there are lots of different ways to write a routine! this is by no means an exhaustive process nor should it invalidate yours, but i'd like to put my philosophy down on paper since i think it's really versatile for all different scenarios you might want to write for.
    
    know your space:
      this step can be as long or as short as you want. you get to define your space and all its parameters- some common ones i think about are as follows!
    1) venue- generally stage or floor. also includes thinking about set up time, restrictions on equipment etc
    
    2) audience- my main ones are school, business, stage show, or instructive. gives you a good idea about if you can include freestyles, what kind of themes you might pick, run time, all that good stuff!
    
    3) style- biggest divide btwn hoksan & futsan. past that, you can pick more specific styles (for example hokkien! or zhaojia!) or even blend them! i also kind of pick my lions as i like to match the head to the style (although i tend to make exceptions for weight and or color if there's a color that's too good to pass up for a certain character)
    
    
    have an idea:
      quite a nebulous and potentially tricky task. ideas can be as straightforward or convaluded as you like! the bottom line is: know how well you can tell a story in lion. if you're portraying the fall of 
    a kingdom with deceit and convoys, then you better be pretty damn expressive in lion. i try to stick to very basic emotions (which i'll talk about later) and give enough of a framework to guide me through a routine, but keep it pretty open.
    
      personally, i like to write very artistic routines! some include: a blessing that focuses on physically cleaning the bad qi out of an area which also addresses the heavens, the earth, and mankind; 
    a sword routine where an actor with a jian fights off nian (played by a lion) and saves a village; a collection of blessings where the lion explores the seasons and uses their powers to bless the audience.
    if you don't know what to write, a good place to start is always tradition! you can look up cheng formats and adapt those (like a snake routine or biting the seven stars), or make a simple blessing 
    with a theme! other areas that are good to write in are stunt heavy routines, like benches or jongs, but those will take more effort to create a really stand out routine (in my opinion!) since 
    a lot of these can turn out very similar ^_^
    
    
    create the skeleton:
      after you've gotten your idea, you can start making a skeleton! i like to use a sort of simple 3 act structure for most of my routines: exposition, conflict/ build-up, and resolution. you can play with the
    lengths of these segments as much as you like! you can also add story beats into each section, but having the grouping will make it easier to keep track of pacing and balance within your routine.
    
    
    actually writing the thing:
      i want to put a disclaimer that... i am not good at writing music for lion dance (yet) LUL. i'm best at choreo & movement and i tend to work with a guy who's much better at drumming. that being said, 
    i always like to start with the movement, even when i'm writing the music! doing movements for lion dance isn't that different than writing regular choreography or acting (if you've done either). here are
    some various tips and tricks that i stick to.
    
    1) know your intentions. movements will always be for a reason! if it's a cheng, what is the lion thinking at that moment? what tactic are they trying? if it's a story, how are they interacting and 
    responding to the characters? the only times you need to put certain movements in are for bows, but even those can be tweaked to be more emotive or show personality.
    
    2) balance is king. not the physical kind, the compositional kind! the balance and "pictures" (poses/ images you create with your lions) in lion dance are a bit more subtle since it's mostly focused on 
    traditional, but you'll be able to feel a balanced routine versus an unbalanced one. vary the lengths of your moves and their speeds so that it doesn't become monotonous; be aware of the spacing of your
    lions and make intentional choices about where they'll be, when, and why they're there; sprinkle in stunts in logical ways (and bonus points if you can seamlessly encorporate the momentum needed for them!)
    
    3) momentum is a secret thorn in your side. this is closely related to balance, but you want to make sure the flow of your routine isn't letting the energy fall out the bottom. music can really make or break the energy flow as well! it's best to ease in and out of quietness/stillness (for both music and the lion) instead of creating harsh breaks- unless you're using them for emphasis! good writing is something
    you have to feel, so if you're doing a move or set of moves and it seems clunky, it might be time to tweak it. 
    
    using all these principles, you just gotta jump into it! get comfortable not knowing what it's going to look like, and play around with different ideas. generally in one writing session of mine, this is what
    i get through: alone- 30 min, 1 "move", generally a string of 4-6 actions, partner- 2 hrs, 2-3 "chunks", each chunk is 3-4 moves. unfortunately it takes time to write stuff... lol
    
    
    tweaking moves/ writing individual moves:
      you're going to already know some moves from your current lion dance knowledge, but stringing those together isn't going to get you very far (probably). so you're going to have to massage them or even write 
    wholly new moves! here are some things to think about when tweaking moves: speed (both overall and of each action), transitions (how the lion gets from pose to pose), flair (what the lion fills the space with), 
    space (placement of the move in space- height & length etc.), relationships (is the lion coordinating with other lions?).
    when writing new moves, i always let improv take over. as an extension of wushu, lion dance tends to favor natural, organic movements, and those will come out in the wash if you're improvising! focus on 
    your foundational stances as the base and let the intention of the move guide you to a natural movement. see how it looks (in recording or with a partner), and if you don't like it, try a different take.
    you can use all the bits from above to tweak your inital move and refine it! composition also matters here, if it looks off, it might be because the move is unbalanced in some way.
    
    then after all that... just write the music ez clap (um. just kidding. i have to learn how to do this better im ngl i just know like 5 diff 3 stars and a couple 5 stars and some 7 stars and throw them 
    together LUL but i write futsan mainly sooooo * grins *)