Music to write by

majilique · Apr 29, 2007

What music, if any, do you prefer to have playing in the background when you write?

Classical, rock, pop, meditation, soft, new world. Get the picture?

I personal have a soundtrack of rock/pop that fit the story I'm working on or Karl Jenkin's project Adeamus and all the CD's from that collection.

db

Writer2011 · Apr 29, 2007

Mostly 80's or classic rock

Devil Ledbetter · Apr 29, 2007

Right now, Pearl Jam bootlegs from the Yield tour in 1998.

LitChick · Apr 29, 2007

Most of my writer friends think I'm weird, but I can't listen to music. I love music and it distracts me. I listen to it rather than to my characters and the rhythm of my writing, etc. I need to write in silence. Unless there's music in the scene I'm writing -- then I listen in order to write about it more realistically.

Shady Lane · Apr 29, 2007

I prefer to write in front of the TV, but in the absence of that I like Death Cab.

Other stuff works too, but Death Cab is really the best.

Scrawler · Apr 29, 2007

I can't listen to anything. I need quiet. I can't listen and think at the same time.

Countess Olenska · Apr 29, 2007

I can listen to music, but there can't be any vocals/lyrics. So I listen to classical, if anything. Most of the time I write in silence.

Southern_girl29 · Apr 29, 2007

The work in progress I just finished was written to the television. I had it on in the background just for the noise. I work better when I have some noise going on. My first novel was written while I was listening to the Eagles. It was the perfect soundtrack for that novel anyway.

Joe270 · Apr 29, 2007

My stories tend to develop their own soundtracks, songs which fit specific scenes. I'll listen to the same ones, over and over, as I work those passages.

Mr. Funktastic · Apr 29, 2007

I listen to classic rock and metal.

DamaNegra · Apr 29, 2007

Melodic metal. Definitely.

britlitfantw · Apr 30, 2007

Movie soundtracks (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Van Helsing).

U2. Nickelback. Evanescence. Within Temptation.

I find that I can portray an emotion more realistically if I'm listening to a song that echoes that emotion. The aforementioned movie soundtracks are awesome for sweeping fantasy moments or a tragic death; Nickelback and Evanescence are good for angst; U2 is just plain awesome.

I'm sure it will change when my WIP changes, though, seeing as the next one on my list is a contemporary drama rather than pseudo-medieval fantasy.

Sean D. Schaffer · Apr 30, 2007

I like to listen to movie soundtracks too, such as Star Wars, DragonHeart, Ben-Hur, even Yellow Submarine.

As for other music, I find just about whatever music I'm in the mood for works great while I'm writing.

However, I think a good amount of my favorite music includes 70's and 80's metal (Boston, Van Halen) and lots of 60's and 70's rock (The Beatles, Elvis Presley, The Mamas and the Papas, and Chicago -- I have a couple Chicago albums from the 80's, but most are from the 70's and one is from the 60's: The Chicago Transit Authority on CD).

Really for me, the music I listen to just depends on how I feel at the time. I might listen to the usual or I might pick out some of my country stuff (Roger Miller, Glen Campbell) if I'm feeling like it. But really, everything depends on mood with me.

Elektra · Apr 30, 2007

I usually like to watch a movie I know really, really well. That way I have something I like in the background--oddly enough, I'm more distracted by things I hate than things I like--but I'm not interested in it enough to get distracted. Besides that, a Jimmy Buffet CD.

Jamesaritchie · Apr 30, 2007

Music

Most of the time, I listen to old time radio dramas when writing. When I do listen to music, it's Celtic or classical.

seun · Apr 30, 2007

I listen to both kinds. Country AND Western.

Calla Lily · Apr 30, 2007

Anything without words or in a language I don't speak.

poetinahat · Apr 30, 2007

The M's: Mingus, Miles, Monk.

giaaddison · Apr 30, 2007

I haven't listened to music while writing in ages. I prefer audiobooks. The voices distract me and I don't end up singing along.

Enzo · Apr 30, 2007

At home, I want to get on with my writing, so I'd rather not have music in the background.
Outside, at coffee places, there's either Brazilian songs or not-too high energy electronic dance music, downtempo, lounge etc, and I really like that. It helps me maintain enthusiasm and rhythm in my writing. Or so I like to believe.

Harper K · Apr 30, 2007

I have a soundtrack for the novel I've been working on --it includes characters' theme songs, songs that fit the mood of the novel, songs that help me better envision pivotal scenes, and, for those optimistic days, the songs I could envision being played over the opening and closing credits if my novel were ever turned into a movie. Anyway, I've set all of this up as a playlist in my iTunes. It's mostly indie rock, with a sprinkling of classic rock. I suppose I listen to music about 50% of the time that I spend writing.

Otherwise, I write in silence. Or, occasionally, I'll put on the DVD of a particular movie musical I've seen about 50 times. I know every line, so it's jus background noise.

Novelust · Apr 30, 2007

Oddly, Van Halen usually gets me through the tough scenes.

maddythemad · Apr 30, 2007

Although "unnatural quiet" is my background noise of choice ("bustling café" will do in a pinch, providing I have a hot cup of coffee and a good scone to keep me happy), I find I do a lot of my writing to JoJo. Not my choice, I assure you, but the result of having a tween younger sister and a downstairs stereo with too powerful speakers.

... Boy the way you do me, Boy the way you do me, Why you gotta be so good when you give it to me?...

maddythemad · Apr 30, 2007

Come to think of it, that's probably why some of my scenes are so f*cked up.

Anya Smith · Apr 30, 2007

Mostly classical, but anything is OK as longest there are no lyrics in them. I hate rap, though, so I never listen to that.

Music to write by

majilique

Writer2011

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,

LitChick

Shady Lane

my name is hannah

Scrawler

Bored fanatic

Countess Olenska

Southern_girl29

Joe270

Mr. Funktastic

The name says it all.

DamaNegra

Mexican on the loose!

britlitfantw

Sean D. Schaffer

Elektra

Don't Call Me Sweetheart

Jamesaritchie

seun

Horror Man

Calla Lily

On hiatus

poetinahat

Numbers are beautiful

giaaddison

Enzo

Harper K

here's to the girl on the go

Novelust

*Does not molest books.

maddythemad

maddythemad

Anya Smith

House Dragon