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any tips for writers block?

Pat HPat H Posts: 101
edited August 2004 in Musicians and Gearheads
I've been on writers block, really bad.

In fact, I've always had writers block and can never come up with anything, unless I am pressured to do it.


I want to start writing lyrics, but I can never come up with anything. just no ideas

its not like there is nothing to write about, theres plenty things to write about, and I know to write about what I know, but nothing comes to me when I sit down to write, or when something does come to me, there is no way I can get it down.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Pearl Jam and toastPearl Jam and toast Posts: 4,475
    take a break

    a long break if needed


    let it come to you, dont force it, ive been there many times and if anything at all comes out of forcing it it wont be worth it :)
    Come on pilgrim you know he loves you..

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  • mccreadyisgodmccreadyisgod Posts: 6,395
    Try the plagerism method...

    Start with a line or verse or whatever from a song, and then write your own continuation of that song. Then eliminate the plagerized material, you have an original song.
    ...and if you don't like it, you can suck on an egg.
  • SweetHarmonicsSweetHarmonics Posts: 290
    I always start with unadulterated thoughts from my head and go from there, mix and match, find catchy chorus material, verses to support, you can't go wrong by trusting your own instincts
    hate was just a legend
  • triple ctriple c Posts: 35
    take acid and lock yourself in a room with only pencil paper and guitar?

    im just bullshittin, but it could work i think
  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Posts: 12,223
    Originally posted by triple c
    take acid and lock yourself in a room with only pencil paper and guitar?

    im just bullshittin, but it could work i think

    Acid. The Breakfast of Champions.

    :D

    Actually, I would start with an image or phrase, using it as a motif like a musical riff, and explore all the thematic possibilities and sounds that this phrase suggests. You're writing a song, not a short story. Just let your mind follow your pen.
  • windedsailorwindedsailor Posts: 98
    ask finsbury to give you an assignment.
  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Posts: 12,223
    Good idea, windedsailor.

    Write a song about a fifty year old woman who lives at home with her elderly parents. Her room has a cracked mirror, and she looks in it, remembering a love she could have married if she'd flown the nest.

    ;)
  • windedsailorwindedsailor Posts: 98
    Originally posted by FinsburyParkCarrots
    Good idea, windedsailor.

    Write a song about a fifty year old woman who lives at home with her parents in a small room with a cracked mirror, remembering a love she could have married if she'd flown the nest.

    ;)

    wow. i may have to give that one a go. thanks, man.
  • windedsailorwindedsailor Posts: 98
    i'm calling it "eleanor rigby in a small town"
  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Posts: 12,223
    Originally posted by windedsailor
    i'm calling it "eleanor rigby in a small town"

    "Don't Call Me Grand-Daughter."

    :D
  • windedsailorwindedsailor Posts: 98
    Originally posted by FinsburyParkCarrots
    "Don't Call Me Grand-Daughter."

    :D

    oh man.

    can't top that.
  • dyaogirldyaogirl Posts: 138
    Originally posted by FinsburyParkCarrots
    Acid. The Breakfast of Champions.

    :D

    Actually, I would start with an image or phrase, using it as a motif like a musical riff, and explore all the thematic possibilities and sounds that this phrase suggests. You're writing a song, not a short story. Just let your mind follow your pen.

    I let my mind go!!!!! In fluid expansion of the universe!!!! Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds! (for breakfast?!?!? :D)

    Yet, it circles back listening to the music of your brilliant pen and my heart rises to its dance! :)
    '..... Ah! A perfect illustration of the poststructuralist paradox. Does the signifier "Merlot" correspond with the 'truth' of the bottle I polished off last night, or do we hold in our thoughts a different "signified" of bottle-of-Merlot-ness? Perhaps we're dreaming of the same bottle!" -FinsburyParkCarrots

  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Posts: 12,223
    Originally posted by dyaogirl
    I let my mind go!!!!! In fluid expansion of the universe!!!! Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds! (for breakfast?!?!? :D)

    Yet, it circles back listening to the music of your brilliant pen and my heart rises to its dance! :)

    They'll be retitling this "The Love Thread" and moving it to AET if we're not careful, my darling. :) Thank you.
  • SpliffTasticSpliffTastic Posts: 36
    Just do like ATDI/Mars Volta and put together a bunch of big words that sound good together. Then scream them out!!!!!
  • Rust1978Rust1978 Posts: 13
    Apparently moving to Key West helps.
    Shows: 6.30.08

    "You can't be a Real Country unless you have a BEER and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a BEER." -Frank Zappa
  • tamedshrewtamedshrew Posts: 1
    I took a writing class, and the prof told us to make a list of random topics or words, and keep them in a container. Every day take one out, at random and write about it, or something that has to do with it. Write poetry, short stories, movie scenes, anything. It actually helps and when you have writer's block down the road, you can look back at the things that you have written in the past. I thought it was lame when I was in the class, but it's something I do now and it totally helps. Best of luck getting over your writer's block. I know it can be killer.
  • mccreadyisgodmccreadyisgod Posts: 6,395
    Originally posted by Rust1978
    Apparently moving to Key West helps.

    As does copious amounts of alcohol...

    And hanging out at Sloppy Joe's.

    Someday, I'm gonna pull a Hemingway...
    ...and if you don't like it, you can suck on an egg.
  • trustno1trustno1 Posts: 188
    Originally posted by tamedshrew
    I took a writing class, and the prof told us to make a list of random topics or words, and keep them in a container. Every day take one out, at random and write about it, or something that has to do with it. Write poetry, short stories, movie scenes, anything. It actually helps and when you have writer's block down the road, you can look back at the things that you have written in the past. I thought it was lame when I was in the class, but it's something I do now and it totally helps. Best of luck getting over your writer's block. I know it can be killer.

    excellent advice. just start writing. about anything.
    your rug, your computer, what's around you.
    just write something... once your mind is off thinking about the writers block, it could start going in the direction you want it to.
    or key west
    it went away?? "i dwell in darkness without you" and it went away??
  • Pat HPat H Posts: 101
    thanks for the advice guys.
  • PintoMusicPintoMusic Posts: 73
    Go out for coffee with as many of your friends and acquaintances as you can, sit there and let them bore you to death with all their lives' problems, then head back and start writing their experiences down through your eyes.
    www.PintoMusic.com
    ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
  • mojorison_75mojorison_75 Posts: 157
    Get a writer's chisel.
  • 2italy2italy Posts: 39
    i think that doing other things for a while might help. sometimes lyrics pop into my head when i'm driving home from work or out for a walk. don't put too much pressure on yourself. :)
    http://www.evex.net/ | http://www.rockforgwbush.com/
  • FinsburyParkCarrotsFinsburyParkCarrots Posts: 12,223
    Eat people. Preferably the more educated middle class people, who aren't too snobby to take the train. They're always very inspiring. Start at the calves.

    ;)
  • yohnsonyohnson Posts: 5
    I know someone said this before, but it's so true: don't force it. And use other music as an inspiration, but don't get caught up in trying to duplicate it. Let it come to you. Sure, alcohol helps (I've written a lot of my music reviews with a few drinks in me), but non-alcohollically speaking, keep a pen and pad handy everywhere you go. When a thought comes into your mind, write it down. Go back to it later. Hope that helps.
    To myself I ... surrender
    To the one I'll never please ...
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