Consistent writing with consistent quality requires consistent habit. There are always a lot of variables when you’re writing something new – new characters, new circumstances, new voices, new points of view. Given that there will always be lots of new unknowns, when it comes to your process you don’t want to have to always be reinventing the wheel. This is especially true when you write a musical theatre song.
When I sit down to write a new musical theatre song, I start by asking myself a series of questions. The order of the series is not important, and I will usually stop at whichever point I feel I’ve answered enough to begin writing the song. (I am taking for granted that at this point I’ve created a musical language for the world of the piece as well as the individual characters.)
Story and Plot
The first few questions you might ask as you write a musical theatre song deal specifically with story and plot.
1. What is the EVENT of the scene/moment? This is often but not always coupled with the second question on the list (What is the conflict of the scene/moment?) This question allows me to identify what the major dramatic event is. The story in a musical is communicated and moves forward via song, therefore in theory the song will always encapsulate the major event in any given scene. The dramatic event can be defined as “the reason the scene is taking place.” What brings the characters onto the stage? Dealing with this event should affect your characters in so strong a way that they leave the scene different than when they entered it.
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