How To Turn An Idea Into Lyrics?

[choobakka]

Hi guys,

I'm a complete newbie when it comes to writing lyrics and would just like a little guidance on the topic.

I seem to be able to come up with a basic idea or a title for a song. I'm even able to come up with some 'phrases' (a line or two) which could possibly be incorporated into the song. The problem I have though, is how to develop all of this and turn it into fully fleshed-out lyrics.

I've started writing a little bit every day but I always eventually end up hitting 'the wall'! I know this is partly because I'm new to it all but I'd really like some help or advice on how to turn the idea/title/phrases into lyrics.

Any help with this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Edited October 21, 2010 by choobakka

[john]

hey

Welcome to Songstuff! Start a new topic in the introduce yourself board and give us all the low down on chooey

The answer to your question isn't quite the same as that of "how long is a piece of string?" but it's not far off.

There are so many approaches you can take from a completely informal write, write, write (followed by edit, edit, edit) to a planned lyric.

You might find these articles useful:

Improve Your Lyrics Writing

Lyrics Critique For Songwriters

Lyrics Function and Form

Songwriting Tips

There are many others you might find useful in our Songwriting Articles section.

Hopefully you will find some useful suggestions there (and it means less typing for me!), and if you do please share them on

If they raise any questions or you are not sure of something please ask away

Welcome aboard!

Cheers

John

[choobakka]

Thanks for the reply John,

I'll have a read through those links and see where they lead me...

[john]

no problem. I'm still happy to discuss in this topic too if it helps

[choobakka]

What I've found really interesting is the Build-A-Song series by Mary Dawson. It's really got me thinking about songwriting in a different way.

I'm still having difficulty getting the words out onto the paper but my thinking has changed slightly since reading some of those articles.

Now if only I could get words out!

[choobakka]

Ok so after reading this book by Andrea Stolpe, I came across a process called object/destination writing.

It took me a while to understand exactly what she was talking about but once I understood it, it's been immensely helpful. It's not exactly helped with lyric writing as such, but it has got me writing and thinking in a more descriptive manner.

I've only been doing it for a few days so far but already I can see an improvement.

So obviously the next step will be for me to extract and adapt any possible lyrics from my writing but I think that's still a while away at the moment. I'm just happy to be able to write at the moment, something which is completely alien to me!

Just thought I'd mention it as it may help others who are having difficulty writing.

Here's a little bit more about it.

Edited November 3, 2010 by choobakka

[Benoit]

usually i take the phrase and try to see how it rolls off the tongue. see what phrasing/pace best conveys the words. play around with it switch words/syntax and see what has the best flow.

from there come up with similarily metered stuff and a melody that goes nicely with it. This is all pretty intuitive but it is learned with practise. write write write!