Figure out the story that you want to tell. This is the plot, premise, or moral of it all, the emotion that you want to convey. How would you describe it?

Write down the topics or plot points that you want to cover. If you’re writing for a specific singer, you can look up their lyrics and see what topics they typically sing about in their music.

Think of it as planning for the actual structure of what your audience will be listening to instead of just coming up with lyrics randomly without any purpose behind them.

For example, if you were to write a piece about the difficulty of falling out of love with someone, you might want to write about what led up to it, the actual process, and how it felt once it was over.

It’s important because if you have more than one idea while songwriting, this content will help you choose between them for different sections and help you edit properly later.

Coming up with these types of ideas in written format reproduces a similar dynamic that occurs when professional songwriters receive a brief from a client.

When I have a song due, I constantly reference the brief for inspiration.

It generates constant creativity and having a deadline ramps up my productivity.

To experience this entire process, try the free Song Brief Builder to create your own song brief based on your own ideas.

The title and chorus should describe the central idea or theme, but more than that, they should also be catchy and encourage people to want to listen to it.

If you can’t come up with one, look up titles by other successful songwriters and music artists and take note of what made theirs stand out to you.

The title acts as a bookmark for when someone thinks about your song later and gives listeners an idea of what to expect even before they press play.

The overall mood is another important aspect of songwriting.

What are you trying to get across? Happy? Sad? Hopeful? Angry?

Your lyrics should reflect this.

Your point of view will also affect your lyrics significantly because two people can have or see the exact same story and have completely different ideas by just looking at it from a different perspective.

Often people write about things that have happened to them personally or a cause that they feel strongly about.

Most of my early music was about lost love or negative things in my life.

Tread carefully with negativity, you might have a compelling story, but after listening to and performing your songs repeatedly, they could drain your and others' psyches.

Consider reframing any negative stories to have a positive lesson learned or offer an alternate perspective in a later section of your tune.

You can also write about things that have never happened to you. This is a chance to let your imagination run wild.

You may even be inspired by something fictional like a book or movie that you enjoy..

When you get ready to start writing down your lyrics, go over any ideas that you've already come up with for your masterpiece.

Hopefully, you have already constructed your own song brief to reference for your songwriting session.

If not, think of what would best describe the theme/point of your song. Remember the style and overall mood you are going for. This will help give you a rough direction and some idea of the words that you need to write next.

To ensure that you don't have too many lyrics. I prefer to create and listen to my music track or a looped musical section as I write lyrics. Although this is a personal preference, I find it speeds up the process and gets me in the mood for what I am trying to create.

Once you’ve created a brief and prepared to write, you are ready to start actually writing down your lyrics. It doesn’t matter what order they go in or how long they are, just start going and you’ll eventually have a more complete idea.

Don’t worry about making sure things rhyme or even complete grammatically correct sentences, just free associate and let things flow until you feel like you have enough to work with.

Try writing down anything and everything you can think of.

Sometimes words that aren’t even relevant to what you were trying to write about can sometimes spark new inspiration and help you move on.

Whether you decide to have your words rhyme or not, make sure everything flows well. Listen to your music track (if it's done) while reading your lyrics and make sure it all makes sense. You may have a line that just doesn’t fit anymore, so remove or replace it and see how it changes.

Read over your words again and listen to them in their entirety as well as say them out loud so that they may sound more like a song or poetry instead of just random sentences that were thrown together.

After you are done freewriting, it's time to tighten up any mess you've made and avoid any pitfalls.

Pitfalls might include an awkward rhythm, a bad rhyming scheme, unsingable words, or simply not making sense.

Whenever you are writing lyrics, make sure you go through them more than once and look for these issues. If they are too much to deal with, consider taking a different direction or writing something new.

I like to start composing with a typical pop song structure. I'd be willing to bet that most of your favorite songs use the following structure: Intro, Verse, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Verse 2, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Bridge, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, and Ending.

While this popular music framework can be limiting, it does serve as a guide to focus your creativity.

Even though you may want to be creative while composing, resist the urge to break all the rules of music. At least at first.

Some of the most popular songs ever written follow this structure exactly.

Of course, some of your favorite songs are also written with a completely different song structure.

So, if your creative process varies and you find yourself wanting to color outside of the lines and not go this predefined route, my advice is to simply keep an outcome in mind.

This way you can remember the song sections that you do want to include and you can continue to take creative action writing with a single stream of consciousness.

Otherwise, you may end up with notebooks or folders of half-written, unfinished works.

It is also good practice to organize your thoughts again after writing each draft and remember to keep the following song sections in mind even before writing a single word.

The Hook

A chorus, refrain, or hook is the most important part of the song. Usually, this is the part that is catchy and easy to remember. Often you repeat certain lines multiple times at the end of a Verse or Pre-Chorus.

Your lines don't all have to rhyme but make sure it is strong and catchy. Make sure the rhythm of the words goes well with the music's rhythm.

Writing a Pre-Chorus or Post-Chorus
This part usually describes certain things that happen story-wise right before or after the chorus comes in and helps build up to it or resolve it somehow.

Often I'll write this section last as it is the link between the Verse and Chorus.

Writing the Verses

The Verses chronologically come before the Hook, usually around the same length or a little longer.

Think of it as a narrative or an explanation for something that led up to or is happening right before the pre-chorus starts.

In my writing, the bulk of the story tends to come out in the verses. This is where we can take the listener on a journey through time. Perhaps a situation occurred before, or after the story elements in the other sections.

Often, the verses have a different theme than the Chorus does, but in some productions, you can hear parts of the chorus repeating in these sections as well.

Do you need a Bridge, or maybe another section?

Songs can be as simple as a verse and a hook but often contain additional sections.

If you want to experiment with an idea that is outside of the main elements that you have so far, consider adding a bridge or another section altogether.

The Bridge typically leads up to the last chorus.

Musically, this is your chance to explore different chord progressions or even styles.

Lyrically, you get to add new parts of the story or ideas that influence how your music is interpreted.

If it's your first time writing lyrics, it's easier not to have a bridge. In my experience, bridges are usually written after everything else is complete. The bridge is when you can incorporate some lyrics from the freewriting stage or components from your brief that you haven't used yet.

The intro and outro are easily added last.

For modern production, an intro could be a sound effect or a line from the chorus.

It can also just be a stripped-down version of another section.

The outro is the very last section.

Sometimes it's a repeated Chorus or even a new motif.

Sometimes it's just a musical bump.

If there's a long outro, occasionally the music slowly fades to silence instead of a definite ending.