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My POV
by Brian A. Wilson
BOOK REVIEW
"88 Songwriting Wrongs and How to Right Them"
Pat and Pete Luboff
Remove the word "song" from the title of this book, and you'll see it for what it is: an excellent tool for tuning up your own writing, no matter the genre. Screenwriters, I believe, can benefit most of all from the guidelines, remedies and reasoning packed into this book by songwriters Pat and Pete Luboff.
Feel crowded shoehorning your story into 120 pages? Feel rushed trying to get all your characters introduced and the story under way by page 30? Think the first ten pages can't possibly matter as much as everybody says?
Set aside your screenwriterly concerns a moment, and consider the plight of the songwriter. You've got 120 minutes to get your point across; the songwriter has three. Establish the character and set the plot in motion? Thirty pages for you, maybe six lines for the songwriter.
And yet, like a haiku set to music, the best efforts of the songwriter rival those of the screenwriter. Next time you're singing along with AC/DC or Alan Jackson or Faith Hill, consider how much storytelling is packed into that little ditty you can't get out of your head. Then perhaps you'll realize we can learn plenty from our songwriting cousins.
The book is very approachable. Its fast-reading 142 pages are broken down into one-to-three-page "chapterettes." As promised in the title, each chapter identifies a writing problem, then gives clear, solid examples of how to fix it.
Topics covered include getting off to a fast, strong start, lyrics (that's dialogue to you and me), rewrites, collaboration, marketing and production.
As you can see, the parallels between the songwriting and screenwriting worlds are endless. Somehow, it helps to look at our work through this lens. Standing a bit to the side, it's easier to identify problems, solutions and successes.
Get a fresh perspective on your work with "88 Songwriting Wrongs and How to Right Them." Priced right at about $18.
Keep writing.
BW
LA
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