I guess it's analogous to running a sprint vs. a marathon - there's an overlap but you use different muscles and a different strategy.
Obviously they are different but for me anyway, the thought process and the production of it can become quite similar despite their obvious dissimilarities such as length or scope. I'm not talking about just a simple chord progression and a few notes here and there, but a well-thought-out song has so much going into it -- the right mood, the right tones, the right instruments, the right melody, the right lyrics... and they all have to work together and layer on top of each other.
With novels, there are of course different ways to write. For me, I don't just write the first word and then write until I type "The End." There are thought processes going into it -- the structure, the plot and character development. Perhaps it's not a one-to-one comparison, but I find writing and songwriting can overlap in that thought process.
In the blog entry I've talked about the process. But one thing that struck me was actually the differences. With novels, I tend to want to do it "right" the first time, mulling over words, etc. With songs, I tend to do it by layer. I put down the rhythm section, put the song in a good structure, then lay out the chord progressions, then came the melody... etc.
That got me thinking: couldn't that be my novel-writing process as well? Why do I have do it "right" the first time? Can't I just lay down the structure first, then write a rough draft of the plot and dialogue, then build on that layer by layer...
I'm watching your project with great interest and might try something similar some day (riding your coattails)
Don't be silly.
I don't find the two to be much alike at all. The composition of a novel is something long, drawn out, and frequently painstakingly constructed before a word has been written. Songwriting is much more of an organic process for the most part. An accomplished writer can catch inspiration and have a finished work in fifteen minutes if he or she is writing a song, but inspiration has to be tamed and trained in order to maintain it over the course of a novel.
Others may say fiction writing is an organic process while songwriting is a structured, methodical exercise. So I guess it depends on your process. For me, both are rather organic to begin with, with songwriting a bit more structured and "layered" than my fiction writing process. Other than the scope or length (then again, what about composing a symphony instead of a pop song? The scope and length could just be as daunting?), do they really have nothing in common?
What about writing a novel compared to writing an album? And by album, I mean a cohesive one like in the good old days, when all the songs meant something when put next to each other in the right order. None of this one-hit-wonder stuff.
For me, an album is more like a series of novels or a collection, or episodic.
Or writing a song compared to writing a short story? I think those are better comparisons.
I think short story may be a more apt comparison in terms of length and scope. However, I think a short story lacks certain aspects that I feel are present in both novels and songs: hook, repetition, theme, motive, pattern, etc. The construction of a novel is generally simpler and more organic, IMHO.
I see some parallels, but whenever I'm songwriting, I'm confronted by the question of what comes first: lyrics or music? I know ideally they should come together, but that's not always how it works. Perhaps it's a similar dilemma to which comes first: plot or characters? Again, ideally, they come together in inspiration, but that doesn't always happen. Where's the best place to begin?
Exactly. I write music first, then the lyrics come to me once I have the theme and idea in my head. Some people write lyrics first, then try to fit it into a melody. The same could be said about fiction: plot or character? Conceptually, I see the thought processes as very similar.
