Follow up on Yesterday

Yesterday I discussed writing prompts (look below if you don't believe me) and said which one I had (basically write lyrics based on the third song you listen to) and what song (something by The Weepies). That was a major fail. Which probably makes everything I said about prompts worthless. But wait, there's more! We are, by nature, a creative species, and so I don't see why I can't be creative and alter the prompt. Yes, you can do this. It's not like using adverbs (every time you use an adverb, Dickens kills a kitten). For me, the song that came up started a story. I got 500 words into it and realized that I had a story going, but a few things were wrong with it. (1) I had no expertise in how the story was unfolding (a complex mafia conspiracy which would involve a lot of police procedural stuff), (2) it was turning into a novel/novella length piece (you can tell early on if you'll be able to make something a short story or if it will have to be longer), and (3) the writing was flat, something I wouldn't enjoy reading. So I stopped and asked myself, "How can I fix this?" The obvious answer came today: Find a new song!

The new song that came up was "Spaceman" by The Killers, a great synth-rock band from Vegas. If you haven't heard them, I suggest doing it. They are my favorite rock band of all time and I own two of their albums along with parts of their other two. There are only a handful of their songs I don't enjoy.

Now that the advertisement is out of the way, I'll tell you how I altered this prompt: I started over (so a new three songs) with conditions. To count as one of the three the song had to be (1) non-classical, (2) in English (I have many foreign songs), (3) by an actual artist (I have many remixes by random people out there with too much free time), and (4) meaningful lyrics. This way I would have something to work with.

So when you're getting inspiration, don't think that you have to be true to the original, because that would eliminate creativity, and we don't want that. Also, for this prompt, if you so choose to use it, don't think you have to write a story based around the lyrics. It can be based on a single line, a verse, just the chorus, or a random image that appears in your head while listening to it. That last one is what happened with me, and so if you read the story, you would not be able to tell me that it was based on a song.