Question on Writing Lyrics: Rhythm and Procedure

[JustTwoBits]

Heyo pony friends! Just your friendly neighborhood newbie here, back with more questions!

So today my question for all of you is, on the subject of vocalized songs, what are some good ways to go about writing lyrics that you may or may not use? Do you typically produce the music beforehand? Maybe you create the music based around your lyrics, or part of the lyrics? Are there any exercises you go through before writing? What sources do you use for wording "inspiration" (Rhymezone is a personal favorite)?

[psychoacoustic]

I brainstorm a lot of lyrics through humming and scat singing to come up with a melody first. Once I have something I like, I try to get an idea for what I want to say, usually a phrase or two I really like, and start shaping the melody around it. I'll do this for each of the different melodies in the song to try to get a rough skeleton of the meter I'll be using, and then try to sketch out the rest of the lyrics. I don't generally finalize the vocal lines until after I have all the lyrics written - I can go back later to do any tweaking or adding any variations I want, and then sit down and hammer out the actual notes - but I do find it very helpful to get an idea of what it will sound like early on so I can build the lyrics upon it.

Of course, this is not necessarily the correct way to do things, but I do encourage you to try any methods you think might be useful for you.