The Writing Challenge!

Creative Writing & Music

A few years ago, I had the honor to go see two of the greatest creative minds in the world. At the Phoenix Symphony, Academy Award winners John Williams and Steven Spielberg were putting on a charity event, sharing the work they have done together over the years. Towards the end of the concert, Spielberg began talking about his approach to film-making and the creative process in general. The one thing he said that stuck out to me was when he said, “The music comes first.” When he first began making movies in film school, he would imaging the music behind a scene before even thinking about shooting it. Music was a very important stage in his creative process and that is the spirit I hope to embody in this creative writing challenge.

Begin Your Challenge

1. Choose Your Song.

The first step is to pick a song. It can be any song you choose to write about. In the spirit of Steven Spielberg, the song doesn’t necessarily have to have words, but if it does, your story should embody the song’s meaning or story; so keep that in mind when you pick a song. The idea is to write the back-story behind the song.

2. Write Your Story

Your work should be a short story/ flash fiction, but can be longer if you’re feeling a little too amped. When beginning your story, try to imagine the series of events that the songwriter was writing about in the song. For instance, if you chose the song “Because of You” by Kelly Clarkson, you may want to write a story about a character who was a child during a divorce. Or perhaps a parent who is dealing with the same issues as her parents did, but is trying to handle it differently. Whatever you come up with, it should be your own work of fiction inspired by the song. It can be funny, sad, share a life lesson, etc. but it must be original.

3. Share Your Story

Once you have written your story, just publish it to your website or blog and let me know so I can add a link to it from my site and share it on social media. But if you don’t have somewhere you want to post it, I can host it here on my website instead. Just submit it along with a link to the song you chose to info@stephenwillis.co. There is no set time-frame, so you’ll never be too late to send your story. If you choose to host it by yourself, you must include a link or embed a video of the song you chose. I also kindly ask that you link to this challenge too, but it is not required. Either way, please share your stories. I can’t wait to read them!

If you’re interested in the writing challenge or have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me on Twitter: @myeclecticself.