listening to music?

Layla Nahar said:

Interesting. I'm a (bit of) a musician, too. Music is too distracting when I write, but I can really do both when I'm drafting and doing other design work with my hands (forex, cutting patterns out with scissors) I find that I can really get into both at once, but - writing, forget it. Its one or the other.

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Function brain scans have shown that when a professional orchestra musician listens to music, it involves the language center of the brain. For the control group, this was not the case.

I suppose in this case you are getting interference, just as I would if I played Carpenters instead of Beethoven.

Try nature sounds instead? Long complex recording, not a "generator".

BTW, what is "forex" if not currency speculation in the stock market?

I write in cafés, so I don't get to choose if, or which, music gets played. I suppose I get to choose the café.
I find it does seep through, even if I'm inclined to block it out. But it can led to interesting and potentially useful counterpoints. Olde Scottish ballads just might add that extra dimension to an urban drug gang shoot-out.
Having said that, I have left a café more than once because it just wasn't working out.

dot-dot-dash said:

I write in cafés, so I don't get to choose if, or which, music gets played. I suppose I get to choose the café.
I find it does seep through, even if I'm inclined to block it out. But it can led to interesting and potentially useful counterpoints. Olde Scottish ballads just might add that extra dimension to an urban drug gang shoot-out.
Having said that, I have left a café more than once because it just wasn't working out.

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:lol: I've moved tables because the people sitting next to me were talking too loud. Haven't really had that problem with the music though. Then again, the coffee shop I go to has a limited number of plugs so I can blame my move on that if I need to.

Sometimes I'll look for ambient sounds for the setting I'm currently writing in. For example, if I'm writing a scene in a night club I might look for ambient club noises or restaurant noises. Or if I'm writing a scene set on a city corner I would look for some ambient city noises. Obviously, this would become quite distracting if your scenes are short. Mind tend to be a bit longer, but I don't always use this method.

I can't function without music, hehe. I even work with the music on I think it helps me concentrate, while also muffling down outside noise. What I listen to depends on my mood, but when I'm writing it's usually techno (the other option being symphonic metal)

I cannot concentrate in silence. When I try to write in absolute silence I get horrible anxiety. I used to make extensive playlists for when I was writing or listen to the same three albums but I got out of that habit recently. Now, I actually have a cooking show playing in the background. I find it's easy to think of as just background noise. I might try classical music during nano to see if it makes any difference.

Definitely. Electronic and drums and bass. Which I never really listen to in any other context ang generally don’t like due to being too repetitive.

I also enjoy refreshing my creativity by playing music for my breaks. I do some of my best thinking while playing music or driving or walking.

I’ve recently discovered that if I’m not writing in a cafe or bar, my preferred location, that having some moving visual in my peripheral vision helps keep me focused. Weird eh?

My Nano book is set in Paris, so I'm currently listening to a lot of French music

I try listening to music that is appropriate to the piece I'm working on. If I'm writing about romance: I listen to romantic music. I found this helps beat the writer's block if it does rear its ugly head.

I have playlists of instrumental music that I listen to.

For me, it acts more as a "veil." It keeps me from losing concentration. By having the music in the background of my mind, it kind of occupies thought, and makes it less likely for me to stop writing and think of something else.

Music is one of the main ways if not the main way that I manage to get past my own writer's block. The only problem for me is that it only really works for creative writer's block not any form of non-fiction writing. For example, I haven't written a thing on my blog in a while and I can't think of anything to write right now.

I need silence when I'm writing, because I mentally merge into the story, becoming the characters. Music is a huge distraction. However, I find that music gives me ideas for scenes. I started my first novel based on images that popped into my head listening to a particular song, and I have certain pieces that I come across that would be perfect for a scene I haven't written yet.

I like to layer my music with the train soundscape from mynoise.net. I keep them at around the same level so neither drowns out the other. The steady clacking of the rails by itself is too boring, and I'm more likely to be distracted by other things. However, the music by itself will get me caught up in the lyrics or rhythms and I'll start dancing and singing along.

My music is always era appropriate, and I've even broken down my main playlist into mood specific songs so I don't have a peppy Charleston playing when I have to write a tense or tragic scene.

There's some music I can listen to while writing and then there's music I can't listen to while I'm writing. A lot of times I'll play soundtracks from movies like Braveheart or Titanic. The Scottish band Runrig is really nice to have in the background, but anything 'pop' is too distracting. Unless it's in a foreign language and I have no idea what the lyrics are, then it's okay.


Yes, I sometimes listen to K-Pop/J-Pop.

I try to listen to music to help kickstart my brain but it always backfires on me spectacularly. I can only listen to instrumental music and instead of kickstarting my mind to work on my current idea that's been burning a damn hole in my head for what feels like an eternity now in various iterations, what genre of music it is just makes me want to write something totally different that's more like what the music comes from.

Because my brain doesn't work in any kind of normal, logical way and seems to hate me.