If It Works For You

Yesterdays blog and the song lyric, Start At The Beginning, was my very immediate reaction to author Steven Pressfield’s excellent short Youtube series, “Foolscap Method”, on how to start writing a novel, telling a story, or planning an idea.

It’s potentially very helpful advice for any creators. And it could easily be used for writing a song. Among other things Steven suggests starting with the ending. He suggests knowing the genre you plan to write in. Your theme. Your hero and villain. And other things that might seem obvious but are very clearly laid out with all the whys and wherefores spelt out, on one page of A4 paper.

It’s all very practical, sensible and wise. It’s good advice.

And I don’t see myself using any of it in my own creations anytime soon, even though I’ve flirted with similar concepts in the past. I flirted with it this time too, because it sounds like something I should do. But instead I ended up writing yesterday’s song.

The reason being that I enjoy the journey of discovering what the next song is about while I’m actually writing it. It’s really that simple. And whether or not I successfully manage to incorporate all the ingredients of a good song or story into my writing, the thrill of the ride, for me, decreases the more I plan it out.

And none of that is to say that YOU shouldn’t do it this way. I know lots of people who write brilliantly, that work in a similar way to Steven. Which why I recommend you take a look at the video series above. It might lead to a breakthrough in creativity.

At the end of the day, If It Works For You, do it.

But don’t worry if you don’t seem to fit into any of the conventions.