Typescript posts a new challenge each Wednesday to encourage creativity and inspire conversation. Feel free to talk about the challenge or share your writing results in the comments section below by leaving an excerpt and/or a link to your own site or blog.

The spark of inspiration can be found anywhere you choose to look. From a title of a song to a sketch found on a napkin to music lyrics, these stories are waiting to be discovered and told.

In a similar challenge based on song titles, we talked about how words and music can be a powerful form of creativity for their ability to evoke emotion and create experiences. Music speaks to the same part of our soul from which words stem, delving into a part of ourselves and calling forth sometimes stagnant emotion that can then be poured onto the page. The music you’re listening to can even shape the tone of your writing. A peppy pop ballad can make for an upbeat, feel-good story filled with humor and chaos. A slow ballad can cross boundaries and create melancholy and passion. However, it’s the lyrics that tell the story.

Song Lyrics
While the music itself can lend to inspiration, often the best lyrics are full of character, setting, and plot of their own, bringing to life a story. Very much like a poem, lyrics have power in their words, with imagery and rhythm guiding the tale. Pay attention when you listen to the radio or browse through the selections on iTunes. Your next story may be waiting in the music.

What song lyrics serve as your inspiration?

Challenge: Take a look at your own collection or use some suggestions below to create a new short story or poem:

I fell asleep on a late night train
I missed my stop and I went round again
Keane, “Try Again”

Before you hit the highway
You better stop for gas
There’s a 50 in the ashtray
In case you run short on cash
Carrie Underwood, “Don’t Forget To Remember Me”

Another glass of Whiskey but it still don’t kill the pain
So he stumbles to the sink and pours it down the drain
Carrie Underwood, “Wasted”

By the light of the moon
She rubs her eyes
Says it’s funny how the night
Can make you blind
Rob Thomas, “Her Diamonds”

Was a long and dark December
When the banks became cathedrals
And the fog
Became God
Coldplay, “Violet Hill”

Hitched a ride to the peaceful side of town
Then proceeded where thieves were no longer found
Collective Soul, “Precious Declaration”

I found God
On the corner of First and Amistad…
All alone
Smoking his last cigarette
The Fray, “You Found Me”

I woke up today in London
As the plane was touching down
And all I could think about was Monday
And maybe I’ll be back around
Three Doors Down, “Landing In London”

Friday night beneath the stars,
in a field behind your yard,
you and I are paintin’ pictures in the sky.
Taylor Swift, “I’m Only Me When I’m With You”

Thought I ran into you down on the street
Then it turned out to only be a dream
I made a point to burn all of the photographs
She went away and then I took a different path
I remember the face but I can’t recall the name
Green Day, “Whatsername”

I look out of my bedroom window pane
Every day, but the view just stays the same
Guster, “C’mon”