABN.com

Yeah. I'll use that term from now on, may I? It would probably go big and be used all over the world someday.

[Timotheus]

When it comes to writing scenes and stories I write quite a lot. There used to be a time in high school I wrote about 3-4 papers a day for a very long time. Such a geek, lol.

I'm looking for a job in journalism for in my free time atm. Would be a lot of fun, and would look great on my CV.

[Decay]

Awesome, guys (and girls!) This is a cool thread. Creativity can be a tough cookie to crack sometimes. Hopefully we can give each other a helping hand

And hopefully we get a Creative Diarrheoa I'm loving that term.

The one I came up with. Yeah, I'll go in history of TABN.com

Yeah. I'll use that term from now on, may I? It would probably go big and be used all over the world someday.

Ofc, man. You can quote me if you want to, as well
Yeah, I hope so

[DivCruz]

Before that process Dan suggested, I actually tried one on my own. I had my friend to give me a word, and then from that word I changed one letter to form another word. then change another etc.etc. but I think it was boring. There other one was the anagram method, as I would like to call it. It's having a word (a long single or compound word) then from there jumble the letters and have new words. maybe have a phrase that works in that long word. I had one that worked quite well: MATHEMATICS and the changed it to "IM SAM THE CAT"

[Dan Dando]

I find it very forcing and a lil bit intimidating, what Dan posted. Don't push it, if you don't feel like writing.

That's cool, man. I think the process kinda comes from the idea that in order to be a better writer... you simply just have to write a lot. Like with any musical instrument, you play the guitar a lot in order to become a better guitar player. It's the same with painting/drawing... etc, a skill you hone through constant work and practice.

But then again this is the kind of advice I read/hear... from creative types who really can't afford to sit and wait until their muse shows up. They have to feed their families, so they have to be able to get to a place where they can almost summon their creativity at will really and get their work done. Heck, Stephen King likens the whole thing to hypnosis - he's got his 2,000 words in every single day for so long that he sits at his desk now and it all just pours out of him, you know? Pushing through and getting the writing done even when you aren't feeling it will be worth it in the long run.

I suppose it's different strokes for different folks. I just know that if I didn't force myself to sit down and try to write... I'd never do any writing, because I'm a lazy sod

If it's a case of doing it for fun - maybe that kind of regimen wouldn't be required. If it feels unpleasant to try and force it, then try it a different way

[SHEAKENBAKEN]

The one I came up with. Yeah, I'll go in history of TABN.com

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Creative+Diarrhea#seen

I'm calling your bluff, Decay! Either that or your term is already that popular.