LJ Idol Season 9, Week 21: The Music Made Me Do It

[theun4givables]

Ravi sat at his desk and tapped his fingers over the keys, wishing that time would tick by a little faster. He had a meeting to attend in less than an hour -- a meeting he knew wouldn’t go well

Comments

[roina_arwen]

That's a very unique writing technique. I've not heard any of those songs before (and the only band I've heard of from the top 5 is Incubus), but I love the results, and the back-and-forth between your fiction and your real life stuff. :)

[theun4givables]

It's one of my favorite writing techniques, honestly. :) I use it to break writer's block all the time, or to help me get started.

I figured a lot of people wouldn't share my eclectic taste in music. :) Incubus is my favorite band, and yet Love Hurts stumped the HELL out of me. I could take it like five different ways and my brain did not want to pick one. When I finally settled on J&S I had about a minute or so left in the song, heh.

I'm glad that the back and forth worked for you. It wasn't necessarily intentional, but I didn't want to write all GM 'verse, either. ;)

[tonithegreat]

This makes for very readable bite-sized pieces. I enjoyed checking them out!

[theun4givables]

Thank you. :) This is why I like the exercise, too. You don't have a lot of time so you have to stop thinking and just write. :)

Too bad "Love Hurts," got hit with the overthinking it bug, lol.

[i_17bingo]

The unexpected transitions were pretty jarring at first, but in the second story, I got into the rhythm and just went where the various micro-stories took me. When I got to the explanation, I was kind of amazed. I'd never heard of this before. I don't know if I could do it, but it's pretty damned cool.

[theun4givables]

Yeah, unfortunately, the first story was the only one where the end of the song took me by surprise -- so it ended with an unfinished sentence. ;) I figured it might be jarring, but that's also why I presented an explanation (if people made it that far). :)

It's one of my favorite exercises. But I need to give it my undivided attention, too. :) It's hard, but fun!

[penpusher]

That's a clever writing exercise and the results were better than one would anticipate, based on the technique (and the kid)!

[theun4givables]

Thanks. :) I'm uh, a good "first pass," kind of writer. :) And I've had plenty of practice with this exercise -- I like it. A lot. xD

The "official five" were written while the child was asleep/at school/otherwise not present (I don't remember when I wrote them but I think he was at school), hah. The false-starts were written while also side-eyeing him and going, "Please refrain from climbing onto the top of our 7ft bookshelf for 20 minutes. Please." ;) (He would no doubt do something after the end of the first song, alas.)

[bleodswean]

This is a great exercise and your pieces work well strung together! Perfect way to respond to the prompt!!

[theun4givables]

Thanks. :) I always like the outcome of them, even if it takes a few tries to get properly started.