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I'm not going to write that "I" word again, but the basic question is... Is there any music that you listen to... Specific songs and artists... that help you write? I.E. Steve King likes metal, and Brooks, I believe, likes classical...
I'll get it started....
Jon Bon Jovi, Incubus, "Ender" by Finch, and that's it for now... I'll add some more later. Thanks in advance!
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I usually can't listen to music and read or write. If I did, it would have to be instrumental, and pretty mellow. Liz
Posts: 22 | Registered: Feb 2003
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When editing, I need silence. When writing, and writing ugly, I like a push. Another Bleeding Heart by Alex Parker helps me. I just put it on the repeat.
The first movement of the Tchiakovsky, Brahms, and Beethoven violin concertos have that driving pulse. The Ysaye violin sonatas have energy and direction. In all of the cases, I know the pieces so well, that I'm not excited by every nuance, but the key changes and rhythm are so indicative of the writing process for me, that they help the words tumble out of my fingers. They help the ideas grow wings.
I use music to force words out of my brain. I get most of the good stuff down during the development sections and the transition.
[This message has been edited by Tanglier (edited May 12, 2003).]
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I use quite the opposite of most people when I write. I tend to put on some moderately heavy rock, occationally contemporary, but I turn down the volume really low so I can hear the music, but not the songs. I find that this keeps the 'stupid' part of my brain occupied while I'm working.
Posts: 42 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Nothing with words... or should I say, nothing with words that will distract me. I usually listen to Enya because it just really taps into my creative, subconscious side, but I also use soundtracks. For instance, when I had a particularly grueling battle scene to write (over like 3 chapters) I found that the Gladiator soundtrack worked wonders. Other goodies are Conan and Harry Potter. (Yes, that probably makes me a geek, but what the hell?)
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I'm with Shawn. Whatever I'm writing has a feel of its own (in my mind anyway), so I listen to music that has a similar feel to that which I am trying to portray in my writing. This would be at a low volume though, a backingtrack rather than a focal sound.
Currently my inspiration is coming from the likes of : Jerry Reed, H-Blockx, Charlie Daniels, Metallica, and Holst.
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I know lots of people like classical, but I find that with classical I tend to get overdramatic and wordy and just too wishy washy.
Sometimes listening to jazz (oh, dude, you can't not feel that real, deep, sepia-toned sadness of life when you're listening to Billie Holliday or Louis Armstrong) can give you that mood without losing your grounding in the real world.
Or I listen to remixes of pop/rock/alternative songs. Right now I'm in love with Poe and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Poe can be really sarcastic, gritty, mean. Also PJ Harvey, Bjork and some obscure people help.
Try listening to variety of music and see what it makes your writing do, because I firmly believe listening to music WILL affect your writing.
Also, every *NEEDS* to check out Res, Vast, and this really cool song by Soul Coughing called "Rolling"...
I write a lot of high fantasy to Queen, because you get an epic feel and don't get too Shakespearean/Tolkien. I start listening to like Stravinsky, or someone and I'm like : "I bring you glad tiding, my liege," quoth the knight.
And nobody needs that. But classical works when I'm doing a scene that does need to be soaked with emotion. That or if I just need to have something in the background, because silence makes me paranoid.
Most of my classical music falls along the lines of vocal groups, either from the Renaissance, the medieval period, Tudor songs, etc. I like Anonymous 4, and if you're looking for classical/world/tribal/neato historical songs, check out Midaeval Baebes. They have a song ("Dringo Bell") that's about a 14th century English guy going for a booty call. Yeah, and it sounds so cool.
Also, try world music. I'm fond of using Indian (as in from INDIA) when I need something exciting or action or intense. Chinese music (when they use the zither especially) is good for those delicate parts or when you need some background mind music. Russian music runs the gamut, the big deep vocal male choruses can be good for strange things some of the stringed instrumentals can be good for suspense.
Modern Japanese rock/pop is kinda good for happy scenes. Sometimes, once and a while every blue moon I have those.
Also, interesting exercise:
If your character had a theme song, what would it be?
~ life of georgie
[This message has been edited by life of georgie (edited May 16, 2003).]
quote:Other goodies are Conan and Harry Potter. (Yes, that probably makes me a geek, but what the hell?)
