What music do you listen to while writing?

[amandakelley]

I'm weird. I need music while writing no matter what, or it seems like EVERYTHING distracts me. But when I'm working on outlines, I can't listen to music unless I've spaced out and not really hearing the music.

My current playlist for my current WIP has 45 tracks on it and I normally listen to it on shuffle while I'm writing. Sometimes I just pick a band or singer that I write great with, like Florence + the Machine, Within Temptation, Evanescence, Lady Antebellum, Breaking Benjamin, Firelight, We Are the Fallen, etc.

I listen to all kinds of things while writing, but mostly just a few favorite singers/bands or the songs that go great with my story.

5 songs on my playlist:

1. Bring Me To Life - Evanescence
2. If I Die Young - The Band Perry
3. Sleep Well, My Angel - We Are The Fallen
4. Safe and Sound - Taylor Swift with The Civil Wars
5. Anthem of the Angels - Breaking Benjamin

What kind of music do you listen to while writing? What bands/singers? Do you have a playlist for your current WIP? If so, what are five songs from it?

[Purple]

I've been listening to a lot of Enya of late, there's a fantastic amount of atmosphere that comes in toe with her music.

I'm inclined to agree on Safe & Sound also, that song is really a very strong piece of music. I would recommend Tomorrow Will Be Kinder by The Secret Sisters as it also features on the Hunger Games soundtrack.

[Ravenheart]

It depends on the scene I'm writing sometimes and my mood. Today was John Mayer, Melody Gardot, and Bon Iver. While yesterday was Deftones, Oasis, and The Clash. :shrug: I like a lot of different music. Just mostly not music that's newer than the 90s. Although I did list one exception to that above I pretty much feel music was perfected in the 80s, just maybe not the hair. :shrug:

[amandakelley]

Originally Posted by Purple

I've been listening to a lot of Enya of late, there's a fantastic amount of atmosphere that comes in toe with her music.

I'm inclined to agree on Safe & Sound also, that song is really a very strong piece of music. I would recommend Tomorrow Will Be Kinder by The Secret Sisters as it also features on the Hunger Games soundtrack.

Thank you. Enya is amazing, and I've heard Tomorrow Will Be Kinder, I love the soundtrack for the movie.

[amandakelley]

Originally Posted by Ravenheart

It depends on the scene I'm writing sometimes and my mood. Today was John Mayer, Melody Gardot, and Bon Iver. While yesterday was Deftones, Oasis, and The Clash. :shrug: I like a lot of different music. Just mostly not music that's newer than the 90s. Although I did list one exception to that above I pretty much feel music was perfected in the 80s, just maybe not the hair. :shrug:

Sometimes I listen to my playlist for my WIP and other times, like you said, depends on the mood. Florence + The Machine, Within Temptation, etc. I like a lot of different music too.

I was talking about this earlier. I love the 80s music, I'm a 90s baby, but my mom would always listen to 80s music and I fell in love with it. While I love a lot of the music nowadays, especially my symphonic metal bands and such, I looove the 80s. If I'm going to listen to "old" music from a while ago, I always go to the 80s. Do you have Spotify? You can click 80s radio on there and it'll play nothing much 80s music.

[milkweed]

cd's I have going whilest writing, I generally cannot write or stitch to music with words.

Sibelius Symphony No. 2 Pohjola's Daughter with Colin Davis
Enigma
Forest with George Winston

and a few others.

[WillSauger]

The Dear Hunter, The Chemical Brothers, Sigur Ros, The Receiving End of Sirens.
Lots of Trip/Jazz-Hop, electronic stuff, odds and end here and there.

Here's my Last.FM.

[Ken]

... Cecil Taylor.

[TimSenese]

I can't write and listen to music at the same time. I get all muddled. But I do brainstorm and listen to music. I usually go for something quiet that blends well into the background. Iron & Wine's The Creek Drank the Cradle is a good one. So are instrumentals like Delicate Steve (who just released an awesome album, Positive Force) and El Ten Eleven.

[clee984]

Originally Posted by TimSenese

I can't write and listen to music at the same time. I get all muddled.

I find I have an odd habit - I insert song lyrics in stuff I write. It's always (at least vaguely) appropriate to what's happening in the story, and it's very rarely words from a song I've been listening to at the time. I don't know why I do it.

[TimSenese]

It's actually a psychological condition...I forget the name of it though. I find myself doing it at times too.

It's when you're creating anything, and unconsciously you 'steal' ideas from other people into your work. You don't necessarily think about it at the time or recognize it. It's not malicious or plagarism per se, more like your brain secretly saying to you, "Hey, those guys words were good...let me just place them in here for you."

[clee984]

Originally Posted by TimSenese

It's actually a psychological condition...I forget the name of it though. I find myself doing it at times too.

It's when you're creating anything, and unconsciously you 'steal' ideas from other people into your work. You don't necessarily think about it at the time or recognize it. It's not malicious or plagarism per se, more like your brain secretly saying to you, "Hey, those guys words were good...let me just place them in here for you."

You saying that actually jogged my mind (so I stole your idea, lol), it's called 'Cryptomnesia' - I remember reading that it was George Harrison's defence when it was pointed out that one of his tunes bore a passing resemblence to another song.

[calieber]

Mostly punk and nerdcore. A procrastination technique has been to create 25-minute playlists, and when I do get my butt in the chair I use them as Pomodoro timers.

[Zivvy]

Mostly movie scores, but I'll listen to Within Temptation when the mood strikes, and Enya.

[charmedhorses]

I have a really hard time writing when I listen to music. I find my mind wanting to concentrate on two things at once :/ ... maybe one day!

[xamich]

I listen to one song on repeat for about an hour, and then change it. Usually something soft and mild and buzzes as background noise- can't focus on the writing if the music is too fast paced or bouncy, but can't focus if I don't have the music either!

[Robert Gonko]

Lately I've been listening to Hans Zimmer's work from Inception, Gladiator, and The Dark Knight trilogy.

[rosesindec]

It depends on the scene or character. I have a playlist for different characters/story arcs/that help me create atmosphere and also get even deeper into some of the characters' heads. I don't know how common that is, but it works for me. lol

The rest of the time, I will just listen to haunting, beautiful, melancholic music box/piano/classical melodies when I want atmosphere, but no distractions. Occasionally I will listen to sound effects, like rain or storms or the ocean.

[lalyil]

Mostly Radiohead (especially OK Computer and Hail to the Thief) and classical music. Also a little Danse Macabre from the romantic period. I find it impossible to write with anything else on, and took me a while to get used to writing with music at all, but nowadays I often crave music from either of those three while writing.