GeorgeGlass

Now this I can see working quite well. When the song is a clue, a way to pinpoint a villain? Yes, absolutely put that original song in there. In fact, I’m agog with admiration because I can barely cobble together a freaking 8-line prophecy without anguish and exasperation.

I’ve seen it done before. Tolkien did it, and so did Brian Jacques in his Redwall series. I mean, it does let you get a bit more creative and potentially show a bit more of the world. In my personal opinion I always felt it slowed down the story too much. I got pulled out too much to try and figure out what the melody was, and to basically hear a story in the story I was reading. And being a good writer of narrative doesn’t make one a good song writer.

I’ve also seen it done, and like @Sinfulwolf I found it more distracting than useful... outside of Tolkien. I confess to a blind adoration of all things elvish.

Prose and songwriting/poetry are differing skillsets. If you’ve got both, go for it. if you haven’t got both, go for it anyway with enthusiasm because fuck it, writing’s about having fun.
I’ve read a few books with chunks of original lyrics in and it’s been mostly fine – one author had comic songs at the start of every chapter, though that was a funny book.

That sounds fine in my book because it grows out of events in the story and ties in. I was speaking about pop songs that depend on exterior materials for the story or scene to make sense. Original songs that are written as part of the story must fit the mood of the story.  Michael Bolton didn’t know the mood of my story twenty years later and his lyrics may mean something totally different to a reader based on their RL and that takes control of the story’s mood out of my keyboard.
Your “Burn It Down” sounds like a useful grace note and the memory of a terrible cover of it by Jerry Lewis will not disrupt your story. (Hope I was clearer this time)

If it works, it works. While I’ve stated that my experiences with it haven’t worked, that’s because they’ve never been tied to the plot very tight. If it is, as you @GeorgeGlass are indicating, it may well work. But as with all things, mileage may vary. And something like including song lyrics can be rather polarizing.

I used to write songfics. When I was in the fanfiction world, I wrote a number of them. I even wrote one original songfic. But that was years ago, and in retrospect, I think it was a mistake, disregarding the whole issue of whether or not the songs were original or quoted from existing music, I just don’t like the whole thing. Like BW and sinful, I find, and I have always found lyrics in fiction distracting. They take me out of the world, UNLESS, and that’s a big unless, the lyrics are integral to the plot. Like a verse is a clue to something. But if it’s not integral to the plot, to me, it feels too self-indulgent, and does more of a disservice to whatever emotional atmosphere has been built up thus far. 
If anyone reading this has a story and you wrote original music for it, I’m going to give you some crazy awesome advice: learn a programming language like Java or just get yourself a good video editor, and make yourself an immersive, visual novel complete with illustrations and music. I loooove those things. Or, if those things sound like too much work, make an audio book! That way the music won’t distract from the story, it’ll compliment it! See? I’m a genius. 
Edit: Seriously @GeorgeGlass, even though I just kinda shat all over your idea, there’s nothing wrong with doing shit your way. If I was your beta, I wouldn’t tell you not to; I’d ask you how important it is to the story, and to write a scene with and without the lyrics and decide for yourself which works for your style, pacing, and story best. 

Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed the alternate ending. 
I should be more open-minded about dark endings. They’re fun to write. 

My streak of productivity continues: I just posted chapter 4 of “Auntie’s Home.” What is more, I’m making good progress tonight on the next chapter of “The Miss Cutie Patootie Pageant,” so I expect to have that off to beta in the next few days. Made a bit of progress on “The More, the Merrier,” too. I’m having a lot of fun with Adyson and Gretchen in this story; in chapter 2, they’re going to do something that may or may not be physically possible. But, you know, they’re cartoons, so physiological correctness be damned.

