Tag: music

Blog posts with this tag are identified by writer Cortni Merritt as related to music or writing about music.

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Writers Talking Writing: Creative Writing Advice from Questlove

Cover of the book "Creative Quest" by Questlove, full of excellent creative writing advice

Last year, I had the pleasure of listening to several audiobooks from some amazing writers, several of who provided excellent creative writing advice. In today’s blog, I want to highlight some of the best creative writing tips and techniques from the book Creative Quest, by the very talented Questlove.

Why is Creativity Important? According to Questlove

It might seem like the value of creativity is obvious (at least, to those of us who love great writing), but in the mind of a creative genius who writes in both words and musical notes, the importance may be slightly different than what people might assume. 

In this book, Questlove emphasizes the value of self-expression, describing how creativity allows people to express themselves and their unique perspectives. By utilizing your creativity, you may find means of communicating emotions, thoughts, and experiences that may be difficult to convey. Allowing ourselves room to explore creative solutions to problems is crucial for development in many fields, not only our artistic endeavors. Creativity allows us to address complex challenges and come up with novel solutions.  

Engaging in creative endeavors can also bring us personal fulfillment and satisfaction and fosters personal growth. Creating something original and meaningful is deeply rewarding and can boost your self-esteem and feelings of connectedness with the world. Through creative and artistic expression, we can transcend cultural and linguistic boundaries. Our creativity can connect us, bridging gaps to convey ideas and emotions in ways that resonate with others. As we push our own boundaries, take risks, and learn from our experiences, we challenge ourselves to always be improving and learning. 

Additionally, creativity shapes and enriches culture. Artists and creators are the architects of cultural evolution, and their contributions have lasting impacts on society. Innovation and progress are driven by creative and critical thinking in many fields, including technology, science, and business. It leads to the development of new products, services, and ideas that can transform industries and improve lives. 

Lastly, our creativity brings joy and inspiration to both ourselves as creators as well as our audiences. The joy of experiencing art, music, literature, and other forms of creative expression is a fundamental part of the human experience.

While Questlove’s opinions and views may not be specifically creative writing advice, his overall analysis on what makes creativity important as part of the human experience is essential for everyone, whether you consider yourself creative already or are trying to improve your creative skills. 

Check out this interview with Questlove, “In Pursuit of the Creative Life.“  

Top 5 Creative Writing Tips and Techniques from QuestLove

Creative Quest offers a range of creative writing advice, emphasizing the creative process and artistic expression. But his top five tips for creative writing boil down to these:

Tips for Creative Writing: #1. Embrace Collaboration

Working with others can enhance your creativity and help you find new perspectives. In particular, Questlove stresses the value of working with others because it can bring fresh ideas and perspectives to your creative process. Collaboration can challenge your assumptions, lead to unexpected breakthroughs, and create a sense of camaraderie that fuels your thoughts and imagination when writing alone. Whether you’re a book writer working with an editor, a screenwriter collaborating with a team, or a musician jamming with other musicians, learning to work with a team is a key aspect of the creative journey.

Tips for Creative Writing: #2. Find Your Voice

It’s essential to develop a unique and authentic artistic voice. As Questlove emphasizes, authenticity is key in creative work. Discovering and nurturing your unique voice or style sets you apart from others and helps you resonate with your audience. This process involves self-discovery and self-expression, and he gives the creative writing advice that you should draw from personal experiences and emotions or on the observations you make about the experiences and emotions of others.

Tips for Creative Writing: #3. Continuous Learning

You must constantly seek inspiration and expand your knowledge to keep your creativity high. The book promotes the idea that creativity is an ongoing journey. Questlove suggests that you should never stop seeking inspiration and expanding your knowledge. This means being curious, exploring new fields, and being open to diverse influences. Continuous learning keeps your creative wellspring from running dry.

Tips for Creative Writing: #4. Overcome Creative Blocks

Everyone encounters creative blocks (or “writer’s block”). They are common, and everyone needs creative writing advice and strategies for overcoming these obstacles. These strategies can include changing your environment, seeking inspiration from other art forms, or simply embracing moments of boredom and frustration as part of the creative process. By acknowledging and addressing these blocks, you can keep your creativity flowing.

Check out our blog on Oblique Strategies, an app that can help when you experience writer’s block.

Tips for Creative Writing: #5. Creativity in Everyday Life

Lastly is the most straightforward of the book’s creative writing advice: find creativity in your everyday experiences! Your own life is often the best source of inspiration. Be present and observant; take note of small details; and draw from the people, places, and moments around you. Creative ideas can be born from the most ordinary of circumstances, and the ability to recognize their potential is a valuable skill.

