I am curious what is your process regarding songwriting. Where do you find inspiration? Do you follow all or any of the so-called songwriting rules? When is a song complete? Do you run it past others first for critique before releasing your tune into the wild?
Composing : How do you do it? by Wyman Brent
Works at Brentango Productions ♦ Songwriter, Playwright
4 months ago
How do you do it?
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For me, it tends to be 50/50 inspiration and perspiration. Usually I get a lyric first, then a melody appears. I don't tend to follow rules-- it's about the flow for me.
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Libby Wright, I live with what I can only describe as creative synesthesia. For me, inspiration doesn’t arrive after hours of searching or tinkering. It comes from everywhere — a shop sign, a statue, a police car, even a stranger walking by. Ordinary details trigger rhythm, melody, and lyric all at once.
The strange part? When a song comes, it usually arrives fully formed. Not a scrap of an idea to be built later, but the whole thing — verses, chorus, rhythm — complete. All of my songs are written in five minutes or less. I don’t force it, I don’t edit it into shape. It’s like they already exist and I’m just the one holding the pen when they show up.
That’s why I can write across such a wide range — protest songs, absurd comedy tracks, tender love ballads, even EDM with bagpipes or banjo. The songs don’t care what genre they’re “supposed” to be. They simply flow through, and my job is to catch them before they disappear.
It’s not something I can turn off, and I wouldn’t want to. Every day brings new songs, new surprises, and new laughter. For me, songwriting isn’t a craft I practice — it’s the language my mind speaks. Around 300 songs so far.
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Wow Wyman Brent what a gift! I love that you give your songs room to be whatever they are!
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Libby Wright, you are right. I do not try to shape the songs. They already know what they need to be. I only started in April of this year. Three hundred songs in that time is not too bad.