Q: how do you go about writing a second verse when the melody is already pretty clearly defined by the first verse? i'm totally fine with writing the melody and lyrics at the same time, and i'm even decent at writing lyrics for a melody that has no lyrics attached yet at all, but writing lyrics for a pre-existing melody WHILE keeping it cohesive with already existing lyrics is shockingly difficult
A: i have good news and bad news here. the bad news is, what you are trying to do, you cannot do. you are trying to 'write the song'. and you simply can't do that. this is extraordinarily bad news, unless you realize that the song actually wants to write itself. In the cases where you already have a first verse, and if the song wants to use that melody again, it actually comes extremely easy when the time is right. Actually, when it comes, it's likely that you may get a flood of 100 verses that all seem super good. but it never happens when you are in that frustrated mood of "i can't get this". it's a bizarre phenomenon, but just think of it this way: the song is going to come to you as soon as it feels it will be appreciated. and sometimes, when you're frustrated, you'd probably really appreciate some surprises, i bet