Story-First Songwriting

✅ Stop guessing if your lyrics work. Learn story-first songwriting and turn every idea into music-ready lyrics with a proven, repeatable system. Join our community: Story-First Songwriting on Skool.👉 ⁠skool.com/songwriting/about⁠

#036 - How To Answer The Question Of Relevancy when it comes to Writing Lyrics.

Have you ever listened to a song only to end up confused because something in the lyrics seemed off? Did you struggle because something was missing or didn’t understand why something was included because it didn’t seem relevant?

In today’s episode, I want to talk with you about how you can figure out what’s relevant to include in your lyrics and what you can leave out. I’ll let you in on the secret and show you the tools that support you in making the decision to keep and eliminate lines, sections, or the overall idea. 

After all, the goal is to write a lyric where the entire lyric, its different parts, and the way they work together are all in sync. 

So if you are intrigued to discover the tools to determine 

• which lines belong in your narrative
• which building blocks to use
• and find the right words to effectively communicate all the details and events of your lyric to your audience.

… then this episode is for you.

Episode Overview

[00:01:58] Coherence is a Lyric’s Main Goal

[00:03:29] A character in a song needs to face a problem.

[00:04:51] 1. The What If? Scenario

[00:06:53] Fish out of the Water-Scenario

[00:10:44] Strange Thing or Stranger Comes to Town - Scenario

[00:16:03] 2. Narrative Device

[00:23:10] 3. Point of View

[00:28:39] Summary: Relevance

Show Notes

• I’m a Believer lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group

✅ Stop guessing if your lyrics work. Learn story-first songwriting and turn every idea into music-ready lyrics with a proven, repeatable system. Join our community: Story-First Songwriting on Skool.👉 ⁠skool.com/songwriting/about⁠

#035 - “Can A Song Save A Life.” Lyrics ain’t an afterthought to making a song. They are equally as important as the melody and the song’s production.

I mean, writing Songs as well as Listening to Songs can be the greatest aid in a desperate situation. It can keep us from falling down a cliff and empower us again. Like Galadriel said to Frodo: “May it be a light to you in dark places when all other lights go out.”

That’s the power of songs. 

Let’s talk about how a song can even save a life.

Episode Overview

[00:01:19] The Power of Songs

[00:03:17] My All Is Lost Moment - New Zealand Part 2

[00:11:53] The Next Right Thing

Show Notes

• Die Toten Hosen “Steh auf, wenn du am Boden liegst” (German Version) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J86zYZGApkc
• Die Toten Hosen “Stand Up” (English Version) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJUvrw7O_6I
• Stand Up lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Melodie Der Welt GmbH
• The Next Right Thing lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
• Watch “The Next Right Thing” on Youtube: https://youtu.be/kFkClV2gM-s

✅ Stop guessing if your lyrics work. Learn story-first songwriting and turn every idea into music-ready lyrics with a proven, repeatable system. Join our community: Story-First Songwriting on Skool.👉 ⁠skool.com/songwriting/about⁠

#034 - How to Crush it as a Support Act to Get People Interested in Your Stuff.

After all, it’s all a question: Will they sing your lyrics back to you, or will they not?

For me as a listener, yes, I’ll definitely shout back: Viva La Victoria!

Now what that means and how you can get people excited as a support act – even if they didn’t come because of you – you’ll discover that in this episode. We talk about how you can hook, captivate, and keep the crowd's attention and awaken their interest in you and what you have to say.

I’ll share with you some of the DO’s and DON’Ts of how you can crush it as a support act. And I’ll even tell you a secret way that will ensure that people start singing along to your songs even if they have never heard your songs before.

Episode Overview

[00:02:40] The Opportunity of Being Hired as a Support Act

[00:07:38] Getting a Chain Reaction in the Audience & Making Them Feel Something

[00:11:01] The DONT’s of being a Support Act

[00:12:29] Eclipse - The band that truly got the crowd excited.

[00:15:40] When you are booked as a Support Act, DO this:

[00:22:40] The secret way of how you can get the crowd to sing along to your songs even if they have never heard them before.

[00:28:00] Summary of Do’s and Dont’s

Show Notes

• Check out Eclipse from Sweden - https://www.eclipsemerch.com/
• Listen to “Viva La Victoria” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-EvFAx0OsE

✅ Stop guessing if your lyrics work. Learn story-first songwriting and turn every idea into music-ready lyrics with a proven, repeatable system. Join our community: Story-First Songwriting on Skool.👉 ⁠skool.com/songwriting/about⁠

#033 - What does  “character development” or “developing characters” mean?

And do we, as songwriters, really have to think about how we create our song’s character? And if so, how can we show the audience a character in the lyrics that they can invest themselves in? That is so believable that they themselves have the power to carry the message of the song?

If you ever thought that the task of character development is for writers of novels or screenplays only, this episode will surprise you.

So let’s dive in and find out more about the importance of your song’s character.

Episode Overview:

[00:01:19] The importance of the song’s character

[00:06:45] Developing characters vs. evolving characters.

[00:10:15] Three reasons why fleshing out your characters is so darn important.

