Listening to music while writing? Some feel inspired by background music, it gets them into the right headspace. The sounds create an atmosphere that perfectly aligns with a scene, aiding imagination and making writing easier. There is even music that is supposed to increase our ability to concentrate.
For others, music is a huge no-go, since it’s too much of a distraction. It hinders the flow of writing because it constantly demands attention. No way you can concentrate on your work when your favorite song comes on … right?
How do you feel about it? Does music support you in your writing or does it disturb you? Are there certain music genres that work better or worse for you than others? Do you have a writing playlist?
In my experience I love listening to music while writing and typing out my written chapters. I actually listen to lofi music and classical music to be specific it helps keep me out of random thoughts that tend to distract me and helps keep me focused on creating the scenes in my books. I also put the travel channel on volume low but enough that I can kind of hear it as I write I don’t know what it is about it but I find myself being able to write pages without a thought a lot of the time I don’t even realize that I’m already nearing the end of the chapter.
I usually write without music, because it can be distracting to me. However, with my most recent project I found that some epic orchestral music helped me a lot to immerse myself into the agitated state of mind my hero needed to be in during the finale of my story. So, music can be helpful at times, but I wouldn’t want it at every stage of my writing.
Yes, documentaries can be wonderfully soothing – present, but not intrusive. Maya Angelou used cross word puzzles and such to keep the “little mind” busy so the “big mind” could do its work. I feel like lofi music does the same for me. When I really need to concentrate over long stretches of time, I listen to lofi.
I don’t have specific piece I listen to but my husband introduced me to the Symphony channel on SiriusXM and I fell in love I use it a lot. Yes lofi does help with the long stretches. That is so interesting it’s so cool to know what other authors do to keep their minds going.
I always have a playlist that goes with my writing project. Several playlists, even, of different lengths. So for example 1 hour or 25 minutes. That way, when I know that I have one hour to write before I need to do something else, I choose the corresponding playlist. It serves as a timer, while at the same time pulling me into the right headspace faster. I switch on the music, open my document (usually with a background image or decorated pinboard that gets me in the right mood as well) and can jump right into the story.
Now I’m really curious to see a playlist like that. Do you keep them after you’re finished, maybe even put each into the appendix of the book you wrote while listening to it?
Yes. I always keep them. And it’s a lot of fun to listen to one of them after many years, because it always brings back memories of the book.
Not sure about the appendix thing, because I never know if something like that breaches copyrights. Even though I guess as long is it is just titles and artists, it should be okay.
The music I choose can be very varied, depending on the project. Currently I write contemporary LGBTQ romance, so the playlists for that have a lot of rock and pop songs in it. (the one hour list starts with “Believer” by ImagineDragons and ends with “I would do anything for love” by Meatloaf, for example) But I’ve also written fantasy and historical novels and for those I go with a lot of insturmental scores as well, either from movie soundtracks or classical music. YouTube is a great source for epic trailer music as well.
I create soundtracks for Genres on Amazon Music. I have Thriller, Urban Fiction, Dark Fantasy, etc, according to what I write.
A friend gave me one called ‘Let there be Dragons’ once which spawned a short story.
Years ago, I could only write to Baroque instrumental music, but then I got out of my own way…
Do you keep them after you’re finished, maybe even put each into the appendix of the book you wrote while listening to it?