Music you'd write home about.

Status
Not open for further replies.

KikiteNeko

.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 19, 2008
Messages
2,380
Reaction score
1,615
Most writers I've come across, myself included, consider music a MAJOR part of the writing process. For my first completed ms and my WIP, I have playlists for my main character that help me when I'm writing.

Do you listen to music when you're writing? Post songs or lyrics that help you. :)

A few of mine right now:

John Lennon - Give Peace a Chance

Incubus - Wish you were here

Dar Williams - Are you out there

Eddie Vedder - Circles

Rosie Thomas - I Run

A piece of I run:

I hold my breath past the cemetary
My brother wins, he can hold it much longer than me.
Gravel roads make car keys rattle on steering wheels--
children and horses, old barns and old automobiles.
I run I run I run far from
you to the lilac tree in my yard...
 
Last edited:

underthecity

Finestkind
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
3,126
Reaction score
768
Location
Near Cincinnati
Website
www.allensedge.com
When I was writing the first draft, I liked having instrumental music behind me. Anything with lyrics, or at least "heavy" music with lyrics, like rock, was too distracting. A lot of time I listened to bluegrass because it was so mellow.

During the "scary" parts of my story, I put on Midnight Syndicate (Halloween instrumental music) CDs to set the mood.

In one scene where the MC was visiting a magician's club (the Magic Castle in Hollywood), I wrote a part where he passed a jazz group playing Dave Brubeck. So, I put in my Dave Brubeck CD to listen to while I wrote that chapter. The jazz group was playing "Take Five."

However, for revising, The Ghost Machine requires absolute silence. I will put in earplugs if necessary.

allen
 

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
29,138
Reaction score
8,563
Location
Toronto
Website
ktcraig.com
I prefer silence when I am writing. I'm a very all or nothing type person. When I am listening to music I get so lost in it I become unaware of everything else around me. Usually. There are exceptions. When I'm doing a novel marathon, I plug in to music to distract myself from the people around me. (When people are close to me and thinking...processing thoughts...I feel this buzz sensation...like my brain is light or something. I have to listen to music to block out that static.)

At my last novel marathon I listened to The Essential Leonard Cohen...two CDs of MUSICAL BLISS.
 

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
29,138
Reaction score
8,563
Location
Toronto
Website
ktcraig.com
I had the Happy Endings soundtrack, Peter Gabriel's So and Simon & Garfunkle's Greatest Hits on rotation.


My Little Town...one of my all-time favs. (-;
 

els

Registered
Joined
Feb 18, 2008
Messages
20
Reaction score
7
Location
South Carolina
I do. I tend towards New Wave, Punk, and Celtic, but I just discovered Thomas Tallis (nothing new abut his music!)- if you want a treat, listen to this piece- Spem in Alium. It was written for 8 choirs to sing. This has become a new writing favorite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cn7ZW8ts3Y

I really love Dead Can Dance and Ekova, too.
 

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 8, 2007
Messages
9,767
Reaction score
3,936
Location
you martyr and shine.
I can't write without music. I probably listen to My Morning Jacket's The Tennessee Fire upwards of 6 times a day. Yes, it's an addiction.
 

williemeikle

The force is strong in this one.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 17, 2005
Messages
3,732
Reaction score
669
Location
Canada
Website
www.williammeikle.com
These days my music preferences tend to singer songwriters - Cave, Costello, Springsteen and Ryan Adams being the most played. But while writing I revert to my youth and the heavy stuff...

On my writing desk CD pile at the moment are:-

Led Zeppelin - The BBC Sessions
Led Zeppelin - II
Robert Plant - Principle of Moments
Black Sabbath - Greatest Hits
Metallica - Masters of Puppets
Metallica - Black Album
Metallica - Garage Inc.
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
Jesus and Mary Chain - Darklands
Cream - Best of...
Deep Purple - In Rock
Rainbow - Rainbow Rising

Currently listening to: Television - Marquee Moon
 

sunna

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 14, 2007
Messages
2,436
Reaction score
4,114
I generally prefer silence when I'm writing, but sometimes I get in the mood for some background music. When I do it's classical, trance, ambient, or house. Nothing with words: I find that too distracting.

Right now I'm on a major Ludovico Einaudi kick. All I need to do is hear the first few notes and I'm off and typing.
 

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
29,138
Reaction score
8,563
Location
Toronto
Website
ktcraig.com
For the two who asked me in repland what a novel marathon is...and for others who wonder...here's a link. I posted this announcement a while back.

2008 MUSKOKA NOVEL MARATHON
 
Status
Not open for further replies.