Creative writing exercises

Writing music and lyrics is a skill, and like any other skill, you get better at it if you practise. So here are a few exercises that might help you improve your music writing.

1.
Write about anything and everything. Pick an item that’s next to you and write something about it. It might be your coffee cup, or a pen, or anything. Write about:

• what it looks like
• how it makes you feel
• where it came from
• what it means to you
• its smell
• its texture
• its shape
• what it does
• what you think will happen to it
• what it might have seen before reaching you

These are a few examples, feel free to come up with more. Try to cover every point of view on this item. If you can write a full page about a half-eaten sandwich, you can write about pretty much anything.

2.
Pick a topic, and write several short pieces about it, using a different format every time.

• use a specific rhyme scheme
• use a different rhyme scheme
• don’t use rhymes
• write a limerick
• write a sonnet
• write 4 quatrains (groups of text) of 4 lines each, with the rhyme scheme ABAB in each one
• write a full length text with the structure verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus
• write a text with the structure verse-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus
• write a text with any structure of your choice
• write a text with exactly 100 words
• write a text with exactly 200 words
• capture the idea of the topic in a tanka or haiku
• write a text using only (or as many as possible) alliterations

3.
Speedwriting. Pick a topic, and give yourself a max. amount of time, say 10 minutes, to write a song text about it. Forget about quality and format for now, just get it on paper within 10 minutes. Try to write 5 or more songs like this in a day. Too easy? Give yourself 10 minutes to write a song with a consistent rhyme scheme. Still too easy? Do it while using rhymes and a strict meter, like for example iambic hexameter.

That’s a few tips. You can of course use any combination of these to make it more interesting or challenging. For example, you could write a sonnet about a half-eaten sandwich within a time limit of 5 minutes.

Do you have more good tips on how to improve your writing? Leave a comment and let me know!