Does Creativity Contribute to Success?

Yes! Absolutely. Questlove offers excellent creative writing advice for achieving success in the artistic fields. 

To achieve at a high level, you must consistently work on your craft. Success often comes from putting in the time and effort to hone your skills and create a body of work over time. Maybe you’ve heard the saying that it takes years to become an overnight success. Or maybe you’re familiar with the idea that something like success happens “a little a time, then all at once.” The more consistent you are, the more ready you’ll be when it happens. 

Of course, to be successful in any creative endeavor, you must have a deep passion. True success often stems from a genuine love for what you do, which can sustain you through challenges and setbacks. If you truly love what you do, you’ll have to learn to take risks at it. Push your boundaries. Success can come from venturing beyond your comfort zone, embracing the unknown, and being adaptable. In the ever-evolving creative landscape, the ability to adapt to change and stay relevant is crucial. Success often involves embracing new technologies and trends while staying true to your vision.

As you begin to build a business, an author platform, and a brand around your writing, you will have to network and build relationships. Not only for marketing, promotion, and audience connection but also for potential and opportunities to collaborate with others. Success is often intertwined with building and maintaining relationships in your creative community, which is why it’s essential among creative writing tips and techniques. Learning from mentors and studying the work of those who inspire you is a valuable path to success. Mentorship and a willingness to learn from others can accelerate your growth. There is a high value and long-term results in networking, collaborating with others, and supporting your peers. However, it is a delicate balance between the creative process and the business side of art. In this book, Questlove offers advice on how to navigate the entertainment industry, negotiate deals, and protect your creative integrity.

Lastly, try to recognize that success is not just about external recognition but also about self-awareness and self-care. It’s important to reflect on your work, maintain your well-being, and find your own measures of success.

These pieces of creative writing advice underscore that success in the creative world is multifaceted, and it’s not solely about fame or fortune. It’s about finding fulfillment in your work, making meaningful contributions to your chosen field, and continuing to evolve as an artist. Success is a journey that involves a combination of hard work, passion, and a willingness to adapt and grow.

The Invaluable Value of Creative Writing Advice

Now, I’ve highlighted some of the key elements I found in the book Creative Quest, but if you’re looking for a great read, there’s a lot more to be learned. It offers a holistic approach to nurturing and enhancing your creative process, emphasizing that it’s not just about the end product but also about the journey and the mindset. The best piece of creative writing advice is to remember that creativity is a fluid and dynamic process that can be nurtured and cultivated over time.

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Improve Your Writing Process

improve-writing-process

The Outcome Can Terrorize You

If there’s a thousand ways to do something, there’s a thousand ways to do it right. And a thousand ways to muck it up. And the truth is — you’ll never find the writing process that works for you, without stumbling through a few of those.

In On Writing Well, by William Zinsser, he writes about “the tyranny of the final product.” This “tyranny” is the pressure that reigns over you as you try to create. It’s the expectation that you will produce something, that in the end, after all this effort, you will have a product.

Something marketable. Something worth selling.

Well, that can kind of take some of the fun out of writing, can’t it? And it can certainly raise the stakes. What are you doing all this for, if not to have some product at the end? If not to have produced something of value and use to the world?

But the steps that a writer must go through to produce that product. Ah, therein lies the journey.

It’s said that “Ordinary people focus on the outcome; extraordinary people focus on the process.”

Producing the book is one thing — you can get it done, come hell or high water, no matter how much blood, sweat, and tears you have to pour into it. But, why should it take blood, sweat, and tears? Might there not be an easier way?

The outcome of the book can be achieved, and you can pat yourself on the back once you achieve it, but might you not achieve it more easily? Isn’t there a better process, an easier way?

Well, of course, there probably is. You might have to spend some time finding it.

Improve Your Writing Process

When you want to do something better, you might ask experts and long-time successful people for their advice. Of course, every writer and every process is different, but here are some tips and tricks you might try.

Writing Process Tip #1: Write to a Soundtrack

While working on a single book, novel, or narrative theme, some writers find it very helpful to have a specific album, playlist, or musical artist to keep them in the same “mood.” This might be specific — such as having different playlists for each character who has a point of view in your novel — or it might be more general, such as “anytime I work on this novel, I’m going to listen to jazz.” You can also try nature sounds to background your writing time.

Whatever it is you’re using to fill the silence around you, just don’t let it distract you from putting words on the page.

(For a visual method, try using a mood board!)

