Part of the key to co-writing, especially with artists are using their experienced layered with your own life experiences. In the past 6 1/2 years I have written 2015 songs with about 1700 people worldwide.

Since I am in a "Teaching mode" my job is to show them how to develop their own experiences into song form, structure, character development,twist on the tail without letting "Facts get in the way of a good story."

They have to feel a part of the song which is why you can write it around them. But you also have to help them get out of their own way, and you have to have some understanding of much of what is out there. You have to see the average or mediocrity in order to find the pathways around it.

I have written hundreds of songs with "Angry women." Actually they are not that angry, just feel like that is what they have to do to express themselves.But what makes it different is showing them the "rope of hope" "woman empowerment" and elements of story that allow them to accentuate their positives instead of just being mired in bitterness.

Then you have to take phrases, rhymes, contrived senarios, and try to avoid them. Everyone has been upset when they are alone at two in the morning crying over that lost loved one. What about in the middle of traffic, in the office, where everyone around them is partying? (Tears of a Clown)

There's not much that hasn't been written, but starting in a place that is the MOST commmon is going to create problems going in.

Since everyone has similar experiences, it is about finding the things that separate them and make them interesting as well as the common elements which bring people together.

That is the constant quest.

So while there is a certain element of "having to live it" that is important,there are also ways around that. By using the experiences of others, writing with other people with different expereinces than your own, and being able to take that step outside yourself while maintaining a close grasp of the subject matter, you can develop some really great stuff.

A method actor does not have to have killed someone to be able to portray a serial killer. But most do research into those characters. That is the craft.

In writing we are doing the same. Acting out a part. You can get too close or be too distant. The key is finding the balance.

MAB