What music, if any, do you listen to when writing?

K Robert Donovan said:

The mood or tone I need to write might determine what I chose to listen to.

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This. I'll listen to a variety of music, looking for things that fit the tone of whatever I'm working on.

Soundtracks mostly.
Each character has its own tunes and I listen to them before writing. Helps me keep the mood and tone of the narrative consistent. Then I need absolute silence while I write, otherwise I can't ear their voices

VeryBigBeard said:

Currently, the "1812 Overture" by Tchaikovsky.

Which contains a useful writing maxim: when running out of ideas, add cannons.

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ha ha ha ... i was so confused/startled when i first read that first sentence because "odd choice" - then your second sentence. makes perfect sense now! <3

I've been trying to work through this and thinking about it a lot. I like the idea of setting up a soundtrack or some music for each character, but then I think that the soundtrack would have to be different based on the mood or the what's happening in the chapter. It seems like one of those things where it would be a huge amount of effort to set up and curate and kind of a way to avoid writing.

For me, it has to be music that is NOT relaxing but rather more uptempo and gets me worked up. I find I write better with some passion flowing through me, and I am better able to express my characters' thoughts that way.

I have genre-based Pandora stations to get me into the right mood - so I have a science fiction one, an epic fantasy one and an urban fantasy/horror. Mostly I'm listening to music from movies/TV shows in the appropriate genre.

What I listen to when writing depends on what I'm writing and how focused I am that particular day. I have a giant generic "writing" playlist on Spotify filled with instrumental music (mostly movie soundtracks) that I use for scenes where I don't really need tailored background music and for plotting. I also make a Spotify playlist for each WIP filled with songs that fit the mood. WIP-specific playlists tend to have lyrics, so if I feel like I'm going to get distracted and sing along I use the main "writing" playlist instead of the playlist made for whatever I'm working on.

Two Steps from Hell, Audiomachine, Bruhville mixes on youtube and anything else EPIC and instrumental. It really get's my creative juices going!

Sometimes I'll listen to a song that fits the scene, but often I just put on something ambient and general. Metroid's atmospheric music is particularly good at propelling me along.

I find I've been listening to cryochamber a lot, they're a "lovecraft inspire" dark ambient music themed.. thing. But they have a live youtube channel that I quite enjoy. A lot of discodance and weird sounds. sometimes they do some narrator talking things, even reciting lovecraft I guess which I don't care for so much.

I have playlists that I create for particular characters that I use while brainstorming, either songs I like that describe them, or songs they might listen to. These tend to cross genres, languages, and vocals vs. instrumentals.

That said, while writing, I tend to lean more toward instrumentals - either ambient video game tracks (easy to set a mood and then tune out, no distractions) or soundtracks. I tend to visualize things very cinematically, and if I hear a song that fits a particular scene like a movie playing in my head, it can be doubly helpful because it can help me keep a scene trim and flowing smoothly. If I can't read the text and envision the scene in question keeping pace with the music, hitting a climax or ending in time with the song, then I need to consider trimming down some excess words.

I don't listen to any music when writing nor doing anything productive. It's always distracting. I typically sing a few songs.

Chronodendron said:

Soundtracks mostly.
Each character has its own tunes and I listen to them before writing. Helps me keep the mood and tone of the narrative consistent. Then I need absolute silence while I write, otherwise I can't ear their voices

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Yes, this.

Though my book has dark, nihilistic currents so I immerse myself in a lot of Trees of Eternity and the Hammock songs from Far Cry 5.

Beyond that, I have gone ahead and compiled a soundtrack for the book. Lots of songs that capture the mood of scenes and characters. It's useful to hep mentally enter the world and find the muse.

I'll listen to just about anything, but Barbarian Horde from the movie Gladiator is my go-to when working on a fight scene.

Edit: Listening to Jerry Reed right now.

Soundtracks myself. There's a scene near the end of my book that I must have written while listening to the Interstellar soundtrack, because the beats align pretty well with "No Time For Caution." I like the orchestral quality of soundtracks and that you can find a song that fits the mood of a scene.

I just listen to the Force theme on loop. It’s actually great think music. But I think it depends largely on the person

i'm listing to wordless chorus by my moring jacket and undisclosed desires by muse and magic by coldplay

i am more. I must have absolute silence type, of writer. It is amazing that you can have music and write at the same time. having said that I like your taste in music.

K Robert Donovan said:

I have used storm background as well if I find my music to be too energetic and distracting.

I even found battle background WITH a storm to listen to while writing a battle scene that transpires in the middle of a storm. Shocked that I found it.

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Oh, please share some links!

I've got several long YouTube collections that I will switch through, as well as a Pandora channel of movie soundtracks.

I find music distracting...which is odd, because I do most of my writing on a commuter train, where noise doesn't bother me at all. Indeed, I can get inspired by random overheard comments.

On the odd occasion I am at home, writing, and feel like music - it has to be something I know so well that it can't distract me. My favourite three writing CDs are Benefit (Jethro Tull); Exit Stage Left (Rush) and the Soundtrack from Dead Man (Neil Young).

usually I don't listen to music while I write, but if the urge hits me I usually go for alt rock. I keep the volume low and only listen to songs I know really well so I'm not too distracted

Youtube is mixing a custom playlist for me and all it is music from the Soulsbourne games and Nier:Automata. The algorithm is good now.