Music Writing

If I'm not in the mood for a certain scene I'll turn on music that'll put me in that mood so I can write it. My fav. group is Evanescence so I use a lot of their songs like that...some for anger, some for sadness, some for a nice emotional love-ish scene. It's a really good system, for me at least.

I do find that music can influence what I write. I like to write with music playing. Sometimes I have to stop and change the song because it's creating a dischord with what I'm writing and other times it's a beautiful compliment that helps further set the pace.

Basically, I think it can hurt or hinder depending on the music and what I'm writing at the time.

And I agree, Evanescence can be very mood evoking.

Classical music, trance/techno, and movie soundtracks (particularly LOTR, go figure) are my inspirations. I rarely write without something playing. It inspires, and it helps block out the mundane world. The mundane world might include the air conditioner, the kids screaming in the apartment pool outside, or the tapping of the keyboard.

For a famous example, Stephen King says he writes to hard rock and metal groups, particularly Guns 'N Roses, Metallica, etc.

For me music and writing go hand-in-hand. With CoF and GNR I write faster than normal and with CoF the content varies but with Seether it is more emotional, more personal, darker, erotic, sexual or just generally intense feeling. Then Disturbed produces darknes, poetics, poetic type prose and music of my own as does Seether. Kalmah and Catamenia produce walls.

I have music playing when I write. It doesn't always inspire but when it does, I think it works well. For my last book, a track by Moby (God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters) was a big help.