I'm trying to describe the color of a person's skin as a lighter brown color (like of hawaiin decent) without saying "skin the color of mocha" which get's the words to Livin' La Vida Loca stuck in my head. Any ideas?
When I'm faced with nothing but stereotypes or clichés, I swing for the fence. It's my story, why not throw some "wow" into your discourse. I'd try this. "The lead ran a gaze of over the lithe woman's skin. There was a comforting steamy warmth in her visage, like a creme brulee on a dreary afternoon. He could even imagine ladeling broth over her, if he could find that many boullion cubes..." I don't know, but I see a nice tan, glowing skin there. In fact, I'd like to meet that woman.
I do what I can, at least that's what I tell my probation officer. Seriously, we're supposed to be here to help each other write our stories. If that little blurb triggers your imagination to come up with the descriptive paragraph you need, then it's been my pleasure.
So in my plot a bunch of teens in a small village are hanging out. They play instruments (there's no electricity). I want to write a short verse, a song one of them writes about the plight they feel, but everything I try sounds dorky. Are there any quick rules for song lyrics, like "show don't tell" is a rule for writing? Anything you might advise a new writer when it comes to song lyrics or poetry rather than story fiction? Thanks.
Most lyrics of pop songs, if you read them without the music, sound hokey, if not downright stupid. "I love you, baby Don't go away Stick around, baby I want you to stay." I just tossed that off. You can have it for free. It's dumb, but so are lots of pop songs.
I tried this but I hate it. It's to the tune of Poor Wayfaring Stranger. Surely there’s room for our small numbers For you know we can’t go back All these years with our few hunters We’ve not left even a track Your numbers grow while our’s diminish One day we will cross paths again Will we meet up with our lost kin Will we become dust in your wind The critique group thought dust in the wind didn't work so I do want to change that. I dunno, it's just hokey. I need more desperation, sadness, with only a thin ray of hope.
Hi, Might I suggest that since it's a book and there's no music, if you want to have impact go for poetry instead. People will happily accept poetry verse as song lyrics provided they don't hear people trying to sing them, and they'll make better sense. Cheers, Greg.
I want poetry, but I've not written poetry or song lyrics. Where do I start? I mean, besides reading poetry. I could read more, but what else? I'll read some of the poetry critiques. What else? Or is that it?
Find a song you like, take something relative to the plight and give the song new words. Number of kids singing is important to the song you choose. Say he/she is coaxing them into singing and not just playing. Think it's important the tune has a good change of being known by the reader. WELL, I WAS DRUNK THE DAY MY MOM GOT OUT OF PRISON AND I WENT TO PICK HER UP IN THE RAIN BUT BEFORE I COULD GET TO THE STATION IN MY PICK-UP TRUCK SHE GOT RUNNED OVER BY A DAMNED OLD TRAIN If readers are not Country Music fans then this would not be something to choose. Well the power's been off in town for such a long time (That has the same number of syllables as the song above. It carries the tune.) They're working hard to turn it on for you. (syllables are 10 above and 10 here. Just end it with a rhyme to you) That's how I do it
i'm a lyricist, among other things, ginger, so if you email me i'll be happy to write a lyric for you that will do what you want story-wise... love and hugs, maia maia3maia@hotmail.com
Saw a thread just below this on using dialogue from songs and copyright - I have a related but different question. How much can a story use quotes from music WITH attribution. I use tons of musical allegories, my characters are often listening to records, quoting songs, etc. In a lot of cases I wrap the lyrics directly into the plot and quote them as a block. My chapter titles are all lyric references, and I'm even footnoting chapters with songs that inspired them. So I guess the question is where fair use ends and copyright becomes a potential pitfall - especially as I reference the works of a ton of different artists (my story is set in the future and all of my middle-aged characters' old records are current Top 40 hits).
I mean I'm sure you could if you put little footnotes at the bottom of the page giving credit, but I think you'd be safer if you contacted the band/label/etc who owns the song. It'd just be safer.
I'm a long, long way from being finished - so it's not an issue right now. But once I finish I probably will have to contact a ton of bands or record labels - the whole story is built on how culture influences society so there's just a ton of references to everyone from Taylor Swift to Nirvana to David Guetta to...you name it I'm probably using it.
With song lyrics, attribution is not the issue. Permission is. You need permission from the artist and often have to pay a fee for it.
Well I guess if this thing ever gets to print I'll be shelling out a bunch of cash to record labels - but that's assuming a lot of dominoes fall the right way. Maybe I should finish writing first
At some point, it's a lyric, but before that point, it's just a phrase. I would think it depends on how much of the lyric you use and how common the phrase has become.
Well, the OP said "I wrap the lyrics directly into the plot and quote them as a block." Sounds like a red flag to me.
Yep, and not just for song lyrics. Violation of copyright is not usually about attribution/credit in any way at all. (Ed, I realize that you already know all this; your post just seemed like a good jumping-off point for mine.) Now, some people will allow you to use their copyrighted work if you give them credit, but that's just a part of the copyright holder's right to set the terms for use of his work, rather than something baked into copyright law. A copyright holder can say that before you can use their work you have to give them credit, give them money, wear purple shoes for a week, stand in the town square and recite a poem praising their cat--they can set whatever terms they want. But giving credit isn't part of copyright law itself, any more than the purple shoes or the cat poem are. Plagiarism is indeed about credit, but plagiarism is usually an academic or professional offense. Plagiarism and copyright violation may both come up in relation to the same work, but they are different.
Fair Use Transformation (law) Pretty complicated, not sure it's worth it unless one wants to consult a copyright lawyer.
My understanding is that fair use for song lyrics is a big, big stretch, all but impossible, especially in fiction. If you were writing a nonfiction editorial condemning some song lyrics as reflecting an idea that you disapprove of, you might reasonably be able to claim fair use as commentary. If you're mocking the song, you might be able to get away with parody. But if you're using the song for the inherent nature of the song, getting value from its value, then that's not commentary or parody. And for whatever reason, presumably the nature of music and songs, even a little bit of the song is, I believe, seen as a substantial taking. And no, I am not a lawyer.
Just to be clear - I'm not using phrases in the text without saying where they come from. My characters actually spend a lot of time listening to music and I make a lot of points about how the lyrics of whatever they are listening to effects them. (For instance I have one sequence where a character having a breakdown starts blasting her "20 year old" Taylor Swift albums and I quote Swift's song "22" in terms of how it gets inside her head). Granted, like I said, I'm nowhere close to finishing this thing. If I do, and if I get to the point of publication - then I'll look at how much money I have to pay for the fact that I've loaded my piece with pop music references.
