Words, words, words. The world is full of words.
For some people (me included) writing lyrics can be a challenge in itself, any tool that make it easier to put down the ideas from head to paper should be adopted into your writing process.
The two main tools used in writing lyrics are the rhyming dictionary and the thesaurus. You can find them online too.
I use these tools all the time in my writing. They enable me to expand on my vocabulary and put down my ideas in a much more original and descriptive fashion.
Writing lyrics for me is all about making sure that the story that you are trying to tell or the concept that you are trying to impart is told in a way that is totally 100% you, not anyone else. To do this though requires having a broad understanding of language at your disposal hence the importance of the rhyming dictionary and the thesaurus
Im sure that if you go into a good bookshop you will be able to purchase an excellent rhyming dictionary and thesaurus but there are also some really good online versions available for you to use for free. I have chosen the most popular of each version for a brief discussion.
You will find in this demo a 'limited' sample of one and two sylable rhymes but generally this is sufficiant. All you do is type in the word you want to find rhymes for and off you go. It gives you a good list of results.
The way I find a rhyming dictionary useful is that in looking at the results I am seeing words that I probably would not have thought as words to end a line with.
When I see the results and spot one of these words I immediately see a whole new line flash before me and that is all it takes to start writing again. I am always amazed how just one new word can launch a whole new tangent (of course you still need to be open to those possibilities).
Thesaurus
In my view this tool is in itself invaluble to a songwriter no matter how experienced they are. This site is both a thesaurus and a dictionary in one so you are getting double the value from the site but most of the time you will be using the thesaurus.
Quite simply a thesaurus is a book of synonyms and synonyms are words that have the same or nearlly the same meaning as another word. If I type the word SONG into the thesaurus I would get these words:
Anthem
Ballad
Chant
Chorus
Lullaby
Lyric
Melody
Tune
That was just a sample but can you get the idea of how useful the thesaurus is? For me the thesaurus enables me to describe stories, concepts and situations better or it allows me to put a new twist onto the same old phrases and cliches that I tend to fall back on when I get a bit stuck on something.
My challenge to you is this. Adopt both of these tools into your writing process and see what happens. If you are stuck just use the tools to brainstorm ideas and let your mind become open to whatever possibility comes up. Once the possibility is realised then run with it. Sometimes not knowing where you are going can be fun.
Until next time, happy writing,
Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician
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