Music & writing

[DomLuka]

Does anyone listen to music when they write? Or is it just a distraction? I

[JamesSavik]

Dom-

 

I do. And I take great care in picking what I'm listening to as it can drastically effect the writing.

 

Whenever I buy a CD, I just rip it to the hard drive and store the original away and listen.

 

Lately I've been listening to the Black Crows, Stone Temple Pilots, Evanescence, Good Charlott, Tool and NIN.

 

I've got a bunch of older stuff but since I kicked drugs, I've been staying away from the Pink Floyd.

 

-JS

[DomLuka]

If I listened to Pink Floyd I think my characters would be taking a lot of naps for some reason... but I just added a band called

[Aleric]

Does anyone listen to music when they write?   Or is it just a distraction? I

[Boy In Doubt]

I listen to music too. I guess it helps when you can't find the words to say. And it also puts you in a certain mood, depending on the type of music and what type of emotions are needed in a particular scene.

[Empathy]

Definitely, I find music can set the tone for your writing and keep you focused in during long periods of writing. Where you may otherwise be distracted. It's so easy for me to loose focus while my friends are having a good time with "my" Xbox and I'm trying to squeeze out another chapter only a few feet away. I'm a big fan of mood music, i listen to pretty much everything but with me it's not always what's hot and popular at the moment and more so whatever has struck me recently and fits my current mood. I often end up taking my latest music fix from movies. For me there's nothing like seeing a really good film with a really intense or dramatic scene and having the music amplify that. I try to write the same way which is a little silly cause no one can hear the music while they read but it helps me write.

 

My latest playlist

 

Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata

Adagio for Strings

The Servant - Cells

Siouxsie & The Banshees - Face To Face

Lord of the Rings - Requiem for a Dream - towers trailer song-requiem for a dream remix

Star Wars-Episode III-Revenge of the Sith battle of the Heroes

Darren Hayes - Insatiable

Sarah McLachlan - Elsewhere

Blade Trinity - 01 - The RZA - Fatal

Ashanti - Only You

Queen of the Dammed - penetrate

Queen of the Damned - Change (Really good worth a listen people!)

Static-X - Cold

 

 

A lot of pretty good music if you've never heard some of these

 

I listen to music per definition because I cannot stand to hear

any sounds from 'outside' (or above me: neighbors, I live in an appartment).

 

Nevertheless, I found that it made a difference for me the other day when I

was listening to something better than the your-average-house-noise that

I usually have on (internet radio, that house is the only music that you can

listen to 24/7 without getting nuts because of repeating).

 

I definitely don't listen to the song texts when I write however, that would

distract me. The music that did work pretty good for me last time was 'celtic'

music.

 

I am thinking about having people listen to some specific song/music while

reading my story-- that would be possible with a multi-media webpage, I think.

But there are a few problems with that; firstly, it would cost me too much

bandwidth and secondly, some people read a chapter in 10 minutes and

other use 40 minutes... So, I will never be able to know what they listen

to when they read a certain paragraph.

 

 

 

that would be really interesting to have the authors music of choice playing while you read his work.

[adblue]

Great topic!

 

I'd suggest a sidebar where you list the song, cd, and artist/group, with perhaps a link, so the reader can choose when to listen. Or, since linking to somewhere that hosts the music could get complicated, and since putting the files online yourself, um, is a no-no, technically, you could omit a link.

 

-----

 

I edit and write and do other things on my computer, so I listen to music pretty often. Sometimes it helps me concentrate on work. Sometimes it hinders that and I have to stop, or I'd be singing and bopping around to the music. (Hey, and I do that, once in a while.)

 

Yes, what I listen to, if I'm going to write, has to fit the mood, or it won't work together. Sometimes, I need it quiet to write. Other times, it's inspiring. The type of music is usually rock or occasionally classical, with some weird, eclectic things at times too.

[Jack Scribe]

Great topic!

 

I'd suggest a sidebar where you list the song, cd, and artist/group, with perhaps a link, so the reader can choose when to listen. Or, since linking to somewhere that hosts the music could get complicated, and since putting the files online yourself, um, is a no-no, technically, you could omit a link.

 

There's one author (whose pen name is too similar to mine) with a story called "Substitute Dad" on Nifty:

http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/substitute-dad/

 

A rather touching series that is non-sexual in content. He lists his "Play List" before each chapter.

