sing a simple song —

There’re two things that I feels should be talked about with this topic. One thing is song fics and choosing a song for your chapters. This is probably only applicable to some people rather than others. I don’t have a whole load of experience writing song fics but I do have a small idea of what they are to look like once you’re done. Recently, I have been adding songs for my chapters in my story ‘The Thirteenth Floor’ (which is still ongoing; no I do not purposely try and bring up my story, just letting everyone know).

Song fics, to me at least, should be treated almost like drabbles. They shouldn’t be multiple chapters, one chapter is sufficient. It should be between, maybe, a couple thousand words depending on the theme you’re trying to work with. Some songs aren’t too easy to make a song fic out of because it might just seem like meaningless lyrics. The song you choose must relate to the plotline of the actual story or else it’ll just seem … stupid (sorry for being so blunt) and nobody will really read and enjoy it.

Choosing a song for these particular types of stories can be hard as well. Being that most stories on AFF are based off of Korean bands it would make sense to choose a song that is naturally in Korean. Because most on AFF (probably) aren’t fluent in Korean, play it safe and use the English lyrics and versus the Korean ones. As kpop fans, we all appreciate the language in some way to listen to it. However, seeing a how you most likely will be writing your story in English make sure you use the English lyrics (as said before).

Below is a table of songs and their artists, just in case you might want to check them out, with the theme that would most likely fit the song best. I’m not a genius and I don’t know exactly what the writers of these songs were thinking so the overall meaning behind the song might be misinterpreted by me. Merely, the themes are just what I feel they fit—also known as opinions.

The one title with a star next to it has that because I might’ve gotten the title wrong. The song is from 2AM’s album, Saint O’clock. There’re also two strictly English songs only on that list. I didn’t want to make it really long. As you can see a lot of songs nowadays revolve around a romantic theme, whether it be happy or sad. Very rarely is there a song out that doesn’t relate to something that is suggestive or the complete opposite.

Even GD&TOP’s ‘Baby Goodnight’ is a bit suggestive here and there about adult content. That may seem like an odd example but the point of adding the snake into the video is to symbolize that TOP himself couldn’t stay the night with the girl so it was almost like the snake was the sin he wanted to commit, sleeping with the girl. As per usual, there is a chance I got the point of some things wrong. I know for sure that I’m not on the dot about that theory but it’s just an opinion after all.

Moving onto choosing songs for your individual chapters, that’s a bit harder depending on what type of story you’re writing. For horror themes I’ve found that instrumental versions and/or piano covers do well. Instrumental versions, depending on the type of song you choose to look at, tend to be a bit calmer than the originals. Voices in songs really set tone, which is why without it the whole mood of the song might change more than you think.

Compare this song, Blue Bird by Ikimono Gakari, which is in Japanese, by using two versions that I’ve found; an instrumental piano cover and the version where she is singing. The original version seems to be a bit more upbeat and has a quicker tempo at certain parts. I’m not a musician so I’m judging by ear. If you are a musician and I’m wrong, well I saw that coming.

Instrumental version link ‖ Original version link

At times covers make a difference as well. Just because you have your eye on a song that you want to use as a chapter song doesn’t mean you have to use the original version. Originals just, sometimes, have better vocals. The originals are recorded with special high tech equipment that doesn’t necessarily synchronize the voice (like auto-tune) but smooths it out and takes out those pants for air. If you’ve ever seen someone perform life and listen to their music on a CD you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Just because I talked about how to set up a song for a horror themed story doesn’t mean these ‘rules’ don’t apply for any other genre. It’s pretty much the tempo that makes a huge difference when choosing a song. Look at the flow of your chapters and go from there, along with matching the song with the theme of the story. If you’re writing a story about fluff you aren’t going to choose BIGBANG’s ‘Tell Me Goodbye’ as a song for your new chapter. However, if in your current chapter someone’s dying (not my best example) then ‘Tell Me Goodbye’ would fit. Just like the English language choosing songs for chapters have exceptions to their general rules/guidelines.

Example One of Songfic | Example Two of Songfic