Lyric Development through Creative Writing

Author: Phöenix Lazare

One of the best ways to streamline your lyric writing process is to use creative free-writing.​ In my songwriting education, I studied a useful exercise called Object Writing, introduced and encouraged by songwriter/educator, Pat Pattison. Object Writing is a timed, sense-based creative writing activity to creatively stimulate, gather new ideas and help to begin the songwriting process.

To begin object writing, it is simple:

• Grab something to write with - I suggest a physical journal, putting pen to paper (always remember to write the date at the top!)
• Select a noun as your prompt (ex. "Coffee mug," or "Paris")
• Set a timer. This can be as short as 1 minute to as long as 10. To start out, I suggest 5 minutes.
• Write freely based on your prompt, stream of consciousness style, until the timer is up.
• When you're done, go back and underline your favourite parts. Is there anything you can use to build a verse or song section?

When object writing, it is important to remember these few things:

1. Do not stop writing until time is up.
2. In your writing, put the focus on your senses - sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. This will help to produce descriptive language in your lyrics.
3. Don't let your mind get in the way of your pen. Let your writing go wherever it leads you, even if it drifts from the original prompt. 

I'll give you an example of 5-minute timed Object Write below using the prompt, "Celebration."

Celebration:
Glitter covers the black and white tiled floor, sticky with Shirley Temple paper umbrella drinks spilled between amateur dance moves. The popular music, so loud I can already hear my ears ringing into tomorrow's late morning, screams through the giant-sized speakers that hug the footprint-studded stage. As I look around the dim lit room, I feel an energy, hopeful but with an emptiness overcast, shadowing like a broken umbrella above forced smiles and intoxicated lust. Yet a comforting presence, observed through the eyes of strangers seeing an evening through to sunrise, lighting a dance floor with a youthful electricity. The subtle scent of stale kettle corn and sweat follow the hallways...

Now here it is again, with my favourite parts underlined:

Glitter covers the black and white tiled floor, sticky with Shirley Temple paper umbrella drinks spilled between amateur dance moves. The popular music, so loud I can already hear my ears ringing into tomorrow's late morning, screams through the giant-sized speakers that hug the footprint-studded stage. As I look around the dim lit room, I feel an energy, hopeful but with an emptiness overcast, shadowing like a broken umbrella​ above forced smiles and intoxicated lust. Yet a comforting presence, observed through the eyes of strangers seeing an evening through to sunrise, lighting a dance floor with a youthful electricity. The subtle scent of stale kettle corn and sweat follow the hallways...

To take it one step further... I'll construct a verse inspired by elements from my favourite lines:

Observed through the eyes of strangers
Forced smiles, electric youth
Spilling Shirley Temples
Between amateur dance moves