Does music inspire you?

Rarri · Mar 22, 2009

No doubt this has been asked before but i'm going to ask anyway!

There's a particular song i have on repeat just now that's doing very good things for the writerly part of my soul and i'm just about to go into Word and ignore my poor husband for a couple of hours because i feel, for want of a better word, inspired.

So, i was just wondering if music inspires anyone else? If so, is there particular music that inspires you?

Fade · Mar 22, 2009

Music inspires me, too. It can be anything: my favorite bands or just songs my dad plays that I haven't heard before. One piece that always inspires me is Fanfare for the Common Man, and I have no idea why.

tehuti88 · Mar 22, 2009

I love to envision some of my story scenes taking place to particularly dramatic music.

For that reason I love...well, really dramatic music. Soundtracky stuff like ES Posthumus, Globus/Immediate Music, Hans Zimmer, Adiemus/Karl Jenkins, Era, and Lesiem; also music like some newer Nightwish and Within Temptation. Stuff with big orchestras and choirs! I don't tend to get story ideas from it, I just like to daydream to it.

MetalDog · Mar 22, 2009

When I was a kid and the house was in uproar and I wanted to hide away, I used to lie on my bed in the dark with a pair of headphones on and listen to instrumental music. I'd make up 'films' to go along with the records and after a while of inventing for a particular record, I could just fire it up and 'watch' the movie play out in my mind's eye.

I don't know whether that was good practice or not, but now I find I get incredibly vivid mental pictures with some tracks, so music and writing have become almost inseperable when I'm writing scenes with little or no dialogue. I have had whole story ideas leap into life in my head after a few bars of a new track - not often enough to rely on it, but often enough to be very pleasing.

bsolah · Mar 22, 2009

I love music.

I can sometimes envision like soundtracks for my stories, with certain songs or bands setting certain moods that fit certain scenes.

It's also good to play music that fits a mood and let it direct your imagination which helps with writing.

Feathers · Mar 22, 2009

Oh yeah. All the time. I used to ride around a lot listening to music, come home, scramble to my laptop, and type away for a few hours. Movies with lots of passionate music inspire the heck out of me.

The frustrating thing for me is I can't just say, okay I'm going to listen to music and get inspired. If I jump into my novels soundtrack, I find myself getting bored and frustrated. I have to ease into it. It helps if I'm doing something else while I listen - like take a short walk, clean up a small mess, etc. That really works for me.

-Feathers

ishtar'sgate · Mar 22, 2009

Rarri said:
So, i was just wondering if music inspires anyone else? If so, is there particular music that inspires you?

Music doesn't inspire me to write but certain pieces help me image specific scenes and I play them when I write those scenes.

Ugawa · Mar 22, 2009

I always listen to music while writing, and always change the type of music it is depending on what type of scene I'm at.

X

Marie · Mar 22, 2009

Music helps me think a lot, especially dark music.

Noah Body · Mar 22, 2009

Yep. I found film scores work very well, and Jerry Goldsmith's body of work seems the best fit, especially since you can find pretty much anything for any genre.

Fulk · Mar 22, 2009

Certain music causes me to have vivid images in my head, and I'm often tickled pink by it simply because I seldom picture things so vividly, unless I'm in a fantastic writing mood. Many of these images come without any effort. There is a caveat or two, though. For one, I might be inspired by any song, but I usually only get visual scenes in my head if the song is already a narrative. Second, music with any sort of words often provokes me into singing loudly along with it, which hinders my ability to write.

Sandyz · Mar 22, 2009

Ohhh…the love of music. Music speaks to my soul, writing tugs at the essence of my being, dance is in harmony with life…placed all together my creative side shines through.

I hear music in pictures, words within melodies, and dance feels as if a childlike spirit longs to be free.

“Does music inspire me?”

Yes…everyday of my life, rather it comes from the seasons, the song birds, the rains, or the whisper through trees as the wind blows.

Country songs I write to, Rock and roll I bounce back in time, and classic is time for quite mediation and reflections of years gone by.

