The Office of Letters and Light organizes events where kids and adults find the inspiration, encouragement, and structure they need to reach their creative potential.
I have this theory that music can influence your mood, and in turn, influence your writing. Has anyone done a study on this? If not, I’d love to be a test subject.
The majority of the time I tend to stray away from listening to music while writing creative pieces. However, once in a while, I find a song that perfectly fits the mood I’m trying to convey. Most recently that song was “Breathe Me” by Sia. It’s a sad, but breathtaking tune that really helped push an emotionally complex short story I was working on. I don’t even know how many times that song looped through my headphones during my writing process. I just know that the song was a perfect mood-setter.
You guys, I’m going crazy. Partially because of my novel, but also because of this disgustingly catchy electro-pop song, the lyrics to which are stuck in my head: “You don’t float like a butterfly, or fight like Ali, Dress like Prince, but to the lowest degree.” The lines aren’t anything extraordinary. They’re sort of funny, maybe, but only when you consider how ineffective they are as insults. And yet, somehow, these lyrics sparked the idea for my entire novel. Consequently, I have recently listened to the song a number of times far exceeding ‘acceptable.’
Have any of you had this happen? Have you ever heard lyrics and thought, “Oh, I can use that!” I run our @NaNoWordSprints Twitter account occasionally, and my very favourite prompt to give is a challenge to incorporate lyrics from whatever the sprinters are listening to . Lyrics are a funny thing, you know. I’ve come to realize that the ones I appreciate most are witty, or play with language. I think we have a tendency to separate “writing” and “music” into two entirely different categories of “thing” — but lyrics are words too! And they can be a great source of inspiration for dialogue and plot, in particular.
I do not have the most discerning taste in music. I have written before of my abiding love for Disney music. I own a not-insignificant amount of music from Glee. The only concert I’ve been to all summer was NKOTBSB, and it was totally awesome. (I mean, in a hilariously ridiculous kind of way. If it didn’t make me sound like a total hipster, I’d claim to have enjoyed it ironically, but I’m fairly sure there were moments when I was enjoying myself pretty un-ironically.)
So now that we have established my lack of credibility on the subject of music, I am going to tell you about the new album I just bought that I’m enjoying more than anything I’ve bought in some time. And Chris A. is going to mock me for it, because he’s a snob, but I don’t care. My album of 2011 is Muppets: The Green Album.
As promised, here are the results to last week’s call for help with choosing a Friday Jam (with much thanks to the script of The Breakfast Club, John Hughes, and everyone who shared their awesome favorites).
Dear Friday Jams,
We accept that fact that not every song will make it onto your playlist. Some of the songs proposed aren’t perfect, but we think it is crazy to suggest that there is such a thing as a perfect song. Or rather, what we’ve realized is that every song is perfect for Friday Jams because Friday Jams, like Script Frenzy and NaNoWriMo, is not about achieving perfection. The point of Friday Jams is not to show how cool we are but to get us moving and to get us moving together, kind of the way typical wedding songs do. Sure, we groan when “We Are Family” starts to play at every single wedding we go to, but before we know it we’re on the dance floor. In one important moment we’ve lost our fear and we’re out there, grooving alongside Grandma (who turns out to have some serious moves), and that’s all that matters.
Friday Jams, we’re not here to make perfect choices, we’re here to rock ‘n’ roll (‘n’ write), and we’re allowed to suggest songs for your playlist that might make some folks groan so long as those songs get us moving because once we start moving we start finding our rhythm and before we know it, we’re cutting a rug, or adding a plotline, or spending a surprising few pages on Grandma’s lost years and just exactly how she perfected her Electric Slide.
You hear our song suggestions as you want to hear them, in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions, prog rock, emo, cheese, but what we’ve found is that each one of our songs is deserving, is a favorite, is a Jam.
My second Blog Post as Office Captain and while I know you want to hear about paperclip usage (down) and toner cartridge recycling (up) here at The Office of Letters and Light, I can’t stop thinking about another incredibly important aspect of what keeps the Script Frenzy and NaNoWriMo machines running: Friday Jams. Do you know about the Friday Jams playlist? Check it out here.As the newbie at OLL, my heart is set on adding just the right song to the Friday Jam-fest. But like a newbie, I’m afraid of making the wrong suggestion and being uncool, and to make things worse, I already flubbed my first try.
