Brad Sucks has announced his new album, Out of It, will be released on September 8 and is available for preorder. Brad also posted a preview of the album. Go give it a listen.
When you start looking for writing advice one of the first things you hear is, “If you want to write better you have to read more.” Such advice has been given by Stephen King in his book, On Writing, and Matthew Stibbe on his blog, Bad Language. You can’t expect your writing to be worth anything if your not reading every day. It would be like a musician saying he doesn’t listen to music (which may deserve a post, or a rant, in and of itself).
So start reading. Then take it a step further.
One way to be more productive is to read with the intention of learning something about writing. Next time you pick up a novel, magazine, newspaper or read a website, try to follow this little procedure:
- Stop in the middle and ask yourself what you like about the author’s writing style and choose one thing that you would like to see in your own writing. The way the author writes narration or dialog, uses headlines, involves the reader, or creates a steady flow throughout the piece. Anything that strikes you.
- Now continue reading and pay attention to other occurrences of your one thing. Try to understand how he does it. Is it through the use of certain vocabulary? Sentence structure? Persuasive language? Do your best to analyze what you see. Now you have something to work with.
- Use it in your own writing. The next time you sit down to write remember that nugget of wisdom you mined from that article or book you just read. Do your best to include it in your own writing. But you have to be careful. If you try to make drastic stylistic changes you may find your writing to be unnatural. So take baby steps and remember that improvement is a process not a giant leap.
Part of my day job is writing. Regular writing. I write a column called “Frank, Being Frank” on the mixed martial arts news site From The Gut. I recently wrote an article called “What Does Matt Hughes Have to Prove?” It discusses his career, his legacy, and why he should not yet retire. Its also been posted at MMAOpinion. Here are a couple permalinks to the article:
Few musicians are dedicated to one genre of music. We all go through phases. For me, these phases have lasted anywhere from a few months to a year. I’ll listen, almost exclusively, to whatever has grabbed my ear and hope that I usually want to start writing that way. However, my songwriting does not always reflect the music I’m pouring into my head, as much as I might like it to. Sure, what I listen to influences what I write. That is unavoidable. But it took me years to learn that the music I listen to will not define the music I create.
This realization was a big “light bulb” moment for me. The work churned out by the creative process is a compilation of everything you put into your head, not just some of it. When a musician tries to force himself to produce something that does not come naturally, you can usually tell. It sounds forced. What you listen to will nudge your creative instincts in a certain direction, but it will not redefine them. When this nugget of insight hit me it helped me to stop wondering why I don’t write like John Lennon or Bill Mallonee, or whoever I’m into at the time. Now I know that if I want to write more like Lennon or Mallonee I need to listen to them, a lot. Then listen to them even more and wait for it to seep into my head.
Keeping these things in mind will help you gauge where you are as a songwriter. Ask yourself these questions:
- Does my songwriting tend to learn a certain direction?
- Am I trying to force myself to write something that feels unnatural?
- Do I like what I’m writing?
- What do I want to improve?
That last question is the most important. What do you want to improve? After you find the answers to these questions the next step is to find people who do it well and listen, listen, listen, and keep on writing. Eventually you’ll notice those muscles moving in a new direction.