Writing Dark Lyrics

soundave said:
Are you one of my former students? Sounds like info straight from one of my courses. (btw, I assume you mean assonance and consonance, as doing both simultaneously would yield the same word!).
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Haha, yes, I did mean the word "and" And no, I am not one of your students :p
 
affinityband said:
I would be fond of to inscribe mysterious libretto but i dont encompass the acquaintance to employ those kinds of prose, there ought to be a effortless way of exploit it devoid of being erudite.

Welcome to the new age folks
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Gotta make sure it makes grammatical sense, though... for example "of exploit it devoid of being erudite" doesn't actually make sense :loco:
 
Sandrothecoolman said:
Anyway, dark lyrics are overused, somebody needs to be more upbeat.
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Exactly my thoughts, hence i'm in the process of forming a band that does just that! ahaha

Just as if you were playing an instrument, my opinion of writing lyrics and songwriting in general is that you have to practice - you will start off shit, but only through practice will you become better.
To get you started you could try copying your influences completely. I advise not to stick to this, but merely as a stepping stone of sorts. At first you'll sound like a total clone, and most likely a horrific clone, but over time you should develop your style - learning what you're good at conveying and a way you enjoy writing in. It will most likely take a while, and during the development your lyrics may suck big time. Try and copy as many different lyricists as possible so that you may be able to glean a little something from each of them! It's better to sound like a combination of Akerfeldt/Wilson/Waters (for example) than just a carbon copy of one of them.

Reading books and poetry will also give you a greater appreciation of description, putting across your message and structure etc... I wish i had done more of this, and it is something i hope to do more of. But yes, the more you read, the more accustomed you'll be to ways of writing and it should be reflected in your writing. It will hopefully expand your imagination..
..As well as watching films and going out on walks or trips. Not just dross films, but artistic films with good scripts, complex plots, interesting directing and camera-work etc.. And not just a stroll down your shops - go to your local park etc.. Go to the beach.. Whatever - just try and experience things for yourself to give you ideas of things to write about! Mereley sitting around on your computer doesn't exactly lend itself to writing much about forests and what not. If you're too lazy (not suggesting you are) just looking up pictures of such things may be the best alternative available.
A good idea would be to take either a pencil/some paint and a pad of paper and do a drawing/painting of what you see, or even just write a description of it.

Okay, i'm spent for now.
 
I'll give you the advice I've given my students and the advice that other writers have given me: if you want to be a better writer, you must write. You don't become a better writer by reading, you get better by actually writing. You have to keep at it, and you have to be willing to write a lot of shit to eventually write something good. It's like the old joke, "How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice!"
 
soundave said:
I'll give you the advice I've given my students and the advice that other writers have given me: if you want to be a better writer, you must write. You don't become a better writer by reading, you get better by actually writing. You have to keep at it, and you have to be willing to write a lot of shit to eventually write something good. It's like the old joke, "How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice!"
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Summarized one of my points :Smug: :lol: Nah it's very true and something i've told many many people who ask me. I still don't consider myself a great lyricist, but from a few years of writing absolute dross i started getting better at it and if you were to look at my most recent pieces against my originals you will be able to see such a vast contrast.
 
i aint play this said:
Mike Akerfeldt for example is not a big reader
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bs

this about a band who got its name from a book? please! wasnt it him who said he got influenced by his wife's occult books while writing the lyrics for ghost of perdition?

yes, he is influenced by other bands' lyrics and titles and what he experiences but regarding the range of his vocabulary, i can confidently say he's a good reader.

all my fave lyricsts in the world are (were) huge readers:

lou reed
leonard cohen
nick cave
dani filth
roger waters
jim morrison
duncan patterson
stuart staples
pj harvey
steven wilson
bob dylan
and many artists from the canterbury prog scene
morrissey
etc
 
I think that reading can help to find a style that suits you but Opeth_353 and Soundave are absolutely right. I've been writing storing since the age of 13 and I'm still trying to find my own style, despite the hundred stories I've finished. Some are quite alright, most of them are embarassing but I'll keep on writing. And when working on a story, I never read a book because I always find something that I wish to copy and that is just not right.
 
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