My stress-writing continues to be productive. Last night, I posted chapter 1 of “Mia: Confessions of a Dickgirl” (beta-read by JayDee, who has my gratitude), and just now, I posted chapter 7 of “Country Summer.” I also expect to have chapter 4 of “Auntie's Home” ready for beta in the next day or two.
I realized today that I now have nine incomplete multi-chapter stories in progress (not including the ones that don't have any posted chapters yet, most notably “Wishful,” which I'll be starting on soon). So I made a list of them and the date on which each story last had a new chapter posted.
4/18 Auntie’s Home
5/10 The Miss Cutie Patootie Pageant
5/17 Make It All Better
6/10 The More, the Merrier
6/16 Little Rose
6/18 Delta Delta Delta
7/02 Multiversity
7/11 Mia: Confessions of a Dickgirl
7/12 Country Summer
So I'm going to be working on new chapters in roughly that order. (I say “roughly” because I'm always subject to the whims of inspiration or lack thereof.) I'll be adding “Wishful” to the rotation at some point, but I won't start posting any other new multi-chapter stories until at least a few of the ones on the list above are complete. 
Also: With the one-shot “Imaginary Tokyo” now completed, a new one-shot story has leaped out of the “ideas” file and onto the List of Twenty. Its working title is “Tension,” and it's about a single mom who gets sick and tired of her teenage son and daughter’s constant bickering. The mom realizes that her kids’ feud is the result of unresolved sexual tension between them, so she makes them *cough* resolve it.
Finally: Indeed, SWP1, Gretchen will not be the only female who gets DPed in TMTM. There’s a reason why I added two more male characters to the ensemble.

Whereas some people stress-eat, I stress-write. Between dealing with my parents’ deaths and some nasty stuff at work, the first thing I want to do when I get home is throw myself into my imaginary worlds. 
As a result, I’m finishing things left and right. I’ve just posted “Imaginary Tokyo” (in which a man describes his travels in a land where anime tropes come to life), and tomorrow I expect to post the first chapter of “Mia: Confessions of a Dickgirl.” And I think the next chapter of “Country Summer” will be ready very soon after that. 

As with most of the stories on the List of Twenty right now, progress on the next chapters of TMTM and “Little Rose” is slow but steady.
Here’s what currently appears to be closest to being finished:
--Chapter 7 of “Country Summer”
--Chapter 3 of “Auntie’s Home”
--”Imaginary Tokyo”
--Chapter 1 of an as-yet untitled dickgirl story

The alternate ending of “Splinter” is posted! I think readers who were hoping for something darker are going to like it. I certainly enjoyed writing it.
Of course, as one story drops off the List of Twenty, a new one leaps on to take its place: “Wishful.” My friend Jomahawk, who has beta-read for me for years and has asked for very little in return, offered to commission me to write it, but because I don’t do commissions, I’m doing it as a thank-you.  
 
 

Yesterday, I had another one of those decision-paralysis moments in which I couldn’t decide which story to work on, so I decided to do another cycle through them all. That usually takes me at least a couple of days, but I’m nearly through the list now. 
The next thing I’ll finish will probably be the penultimate chapter of “The Miss Cutie Patootie Pageant.” The next chapters of “The More, the Merrier” and “Little Rose” are likely to follow. 
Howdy. My weekend was uneventful, but that was fine; I really needed to relax. And yours?

Oh, yes, Dr. Hirano definitely chose those tight yoga pants to be appealing as well as functional. 

I initially filled in the chart with what each character was wearing in “Hot Yoga,” just to give myself a place to start with regard to their wardrobe choices. Then I looked at the Phineas and Ferb Wiki to see what Pedro and Sally wear. (Being typical cartoon characters, they always wear the same outfit.) Roger always wears a suit on the show, but he wouldn't wear that to “yoga class,” so I just made up an appropriate outfit for him.
Clothing is a little bit important in this story because it shows how the situation has evolved since the events of “Hot Yoga.” In that story, everyone was dressed for an exercise class; they didn't know it was going to turn into an orgy. This time, in contrast, everyone knows what they're getting into (except maybe Sally and Pedro), so although they are still dressed for the exercise class that everyone else in their lives thinks they are going to, what they have on underneath may not be merely jockeys and sports bras.