[00:11:36] What makes a well-developed character?

[00:12:13] How does character development affect the story?

[00:13:37] Different kinds of characters in songwriting

[00:15:40] Dynamic Characters in Songwriting

[00:24:38] How to create a dynamic character for your next song?

[00:28:44] "Dynamic Characters" – Assignment

Show Notes

• I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) lyrics © Edward B Marks Music Company, Marks Edward B. Music Corp., Edward B. Marks Music Co.
• Nothing Else Matters lyrics © Creeping Death Music
• Ain't No Other Man lyrics © Universal Music - Careers, Downtown Music Publishing Llc, Bug Music, Xtina Music, Gifted Pearl Music Inc., Bobby Marin Music Publishing, Reach Music Publishing Inc., Concord Copyrights
• I'd Come for You lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc
• Love Yourself lyrics © Universal Music Corp., Bieber Time Publishing, Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited

✅ Stop guessing if your lyrics work. Learn story-first songwriting and turn every idea into music-ready lyrics with a proven, repeatable system. Join our community: Story-First Songwriting on Skool.👉 ⁠skool.com/songwriting/about⁠

#032 - Making Your Song’s Character Fall in Love and Influence your Audience's Engagement.

In today’s episode, we’ll go through the lyrics of the song “You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This” by Toby Keith.

The lyrics are so amazing to see how much the power of storytelling influences your audience’s engagement.

The song is written so great, and the lyrics show you how you can make your song’s character fall in love.

And you’ll learn exactly how you can pull that off too by using Pat Pattison’s Development Engine of the three boxes as an outline and fill it with life by looking at this song’s narrative techniques.

Furthermore, they offer you lots of great insights you can take away from them – especially when it comes to using the power of storytelling to keep listeners engaged from the first phrase to the last.

Episode Overview:

[00:01:29] The S.O.N.G. Framework

[00:02:19] “You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This” by Toby Keith

[00:04:20] Step 1: Summary - What is the song about?

[00:12:08] Step 2: Observer - Who is the main character of the song?

[00:18:55] Step 3: Narration - Analyzing the storytelling craft.

[00:21:53] Analyzing the scene told in the song.

[00:27:30] The Change

[00:29:35] Writing Techniques

[00:32:32] Step 4: Gist - What is the message of the song?

[00:34:57] What we've learned from “You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This”

[00:38:19] Song Exercise - The First Kiss

• You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This lyrics © Tokeco Tunes

✅ Stop guessing if your lyrics work. Learn story-first songwriting and turn every idea into music-ready lyrics with a proven, repeatable system. Join our community: Story-First Songwriting on Skool.👉 ⁠skool.com/songwriting/about⁠

#031 - The Wants and Needs of a Song’s Character and How They Can Engage Your Listeners through Creating Conflict.

Did you know that listeners are drawn to specific topics of lyrics because they strive to get similar things in their lives as the character in the song? 

When you think about your lyrics this way, it’s much easier to see the kind of target audience you want as a songwriter because your future listener will enjoy investing themselves in your song’s characters.

• But how can you decide what your character strives for and what he wants or needs?
• Where to start?
• And how do their Wants and Needs influence each other to create a compelling narrative?

I’m glad you asked.

In today’s episode, I’m happy to share with you some storytelling tips on how you can write a compelling story for your song by creating some spicy conflict.

Episode Overview:

[00:01:24] What does your song’s character want?

[00:04:29] What does your song’s character need?

[00:11:02] Wants, Needs, and Conflict

[00:12:29] Conflicting Conscious and Unconscious Desires

[00:14:44] “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor

[00:16:16] Tips for writing lyrics with Conflicting Conscious and Unconscious Desires

[00:19:51] Conflicting Conscious Desires and Unrecognized Needs

[00:21:27] “Welcome to the Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance

[00:26:23] Tips for writing lyrics with Conflicting Conscious Desires and Unrecognized Needs

[00:29:06] Everybody wants to be different, but nobody wants to change.


Links mentioned in this episode:

• “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor © Wb Music Corp., Sony/atv Melody, Easy Action Music
• “Welcome to the Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance © BLOW THE DOORS OFF CHICAGO

✅ Stop guessing if your lyrics work. Learn story-first songwriting and turn every idea into music-ready lyrics with a proven, repeatable system. Join our community: Story-First Songwriting on Skool.👉 ⁠skool.com/songwriting/about⁠

#30 - Write a song that shows a meaningful transformation of your song’s main character. Here's how you can do that.

Do you want to tell your audience about someone who had to change a part of who they are to get what they actually needed?

Does it interest you not only to write lyrics about external challenges but also to discover how those external challenges affect and change a person internally?

Are you fascinated by character arcs because you wanna see how a person has started out at one point in their life and what circumstances led to becoming a different person?

In today’s bite-sized episode, we’ll talk about three different areas that are at your disposal to show a meaningful change in how your song’s character thinks, acts, or is perceived by others and themselves.

We’ll do that by looking at internal content genres. 

What that means? 

Well, you’re about to find out.

