Apparently, you* and Bono have more in common than you might think.
From an interview with writer Chuck Klosterman about how the world’s most famous band made How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (and all their other albums):
“The songwriting process worked as it normally does for the band: The Edge brought in guitar demos, the band collaborated on the sonic skeletons and turned them into U2 songs, and Bono added the lyrics at the end.” [Emphasis ours]
At the end, folks. That means the ideas and words behind With or Without You, Where the Streets Have No Name, Mysterious Ways, One, All That You Can’t Leave Behind, Vertigo—the soundtrack of the last two decades—were an afterthought. Not thoughtless, mind you. But constructed and added after the musical scenery was in place.
We see this blueprint everyday on Storybird. Illustrators like Paul McDougall, Victoria Usova, and Irisz Agocs are like Larry Mullen, Adam Clayton, and The Edge—arranging, composing, and issuing narrative art like chords, solos, and drum beats. And then, strutting into the studio with sunglasses that never come off and a carefully distressed leather jacket, come writers like Tara Lazar, missK, and Nyx, studying the structure of the work and arranging their ideas to suit the tempo or mood of what’s been established.
The results are fabulous. These guys are belting out stories that rival contemporary youth and kid’s publishing just two months since our release. And we’re only at v0.1. That’s like a four-track analogue recording studio. Wait till we’re all digital multi-track and have chrome espresso machines in the studio.**
The best part, if we want to extend the music-making metaphor, is that Storybird is also like karaoke or Rock Band, embedding the basics of publishing into a game platform that kids can master instantly. So not only are we getting stories FOR kids/young adults, they’re also being made BY kids/young adults. Just check out this four-parter about BFFs or dealing with the arrival of a baby brother. These kids are kid-litting it from the ground up, narrating a first-hand account of their world while having fun and finding their groove.
So go Bono. Walk on. Get one step closer to knowing. And be one. ***
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*People who make Storybirds. **This is a metaphor. Storybird does not serve coffee. ***This is a terrible ending. It does, however, lend itself to rocking-good links.