Made good progress on the next chapter of “The More, the Merrier” tonight, this time mainly with regard to Balthazar, Melanie, and Roger. Also spent some time on the Victoria’s Secret site for research purposes. (Is it better or worse when that’s actually the truth?  )
This story is chart-intensive. Not only is every chapter outlined, but I have a big table showing what each character is wearing (top, under top, bottom, under bottom), and each item of clothing is color-coded according to the chapter in which the character takes that item off. (I decided this was necessary after I discovered that in “Hot Yoga,” I mistakenly had Jenny take her pants off twice.)

Glad you enjoyed it.

Re: “Mia: Confessions of a Dickgirl”
Glad you’re liking it.

Re: “Auntie’s Home”
Well, that’s not ALL that’s left...

I guess I should ‘splain my motivation for starting this thread. I’m working on turning my story “Eddie Forever” into a legitimate novel, and at one point, the MCs hear a song by the villain (who moonlights as a hip-hop artist) on the radio, which helps them figure out who the villain is.
Because the hero and villain only interact a few times during the story, I thought it might be useful to actually write and include the lyrics to “Burn It Down” as a way of giving the reader a little more insight into what’s going on in the villain’s head. But I don’t want to do that if it’s just going to end up being a mental speed bump for readers.
I wrote a couple of original songs for my Loud House fic “The Miss Cutie Patootie Pageant,” and a couple of people mentioned liking them, so I feel like maybe it can work. Or maybe there were a hundred other readers who didn’t like the songs at all but didn’t want to say so.

I guess I should ‘splain my motivation for starting this thread. I’m working on turning my story “Eddie Forever” into a legitimate novel, and at one point, the MCs hear a song by the villain (who moonlights as a hip-hop artist) on the radio, which helps them figure out who the villain is.
Because the hero and villain only interact a few times during the story, I thought it might be useful to actually write and include the lyrics to “Burn It Down” as a way of giving the reader a little more insight into what’s going on in the villain’s head. But I don’t want to do that if it’s just going to end up being a mental speed bump for readers.
I wrote a couple of original songs for my Loud House fic “The Miss Cutie Patootie Pageant,” and a couple of people mentioned liking them, so I feel like maybe it can work. Or maybe there were a hundred other readers who didn’t like the songs at all but didn’t want to say so.

Author: JayDee /JD
Title: Twinpregnation
Summary: One night in the long summer after graduating High School, Caitlin catches her twin Conor ‘enjoying’ her picture. She’s not upset.
Feedback: All the feedback in the word. All of it.
Fandom: Original hetero incest
Pairing: Twin Brother / Twin Sister
Warnings: ChallengeFic COMPLETE Contro Inc MF Oneshot Oral Preg PWP Solo WAFF
Solo story or chaptered story: Solo
URL: http://original.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600109073

So I recently read Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind, and I noticed that although the main character is a bard (among other things), there aren’t any song lyrics in the book. The author sometimes describes what the songs are about, but we never see the actual words. 
That got me thinking: Is it a good idea or a bad idea to write song lyrics for a fic? Unless it’s a “sung to the tune” of kind of song,* the reader won’t know how the melody goes. But maybe readers will make up their own; I don’t know.
Thoughts?
*Or, in the case of the Hogwarts school song, a “pick any tune you want” song

So I recently read Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind, and I noticed that although the main character is a bard (among other things), there aren’t any song lyrics in the book. The author sometimes describes what the songs are about, but we never see the actual words. 
That got me thinking: Is it a good idea or a bad idea to write song lyrics for a fic? Unless it’s a “sung to the tune” of kind of song,* the reader won’t know how the melody goes. But maybe readers will make up their own; I don’t know.
Thoughts?
*Or, in the case of the Hogwarts school song, a “pick any tune you want” song