Archive for the 'Writing Lyrics' Category

May 21 2008

The Nameless Band I Started and Quit

Published by auria cortes under Writing Lyrics

Last year I started a band in order to become a better guitar player and song writer. Writing lyrics is something I enjoy. It’s a different type of writing that requires a different writing skill than nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. At first, I was going to incorporate lyrics into my novel, but as the book progressed the lyrics didn’t make sense. Hmmm…maybe I’ll post lyrics. Hold on. Okay, I’m back. The lyrics look weird on paper - when not sung. Below is the beginning of a song I wrote. It’s not finished…as you’ll quickly find out.

My days have turned to gray, overnight
I remember your silhouette, just right
My thoughts spin out of control, hold on
Your face moves closer, come on

Breathe deep, breathe out

Anyway, back to the band. A month after starting the band, I quit because a member fell in love with me - again. Yes. Again. It’s a long story I don’t want to get into, but needless to say I let him back into my life because he had a girlfriend and I thought I was safe. I should have known better because when I met him he had a wife and he left her for me.

 

No. It’s not what you think. We didn’t have an affair. His marriage was emotionally over (I, along with everyone else knew this) and he asked for a divorce so he could date me (this is something I didn’t know). He followed the same pattern a year later. He left his girlfriend so he could date me. Ha! I just went into the story I stated I didn’t want to go into. :-)

Without going into further detail, today I received a CD from him in the mail. It’s a homemade one where he sing songs he wrote and plays music he created.  

On the CD cover he wrote that he misses me. But here’s the thing: I do miss our conversations. I do miss his brain . I do miss all the hobbies we have in common. However, I don’t miss him.

How is that possible?

5 responses so far

Mar 24 2008

Random Thought: Hobbies and Passions

Published by auria cortes under Character Development, Random Thoughts About My Writing, Writing Lyrics

guitarunfinished_11.jpg

Many people ask me how I have time for so many hobbies. Well, let me say that I don’t consider writing a hobby, but the painting and music I do.

Whenever I write lyrics or a melody, I do so with a character in mind. Some of the lyrics will make it into the final book and others are not intended to ever make the cut. Rather, the lyrics or melody act as character development exercise. It’s information that the reader doesn’t need to know to understand the story, but information I need to write the story. 

Until last week, I didn’t incorporate my painting into my writing. But my recent At the Podium post with JK Rowling changed all that. In the video embedded in the JK Rowling post, we see that she drew sketches of The Harry Potter characters. This gave me the incentive to create paintings of the characters or settings in my book.  

What you see in the above picture is the beginning stages of a painting for a guitar that makes its presence throughout my book. It’s not close to ready, but I decided to showcase the piece because the final product will have lyrics that will appear in the book. As a result, I won’t post the finished painting until the book finds a home with a publisher. But I thought it would be neat to show everyone how I incorporate my hobbies and my passion.

Writing in many ways is similar to painting. The first draft of a novel has many kinks. And the beginning stages of a painting always looks like a kindergartener’s work. Each activity needs to be nurtured.  Patience is key. I’m learning that lesson slowly.

Click HERE for previous Random Thought posts

3 responses so far