6 Lessons the Grateful Dead can teach us about writing

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the Grateful Dead. I was lucky to catch their Spring ‘09 concert in Chicago back on May 4, and you will usually hear their music playing while I write, read, drive around town and even while surfing the intertubes. I’m not very musically talented, so taking lessons from them from that standpoint is pretty useless. However, writing is a creative endeavor like music. In that regard, there are a few lessons all you creative writers out there can learn from the Dead.

I compiled a list of ways you can take the Dead’s philosophy of being in a creative field and apply to your writing. A few of the tips listed are directly related to writing, and being a better writer. The others are about the ‘business’ of writing.

1. Be original. The Grateful Dead were infamous for never playing the same song the same way. They constantly sought to inject their music with originality. Even if they were doing a cover of another artist’s song, they added their own flavor to it and made it theirs.

The same goes with your writing. Find your voice. Experiment a lot with different styles, genres, etc. Try not to fall into the trap of recycling old plot devices (usually seen in genre fiction). I know all this is easier said than done, but it just takes a lot of practice to really hone your writing craft.

2. Write across different genres. Jerry Garcia loved a lot of different types and styles of music. He incorporated a lot of his mixed tastes into his own guitar playing. A lot of Grateful Dead songs have many different elements in them: Blues, country, rock, etc.

If writing mysteries is you game, great! But expand out and try a little science fiction, thriller, literary and so forth. Read as many different genres as you can. Mix and match like you’re a mad scientist trying to create something truly unique. The best way to do this is to read, read and read some more. Many genres have common elements that readers expect. Learn the basics of each one first, then start doing your own thing.

3. Practice, practice, practice. Jerry Garcia was always practicing his guitar and the Dead were always rehearsing. Yeah, they were good, but in their own eyes, they could always be better.

The only way to become a good writer is to practice, and that means to write constantly. There are no shortcuts here, folks. Even if you have to pump out 100 crappy short stories to finally get one really good one – you’ll be learning something new with each crappy story you write. And you’ll only get better.

4. Give freely and openly. When starting out, the Grateful Dead spent a lot of their time giving free concerts. They played in parks, in the street, in clubs and invited everyone to join the party. While they didn’t get rich doing this (although it really boosted their name brand), it gave them the publicity they needed to move on to bigger and better things.

You can do the same with your writing. For example, if you have written a good short story, then proofread, edit, re-write and repeat until it’s as good as you can get it. Then post it online to share freely with others. Better yet, give it away as a free ebook. You won’t get rich doing this, but readers will be much more likely to take a chance on you if they can read some of your work for free. This might just be the best way to cultivate a loyal following.

5. Let your fans spread the love. The Grateful Dead were known for allowing people to tape their concerts at no charge (they are known as ‘tapers’). Why? Because as Jerry put it, once they play the music, it’s out there and doesn’t belong to the band anymore. The result is a massive archive of live shows. The ‘tapers’ were instrumental in getting the Dead music out to a wider audience and even driving album sales.

If you are a writer that plans to distribute your work in digital format, than it’s easy to take this Grateful Dead philosophy to heart and put it to use. In short: DRM is evil! If you’re going to start publishing ebooks, then make sure they are available in the open-sourced ePub format. If you use an ebook site like Smashwords, then you can make your ebook available in all the major formats.

More importantly, however, is to encourage your fans to share your work with their family and friends. This type of word-of-mouth marketing will be the fastest way to a larger following. And your fans will appreciate not having to jump through hoops to read your latest novel/short story/poem/etc.

6. Learn to collaborate. The Grateful Dead were notorious for their collaboration and giving everyone an equal say. Even the guy who cleaned their offices was able to vote on issues affecting the band. When writing songs the band learned how to bounce ideas off each other and take inspiration from their bandmates. Everyone had something to learn. This aspect of the Dead also extended on stage as well, when the band began to ‘jam’ they followed their gut and often played without a formal song arrangement, or even a set list in most cases.

Even writers can benefit from this spirit of collaboration as well. At its most basic level, collaboration can mean having someone you know and trust proofread your work and help you prepare it for publication. Or, you can even collaborate with others on a large writing project – like putting together a homegrown publication.

Simply having someone to bounce ideas off of can go a long way in helping your writing grow. Just make sure, in the end, when you are rich and famous, to give credit where credit is due and acknowledge those who helped to get you where you are.

Are you a Grateful Dead fan? If so, what other lessons can we learn from their music and work ethic? Leave a comment below with your thoughts!

Related posts

• 5 Lessons I’ve learned about writing dialogue in fiction
• Slowing down in life will help your writing
• Inspired and creative writing: Writing while tired
• Changing Views on Copyright
• Add some music to your writing!

Read More: Writing, Writing Tips