Something about me that not many people know is that before taking fiction writing seriously, I tried my hand at being a songwriter. This is despite being basically tone deaf! I got an acoustic guitar for my 16th birthday, and over the next few years picked up probably... eight chords? Despite my lack of aptitude I decided at 20 that I wanted to write songs. What I was most interested in was the lyrics, but these came out as the worst kind of teenage angst poetry, although I should have been past that stage... I never actually sang them out loud, and playing them took twice as long as it should have because I had to work out the fingering for every chord change. I won't subject anyone to any of the lyrics, but I do consider the period as a key stage on my writing journey... as in working out what I was not meant to do!
Well I hope you enjoyed that fact! Please visit any of the host blogs to check out the linky list of all the other participants!
62 comments:
Hi Nick, nice to re-meet you! Maybe your song-writing was an interlude to your fiction writing? I admire anyone who can play a musical instrument, something I never took the time to do. Maybe in my next life. (:
Thanks for taking part in the blogfest!
Perhaps some of these lyrics can still be used in a story with a character demonstrating the "teen angst" that you mentioned?
Hi Nick .. being tone deaf and wanting to write songs - oh well .. but I'm sure it gave you a lead in to how words worked etc .. and thus lead to your novel writing now ..
At least you know about guitar playing and could use that scenario somewhere along the line ..
Interest to read - cheers Hilary
It's so interesting to find out more about people. It's also interesting how our lives tend to take several twists and turns before we find out what we actually want to do. I'm tone deaf also but love listening to those wonderfully talented people who compose, play and sing music.
Exploring our interests is not a waste of time. I'm glad you were able to take the time to explore that side of you. I would never try writing songs, though I used to write poetry....
Sorry the guitar jamming and songwriting didn't work out for you. Trust me, it's not easy.
And I am all set for your blogfest next week. Yes, I figured out what I was going to write!
I tried music but it didn't work. But now that my kids are taking up various instruments I'm trying to rekindle that lost love again.
LOL You're the male version of me, Nick. In high school, I decided to become a rock star (what teen didn't), and I was going to be a singer. Except I can't sing. I did attempt to write lyrics but gave up. Poetry wasn't really my thing. I ended up playing the bass guitar, but was too shy to take it further than that.
Writing poetry isn't me, and I envy anyone who can put a few chords together. I love music but I'm not talented in that area so I'll leave it to those who can. They'll do a far better job than me :)
In post for the re-introduce myself blogfest...
I've always wanted to play the guitar... but I never did. Probably a good thing. Hey at least you tried. Most people don't even get that far.
Oh, I was going to be a rock star at twenty. I even moved to London to be part of the punk scene and hook up with a band. I was gonna be the next Chrissie Hynde. Yeah, I was home in two weeks. Not tone deaf, just "smart deaf" sometimes. :P
Fun learning more about how you got the writing bug.
LOL. I love that little fact about you, Nick. My son is quite the songwriter, too, so maybe he will go on to write novels. Glad you found a better niche as a writer!
I think we've all got something full of teenage angst if we dig deep enough in the attic. LOL Sounds like you've channeled that creativity into fiction. Good for you. :)
Thanks for sharing that interesting bit of personal history. Writing is hard enough as it is, I can't imagine trying to fit it within the structure of a song.
Hey, Nick!
Props to you for being able to write songs. Maybe they were great. I bet they were, and you just didn't know it. I'd love to be able to write songs, but I'm no musically inclined, so I guess I'll stick to noveling. I'm glad I stopped by. It's great to meet you! :)
I took a crack at songwriting when I was young, too. It seems every teenager wants to be involved in music in some way . . . even if by way of angsty lyrics!
Fun re-intro, Nick. I try the songwriting thing myself from time to time.
Sounds like you put a lot of work into it before giving it up. Glad you found your niche.
Hey Nick. Sorry the songwriting didn't work out. But never mind, because the novel writing route seems to be the correct one for you...
Music is an integral part of who I am... I play piano and sing... also dabble in a little poetry from time to time...
Nice to meet you Nick, thank you for your visit and becoming a follower.
I enjoyed your post and your interest in music and lyric writing.
Yvonne.
Nice to meet you, Nice. I think, no matter how much or how well I write, I would never be able to do something like write a song. Great fact and thanks for sharing :)
I only heard someone say recently, that song writing was one of the hardest of the arts--much like poetry writing I'd say. Thanks for reintroducing yourself Nick.
Hey, Nick,
At least you got wise and quit while you were ahead. It's cool that you eventually found out where your talent really lies. :)
Thanks for stopping by, everyone! For the record, I also admire those who have the ability to write a great song. ;) Sorry for not responding individually, but I wouldn't have time to get round to everyone else's posts!
Hi Nick! It's nice to get to know a little something more about you. I tried poetry and that was a big flunk for me. Better stick to novels!
That is an interesting tid-bit! I liken song writing (lyrics) to writing poetry. True?
