I've got no ideas for songs
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@ianuarius Feb 2022
I want to write a symphonic metal album because I have a strong feeling of what it would be like as a finished piece.
The problem is, I've got no ideas for it. If somebody asked me what to write about, I'd say "write about what's important to you". But nothing's important to me! Life and all its melodrama feels like a joke to me -- and I don't mean that in a cynical way.
How can you find beauty, intrigue, mystery, and heartache when you don't believe in any of it? -
@bithprod Feb 2022
My approach is to write other people's stories. I simply change my perspective and assume a different persona. "Everybody's got a story that could break your heart", Amanda Marshall once sang. Find that story and tell it.
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@headfirstonly Feb 2022
Sometimes that can be a sign that you need to take a break for a day or so and recuperate. After all, you've been insanely busy this February so far, with a double FAWM under your belt before we're even half-way through the month *and* you've been doing FAWMtalk twice a week.
Sometimes (and I speak from bitter experience) it can be an indication of depression, and if it persists, you should talk to your doc.
But as you go through your day, what makes you go "wtf?" What made you laugh? What made you snort in indignation? What new stupidity is there on the Internet today? That's been a rich vein that I've mined for *years*.
And what have you read that was just endearingly sweet recently? I just got a five-minute prog instrumental out of a reddit thread about telling kindergartners about the Chinese New Year.
Symphonic metal? Write about something that is the exact opposite of swords, sorcery, or the Emperor Charlemagne (I have both of Christopher Lee's albums; they're—well, they're not good.) An epic journey to the shops? The saga of supply chain management? The struggles of the human resources department? A lot of the humour in Douglas Adams's "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" arises from having the most non-science fictional characters he could think of put in very science fictional scenarios. Go subvert the genre! -
@nadine Feb 2022
Some years ago, I sat in a cafe, watched pedestrians and created weirdest fictional life stories by judging the way they look, walk or dress. That's a fun exersize.
I'm not a big fan of turning other people's real life dramas into songs, but some people do. Call your friends, I'm sure somebody had some weird melodramas in their high school years.
What about watching movies, reading books, some random TV series?
Symphonic metal is made for heroic fantasy role play game inspred stuff. Or medieval society. You can even use tales and myths. -
@dasbinky Feb 2022
The discussion around the best metal concept album is a long one, but you'll get a lot of votes for Mastodon's Leviathan, which is based on Moby Dick.
Need a topic? Mine the classics. I don't know if it's been done, but Beowulf would make a hell of a concept album, especially for symphonic metal. Pick something in the public domain and you're clear on the rights front. There are loads of good options. Alice in Wonderland is a gonzo read, tons of song ideas in there.
Basically, when you're short on inspiration, borrow some. :) -
@ianuarius Feb 2022
@headfirstonly I'm not really talking about this FAWM. I can write 14 songs of utter garbage in a day. But what I'm talking about here is...
I want to write something that I'll love.
And for the record, I'm not depressed. Quite the opposite. -
@ianuarius Feb 2022
@headfirstonly I like the idea of observing emotions and thoughts during the day. Thanks.
As for taking a subject and subverting expectations, i.e. Luke throwing his light saber over the cliff... I don't relate. I don't want to make something douglas-adams-random-funny stuff. I want to make something that makes me move. -
@jayjay Feb 2022
I write a lot of my lyrics talking to others and writing their stories. Try getting out of your own head and having coffee zooms and just talking. to new people. Start a coffee zoom thread maybe. Take the pressure off yourself and inspiration will come especially when talking to other creatives.
@nadine this is very true. I have a fledgling Beyond Narnia concept starting after this idea was sparked by a friend. -
@cblack Feb 2022
You say you want something that moves you?
I'd recommend finding something that might move your intended audience first. Move them, and if you can achieve that then it'll also move you.
In theory, anyway. -
@ianuarius Feb 2022
Thanks for suggestions @bithprod @nadine @dasbinky !
Symphonic metal bands like to take whatever stories that already exist and just sing about them. But I don't want to do that. I can sing about Lord of the Rings or whatever, but I'll just end up not liking it. It's not me.
I guess my question is more... how do you find what's important to you? -
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@dasbinky Feb 2022
I mostly find out what's important to me through cognitive behavioral therapy. Your mileage may vary.
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@nateger Feb 2022
@ianuarius it's at moments like this where I jiu jitsu the stuckness into writing a song about being stuck. Or poop. I just read the line "be ferociously terrible" and that challenge can be liberating to me to just create something. And maybe that unclogs the pipes to let more stuff through.
And remember, you don't even have to share your potential monstrosity with the world. That being said, I'd like to hear it and I'm sure it would sound great -
@ianuarius Feb 2022
@nateger Thanks for the reply.
I've made so many songs, that the process itself feels a bit tedious.
To make just something so that it has a chance to inspire something else feels like so much work. I guess that's the job description.
And I guess, part of the problem is that I don't even have ideas for crap songs. Or they end up being so crap that they don't inspire anything. -
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
This is a lesson that I learned from Elizabeth Gilbert's book _Big Magic_ (which has changed my whole approach to creativity): Instead of trying to figure out what is your passion or calling or whatever, look to see if there's anything you're curious about. Just see if there's something that starts you on a journey of interest and follow it to see where it goes.
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@ianuarius Feb 2022
@kenmattsson Yea, that's the problem. There isn't. I'm not really curious about anything.
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@majormajormajormajor Feb 2022
I'm not your garden variety metalhead, though I like a number of different types, and in the symphonic vein I'm very partial to Devin Townsend's Deconstruction. And I think it also speaks directly to the issue, being cynical but not shying away from the big issues in the slightest. In fact the title track encapsulates the whole thing.