Writing Process Tip #2: Try "Scribe" Writing

Most people talk faster than they type. While an accomplished typist might put down 80 to 100 words per minute on their screen, your average speaker can throw out 130 words per minute (in English). Easily, when speaking, you might tell a story twice as fast, with more detail, than sitting to write it. … So why are you trying to write with your hands? Do it with your mouth!

Thanks to transcription apps like otter.ai and Express Scribe, you can easily use the microphone on your phone or computer to record yourself talking through your book, and then the app will type it all up for you into an easy-to-edit text-based document. No more cramping wrists and tired fingers.

(NOTE: You can still use the “soundtrack” idea here as well! One renowned author, whose productivity level is as high as 10K words per day, attributes her success to audio transcriptions of her books. She says instead of music in the background, she will put a movie on mute when she is working on a specific book, and play only that movie when she works on that book until the book is finished. Magnificent!)

Writing Process Tip #3: The Carrot vs. the Stick

Anyone who has ever tried to negotiate with a child understands how useful bribes and incentives can be — both positive and negative ones. So, you have to find what motivates your own inner child.

What reward will you work especially hard for? What punishment will you work specifically hard to avoid?

Set yourself up for success! Promise yourself that after you finish the writing goal you set for yourself for the day, you will reward yourself with that walk in the park, or that brownie, or that self-care time. Treat yourself when you reach those goals!

And, on the other hand, promise someone else that if you don’t finish your writing goal for the day, you’ll be accountable for something unpleasant. You’ll do the dishes, or put a $1 in the “writing not done” jar, or forego your dessert, or whatever the un-fun thing that you’d rather avoid. A little bribery goes a long way.

Writing Process Tip #4: Be Flexible

It can be frustrating when you’re still settling into a process and finding what works for you.

You might be tempted to shrug off silly-sounding advice from others. You may be tempted to fall back into comfortable habits because they are easy and you already know how to do them. But, if your comfortable habits produced the level of productivity you wanted, you wouldn’t be looking to improve your process, right?

Try a few different approaches on for size. And not just for a single day. Some things, you might give three days and then re-evaluate how you feel about them. Some things, you might try for a whole week to see how they work for you. It takes between 14 and 21 days to form or break a habit, so when you find something you like and something that works, stick to it for a whole month. 

After you’ve made it a part of your routine for a month, you’ll be in a better position to determine if it’s something you should keep around.

Just Keep Writing!

No matter what you do to improve your writing process, the trick is to keep writing. You can’t say you’re improving if you’ve got only blank pages to show for it — that is one thing about being what you say you are.

If you are a writer, then you must write. 

You must produce written words, and once you find the right process to help you, nothing should stand in your way.

Need an Experienced Editor to Help?

Contact SRD Editing Services for help with developmental editing or line editing. 

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Fullness of Absence: Capturing Silence in Writing

fullness-absence-writing

While listening to a video about personality types, something happened which often happens to me: I started thinking. About silence. In writing. Thinking…

Oh no, you say. Not again, you say.

The speaker in the video said something along the line of: Extroverts think silence is space to be filled, and introverts think silence is a space to be cherished.

I see her point. I know what she’s trying to say. As an introvert, I relate. But then I thought, Well, silence is a space that’s already full.

Maybe it’s not how all introverts see it – I can’t speak for anyone but me. But to me, silence seems to be bursting. And, if writers can capture that silence in writing the moment just right, they will capture an ethereal moment of experience that might otherwise be missed. 

The Fullness of Silence (in Writing and in Life)

Silence is full with the sensation of crusty boogers in my nose, and it’s full of the colors of the trees, and it’s full of the shape of the clouds. A lack of sound doesn’t mean anything more than a fullness of other senses.

It is because it is empty that the cart is useful.**

Silence and an empty cart are not useful in the same way. The cart is not lacking. It has purpose and is full of potential.

Silence is also not lacking. It is a moment rich with the absence of sound. It has purpose of being non auditory and is full of the richness of life without sounds.

There’s a there there, not emptiness. Silence, in writing and in life, is the time when and the place where we can feel life moving. 

**Tao Te Ching, verse 11

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On Writing Accents: How to Write Authentic Character Voice

Blurred teenager in background, lying on back with hands casually behind head. Silver, old-fashioned radio with bent antena and cassette player in foreground. Radio can help writers capture unique voices and accents.

It's Hard to Write Accents that Sound Like Real People

One of the joys of reading is using your imagination to enhance the scene on the page. Some characters have very distinct voices; the writer gave them an accent or speech pattern that’s different than the others. Distinct voices can create their own poetry. However, if the writer has left any wiggle room for what the character might sound like—if the character sounds generic—the reader can expand in whatever direction they choose.

