Playlists for Novels

I would find that a bit odd.

I don' understand,a bit wanky?In British slang, a wanker is some one who is stupid or contemptible .That would be a bit harsh for just adding a play list,after all, you don't have to read it.

Nah wanky just means a bit naff here. ( oh, BTW look over the Dyke, you'll see me waving)

I quite like the idea. I mean I have playlists for each WIP, why not share if the readers want to see?

I am actually planning to make write a graphic novel and bundle it with a soundtrack. It's unconventional, but I like making 'beats' on my computer and I love writing, so I would totally love to bring the two together! Anyhow, the music I make fits in very well with my story ideas/characters etc., so why not bundle the two together and produce a book with a soundtrack? I like the sound of that... Watch this space! My mind is going into hyper-drive now...

I like to associate certain songs with my writing (I include the lyrics of a few associated songs during breaks in my stories, BE AWARE, I'm not getting them published!), but it can backfire because a lot of the times, I have no clue what these songs are that people quote or list as inspiration. Without the lyrics, which writers generally can't include without obtaining permission, it's just a list of random titles to me. And sometimes even when people include the lyrics, I'm stumped as to what they have to do with the plot; I guess it's subjective.

I guess I'm just not worldly when it comes to music; I find what I like and stick with it. I stopped listening to the radio long ago because unless it was like Eighties or Nineties music, I just wasn't liking most of it anymore. So when people list all these songs I usually have never heard of them. I thought Daughtry was a country act at first because the name just sounded like a country music name! (*happened to overhear one of Daughtry's songs playing over the speakers at Wal-Mart, looked it up online, was surprised to find it was Daughtry, and then bought and enjoyed the CD*)

So I fully understand the WHY of the playlist, but if one is rather ignorant in terms of what's big in music today, it's a concept that can utterly go over one's head.

I love listening to music while I write, and I certainly have favourite tracks depending on the mood I need for a particular scene. However, I don't think I'd publish a playlist. I'll leave it up to readers to make their own.

I think it's a little odd. I'd have no interest in listening to the music the author wrote to. I have my own music I listen to when I read. And the music I listen to when I write is random. I don't have one playlist of any sort on my computer.

Gimmicks. Let the story and the prose sing their song in silence.

Sage said:

But there's a difference between a playlist of music that the author listened to while writing and a playlist created with songs that fit the novel. The latter is a soundtrack.

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Like I have time to spend making a "soundtrack" to my novel. Writing, editing, polishing, and submitting take up more than enough of my time.

*Listening to "Hau Ruck"(Spezial K Remix) and Der Mussolini by KMFDM, "Heirate Mich" by Rammstein and "Fu's Forbidden Little Nicky Remix of Stupify" and Perfect Insanity(Indestructible Remake) by Disturbed*

And here I was thinking a lot of people would have a problem with this aspect... Because I do it too. On my itunes library I have playlists titled after my stories Dreamers Hearts, Princess Of The Damned, Nether Tales, Doomsday Dance, and Disturbed Leader. In each playlist I have songs that would fit the story's mood in many scenarios. With Dreamers Hearts I have a mixture of Metal/Christian Metal Jazz, and R&B and some Techno and rap depending on the lyrics...

With Princess Of The Damned it's mostly Metal/Christian Metal with some rap...

As for Disturbed Leader and Doomsday Dance have a mixture of all the genres mentioned above because both stories are Apocalyptic crossovers.

And Nether Tales is strictly Metal of any kind from Death Metal to Christian Metal and Metalcore as well as other forms of rock due to its Gothic/Emo nature...(Sorry...)

But my reason for doing this is virtually the same as the majority of you here, but I think the part of it is due to Insanity because ever since I was little whenever I would listen to music I'd have these animated scenarios appear in my mind like a cartoon in my head being shown to my mind's eyes. Now when I was a kid it was a mixture of all my favorite cartoons and T.v. shows, but as I got older and began developing my own material it's like scenarios concerning my stories come to mind whenever I listen to music now.

I usually have a playlist of songs that fit the current piece I'm working on, which I listen to while I write. Helps me get in the mood for the piece.

I probably wouldn't post it on my website as fitting that story, though.

If I had a website, I'd probably have a "Currently listening to..." playlist, but I wouldn't link it to any of my stories. Maybe if someone asked me to.

KTC said:

I certainly have a playlist while writing...but who cares besides me?

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I do. And I care when de Lint notes what he's been listening to in the writing of each book.

But then, I'm a special case (that's what my mama always told me, though I think she spelled it "speshul" in my case).

I took the whole thing one step further and based Before I Wake's launch appearance at Toronto's This is Not a Reading Series around it: a half-hour Powerpoint-with-music-tracks presentation called "Torch Songs and Typing" that explored the role of music in my life, my work and that novel in particular. The presentation went over really well (the place was packed to the rafters, and I got nothing but praise for it for weeks afterward), and I wrote up a version of the playlist for Largehearted Boy's Book Notes.

But then, I'm a music geek as much (if not more) as I am a book geek. Mea culpa.

I don't even understand the whole playlist thing. I don't listen to music while I write and I NEVER feel like a song connects with any part of my writing. To me, a song tells a story, and it is a story specific to that song. It is not my story; I have my own "songs" to sing. I'm concentrating on the rhythms and melody in my own writing, so why would I want someone else's emotion to invade that?

Stephenf, "wanky" has a bit of a softer meaning here, more like pretentious (but not even that strong).

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Does in Britain too. Just means a bit pants.

'I wrote a thousand words today and 900 were wanky'

KC,Thanks for word wanky.Not too sure if pretentious is a softer word than stupid?Anyway I'm a amateur musician with music in my ears almost all the time,except when reading.I don't connect sound with reading.Personally I prefer writers not to giveaway too much information about their personal tastes,the more mysterious the better.