One stumbling block I had for a long time was that I wasn't comfortable writing "fiction". For some reason, I got it stuck in my head that what I wrote had to be "real".

But people don't listen to songs to find out about the songwriter. They're listening so they can be caught up in the emotion of the song.

That's something that distinguishes a song from a story. Unlike a story, a song doesn't really need to come to a conclusion - it just needs to lead you to the point of eliciting that emotional response.

It's natural to start from things you know. And because of that, you might feel some obligation to stay true to the source, because you're thinking about real people.

But in order to more effectively manipulate the feelings of the listener, to craft something that's larger than life, details are changed and facts are altered. The goal of the song isn't to relate a truthful story, but instead emotionally engage the listener.

That's a hard step to take, because it means that the song isn't about ourselves, or people that we care about, or even the details of something that happened. All of these can be replaced by a "better" version, if it serves to create a stronger emotional effect on the listener.

Some people can easily make that transition, but I've found this a problem when writing. I guess I'm just a bit too full of myself for my own good. wink

-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?