The moving pen having writ,

moves on.
- William Shakespeare

Food for Thought:
“The art of narrative storytelling has its roots in song, a method of telling tales that predates the act of writing. So, perhaps the best screenwriters were really songwriters, or at least song tellers, singers of tales, and the best of them was, of course, Homer, whom Aristotle knew well.” – Mark Axelrod, Professor of comparative literature at Chapman University, and Director of The John Fowles Centre for Creative Writing.

I have been a writer of both songs and music for many years. Songs tell stories, and compositions paint pictures; which is why music is so important in most movies. It not only reinforces drama, it connects images. If writing a song is like writing a mini screenplay, then I have written many mini screenplays. When I first started to study screenplay writing, and even before I discovered Mr. Axelrod's quote in one of the books on the subject, I found I was already thinking along those lines; that this is not unlike the craft of writing music and/or songs, and seems to be a combination of both.

There are many different styes of song, but any that have stood the test of time tell some kind of story. In a broad sense of comparison between songs or musical compositions, and screenplays or movies, I have set out the following hypothesis:

 - Lyrics are like dialogue; one should only use what is needed to tell the story, and they should always be worth

   listening to.

 - The lines of a verse are like the different shots in a scene.

 - The verses are like the scenes themselves.

 - A chorus can have a different meaning depending upon the verse preceding it; therefore a chorus can be like

   the different sections in the arc of the protagonist, or like reinstating or reinforcing the plot as the story continues.

 - Songs and movies tell stories, instrumental compositions paints pictures; all are dependent upon interpretation.

 - All have a central theme or plot running through them, plus one or more sub-plots or sub-themes. E.g. The melody of the

   chorus, an instrumental break in a song, key transpostition.

 - Scenes in a screenplay can also be like songs in a song cycle or movements in a suite. Each tells its own story

   but is also part of a bigger, developing, main story. As that story develops or the piece progresses, new

   characters or instruments are introduced, new themes or conflicts are added, or earlier ones reoccur with

   variation. In a concerto there is a dominant instrument throughout, like a protagonist. The composer will add

   counter melodies or harmonic conflict, like antagonistic situations.

 - All rely on tempo and pacing – rhythm and action.

 - All set moods or tones and have shading, colour, and various modulations.

As every picture paints a story,

every line in a song should create an image.