 

I'm an adict to Windows Media and have either Classic FM or KUSC FM going when I'm writing or reading. Weekends are a challenge because there is a heavy dose of opera. I never got that gay gene.

 

Jack

[Krista]

I absolutely have to be listening to music while I'm writing. Everything else becomes a distraction from it. I also have based stories from lyrics I've ran across or songs that I've listened to. So i'm driven by music to write. I wouldn't even attempt to write if I wasn't able to listen to music.. lol

[Adrien-Luc]

I listen to music, but have to be very careful when I do. I tend to have songs that help me get into a mindset for a certain character, but if they have lyrics, I have listen to adjust my mood and then turn them off. I can't listen to music in any language that I can understand while I'm actually writing, because I have a bad habit of listening to the words--I can't really block them out, and then they disrupt the flow of words in my mind. It tends to come as an avalanche that feels almost lyrical, so someone else's lyrics tend to divert the rush and throw off my rhythm, and can change or even ruin the tone of what I'm writing. Most of my music is either orchestral, or in English, Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin, or Korean. I have to stick to the orchestrals, the Mandarin, and the Korean if I want to get anything done. The rest completely screws me up.

[Formosa]

I listen to music too...it's like part of my life and I don't go anywhere or do anything without it. When it's on, I feel alive. When it's off, I feel something is terribly missing. I even sleep and wake up to music (wonderful invention, clock-radio).

 

Mostly when I do my writing I listen to 'soothing' orchestral music, which tends to be Enya or Enigma. I find they are so thought-provoking and emotionally evocative for some reason... I'm not sure if it's the simple but powerful lyrics, or the catchy flow of the music itself. It sort of recreates that 'butterfly-in-stomach' effect, those tingling sensations etc that you get when you're in love. And since I'm not in love now (alas), I need that substitute. Everything together helps to calm me down and I could just write, and write, and write.

 

I also like songs too, especially those 'oldies but goodies' (Billy Joel, Elton John, and the like), sometimes 'newbies but goodies' (Savage Garden, Cranberries, Corrs). A lot of of songs have such meaningful lyrics that I use some of them as part of my story build up.

 

Music inspires.

[Jack Frost]

Personally, I find it easier for me to do my works (reading, homeworks, writing, etc) with my TV on. I cannot stand doing anything in my room without the TV on.

 

 

But music...I only play it in my car since the TV and my works keep me enough anyway. If I must...I would play Bjork over and over.

[NickolasJames8]

I can't concentrate on my work unless the right music is playing in the background. I think it helps to set a mood that I want my readers to feel when they finally see the posted work.

[TalonRider]

When I'm in my office at work, I usually keep some music in the background. When I'm editing a story for some one, some times I have music on, sometimes I don't. If I don't, the TV's usually on.

 

I also find music helps set the pace when I use my treadmill. If I'm in a particularly bad mood, and trust me, you don't want to be around me, I wind up cranking the stero for awhile. I have as special selection I use at those times.

 

Jan

[Bondwriter]

I'm much too distracted by music to listen to it while working, whatever task I'm performing. I can't help focussing on lyrics, which gets me really off track. And music is definitely banned when I use the dictation software. It gives some interesting results sometimes, if you enjoy nonsense.

[Bill W]

I'm the type who can't do anything unless I'm multitasking. When I'm writing, reading, working... I have to have my music, the tv or a ballgame in the background. Otherwise, I get distracted by silly things... an odd noise in the house, a small sound outdoors, the drip of a faucet, the neighbor's dog barking... most of the time when I write, I play classical music... the music generally gets the blood pumping and my juices flowing and I tend to be more creative when I do that... I tried writing at night without anything in the background, since others were sleeping, and I ending up rewriting or discarding much of what I did during those few sessions. Sorry, I have to have something on, preferrably the music.

[DarkShadow]

Does anyone listen to music when they write? Or is it just a distraction? I

[The Pecman]

I listen to music, but have to be very careful when I do. I tend to have songs that help me get into a mindset for a certain character, but if they have lyrics, I have listen to adjust my mood and then turn them off.

I absolutely agree. As much as I love rock & pop music of the last 30 or 40 years, I can only listen to instrumentals when I write. My favorite at the moment is XM Satellite Radio's channel 71, "Watercolors" (same as "Smooth Jazz" in many North American cities.)

 

The last thing I want to hear when I'm struggling to come up with a line of dialog is for some catchy song to start playing in my office and distracting me. I hate when that happens.

 

--Pecman