Mickey Fingers Writing Assignments

The Gala Violet Writing Assignments (2020 Artist Way Era)

Intro By Tea

These weren’t written with an album in mind. They began as private sparks—prompts Mickey gave me to help me write again when I thought my voice was gone for good.

Mickey quickly became my Relentless Song Spotter (or, depending on the day, Lyric Detective). He had read my very first lyric diary and wasn’t about to let me drift off—always nudging: “That’s a song. No—that’s a song. You need to develop this one more.” He kept me accountable, even when I just wanted to scribble and hide.

Most of those stories bloomed into songs that became Gifts from the Sirens. A few wandered into other projects. And one—the Dark Fairytale I had quietly drafted—changed everything.

When Mickey read it, he suddenly stopped and exclaimed: “This is a concept album! We are totally doing this.” That was the turning point. What started as raw writing prompts turned into sound experiments, and then into myth, theatre, and story.

A teaser track for the Dark Fairytale already lives on Gifts from the Sirens—a breadcrumb trail pointing toward what’s next.

At the time, none of this was polished or planned. These assignments were stories, diary entries, nonsense, letters I couldn’t send, dreams that spilled out sideways. But they became the bones of Gala Violet—the first proof that what we were making wasn’t just music, but a whole world.

From Prompts to Songs: 

Gifts from the Sirens

Most of the original assignments found their way into our first release, Gifts from the Sirens. Below you’ll find the songs as they appeared on the album — and the writing prompt that birthed each one.

It wasn’t a straight line (sometimes a single piece of writing fed two songs, or two prompts tangled into one track), but you can see the fingerprints of the process everywhere.

Mickey gave the sparks. I wrote the stories. Together, we shaped them into the strange little world that became our debut... and then some.

(At one point, I was honestly afraid to talk in group — because I knew the second I opened my mouth, Mickey would say, “That’s a prompt!” 😂)

Editor’s Note from Mickey: Indeed. Whenever she mentioned something, I highlighted the areas where I believed she could expand further.

-Tea

Mickey's Corner

{Notes From Mikey Fingers}

The Gala Violet Writing Assignments (2020 Artist Way Era)

These were never meant as “lyrics first.” They were meant to rebuild a voice, to crack the silence open, and to catch the raw material of the soul.

Each prompt was designed to bypass perfectionism and tap into pure, vulnerable truth.

The Album & Writing Prompts

“Gifts From The Sirens began the way all the best things do — with small sparks. I’d throw out writing prompts, and Tea would spin them into something vivid, alive. Those fragments — scraps of dialogue, half-dreamed scenes — became the bones of lyrics, then the breath of songs. This album isn’t just music; it’s the diary of a world we built piece by piece, proof of what happens when imagination is given permission to wander and never look back.”

1. Pretend Again

Write about your first love or a relationship that marked the beginning of your story.

• Not just who they were — but how they made you feel, what you noticed, the way the world looked in that season.

• Was it innocent? Was it bittersweet? Was it forbidden?

• Write down what still echoes today from that first connection.

2. Gifts from the Sirens

Write about a dream.

• Literal or figurative. Nightmares, visions, hopes.

• What did it feel like, smell like, taste like?

• Did it pull you toward danger, or rescue?

3. Intermission (Flip Me Over) / Waffles & Tea / Closing Cabaret

Pure nonsense, absurdity, or play.

• Free yourself from seriousness. Write a silly story, a childhood memory, or something surreal.

• What makes you laugh, even if no one else understands?

• The nonsense pieces balance the heaviness — they keep the record human.

4. Castle in the Clouds

Write about a dream and relationship, but one that comforts rather than destroys.

• Something that feels heart-warming, magical, safe.

• The kind of love or connection you want to last forever.

5. Bigfoot and Spam

Write about an adventure no one knows about.

• Real or invented.

• The weirder and more ridiculous, the better.

• Think road trip gone wrong, a childhood caper, or a surreal “what if.”

6. Picnic for the Wicked

Tell a story in song form.

• Imagine characters, a strange setting, an odd encounter.

• Push the theatrical side: exaggeration, humor, gothic shadows, or absurd rituals.

7. Let’s Be Smug

A mocking or satirical song.

• Write to deflate the ego of someone (or something) that takes itself too seriously.

• Play with irony, smugness, exaggeration.

• This is your “comic relief.”

8. In Pieces

Write your most devastating story.

• The one that broke you.

• Be unflinching — describe the sensations, the loss, the silence.

• Don’t worry about being poetic. Write the shards.

9. I’m Not Your Dumping Ground

A letter to the person who drains you, always taking, never giving.

• List their patterns. Name the weight they put on you.

• Let yourself be angry. Let yourself say what you could never say aloud.

10. Your First Mistake

A letter to the ex who destroyed your work.

• Not just what they did, but what it stole from you.

• The hours, the trust, the pages of yourself that burned.

• Reclaim it by writing it all down.

11. Don’t Give It a Name

A letter to the one who says you’re “too sensitive.”

• What they call a weakness is your strength.

• Write your defense, your declaration, your pride.

• This is about refusing to shrink yourself.

12. Bunny in the Canoe

Another dream piece.

• Strange, whimsical, or even haunting.

• Dreams where the subconscious leaks out in odd images.

13. Babbling Buffoon

A letter to someone you wish you could finally speak to.

• Write as though you’re sitting across from them.

• Don’t censor — say it all.

Additional Prompts Mickey Wove In

Some of these didn’t end up pinned to a single song, but they were part of the toolkit:

• Write a letter to the person under your skin right now.

• Write about your fantasies (light or dark).

• Write about your greatest fear.

• Write about the moment you realized you lost your voice.

• Write a letter to the girl you were before everything changed.

-Mickey

✨ About Mickey Fingers

Mickey Fingers is the co-creator of Velvet Umbrella Records and Gala Violet.

A multi-instrumentalist and engineer-producer, he moves between drums, guitar, bass, piano, and synth with ridiculous ease, building worlds inside Ableton Live.

Equal parts mystery and mischief, he’s a steady hand in the chaos and a spark in the shadows.

You’ll find him behind the curtain, buried in reel-to-reels and synth smoke.