Hiya Nick! Good to see you're still doing great over here in Bloggyland! Hope all is well in your beautiful neck of the woods!
Very interesting! My son is a musician, but he never writes original material. I play piano, but couldn't compose myself out of shoebox. It takes real talent to write both lyrics and the corresponding tune. And to play and sing at the same time is like patting your head and rubbing your tummy. I can't do it.
I was only interested in the song lyric writing part. Making a real song out of it was optional.
This was a fun read :) At least you gave it a go! I taught myself to play as well, and I've certainly had my "up" and "down" moments when it comes to my songwriting quality ;)
Hi Nick!
I tried guitar once too. But I only learned 3 chords. It now hands from the rafters. My lyrics were pretty awful too.
Great little tidbit you shared!
Nice to re-meet you, Nick!
Don't feel bad, I tried to learn guitar too and whenever someone heard me sing they thought it was a creature in torment. Ah well...not all of us were born to sing. Nice too meet you. :)
But Nick...teenage angst poetry sells!! See >>>> Nirvana! Good to meet you again.
Sometimes I think I could write a song and then I think... naaww just stick to the books. :)
I think a good number of us probably went through the songwriting stage. I hope I'm better at writing fiction than I was at writing lyrics. LOL
I think some people spend an entire life trying to figure out what they were born for. I've written songs for choirs, but stories are better ;)
I think some people spend an entire life trying to figure out what they were born for. I've written songs for choirs, but stories are better ;)
Songwriting, screenwriting, and poetry are all like different languages to me. I'll stick to prose fiction and nonfiction!
At least you gave it a go!
Love it! I think we all have to write teen angst poetry at some point...you just set yours to music. :)
Aw, well at least you tried, that's the important thing. I tried too when I was a teen. But to a keyboard. lol it was awful. But I still love to sing. Just wish I were better at it. :D
HI, Nick,
NIce to re-connect. Well, at least it was a wonderful learning experience of you. Perhaps you may dabble in poetry in your next writing stage.
Many of us are searching for our NICHE in writing. The journey is what makes writing so much fun.
Hi Nick! I'm so glad to meet you through this fest. I laughed about being tone deaf and writing songs, that does sound like an insurmountable obstacle. But it's great it led you to where you really wanted to be. :)
Neat! I used to write a lot of songs, too, from the time I was a teen up until my late thirties or so. Music worked as a great teaching tool to reinforce classroom lessons, because if kids have fun singing a song, they'll remember the words. As for not knowing many chords, not a problem. Most of Johnny Cash's songs use only three chords... C, F, and G7. That's it! Nice to re-meetcha. (Oh, and yes, I did post a pic of one of my paintings a while back.)
I wrote more poetry when I was younger. Cool that you wrote lyrics.
Very cool that you played guitar and did the songwriting route for a while. I think anything we did in the past is good for our writing ventures! :)
Hi Nick! That is a fun fact to know about you. I had a musician boyfriend once, and I wrote him a song. It wasn't any good, of course, but he liked it. I was the first one to ever write a song about him, lol.
Kathy M.
I tried the song-lyrics too. I've still got them but don't dare take a look.
I've written the lyrics/melodies to a few songs too! Though I can't play any instrument so that's as far as my talents in music go :)
i always wanted to try songwriting too. But i decided i loved writing more. :) Great to re-meet you Nick!
Nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com
Songwriting definitely helps with writing!
I wanted to be a songwriter too at one point. I cannot play the guitar though and can only play the piano a tiny bit, so that dream did not work out.
I think it was for the best though :D
I'm quite good at poetry, but I wouldn't even want to try songwriting, since I'm not really very good at music! I'd probably be able to write ok lyrics, but not the music to match.
Nice to re-meet you Nick. Writing lyrics seems hard; I can't write poetry or haiku, seem to take too much energy. But I'm sure you're song writing assisted you learning to tell a concise, emotive story.
.......dhole
ok, me, you and a little thing i call karaoke. we wil have fun singing other's songs! yes!
I found this interesting because I've always wondered what songwriting would be like. I suspect I would have had the same issues you described, so it's for the best I didn't get into it.
Okay, now we need a "Share the Most Embarrassing Song Lyrics You Ever Composed" challenge. I'm sure we'd all be able to contribute. And, hey, whatever works to launch you on that writing trajectory, right?
When I was young I wanted to be a songwriter, but had no clue how to go about it.
I tried writing a few songs in my early teens (though I can't read or write music), and they were awful. I had the same problems with a lot of the poetry I wrote before I discovered freeverse poetry—a lot of the rhymes sounded really forced and stupid, and the storylines were just too un-songlike.
Nice to meet you, Nick. Sometimes we have to crawl before we can walk, so to speak. Even though being a songwriter sounds pretty cool if you can swing it.
So fun-- I have pages of teenage angst in a journal somewhere. It all paves the way to what we love. Thanks for sharing your story.
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