One of the goals I set myself last year was to write a story every month. Unfortunately, I was not able to fully achieve this. In addition to the 4 stories I finished, there were so many that I left unfinished. I literally look at that file every day and sigh. It hurts that I haven't finished the missing ones, but I don't feel tempted to start something if I don't feel like it.
So I asked myself again what motivates me on a personal level. I put the shortcomings aside for the time being and didn't think about them, because as long as I was stuck on them, I forgot or didn't want to look ahead. So I thought about what I could use most to write a new story.
If you get the act of writing into a routine, I think it will happen to you too, you will start to make fiction out of most of the things that happen in your life. You might find it normal to think, “I wonder if I could write a fantastic and funny story if I exaggerated this ridiculous thing that happened to me a little?”.
Sometimes you trigger yourself with things that happen every day in your life rather than events. When I thought about what that was, the first thing that came to mind was music. More specifically, songs. Because the important thing here is song lyrics. Yes, today I am going to talk about using song lyrics in story writing.
Photo by Travis Yewell on Unsplash
There is a site that archives my records in the app I use to listen to music, and through it I checked my data for the year 2024. I listened to a total of 21,047 tracks (that's about 58 songs a day) during the year. The sum of the 5 artists I listen to most is half of this number. The rest of the data is a gradually decreasing and differentiating set of data, so I decided to base my opinion on the top five.
Two of them are instrumental and the other three are alternative rock. One of them is in a language other than English, so I can't understand the lyrics (unless I'm curious and check them out).
Chart of the five artists I listened to most in 2024 - Source by the author.
So I see that 72 per cent of the 10,000 or so tracks are instrumental. The reason I prefer this genre is that it calms me down, allows me to think, clears my head and helps me concentrate when writing. Once you get used to it, it's hard to stop. This means that the lyrics of the remaining 28 percent (excluding 13 percent) can make me think more about words. Yes, music without lyrics can do that too, but this time it's the lyrics we're talking about. Come to think of it, I may have left some of my stories unfinished because I was too fixated on the same genre.
In 2024 I mentioned that I had written four stories, two of which were fulfilled when I listened to songs in my native language. While I was in a nostalgic flow, I really liked the phrase I caught in the song. Although I am not sure if I get this feeling with foreign songs, I have never had this experience before. But the phrase in my mother tongue made me think immediately. Maybe that is the factor, I am not sure yet.
So I decided to try it this year. When I want to write a story and I'm not quite sure where to start, I use songs. This time I'll try lyrical ones, and if I want to write around a certain theme, I'll include albums and artists who have those kinds of songs. I'll amplify my feelings.
I have no idea if this will be a successful personal experiment, but I have hope. Because when you think about it, songs are more persistent than we think.
We all have choruses that we hum when we get up in the morning/during the day, and it's not even clear where they stick on your tongue. Sometimes you don't remember them for days, but in those moments of emptiness, when your mind is quieter, you realise that the words are coming off your tongue unconsciously. This gives me the impression that songs (with the effect of stillness, of course) strengthen the connection. In other words, when I want to write a story, they can be a guide for me.
On the other hand, some albums are like serial stories. The next song can be related to the previous one, or it can be a direct continuation. Of course, it all depends on how the musician structures the album. Nevertheless, I have to say that listening to such albums is (personally) more pleasant. I can relate to what is being described on the album and I can understand why the lyrics are used the way they are. Being able to understand the song, in fact any work of art that is consumed (not as much as the artist himself, but personally), is a pleasant feeling. It allows us to make a connection, and that connection can lead to personal ideas, why not?
The songs, whether we understand them or not, tell a short story. If there are scenes from the artist's life, it is difficult to understand them without researching them, but sometimes we feel that we have captured points from our lives. Moreover, this is the aim of some artists, they want to capture us. So at some point we join a common network of thought. Listening to music in our own language, relating to events from the same culture, noticing similar patterns, will probably evoke more effective feelings and ideas in us than foreign pieces. This is not a necessity, but it seems more possible in terms of efficiency.
Let's continue with what we said about short stories. I think that songs (if they have a logical narrative flow) can be considered as fast-paced books. They are stories that we read in a nutshell, we don't get lost in the details, but we don't miss the important points. It is actually up to us, the listeners, to give fictional answers by completing what we hear and questioning cause and effect. This can even be seen as a game that helps to create alternative scenarios. It is up to you.
The most important thing is undoubtedly the music itself. When it envelops us with its rhythm, its use of words and its mood, which varies from genre to genre, we become part of it. It is easy to get caught up in it, but it can also be a stimulus for the creation of ideas. Like consuming a piece of visual art that we like. After seeing it, we sometimes think about what kind of work we would do personally. Because we get the holistic effect of it. A book might not give you the same feeling, but a song might bring you a stronger one.
Photo by Jacob Townsend on Unsplash
Of course, there is no rule that will work for everyone. After all, not everyone's style of learning and writing has to be the same. I think it is a good idea to look at the art form that suits us best and add our personal interpretation to it. Maybe you've already found it and don't have any problems, your muses visit you often and you have a good relationship with them.
If you feel deprived of this, you may want to give it a chance. If you do, be careful not to take the lyrics in their entirety and add your own words and thoughts. You don't have to be tied to the song, nor should you expect the same performance from every song that comes your way. As we said, they will help you get an idea, they will not come directly to you.
My advice is to decide on a theme and, if possible, some keywords beforehand. That way you can get a quick idea of the genre and the song. It can be more enjoyable and clearer to harmonise with the tracks.
On the other hand, you may have no idea what you want to write about. A remedy might be to use random tracks, what do you think? Experimenting with different genres and seeing what feelings and thoughts they evoke in you can be a different experience. It also seemed like an effective way to add originality to the story.
I don't know if I'll beat my 2024 goal this year, but I've set the same goal for 2025. Fortunately, I started and finished the first month's fiction in the way I mentioned. I listened to some songs that I liked. I came up with the story I wanted to write with my pre-determined themes in a fifteen minute period of lying down, listening and closing my eyes. I was able to start and finish on the same day without any delay. As much as the lyrics helped me, I did not hesitate to twist and bend them in completely different directions. I think it is both more attractive and more fun to present them in unexpected ways than to take them literally.
If you try it, please write to me, no matter what the result is for you. I can get some ideas, gather information and re-evaluate next year. Don't forget to include the songs in your next writing scheme, have fun listening to them in advance.
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