Honoring Ideas
A treasure chest for storing all your creative sparks
As songwriters, you know how frustrating it is to have a brilliant idea vanish before you've had a chance to write it down. It has certainly happened to me and it can happen at any time. Maybe you're driving, showering, or falling asleep when a fantastic melody or lyric suddenly appears. If you don’t capture it quickly, it’s gone. That’s why it’s important to honor the idea.
What is Honoring Ideas?
It's about capturing those sparks of inspiration that arrive when you least expect them. It's about recognizing the value of even the smallest, seemingly insignificant ideas and having a system in place to ensure that you never lose them.
Here, I’ll explore why honoring the idea is so crucial for songwriters and how you can use it to enhance your creative output and write your best songs yet.
Honoring the idea is about preparing for these moments and having a system to ensure those valuable ideas aren’t lost. In my books Song Maps and The Organized Songwriter, I discuss the benefits of creating an "idea bank," like a treasure chest for storing all your creative sparks.
A treasure chest for storing all your creative sparks
Once you have a collection of raw ideas, you can develop and refine them into complete songs.
Here is why this is important:
Enhanced Creativity: By making an effort to capture ideas as they come to you, you can train your brain to be more creative. You begin to view the world through a songwriter's lens, noticing potential song ideas everywhere.
Improved Song Quality: Honoring these precious ideas results in, ultimately, better songs. When you have a large pool of ideas to draw from, you can choose the best ones to develop.
Increased Productivity: It can also make you a more productive songwriter. When you're not constantly trying to come up with ideas, you can spend more time crafting and polishing your songs.
Improved Co-Writing Experiences: To best serve your co-writer, honoring the idea can make you a much better collaborator. When you come to a co-writing session with a load of strong ideas, you come with confidence, knowing you will be able to deliver something your cowriter will not just like but love, even if you are writing up with a very experienced pro songwriter.
How to Go About Honoring Your Ideas
Here are a few suggestions on how to process ideas once they arrive:
Capturing Those Fleeting Ideas
The Idea Bank
Turning Titles into Writable Ideas
Overcoming Writer's Block
The Songwriter's Secret Weapon
Writing Any Title
The Joy of Songwriting
Capturing Those Fleeting Ideas
Capturing the idea as soon as it appears is arguably the most crucial step. No matter what you are doing or where you are, write it down immediately to ensure you don't lose it.
You can:
Record a voice memo or make a note on your phone.
Write it down in a notebook or on a scrap of paper.
Email it to yourself.
The key is to have a system that works for you and to use it consistently.
The Idea Bank
The idea bank is a system for keeping all of your songwriting ideas safe, organized, and accessible. This can be a physical notebook, a folder on your computer, a spreadsheet, a note-taking app, a whiteboard, or even a wall covered in sticky notes. The most important thing is to choose a system that works for you and use it consistently.
My idea bank has several different sections, including:
Captured Ideas - This is for fresh, raw ideas.
Writable Ideas - This section is for ideas that have been developed into writable ideas using song maps.
Organized Ideas - Here, ideas are organized according to a variety of criteria, such as genre, theme, or co-writer.
Drafts - This section is for songs that are in progress.
Finished Songs - For songs that have been completed.
Turning Titles into Writable Ideas
Not all ideas are created equal. Some ideas may be just titles, while others may be fully developed concepts. To transform an idea from a title into something you can start writing, I use a "development strategy" or "song map." A song map is essentially a plan that maps out the structure and flow of ideas for your song.
A writable idea is more than just a title - it's a title combined with a development strategy. By developing a clear strategy for your song upfront, you'll find it much easier to write lyrics that are both creative and commercially viable.
Overcoming Writer's Block
Honoring the idea can also help you to overcome writer's block. If you are struggling to come up with new ideas, you can look through your idea bank. Simply revisiting an idea can be enough to get your creative juices flowing.
You might be surprised that an idea that didn't resonate with you previously might spark a new song.
The Songwriter’s Secret Weapon
In Song Maps: A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics, I discussed the songwriter's secret weapon: writing about love in the face of adversity. Combining these two themes has resulted in countless hit songs.
Songs like this are more likely to be heard and cut than songs that are similar to all of the others but not so different that they fall off the table entirely.
However, there is a second secret weapon for songwriters: writing edge-of-the-table songs. To learn more about this, click here. However, embracing your unique perspective and writing songs that are different from every other song out there results in something dramatically different, and something you can write songs that connect with listeners on a deeper level.
Writing Any Title
Linked to the idea above, edge-of-the-table songs, I genuinely believe it’s possible to write ANY title. Whether an artist would cut it is another thing. However, having a go at writing an impossible title is an excellent technical exercise. It could also turn into something much less impossible after changing it slightly.
Paul McCartney once said before writing the lyric of “Yesterday,” the draft lyric was all about “sausages.” And look where the final lyric went!
In my book Song Maps: A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics, I show how to use a song map to write a song about the seemingly impossible title "Ironing Forever." Following the four steps below, you can write a song about any title:
Brainstorm Ideas. This is where you allow yourself to be as creative as possible. It's all about capturing any ideas that come to mind. Don't censor yourself at this stage, and don't worry about whether the ideas are good or bad.
Create a Structure. Start by creating a framework for your song, such as a verse/chorus structure. Then, use a song map to assign ideas to different sections of your song.
Write the Lyrics. Once you have a structure and a song map, you can start writing the lyrics.
Review and Rewrite. The final step is to review and rewrite your lyrics.
It’s a fun way of writing, and sometimes, like “Yesterday,” these songs can end up something special.
The Joy of Songwriting
Finally, honoring the idea is about reconnecting with the joy of songwriting. If you're not constantly worrying about coming up with new ideas, you can relax and enjoy the creative process. You can give yourself permission to experiment and play.
Summary
Honoring the idea is a simple but powerful shift in mindset. When you decide to respect your ideas, you're communicating to your subconscious that you are serious about your craft.
When you commit to your craft, you’ll find that the ideas come more freely. You'll come up with more ideas, and those ideas will be more original, more compelling, and more powerful. You'll become a better songwriter and a better co-writer, and you’ll find more joy in creating music.
If you need a place to find all your ideas and other stuff as a songwriter, here’s something you might be interested in below.
Questions
Here are a few questions for you:
What is your current method for capturing and keeping your precious songwriting ideas safe?
Do you have a system for turning your titles into writable ideas?
How has honoring the idea changed your approach to songwriting?
Hope this helps!
Simon.
