Inspiring Songwriting Techniques: Use Pinterest to Tell a Story

By:

Sarah Spencer

inspiring-songwriting-techniques-use-pinterest-to-tell-a-story

Hey Fanciers!

Today’s post is a quick songwriting tool to help you get the inspiration you need to write your next song on days when you’re just not feeling it. This technique usually works really well for me when I’m in a creative slump and good ideas just aren’t coming to me.

Whenever I need a quick, creative bump, I head to Pinterest.

Pinterest has THOUSANDS upon MILLIONS of amazing images that are immediately inspiring. A picture is worth a thousand words so why not find an image that you love and write a thousand words about it?

 

Strategy 1: Pick an image at random and free write.

This is the easiest and quickest songwriting technique for garnering inspiration. Head over to Pinterest.com and log in if you have an account. Pick a category from the dropdown menu. When the page loads, pick 1 image from the first row that shows up, and just write. Write write write, uncensored. It doesn’t need to be in song format. Don’t worry about rhymes. Get involved with that image and just let it come to you. Get all the good stuff and bad stuff out onto paper or in a text editor for the next 5 minutes. You’ll have a couple hundred words and probably a few really inspiring lines to turn into a song.

Some categories I love are:

  • Photography
  • Quotes
  • Travel
  • Everything
  • Popular
  • My Home Feed (just don’t get distracted by all the delicious recipes!)
Screen Shot 2014-11-10 at 2.19.09 PM

That little girl in her home-made crown is awesome. Reminds me of being a child again, back when I wanted to be a princess. When anything was possible…

 

Strategy 2: Search for a Topic, Write, Repeat

Similar to the first strategy, this one helps those of you who know what you want to write about, but need a fresh outlook on it. Perhaps you know you want to write a love song, but you know it’s been done millions of times already. (Practically everything on the radio is about love.) Head over to Pinterest and type “love” in the search bar. Pick an image from the first row that loads up and free write on it for 5 minutes. Reload the page, pick a new image, then free write again for another 5 minutes. Do this as much as you need to. Now you have multiple new, fresh ideas on an incredibly over-written topic!

 

Screen Shot 2014-11-10 at 2.34.07 PM

Hmm, I want to write a love song. Let’s search for “love”. Ok, Love Bombs, that sounds like an interesting hook! Let’s free write on that for a moment…

 

Come up with any other creative ways to use Pinterest to aide your writing? What about other visual-based songwriting techniques? Share them here! I’m always looking for new excuses to get on Pinterest. ;)

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Sarah Spencer

Sarah Spencer is an award winning singer/songwriter based in Nashville, TN.

Born in the Sunshine State, Sarah Spencer writes vibrant, shining americana/pop music. She works in Nashville TN as a singer/songwriter, as well as a UX designer for a marketing firm.

Follow Sarah on Spotify to get her latest releases.

You can jump on her email list at SarahSpencer.com or purchase her debut EP, "Freshman Year" on iTunes.