If liking Harry Potter (and yes, even Conan O'Brian) makes you a geek, then consider me up there with the Klingon-fluent Trekkies. I've read the entire series (and am eagerly awaiting the fifth) at least three times. And Conan's not too bad, either.
As for the music thing, I have Winamp 2.-something, with over 11 and a half hours of music on there, ranging from POD to Creed to Linkin Park to who knows what else? and I find listening to it while writing tends to occupy my entire consciousness, concentrating both on the music and on my writing. Looking back, I realize I can remember both what songs I've heard, and what words I've written.
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The theme from Back to the Future always inspires me. I have no idea why.
Seriously, I play music while I'm writing if I need music to be a part of my writing. If I have a character who likes Mozart then I might play a little Mozart. That's about it.
I do use music to inspire me in other aspects of my life, like courage. It's amazing what Bill Conti's soundtrack to The Right Stuff can get me to do!
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I think I'm impartial. However, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that my writing was influenced by whatever I'm listening to. Which I guess is good that I don't listen to the radio, because a bad psychiatrist might assume me to be manic-depressive.
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Apr 2002
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It depends on what I'm writing and what kind of mood I'm in. Classical is good most of the time. U2's Unforgettable Fire is also usually good. When I'm in the mood for something a little more, oh, vigorous, I'll listen to Metallica or Godsmack. When I'm working on something light, I like music from the late sixties/early seventies, or something like Smashmouth. Like I said, it all depends.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Feb 2003
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When I'm actually writing, I usually do it in silence. However, music is frequently part of my "wind up" process. Usually before I sit down to write I take a long shower with the stereo blasting loud enough that I can hear it over the water. I'm talking about a level of sound that knocks pictures off my walls.
The music varies a lot depending on the mood I'm trying to evoke. When I was writing "Nobody Gets the Girl," the protagonist has lost everything in his life that ever had any meaning to him. So I would listen to music that talked about loss. "Recovering the Satellites" by the Counting Crows was a good example. Of course, the defining characteristic of my main character is that he's a stand-up comic that is able to mine all the horrible things that are happening to him for humor, so I also listened to music that has clever, funny lyrics. Atom and His Package was a good choice... so was Lyle Lovette.
On my present novel, "Atlantis Rising," I've got a primary character who is (stay with me here) a right-wing, drug-addicted, homosexual, zombie veterinarian. He's still walking around after the event that killed him, but he's not sure why. He's on the run from his former military employers and his ex-lover. He's also getting cryptic messages from a higher power that seems to be guiding him from place to place with about the same skill and finesse that a pinball gets guided around a machine. To write him properly, I have to get my head into this slightly out of control, chaotic place. Red Hot Chili Peppers "BloodSugarSexMagic" is an excellent choice, simultaineously wild and driven. But the music that is inspiring me most right now are albums by The Mountain Goats. Their music is acoustic and folksy, often funny, but usually with this strange undertone of menace and dread. Something absolutely horrible that can't be spoken of always seems to have just happened or to be on the verge or happening. Right now I'm stuck on their latest album "Tallehassee" and the song "See America Right:"
[snip] Sorry to do this, but you really have to get permission to quote music lyrics--there is no "fair use" with them.
Yeah, I'm going to go deaf listening to this at top volume, but sacrifices must be made.
--James
[This message has been edited by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (edited June 16, 2003).]
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I dug out an old ms that I worte many years ago--what let's see 8 years now. and funny I could "hear" the music I had listened to while writing it in my head as I read it over.
That was weird and I can't find the CD---the music from Top Gun--think I will have to buy another one--also Mortal Comabt.
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I do that with certain books I’ve read while listening to a CD on repeat. When I pick up the book again, the CD start’s playing in my head. Play the CD, and the story comes to mind.
Posts: 652 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
Usually silence. Though occasionally I'll put on some instrumental sound track stuff. Works from Hanz Zimmer, Danny Elfman, John Williams, Howard Shore, and a few others usually.
I've actually writtena few things while listening to musicals (though I thought the words would distract me)
Frank Wildhorn's stuff especially is good.
However most of the time, silence is my favorite. I also prefer to write while I"m isolated and don't have other curious eyes watching me work.
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