Lesson 9 · Jolene

Endings and Landings

A story song needs to land. Not conclude — land. The difference is crucial. A conclusion wraps things up. A landing plants you somewhere and lets you feel the weight of where you have arrived. A conclusion is "and then everything was fine." A landing is "I drive past that house sometimes."

The rest of this lesson

Jolene takes this apart properly inside Songmatter — the rest of the lesson, the exercise that goes with it, and a critic who reads what you write back.

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