As a writer, if you want your reader to hear a specific, distinct accent or speech pattern in their head for a particular character, you may want to take the additional time and craft to put that voice into the character. You will want to make it obvious, so your reader is enraptured with the sounds of your characters’ voices.

Writing Tip: Listen to Local Radio, TV Ads, & News

Now, you can always start with the easy method of writing an accent: using specific dialogue tags, adverbs, and adjectives to describe the character’s speech.

“Howdy, ma’am,” he drawled with a thick Texas twang.

Let’s say you even have it written that way in your first draft. No worries. Maybe you’re not sure in the early days exactly what the character sounds like or how to write their voice. But, when you conduct your first round of creative editing and revision, you may want to replace those lines of dialogue with a voice that’s more authentic to the ear.

If you want to make your reader really hear that drawl, you’ll need to practice listening to a Texas drawl, then transcribing it phonetically.

So, go to Texas, sit somewhere in public, and practice quietly typing up the exact sounds of the people you hear talking around you.

Okay, you don’t have to go to Texas to hear Texas.

In today’s age: everything is a quick search away.

You want to hear what Texans sound like?

  1. Look up a Texas radio station and live stream it for an hour.
  2. Put on a country singer from Texas and go to town for an album or two.
  3. Dig through YouTube (or iSpot.tv—see below) for  TV ads from small local businesses in different cities in Texas, and settle in to take notes.

Practice spelling out the words fo-nay-tic-alee until you can hear the voice in your head and write it out consistently. The emphasis, the missing letters, the places where people pause—all are important when writing an accent.

Listening to local radio (or watching local news or commercials) is a good way to pick up on localized slang as well, or quirks of word usage in a particular group. This can be especially helpful when you’re trying to capture the sound of a group of which you’re not a member.

But do not only passively listen: you must train your fingers to write accents, as well as your ears. You must make sure that the sounds your ears hear are the words your fingers type or write.

As you listen, attempt to mimic. Pause and ask yourself the best way to authentically spell out what the person said in the exact same sounds they made when they said it.

It could end up being any number of trials before you find the spelling or language tricks that truly reflect your character(s) and allow you to write their accent, but when you get it right, you’ll know readers will hear the same voice in their head that you did in yours.

Writer Tools for Writing Accents

Radio.net

Search 60,000 radio stations worldwide for free on radio.net. 

logo for radio.net. Green lettering on black background. To help write accents.

iSpot.tv

While designed for advertisers to monitor the success of different campaigns in different markets, you can browse TV commercials from many advertisers at the database on iSpot.tv. 

iSpot.tv logo. Black and green letters on white background. To help writers write accents.

Editing Can Enhance Voice

SRD Editing Services Beta Reading, Developmental Editing, and Line Editing Services all include comments on character voice…

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The Importance of Music in Writing

music-writing

Every song tells a story, has a story, can take you on a journey. If it’s good. If the music resonates. If it hits home. When incorporating music in writing, think beyond just the pop songs that surround you; think of all the harmonies of the world.

No matter what you’re writing, the world of your words is rich with sounds. The music of life. Car horns, voices, wind. The music written into your world (both fiction and nonfiction) makes it rich, makes it real, gives it texture and emotion.

Consider the soundtrack for your story. It is a microcosm for the journey your characters take. This means that each character who is important enough deserves her/his own soundtrack.

It also means: You must consider what you listen to when you write. It can affect your mood, your word selection, your pacing, the direction of your story. Let it. Choose wisely.

Writing Tip of the Day: Character Soundtracks

Consider creating yourself a playlist (or two, or as many as you need) to put you into the right mindset for writing. Not just of music but of nature sounds as well. Rhythmic beats. Bird calls. 

Maybe one character is an angry, aggressive teenager. Create a heavy metal playlist to listen to when writing him. 

Maybe one character is the quirky, adventurer type, and you think polka fits her personality. Create a polka-for-adventures, music-for-fiction-writing playlist, and get into her groove when you’re writing her dialogue. 

Maybe another character is a new mom, and you want to give her lullabies to sing to her baby late at night. Listen to what she would listen to, and feel what she feels in order to write her so the reader can hear her.

Explore, listen, save. Get out of your normal radio stations and discover deep cuts, live versions, and underground artists in genres you’ve never heard. Consider international music and let the sounds of other cultures impact your mental rhythms. Consider swing, classical, electronic, reggae, Mongolian throat singing.

Save some music that catches your attention and your creativity, and return to them for inspiration, for a change of pace, or to loosen up your thinking when writing fiction or nonfiction. You may be surprised how indulging yourself in sound can make your fingers dance across the page.

🌹 🌹 🌹
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