For many Wrimos, the third month after NaNo signals a shift to a different form of artistic craftsmanship. It’s when they sit down with their guitars, organs, banjos, and glockenspiels to compose 14-song albums for February Album Writing Month. Started in 2004 by Burr Settles and three friends, the event has blossomed into an international marathon of musical ingenuity. Participants write an average of one new song every two days, most of which they upload to be listened to by the rest of the FAWM community. (“Fawmers” even have their own lingo, just like us NaNo-ers.) It’s an incredibly cool idea, and we’re fans of anything that helps to inspire people creatively. Burr recently answered a few questions for us via email.
You started in 2004 with four people. How many active participants do you have this year? How has word spread about the program, and how do you feel about its progress?
So far (as of Thursday morning, February 24), about 1,200 “fawmers” have posted songs to the website. If you wanted to listen to all that music straight through, it would take you about two and a half weeks! Folks find out about us almost entirely by word of mouth or through the serendipity of web searching and surfing. While FAWM-related press has increased in recent years (likethesethree), I still think most participants find us in more direct ways, which is great. In fact, a lot of fawmers come around after their first NaNoWriMo, high on the experience and looking for a musical equivalent. I’ve been really pleased with the enthusiasm and creativity that people bring in every year.
Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like I haven’t seen any really creative/funny/beautiful music videos lately… until I discovered Dan Mangan. There’s just something I really love about this animation. Plus, the music is great, too. I’ve been listening to him all week. Check out more videos on Dan’s site.
I’ve been reading a book called Girls Like Us, about the lives—both distinct and parallel—of Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon. It’s a striking read, and has made me think a lot about creativity and how it is nurtured. All of these women had unique experiences that led them to make art from a young age. And both King and Mitchell completed major compositions at 18 and 21, respectively. The track above is King’s first number-one hit as a composer, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (recorded in 1960 by the Shirelles). A few years later, Mitchell wrote “The Circle Game,” with its wise-way-beyond-her-years lyrics, as a response to “Sugar Mountain” by Neil Young. (He wrote that on the day he turned 19, when he felt that he was already too old.)
I’m definitely awed by this precociousness. (I’m also, I must admit, a little jealous.) But more importantly, it makes me realize that I need to get on my grind. These women produced great stuff because they were working hard at it, and they started so early. One needs to buckle down to make something awesome; it almost never happens by accident. I’m getting a late start compared to King and Mitchell, but I want 2011 to be the year that I really try to be my creative best. Substantial writing and a new zine—it’s going down.
Who inspires you—and/or makes you envious—with their great work at a young age? And how are you doing with your Big, Fun, Scary Adventures (or other creative projects) so far this year?
Well, it’s getting to be that time of year again, that time of year that everyone looks forward to—that’s right, Halloween! If you’re looking for some spooky, theme-appropriate music to jam to on that special night, look no further than Dead Man’s Bones. Even if you’re not so into the holiday spirit, this band is awesome all year round—I got turned onto them last spring, which is seasonally about as far from Halloween as you can get. It may surprise you to learn that Dead Man’s Bones is fronted by Ryan Gosling of The Notebook, but if you hated that movie like I did, don’t hold that against them. Gosling has actually made some pretty good films since then, and listening to his voice is surprisingly similar to what I imagine it might be like to be serenaded by sexy (yet respectably frightening) vampires. Beyond that, Dead Man’s Bones has a sound that’s hard to classify. They love to throw in some creepy sound effects—howling wolves, shattering glass, creaking floorboards—and on several tracks they use a children’s choir to great effect. Most of their songs sound like they were written from within a haunted house. In fact, their main influences are the Disney Haunted Mansion, doo wop, and ’60s girl groups. And “My Body’s a Zombie for You” is the closest thing to a love song on their self-titled album. If that’s not enough to get you interested, then I have nothing more to say to you. Go check them out!
On Sunday, the great Solomon Burke passed away at the age of 70. It would not be out of line to think of him as the prototypical soul singer: the grit of Otis Redding, the smoothness of Al Green, the showmanship of James Brown; he had them all. I was lucky enough to see him once. He sat down mostly (in a throne, of course, reigning as “The King of Rock and Soul”), an attendant occasionally dabbing the sweat from his forehead. And he still completely wrecked the place. That voice, unmistakable, boomed with enthusiasm and emotion. I’m sad that we won’t get to hear more.
Solomon’s best known song is 1962’s “Cry to Me,” posted above. I also strongly recommend his 2002 “comeback” album, Don’t Give Up on Me, with songs written by fans like Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, and Elvis Costello. It’s a classic.
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