Monday prompt 4/10/23
Hello, writers! I hope you had a great weekend and that the week ahead isn’t too overwhelming.
This week I’m thinking about the relationship between music and writing. Do you listen to music while you’re writing? Or do you need quiet? Does music inspire you, energize you, calm you? All of the above? For me, I find music very intense, and a little of it goes a long way. I really get *into* it, emotionally, and then I get overwhelmed and need quiet. I’ve also found that I tend to focus on lyrics more than some people. If I can’t make out the lyrics, I look it up.
When I was writing my first book, The Long Night, I was listening a lot to the Hamilton soundtrack. I felt an unexpected resonance between the way Lin-Manuel Miranda portrayed Alexander Hamilton, and the way I felt about my own life and art at that time. In particular, the lyrics to the song Nonstop would go ‘round and ‘round in my head:
How do you write like you're running out of time?
Write day and night like you're running out of time?
Everyday you fight like you're running out of time
Like you're running out of time
Are you running out of time?
How do you write like tomorrow won't arrive?
How do you write like you need it to survive?
How do you write every second you're alive?
Every second you're alive? Every second you're alive?
A that time I felt a sense of urgency in my writing that the song drew out and built on. It’s what led me to publish four books and a journal in just three years. But now, I don’t feel that as much anymore. I still like the song, but it doesn’t stir something deep inside me like it used to. It’s almost as if the song already did it’s job, pushed me to write for those few years, and now it, and I, are resting.
For the writing prompt today, I’d like to propose an exercise. When you have some time to write, spend the first few minutes of it listening to music. Find a song that is speaking deeply to you right now and listen to it two, or three times, or more. Or take an album that holds meaning for you and listen to it all the way through, not on shuffle but in the original order. Then, either with the music still playing or off but still running through your head, write under its spell. If you find this to be a generative exercise, you could experiment with different songs on different days. Maybe an energizing song one day, an angry song that helps you express your own anger another day, a peaceful song that helps settle your nervous system so you can write from a place of quiet another day.
You can write about the song, or just write what you were planning to write but under the song’s influence. You can write about how the song makes you feel or a memory it reminds you of. Or you can imagine yourself as a character in the song, write about the same events or experience from another perspective, or write a sequel to the song, in poetry or prose.
If you can’t think of a song to use, here’s one that has been very meaningful to me lately:
I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
In love and hope,
Jessica