My love of music has flowed with me through my passage through life; we are lovers…music and I.

Sandyz

semilargeintestine · Mar 22, 2009

I have music going pretty much every moment possible. There are definitely certain songs that inspire my writing.

emc07 · Mar 22, 2009

Absolutely it inspires me. I wouldn't be the same person without it. It's helped me in my writing, it's helped define moments in my life. I like the slower ballads and alt tunes; Death Cab for Cutie and Coldplay. Gotta have the Foo Fighters on any playlist.

I also put a song on repeat, if it reflects the mood I'm creating in my story. I do that when I read too.

semilargeintestine · Mar 22, 2009

Three. Great. Bands. Love Coldplay.

dreamsofnever · Mar 22, 2009

EMC, I like the slower bands too! And love the bands you listed.

And to answer Rarri's question, music absolutely inspires me.

I actually have playlists for each story I'm writing, and certain songs get assigned to either a character, or a specific scene, or what have you.

Usually if I'm stuck, I just have to cue up a certain song and it reminds me of the emotion I'm going for in what I'm working for.

But I also love to sometimes listen to internet radio. Has anyone tried out pandora.com? (it works in the US only unfortunately) It's amazing to me. You basically type in a band or song that you like and it compiles a whole radio station of similar music. It's nice if you're sick of your writing playlists but need something in the same vein.

Lastfm.com is an international site that is very similar to Pandora, with a few differences. The good difference is that you can set up a playlist of your favorites. The bad is that a lot of the songs available to listen to on lastfm are only snippets of songs and that kinda bugs me. I like to listen to the whole song or not at all.

Samantha's_Song · Mar 23, 2009

Yes, music inspires every single thing I do, it always has, it always will and there are song titles that suit me and my life. Music was my first love - John Miles and My life has been a song - The Bee Gees (before they started singing that awful squeaky stuff).

Fulk · Mar 23, 2009

dreamsofnever said:
Has anyone tried out pandora.com?

Pandora is great. I listen on there fairly often. I'm even pretty sure I first heard of it either here or on Nanowrimo's forum.

stormie · Mar 23, 2009

Someone mentioned Coldplay. Yes! Great music that also inspires me, esp. when I'm writing an emotional scene (I killed off one of my characters while listening to them).

Zipotes · Mar 23, 2009

Totally!
I can't listen 'while' I write, but I'm very inspired by music. I listen to certain types of music before writing certain scenes as my work is more inspired and honest that way.

firedrake · Mar 23, 2009

Absolutely.

I can hear a song and it sparks off an idea for a story (see title of first book in signature

)
I download songs from I-Tunes and I have homemade CDs which "go" with each book.
When I wrote the 2nd book I listened to a lot of 1930s/40s music.

I have music on all the time, even at work and, especially when I write)

Samantha's_Song · Mar 23, 2009

I have soundtracks to all of my novels too

firedrake said:
I have homemade CDs which "go" with each book.

Rarri · Mar 23, 2009

Evening all

Has been lovely reading all your replies! The song i have on repeat at the moment is an acoustic guitar piece, for some reason i find 'simple' music (IE acoustic guitar or piano) wonderful for my writing. I'm intruiged by the mention of soundtracks, that's not something i've considered now but it makes alot of sense given the various music that plays such a large part in my WIPs.

Thanks again guys, has been really helpful to read your replies

KD_Kilker · Mar 23, 2009

I have a Dizzler Playlist on my myspace page. When I'm working in Microsoft Word, I've usually got that pulled up behind it.

I listen to mostly rock. The kind of rock I listen to depends on the mood of the scene: Heavy metal and industrial, obviously, for the darker stuff; and alternative or punk rock for the O.K. or lighter moods.

Apocalyptica is good for me any time. Because they do Metallica covers! ;P

Sometimes, I'll listen to a song on the radio and imagine what the music video would look like. I end up getting some really artistic scenes that way.

nitaworm · Mar 23, 2009

Yes, especially for my action scenes. I have certain songs in mind when I write them.

Does music inspire you?

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