Notes of Dreams Writing Prompts



1. Describe an imaginary landscape based on music
For this exercise it’s good to pick longer pieces of music that unravel slowly. Imagine the music is describing a landscape: what do you see? Try to move from the bigger picture into the smallest details like the texture of the leaves on a tree.

2. Expand the narrative in a song
Take a song with lyrics that contain narrative or introduce a character. Think about how the story is told and sung by the musician. Can you take this story and its character further once the song has finished? This is your chance to keep them living even after their 5 minutes of fame.

3. Free-write to the music
This is a great exercise for those writers that have troubles starting with a blank page. Put some music on really loud, close your eyes for a couple of minutes and immerse yourself in the sound. You could focus on your feelings, invent a story to go with the song or try to describe the tones. There are no right or wrong answers – the idea is to rid your mind of the thoughts that prevent you from writing.

4. Describe an action scene with the help of a film score
Do you know the feeling of seeing a great action scene in the cinema, accompanied by a loud, thrilling score? Try to replicate it on a page. Maybe there are action scenes in your book or you could invent one for the purpose of this exercise. Of course, put some great soundtrack music on in the background.

5. Describe the feelings you get while listening to your favourite music
This may seem too simple and easy – but have you ever stopped and thought how your favourite song makes you feel? Put the song on repeat and dive in – what is it that you love about it? Why is it significant to you?

6. Most people have a genre of music that just does not appeal to them. What is yours and why? Create a dialogue between two characters: one who loves that genre and one (like you) who hates it.

7. It's hard not to associate certain pieces of music with certain people and times in your life. Write a "High Fidelity"-esque autobiographical piece about five songs that will forever be linked with particular people, for better or for worse.


Visit here for writing prompts based off specific songs:
https://thejohnfox.com/creative-writing-prompts-based-on-songs/


In addition to these ten prompts, you can listen to any song ever created and pull ideas from that. With websites like Pandora and LastFM, you can even discover new music based on your preferences for free. This is the perfect time to make music a part of your writing. I hope you enjoyed these free creative writing prompts and that your next piece of writing is as beautiful as a Mozart concerto! 

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