Writing a story song

Pro Songwriting Masterclass | Sharon Vaughn (Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Keith Whitley, Patty Loveless, Randy Travis, Trisha Yearwood, Jimmy Buffett, Martina McBride ...)

Today we’re going to talk about something that keeps arising in my one-to-one, meetings with all of you. And the question is,  tell me how to write  a story song.  Well,  a story song that seems to be how  and why I got into the business is because I am a storyteller.

Been a storyteller my entire life as long as I remember. As a matter of fact, when I was little bitty, I would sit on my father’s  lap or on his chest when he was in bed about to go to sleep. Instead of him telling me stories, I would tell him stories.

So  it’s something that I absolutely love. it’s not easy to do.  You have to kind of know the rules of the road.  And that’s why I’m here today to kind of give you an idea of how I go about it. Of course, everybody’s different.  But, the first question to me was,  how do I  start this?  How do I  introduce a story?  How do I break through the wall to begin a story?  And the thing that popped into my mind was  the question, is there something  near and dear to your heart?  Is there a memory?  Is there a person?  Is there a set of circumstances?  Is there  a legacy you want to continue?

 Well, the way to do that is through a story song.  Is there a title  burning a hole in your pocket? titles are so important.  So if you have a story you want to tell,  take a little time and give it a title. I am a firm believer and a worshiper at the knee of titles because I think there are roadmaps. for instance,  I wrote a song that was a massive, massive hit.

 I wrote it in 17 minutes,  and it was based loosely upon some of my experiences, which we will talk about in a minute.  But the title  was the Entire Story. My heroes have Always Been Cowboys.  My title  was the Whole Story.  So the rest of the song I spent explaining the title,  it doesn’t matter  contrary to to what literary teachers will tell you, it doesn’t matter if  you have actually experienced  the things you wanna write about.

As long as you are very empathetic, empathetic, and you have empathy toward your character, you have concern about your character,  you know, on some level you know that character.

And it’s really interesting  if you don’t haven’t experienced what this character is going through,  as long as you can, relate  to the agony or the ecstasy  or the feel or the smell of his or her surroundings,  then you can write from an accurate place and a believable place.

You have to be believable  even if you have to lie.  So, that doesn’t speak too highly of me, does it? But anyway, that’s in story songs, you have to be accurate and and believable.  And you know, there’s an old  technique  of the fairytale  that, and these are the little stories that I would tell my dad  once upon a time  in a land far, far away,  their lived, fill in the blanks, A princess, a cowboy, a megan  alone in her kingdom.

Why?  Okay, so  basically what you have here is when, where, who,  what,  how, and why.

So those are the, those are the basic realities  and, and, and guideposts of telling a story  once upon a time. That tells you when,  when does this take place? When does this story take place?  Once upon a time, although it’s vague and, and metaphysical, it puts you in a time  in a land far, far away  that tells you where  there once lived.

A young  maiden that tells you who,  who was a  princess, that tells you what  alone in her kingdom.  How.  And the why is  the plot.

The plot is the circumstances under which she lived. Why did she get to be a prisoner in, in a or alone in her kingdom?  So basically all those rules apply when, where, who,  what,  how, and why.  Those are  all the questions that need to be answered in a story song  as a, sample for this whole day’s discussion.

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