5 A Song to Write To
mcheney
1. Have a friend or classmate send you a song you’ve never heard before. It can be a link to a YouTube video, an mp3, or whatever works for you. The important thing is that it’s not a song you’ve ever heard before.
2. Write while listening to the song. Don’t worry about writing about the song — that’s not the point of this exercise. What you want to do is just write about whatever comes into your head. Write down random phrases if necessary. Just write. See what happens. Do this just once, then set it aside and try not to think about the song.
3. After at least 2 hours of being away from the song and what you wrote about it (a full 24 hours away would be even better), put the song on again and keep listening to it while writing for at least half an hour. Don’t look at what you wrote before!
4. After at least 2 hours of being away from the song again, look at both of the pieces that you wrote while listening to the song, and then immediately — without listening to the song — write something new.
