PAUL LATHAM

"Doesn't it strike you as interesting that we are in the second decade of the 21st century and a lot of the most interesting music is still being made by people playing very primitive instruments like electric guitars and drums.

I mean, what is a drum kit? It could be a bunch of old chairs or cans or anything. It's really quite an arbitrary bunch of... See more

Now on to the good news. Your no thanks doesn’t need to be an absolute, total, eternal no . We can use typewriters to write letters and write a poem on our phone at the bus stop. We can say no thanks to AI phone bots but still use ChatGPT to help us understand Aristotle’s Metaphysics in the original. We can be both critical and appreciative of new ... See more

Going to museums and looking at great art can help you write better songs. Reading great novels… Seeing a great movie… reading poetry… The more you can do to get out of the mode of competition, where you get out of what other people are doing and wanting to be better than them or be inspired by them. The only way to use the inspiration of other ar

... See more

People naturally remember musical language, and I would encourage writers to inject their prose with a bit of music. When you’re writing, think about repetition and variety. Crescendos and rests. Pace and punctuation. Read your work out loud, and feel the rhythm of the words in your voice.