Episode Overview:

[00:01:01] Stories are about change. But what kind?

[00:05:04] Internal Content Gerne - Definition

[00:07:44] The three Internal Genres

[00:08:53] Internal Genre: Status

[00:15:19] Internal Genre: Worldview

[00:19:29] Internal Genre: Morality

[00:24:28] Summary: Internal Content Genres


Links mentioned in this episode:

• “Stuck With Me” by Green Day – Stuck With Me lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
• Live Like You Were Dying lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Round Hill Music Big Loud Songs, BMG Rights Management

✅ Stop guessing if your lyrics work. Learn story-first songwriting and turn every idea into music-ready lyrics with a proven, repeatable system. Join our community: Story-First Songwriting on Skool.👉 ⁠skool.com/songwriting/about⁠

#029 - Let's create a character for your song who does what's necessary to get what they want. And besides, we also figure out WHAT a character might want.

In a story, the main character actively pursues a goal, right?

I don’t think you’ve ever gone to the movies to watch someone sitting on the couch all day and doing nothing. We watch a story to follow a certain character in their journey of how they’re trying to achieve something, more precisely, a certain goal.

And when it comes to writing lyrics, your song’s character also needs to WANT something.

But how do you figure out what your character might be after? What is it they want?

If you have trouble finding an answer to that question, this podcast episode will give you some great insights on where you can look to easily find out some great possibilities of your character’s want. And the good thing is: we are talking about possibilities that have been proven in how they hook and engage the audience since there were stories. So it can’t get any better than that.

So let’s find out how we can easily figure out what our song’s character might want. So that we don’t create a character that’s sitting on the couch, never leaves his house, and does nothing. But someone who will do what’s necessary to get what they want.

Episode Overview:

[00:01:57] Recap: Universal Human Values

[00:04:16] External Content Genre

[00:06:22] Hierarchy of Needs

[00:08:13] What does your character WANT?

[00:10:22] Physiological Needs – Action Stories

[00:11:22] Safety Needs – Crime, War, Thriller, Horror, Western

[00:13:30] Love and Belonging - Love Story

[00:14:08] Esteem – Performance and Society Stories

[00:15:36] Now, why is it so important to know what your character wants?

✅ Stop guessing if your lyrics work. Learn story-first songwriting and turn every idea into music-ready lyrics with a proven, repeatable system. Join our community: Story-First Songwriting on Skool.👉 ⁠skool.com/songwriting/about⁠

#028 -  Today we’ll do our third lyric study about the love story moment of the first kiss.

More specifically, we’ll talk a little more about the tension, and the anticipation BEFORE the first kiss happens. After all, that’s an incredible feeling to be moments away from that first kiss while the butterflies are rushing in roller coasters through your tummy.

But we also point out what can completely ruin that special moment. And you should be aware of avoiding that mistake in your own lyric writing. 

Wanna find out more about this?

Episode Overview:

[00:02:06] What you’ll learn in this episode

[00:03:31] “Shut Up and Kiss Me” by Mary Chapin Carpenter

[00:05:44] Step 1: Summary - What is the song about?

[00:11:39] Step 2: Observer - Who is the main character of the song?

[00:22:43] Step 3: Narration - Analyzing the storytelling craft.

[00:27:14] Analyzing the scene told in the song.

[00:29:54] The Change

[00:32:04] Writing Techniques

[00:38:10] Step 4: Gist - What is the message of the song?

[00:38:20] What we've learned from "Shut Up and Kiss Me"

[00:42:45] Song Exercise - The First Kiss


Links mentioned in this episode:

• Shut Up and Kiss Me lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group

✅ Stop guessing if your lyrics work. Learn story-first songwriting and turn every idea into music-ready lyrics with a proven, repeatable system. Join our community: Story-First Songwriting on Skool.👉 ⁠skool.com/songwriting/about⁠

#027 - Do you want to make it progressively worse for your song's character? Then find out how you can use progressive complications to develop your lyric verses.

Do you struggle with writing the second verse?

Do you have problems developing your song’s idea and creating an outline?

You might have already looked at some ways how to come up with ideas to overcome being stuck in writing the second verse.

Maybe you have tried to use Pat Pattison’s concept of the three boxes, but you still feel a little stuck.

In today’s episode, we talk about the song “Hero of War” by Rise Against to find out how using progressive complications can actually help you develop your idea, take it through the boxes, and write about something that will really make an impact.

Episode Overview:

[00:01:19] Recap: The Three Boxes & The Five Commandments of Storytelling

[00:01:51] Development Engine – 3 Boxes

[00:03:09] Five Commandments of Storytelling

[00:03:48] Do we need to state every commandment in lyrics?

[00:05:16] “Hero of War” by Rise Against

[00:07:51] The Five Commandments for “Hero of War”

[00:10:12] Progressive Complications in “Hero of War”

[00:17:22] Progressive Complications – Summary

[00:18:59] Progressive Complications and the 3 Boxes

• Hero of War lyrics © Sony/atv Tunes Llc, Do It To Win Music
• Progressive Complications - Article on the Story Grid Website