You sound satisfied with your worldview. And what I think you ought to do is write, find or cobble together a story that reaches its climax in the epiphany that nothing matters, and the experience of living is best from that point on. I'm sure you have thought about that aspect, so while I highly recommend abstracting from someone else's work and I do it all the time, I also think your grand concept may already be laying in your lap. One can hope, anyway :) -
@ianuarius Feb 2022
@majormajormajormajor I like that idea. I've been thinking about this a lot today, and yea, it would have to be based on the stuff that seems to come up in my life. That's already valuable to me, because it's there. I don't have to go search for something. It's all right here.
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@cheslain Feb 2022
There may be an epic saga to be written about the quest for importance and meaning. Or you could just abandon the idea of writing about human life if that doesn't seem interesting. Instead write about something more abstract: a mathematical concept or quantum physics or something like that.
I'm a fan of Kurt Vonnegut and his 8 basic rules of creative writing have helped me several times. They're not really about songwriting but I think a lot of them are applicable. They are:
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages. -
@kenmattsson Feb 2022
@ianuarius, What @majormajormajormajor was saying was basically the same thing I was recommending. Just if you notice something that's in your current field, just wonder about it.
You could also try something that's so completely outside of your normal frame. Maybe an acoustic love song? An a capella lullaby. Just something out of the box. -
@wylddandelyon Feb 2022
Join in the skirmishes, let the topic shape your song for that hour. It might be what you're looking for, or it might be a thing to save for a different album, or it might just be practice, but it's better than sitting there in the no-inspiration rut and feeling bad.
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@unpronounceable Feb 2022
I think it was Morgan Harper Nichols who recently said that inspiration requires space and time to breathe in. To rest. Basically, tending to whatever care your mind and body may need, and getting some rest.
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@ianuarius Feb 2022
@kenmattsson While I appreciate the helpful attitude, as far as I can see, "basically the same thing" in this case means "completely different".
You were talking about "look to see if there's anything you're curious about". The answer to which is "nothing". And majormajormajormajor suggested that I should take that premise of not being curious about anything and running with it.
And I don't even know what would be completely outside of my normal frame. I've done acoustic love songs, a cappella lullabies, rap, polka, chiptune, edm, free jazz, orchestral music... I'm already so outside of the box, I can barely see it from here anymore.
@wylddandelyon Thanks for the suggestion. I didn't say that I was feeling bad, though. Because I'm not. Just trying to see if I can crowdsource some ideas as to how I might approach my project. Skirmishes are fun, but for this I think I need more of a methodical approach rather than flinging crap at the wall. Hehe. -
@ianuarius Feb 2022
@unpronounceable That's probably true. I'm already getting way more rest than probably most people on Earth. I think I need to find a way to finally get something done. :)
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@mardeycranbleson Feb 2022
Great topic. When I was younger I wrote about things that had some meaning to me like life , relationships etc. now I really just write about nonsense or whatever I’m told in a skirmish. My earlier songs maybe were more heartfelt But my songs now are way better than they used to be.
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@mardeycranbleson Feb 2022
Sorry meant to include I feel the same way as I think you do - I’m utterly content with life and am not really bothered upset or too passionate about anything so can’t put what I don’t inside have to music
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@sapient Feb 2022
@ianuarius Does it need to be about something? For my metal band's third album I set out to write songs based around the prayer cycle of medival monks. I wrote one called Lauds, one called Hora Tertia and that was it. Eight other songs fell into place, none of them having anything to do with the original theme, and neither of those two songs made onto the album.
The choreographer Twyla Tharp wrote a wonderful book a few years ago called The Creative Habit where she introduces the idea of "spine". That's to say an underpinning idea that is enough to get started but doesn't ever need to come out in the final piece. I've always rather liked that idea. -
@ianuarius Feb 2022
@sapient Yea, I like writing about something. Or rather, I like the works that I've made, that are about something.
I can appreciate people writing songs about whatever and not needing really any deep meaning in them or even any real prompts. I do that sometimes... well, often, but I never love those songs. I'm old enough to start thinking about how to make something that I'd actually love. -
@scottlake Feb 2022
Save it for September.
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@scottlake Feb 2022
If I may play the unqualified therapist for a bit….. let’s pull on this thread for a moment: “I've made so many songs, that the process itself feels a bit tedious.”
I would say you have found the issue. You are rightfully bored. You have mastered the process of immediate creativity as a musician. It’s time for something entirely new that needs long term creativity. Don’t force it to be music. Consider some other art form. Do you paint, draw, sculpt, etc. if the answer is no to any of those, but you appreciate any of those forms, enroll in a course. Give it a go. Long term planning creativity may result that opens a door to the symphony that awaits. -
@ianuarius Feb 2022
@scottlake Heh, yea. I think you're on to something. Of course, I've already made a symphony, too. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9m9KHb3DIo
I guess now I just need to make a good symphony. -
@wylddandelyon Feb 2022
I cannot imagine saying "How can you find beauty, intrigue, mystery, and heartache when you don't believe in any of it?" when feeling good, but one of the fascinating and delightful things about people is how different we can be.
I wish you luck with your project! -
@chickenjail Feb 2022
You could get a pet (perhaps seven chickens?) and just force every skirmish prompt to somehow connect to them, no matter how badly you have to contort it. Then you'll have a thread tying those pieces together and a structure may emerge for something bigger.
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@tseaver Feb 2022
Places to look for ideas:
- Headlines in your news feed.
- Titles of articles published in your favorite magazines.
- Postsecret postcards
etc.
