This idea might seem a bit off the wall, but bear with me for a few minutes while I explain it.

I’m going to give you a short character bio of a made up person.  I want you to write a short story using this character.  The story can be about anything that comes to your mind at all.  It doesn’t have to be long if you don’t want it to be.  Even a couple paragraphs describing the situation or scenario behind the story is enough.  You can be as brief or as detailed as you want.

When you’re done writing the story, write a song about the overall story you just told.  It can be a musical piece that would be fitting for the background, or maybe it can be a song with lyrics that maybe describe how your character feels after the story.

I’ll go ahead and give you the character bio, and then I’ll explain my thinking behind this exercise.

Character Bio

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Marla Kirby  is a 35 year old Female of African decent.
She is described as having jet black hair and hazel eyes, lean body type, and she stands at a height of 5’9″

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
________________________

Description of Attitude
-Interested, Caring
-Honest, Truthful

Personal Attributes
-Education Greater Than Present Level Of Achievement
-Wealth In Present Generation

Skills
-Musically Gifted
-Good Public Speaking Skills
-Has Good Communication Skills

Weaknesses
- Slow moving
- Has Trouble Motivating
- Not Good With Hands, Can’t Fix Or Build Things

Short Personal History
-Lived most of life in Virginia
-Family Has Prosperity In Surrounding Society

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What is the point to this, you may ask?

Well, I think an exercise like this accomplishes several things.

• Most importantly, it exercises your imagination
• It gives you practice in writing music that fits a story or situation
• It gives you a new source of inspiration that you probably haven’t worked with before
• It’s a new kind of idea that can break you out of any current writing “ruts”

So have fun with it.  I’d love to hear/read anything you guys come up with!

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