October 2004
Guild Tidings
The official publication of
The International Songwriters Guild
Volume 9, No. 10
NEXT MEETING - 5:00pm Sunday, October 5th 2004
President's Letter
Dear Members,
Goodness, can you believe it’s October
already? Maybe it’s because here in Florida
we’re still having summertime. It’s close to 90 degrees as I’m writing. I really look forward to winter though. Those 2 or 3 months seem more like the weather I was brought up in up north, especially during the holiday season.
Hardly a day goes by that I don’t have a lyric writer asking me to find someone to write the music for him or her. We’ve had some nice writing teams come out of the Guild; I do try to pair off those that I can. I just heard from prospective new member Alexander Adams in Delta, Pennsylvania, who is really anxious to have someone collaborate. He stated that he doesn’t mind spending money for the help from someone who is capable of doing it. I’ll bring his lyrics to the meeting Sunday, and we’ll see if one of you would like to try to fit the bill.
Those of you I’ve heard from during our recent hurricanes seem to have weathered the storms without may problems, thank goodness. It was rough for sure, but if you think of all the other good things we have to be thankful for here in Florida, I think we’ll all continue
to be happy to live here.
I’m looking forward to the
meeting Sunday. Bring your
latest endeavor. I love our
critique sessions!
Russ Robinson
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Believe It and Write It
By Matt Griffin
Hopefully you write because you love it. Writing well takes a lot of work, and it’s so much easier if it’s truly a labor of love. Writing well also takes honesty. I know it sounds obvious, like I’m paraphrasing from a Hallmark card or something. But I’m convinced that you cannot write well if you don’t believe what you’re writing.
So suppose what you’re writing is about fictional event? Or suppose you’re trying to write from a character’s point of view, someone you either have invented or never met? What I’m talking about, of course, is emotional honesty. It’s a little harder to understand than the conventional type. Honesty is simple (in theory, anyway): just tell the truth. Emotional honesty is: just tell how you feel.
If you are writing a work of fiction, you’re going to have to do a little extra work. Since the universe you’re describing doesn’t actually exist, you have to make it exist in your head. Imagine what it looks like, how it sounds, how it feels. If you cannot imagine how it feels to be in that place or situation, your song is likely to turn out emotionally empty. Similarly, if you’re writing from the point of view of a person or character (real or otherwise), you need to get inside his/her skin and walk around for awhile. How does your character think, talk, interact? It takes a bit of abstraction and perhaps a leap of faith, but the effort will show in the final product.
By the way, this kind of emotional extrapolation is not necessarily limited to lyrics. Music conveys emotion as well, probably more so than the words. You can write angry music even if you don’t feel anger at the moment, as long as you recall how it feels. And if you want to write music that expresses an emotion you’ve never experienced, you’re going to have to rely on your imagination once again. Billy Joel wrote an emotional song about the horrors of Vietnam (“Goodnight Saigon”) even though he’d never fought in any war; he seems to have gotten the emotion right (both music and lyric), because the song used to regularly bring audience members to tears when he performed it.
It’s often said that writing is good therapy. Like any good therapy, it works because it helps you to be honest with yourself. It’s strange, isn’t it, how writing and honesty seem to be linked. That’s not to say that people can’t or don’t write dishonestly; we all know that isn’t true. But if, like the Hallmark card says, you can be true to yourself and how you feel, you’ll be a better writer. I believe it!
© 2004 ISG