What music do you use when writing?

While writing RIVER BOTTOM BLUES, I listened to...blues. Have to keep it turned down low, or I'm tempted to whip out my harmonica and play along.

It really depends on what I'm writing. I don't always listen to music when I'm actually writing (sometimes the TV's on in the background instead), but I do like to listen to certain things when I'm brainstorming. Different books have different soundtracks.

The series of steampunk novellas I'm writing and editing now are mostly White Stripes/Raconteurs/anything Jack White. Also, a bit of Johnny Cash.

A screenplay I just finished had a playlist consisting of Pete Yorn, Lady Antebellum, Johnny Cash, Michael Buble, Adam Lambert and Ryan Adams.

And another screenplay I finished a few weeks ago has a playlist that includes Nirvana, The Black Keys, Tracy Chapman, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and David Gray.

And most of my novels have theme songs, too.

But like I said, I don't always listen to these when I'm actually writing. More often than not, I just have Pandora on with whatever I happened to be listening to the last time.

I listen to Disturbed, Godsmack, Avenged Sevenfold, Saliva, anything that puts me in the mood to kick ass. Hmm...so where do the 80s brat pack soundtracks fit in? My collection is not large, and I welcome any suggestions. As far as using it, I hear the music when I write, but I don't listen to it. It helps me stay focused somehow. Maybe it's kind of like needing a fan on to go to sleep.

It depends on my current playlist.

All Time Low, Atreyu, Avenged Sevenfold, We the Kings, Escape the Fate, Def Leppard, KISS, Paramore, Emery... I need loud noise while I'm writing or I start to think about things that are entirely unrelated... My playlist goes from punk-pop to 80's to screamo, so naturally my room is fairly loud most of the time... lol

~Amber~

Each of my major projects gets its own playlist - I have to have music in order to focus. It usually has to have a beat, and I actually prefer songs with lyrics because my mind doesn't get sidetracked trying to come up with lyrics. My music tastes are pretty eclectic, running the gamut from celtic folk to Lady Gaga to OC Remixes to classic rock.

I've found sometimes certain songs or pieces of lyrics will make pieces of a story click together, or give me an image that becomes a starting point for a scene. I find Sting is particularly good for brainstorming.

Don't.

I listen to music when I work out and that's it. Music while writing has never worked for me.

When I'm actually writing...absolute silence.

When I get stuck, I get in the car or in the shower and put on whatever music fits with my story. Right now, I'm listening to Darius Rucker's new CD. I've found inspiration in almost every song on it for the mood of the story I'm working on.

Yeah, I have to go with Lexie on this one, I listen to Asian music as well. Tse Ting Fung, Jay Chou, Vaness Wu, Daniel Wu etc. When I'm doing summery themes, there's nothing better than Theresa Teng.
The Narnia soundtrack is awesome as a background blur, as well as the soundtrack from The Promise and Curse of the Golden Flower (both Asian movies)

With me it all depends on the story... or the emotion needed for the scene I'm currently working on. Sometimes it's silence, then it could be anything from English folk music to goth metal. Last story I wrote I listened to a lot of Within Temptation.

It really depends on what I'm working on and my mood.

A couple of novels had "theme" music - one I listened to Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Beethoven's Last Night over and over again, one it was anything Celtic.

Usually I listen to instrumental music - new age or classical. If I'm working on edits then I'm usually listening to classic rock.

Of course sometimes, especially when I'm working on a first draft, I find any noise too distracting.

None.

Be quiet, and get out of my space.

Music while I'm writing is too distracting, but it's almost necessary when I brainstorm. Then it's some weird mix of orchestral metal, new-age, and progressive rock. Stuff I find energetic and inspiring in different ways.

I'm another one of those who just can't listen to music while I write -- it's too distracting. From time to time I'll turn on the iTunes shuffle (or DJ or whatever they call it now), but I keep the volume so low it's almost impossible to make out exactly what's playing. Which is kinda stupid, I suppose.

Sometimes I need quiet. When that's not the case, I like '90s alt-rock and alternative (Nirvana, The Cranberries, Soundgarden, so forth and so on).

bearilou said:

I can't listen to any music with lyrics I can understand. I end up losing concentration and singing along. Most of my stuff is orchestral in nature. Movie soundtracks. A lot of soundtracks.

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This is how I work as well. I have hundreds of soundtracks, from all sorts of genres. In many cases I've put playlists together on my iPod for various genres, so I have a fantasy playlist, a sci-fi playlist, a modern thriller playlist, etc. All orchestral soundtrack music, no lyrics.

I write with music because I find the silence distracting. If I have music, it usually fades into white noise after a while and I stop hearing it. I'll listen to pretty much anything. The music doesn't set the mood for me. Unless I'm having trouble. If I get stuck, I go into my library and pick the song that fits what I'm writing perfectly. That almost always solves my problem.

I'll listen to anything while writing except musical music. Things like RENT, Chicago, songs from movies I really liked. It's just like when I try to have the TV in the background while writing, it just stops me dead in my tracks. I think it's a little too close to talking. I can't have people talking around me while I work.

I can add jazz to the list. Last night I was listening to Django Reinhardt.

Music distracts me and causes me to daydream.

I find music can make me write better at times, and it never distracts me. Generally, I put my entire playlist on shuffle, which is a ridiculous amount, but primarily:

Metal (black, folk, death, thrash, power, trad, and almost no prog)
Classical (particularly opera, and particularly French and German opera. Not much baroque)
Neofolk (less industrial, primarily)
Folk (mostly Chinese and Japanese)
Shoegaze
Ambient

Shady Lane said:

I make a playlist for each book. It's so dorky.

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Ditto! Although my playlist for my current MS is a bit strange. It starts with chevelle, perfect circle, killswitch engage, add a splash of Foreigner, and motherlove bone, then end with some John Frusciante. Each song represents a particular point in the book, and I crack up when I get to "I want to know what love is", because it's super corny...

I listen to television and movie when I write because it gives me a chance to hear how dialogue works and doesn't work in those situations, and I observe how the camera picks up certain things in scenes.As for music, I keep my radio on a medium volume when I drive (I drive a lot for work and visit family often). I run dialog aloud in the car and scenarios and come up with great ideas, but when I'm stuck I turn up the radio and imagine the song playing is like a montage mash up up scenes for a movie trailer. sometimes my brain surprises me with scenes and situations and dialog I've never thought of before.

I make playlists for each WIP too. Current one is mostly Cechomor, Kabat and some soundtrack albums I like. My 'diversionary' project I'm working on to get some distance before the next edits on the WIP is kind of a mix of goth rock and classical music. But then it's a weird story.

Pandora's Mozart station, although with my preferences it's become "Baroque with occassional Mozart and Philip Glass".