Songwriting 101: How to Write Personal Story Telling Songs (For Beginners)

1. Songwriting 101: How to Write Personal Story Telling Songs : Hi everyone. I'm Bennett and welcome to Songwriting 11, how to write personal storytelling songs. Have you ever listened to a song that felt like it was just playing a movie in your head? Great storytelling songs can create characters, places and emotional journeys using nothing but lyrics and melodies. My name is Bennett. I'm a singer, songwriter, artist, and music producer. And if you've taken my previous courses, you'll already have the fundamentals of songwriting. In this course, we're going one step further and focusing specifically on storytelling. We'll explore how to create characters and scenes, showing emotion through detail and structuring a song around a story. At the end of this class, hopefully, you'll know how to write your own story driven song. You don't need to play an instrument, and you don't need to be the Taylor Swift of songwriting. You just need an idea, a notebook, and the willingness to experiment a little bit. So let's get started. 2. What Makes A Song A Story?: Hi, Bennett and welcome back to Songwriting one oh one. How to write personal storytelling songs. So let's start with a simple question. What actually makes a song a story? Narrative songwriting is essentially telling a story through lyrics. Like a book or a movie, a story driven song usually gives us a combination of characters, places, sometimes conflict and resolutions. Think about songs like Love Story by Taylor Swift or fast car by Tracy Chapman. We're not just hearing someone describe an emotion. We're literally being taken there. So let's discuss the four building blocks. So the first block is characters. Who is this song about? Is it about you? Is it about a lover? Is it about an enemy, a stranger, a family member, a completely made up fictional person? The second block is setting. Where is it happening? Is it in a bedroom? Is it in a car? Is it a small town? The setting gives the listener somewhere to exist in the story. The fourth block is conflict. What is going wrong? Maybe it's someone leaving, relationships falling apart. And the fourth block is resolution. What changes at the end? Now, the story doesn't necessarily need a happy ending. It could end with closure or uncertainty or heartbreak or realization. Now, your story doesn't have to be dramatic. It could come from a memory or something you observed. Conversation you overheard, a historic event? Think about moments in your own life that felt like a movie scene. Maybe it was a moment where you realized someone was leaving a conversation in the car you had with your mum, a childhood memory, a night you wish you could go back to. So here's an exercise I want you to do. Just take 5 minutes and write down a few possible story ideas. Then choose one out of the five and just describe it in one sentence. And in the next lesson, we're going to take that one sentence and turn it into a world that the listener can actually see. I'll see you next time. 3. Creating Characters & Bringing Scenes To Life: Now that you have your story idea, let's make it feel real. Now, the first thing we need is a character. Ask yourself, who are there? What do they want? What's stopping them? And how did they feel about what's happening? No, you don't need to write an entire biography. Sometimes one to two specific details can tell us everything we need to know. Instead of saying, she's rebellious, show us something that she does. Maybe she dyes her dog's hair bright green. Maybe she sneaks out at midnight, maybe she burns her bras. I don't know. Actions reveal character, and the same thing applies with emotion. Now, instead of telling us she was sad, show us what sadness looks like. Like, she traced circles on the table with her head in her hand. We understand that emotion a bit more clearly rather than being told what it is. Now, let's talk about creating the scene. Where does this all take place? Don't just tell us we're at home. Give us something specific. What can your character see? What can your character hear? What can they taste? What can they feel? Maybe there's an old photograph on the wall. The washing machine is going on in the other room. There's the cold takeaway on the kitchen counter from the night before. Those tiny details make the song believable. And if you've watched my previous courses, you've heard this term before. Sure. Don't tell. This is one of the most useful tools in songwriting. Instead of, I miss you, try I still have your hoodie. Instead of, I was nervous, try, my hands were shaking. With this, you're allowing the listener to really feel the emotion within the song rather than just being told what it is. So here's an exercise that I want you to do. Take your story that you've chosen from lesson one and write one character, one setting, three sensory details, and one action that reveals the emotion. And once you have that, you'll start to have the beginnings of a real story. And in the next lesson, we're going to turn that scene into an actual song. So I'll see you next time. 4. Turning Your Story Into A Song: Got your story. You've got your characters. You've got your setting. Now let's give the story a structure. A simple storytelling song can follow like this. Verse one can be the setup, introducing the character, the setting, and the situation. The chorus can be the emotional or. So what is the story really about? What are we experiencing? Verse two can be the development. What changes? What got worse? What new information do we need to discover? And the bridge can be the climax. Is the turning point? What's the realization? And the final chorus could be flipped on its head from the original chorus and be What does the character understand now? Now, you don't have to follow this structure specifically. Some songs tell a story chronologically, while others move between memories and perspectives. The important thing is something changes. So let's think about your emotional journey. Ask yourself, Where does my character start? And where does it end? Maybe they start hopeful and end heartbroken. Maybe they start heartbroken and end up being healed. Maybe they start angry and end forgiving. Maybe nothing changes externally, but they understand it differently at the end. This emotional shift is what keeps the listener engaged. So let's talk about POV. We should probably decide who is telling the story. It could be first person, so it's I remember the night you left. Or it could be third person. She watched him drive away. These are both optional, by the way. Like, neither of these are the best one to use. They're just simply different storytelling tools. Talk about tenses really quick. Think about whether your story is happening now or happened in the past or something you imagine will happen in the future. Past tense can be a bit more nostalgic and reflective. The present tense can feel immediate and urgent and future tense can create anticipation and hope. So try writing one line from your story in different tenses and notice how it changes. So here's an exercise I want you to do. I want you to take your story and write what happens in Verse one? What is the main emotional idea in the chorus? What happens in Verse two? What is the turning point? And where does your character end up? Once you get this done, you'll now have a rough skeleton of your song. And in the next lesson, we're actually going to write it. I'll see you in the next lesson. 5. Writing Your Song: Now it's time to put everything together. Let's start with your story outlined from the previous lessons. And don't worry about writing perfect lyrics immediately. Your first goal is simply getting your story onto the page. So let's start with the verses. Use your verses to give us the information we need. Where are we? Who's there? What is happening? And remember to show us rather than just tell us. Maybe there's a half finished coffee, an empty side of the bed. These details tell the story for you. Now let's move on to the chorus. Your chorus should capture the emotional heart of the song. Ask yourself, if someone heard this chorus, what do I want them to understand? And I would keep the central idea quite simple. It could be a phrase, or it could be a question or even a metaphor. And you don't need to explain the entirety of the story on the chorus. That's what the verses are for. Moving on to Verse two, let the story develop. Maybe the character discovers something. Maybe we see the same event from a different perspective. And by the time we reach the bridge, we should feel that something has changed. So here's your projects. I want you to write your own story driven song now. For this stage, don't worry about making it perfect. We're not all Taylor Swift at this point. I want your goal to be at least complete verse one, chorus, and Verse two. That's all we need to focus on. And then sing what you've written. Does it sound natural? Does the story make sense? If you want to go a little bit more in depth of lyric writing, I do have other courses on my Skillshare, so please check them out. And in the final lesson, we'll turn your rough draft into something polished. 6. Editing & Refining Your Song: Oh, you've written your song. Now it's time to edit it a little bit. Now, remember, your first draft doesn't need to be perfect. We're not all Taylor Swift unless of course you are. Anyway, editing isn't about completely changing your song. It's making sure every single word is doing its job. So let's read through it and cut whatever isn't necessary. Read through your lyrics and look at the lines that repeat unnecessary information, feel vague or quite difficult to understand. Lines that feel awkward to sing and don't really move the story forward. Great story writing is often about saying more with less. For example, instead of saying, I remember we used to sit on the bench in the park at two in the morning, and it used to be great. We talked about his grandma and his mother. You could just simplify that, too. We talked until sunrise. It's the same idea but much more concise. Now let's try and strengthen your imagery. Look for more generic emotional statements. So instead of I Miss you, let's show what missing someone looks like. It could be, I wait by the phone all night. I still have your sweater. I still have all your presents you gave me. Specific details make the line memorable. Now, let's check your story. Read the entire song from beginning to end. Does it make sense? Does something change within it? Does the emotional progression feel natural and does each section add something new? And you don't need to explain everything. Sometimes leaving a little bit of space for the listener to interpret the story their own way is really powerful. So here's a final checklist before you finish. Does every line serve the story? Are there enough specific details? Am I showing the emotion rather than saying it? Does the song have a clear emotional journey? Does the chorus communicate the central idea? Do the lyrics feel natural when they're sung, and have I removed everything that's unnecessary? And that taken an idea, turned it into a story. You've created characters and scenes, you've built a well, and you've turned it into an entire song. And if you have completed a song, I would absolutely love to hear it. Please share it. Or at least share your verses and your choruses, or even just the story ideas themselves. I'd love to hear them. And thank you so much for watching this course. I really hope you've learnt something. So keep writing, keep experimenting, and most importantly, keep writing stories. I'll see you all next time.