Writing Playlist
Music and Writing
Music is a pretty big piece of the writing pie. Just about every writer I know prefers to write to music, and each writer has their own preferences.
Some build a playlist scene-by-scene in their novel, suiting music to mood. Some pick songs that remind them of their heroes or heroines, that pluck at their heartstrings and remind them of why they love their stories.
My Requirements
I’ve never been quite that involved, but I do have some requirements.
- The music must not have identifiable words. No English (or even Spanish) words are allowed, because my brain spends too much effort trying to understand/translate. Preferably, the music has no words at all and is entirely instrumental.
- No identifiable tunes. I get distracted waiting for lyrics that aren’t there. My friend’s wedding playlist is gorgeous, but I can’t use it because it’s mostly instrumental versions of awesome songs. This includes music immortalized by Looney Tunes, because I don’t need to be thinking about Coyote and Road Runner when I’m trying to write an emotional scene.
- The music must feel BIG. It must have enough pace to it to keep my writing edgy, and must feel slightly epic.
- The music must have multiple songs (so it takes a long time to go through the whole playlist) but each song must match the other songs well enough that I’m not stuttering every time there’s a song change.
I’ve found that movie and video game soundtracks fit this bill VERY well.
In particular, I’m getting to really enjoy the Bastion soundtrack (though some of my favorite songs have actual words) … but my favorite soundtrack, and the one I’ve used for over a year now, is the NieR soundtrack. I’ve got a youtube playlist for it (see below) but I also purchased the whole soundtrack from iTunes.
Bastion (Not Perfect for Writing, but Fabulous Vibe)
NieR (My go-to writing soundtrack)
You
What about you? How do you choose music to be creative to? (Not just writing). Do you have a favorite playlist?
17 Comments
I use an existing Youtube playlist (because, hey, why reinvent the wheel) of music from an anime I am particularly fond of (and is also pretty well known for it’s music)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8A431692D733BE9B&feature=plcp
Mostly instrumental, mostly pretty fast, but generally ambient enough in a techno-y kinda way that I can safely ignore it as anything but background.
OH man, those are great! I’ll have to save that link!
NieR? I can’t see you tube at work to figure out what that stands for.but, at least it hasn’t blocked this post as ‘GAMES!’
It doesn’t actually stand for anything, oddly enough. Just the name of the video game — thus doubly odd it hasn’t been blocked!
When writing (because I simply can’t write for hours and hours on end), I listen to Blackmore’s Night, in a genre you might call “renaissance metal,” with more emphasis on the ren than the metal—although Richie Blackmore is the former lead man for the heavy metal band, Deep Purple. His wife does most of the vocals. There are lots of lyrics, and the worst that happens when I listen is that I try to imagine stories behind some of the lyrics.
For example, if anyone wants a writing prompt, here’s one:
Twenty-five years since I woke up trembling
Twenty-five years since that terrible dream
I could see that the world was crumbling
Nothing is ever as it seems (“Twenty-five Years)
Or, “World of Stone”
Bring to me all of my arrows
Bring to me my crossbow too
I fear we might need them both
Before the night is through
For editing, though, nothing—nothing—beats Jimmy Buffett. :D
Wow, those are GREAT lyrics.
I’m one of the minority — I need silence to write. The problem is that I can’t ignore music. If it’s playing, sooner or later I will find myself listening to it and distracted by it. So I keep my work area dead silent.
Oddly, what I do find is that when characters come alive to me, I suddenly “understand” what kind of music they like — and I’ll pick up a weird fascination with it. Write about a good ol’ boy = 4 month fixation with country and western. Bartolomei (a character Tami would remember) had the most hideous taste in music ever. No human being should ever find themselves tearing up while singing “The Glory of Love.”
What scares me is that I’m currently writing YA fiction… and I’ve suddenly found myself lingering over Justin Bieber songs and burbling “Call Me Maybe.” Thank gawd my villain likes Jimi Hendrix, otherwise I might have to shoot myself…
*laugh* I actually really like Call Me Maybe. (It hasn’t been rubbed against my delicate senses until it feels like sandpaper yet). Have you seen the video for it? It’s kind of awesome.
Your character music tastes are hilarious.
<3 Bartolomei. <3<3<3
I’m similar Jenny. I do my best stuff when all the kids are down and my wife is reading on the couch. I prefer to write with very little noise. I know I’m going to have to change that because I won’t always be able to find those quite spaces in sufficient quantity.
I find that I can’t focus at all in complete silence or anything that comes across as…exciting? Haha, maybe ‘bombastic’ is a better word.
Anything with a lot of percussion is pretty much out for me when writing. I tend to work best with simpler, non-intrusive tunes, preferably with little to no vocals.
Zia’s wall-building song works well for me, as do a lot of random youtube covers of gaming themes done with just a piano or guitar.
Sounds like you match my writing music preferences. I find Neir to be interesting without being distracting.
The Final Fantasy X piano version is unfortunately still a little too “bombastic” for me. =]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ubujPlWCtI
Her piano music in general is something I usually turn to when I need some noise while writing but that piece in particular was running on repeat when I was writing the climax of a certain, recent airborne battle XD.
D: So sad! Holy crud, just the first few notes had me tearing up. I loved that movie.
Have you heard any of the Cirque du Soleil music? all the ‘lyrics’ are in a beautiful made-up gibberish (http://www.youtube.com/user/cirquedusoleil)
Ooooh, that’s beautiful!
Do you regularly cycle songs so the tunes don’t become memorable?
For development (and employee evaluations), it depends on my mood and how much sleep I’ve had. No-sleep Brad frequently needs music and will usually listen to Jimi Hendrix, Fiona Apple, Ben Folds, Radiohead, Pearl Jam. Alternatively, I can listen to an album that just has one or two songs I really like and can sing or “chair dance” to. No-sleep Brad cannot listen to Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” anymore unless he wants to lose his mind. “Dark Side of the Moon” is ok, but if he wants more Pink Floyd, he’ll listen to the other as well and want to shave his whole head (eyebrows included).
On some sleep, when I listen to music, I do best with something like Norah Jones or Dave Brubeck, but most music really works here (anything late-night works great and then just about anything else that doesn’t have an earwig in it like “Call Me Maybe”).
Then there are the times when I need to hear myself think and I have to literally talk. All music gets turned off until I’m done. This tends to happen when I need to really think about something and any outside input usually just prolongs the process, so this usually works best when I’m all alone and no one can see me (so I don’t get self-conscious about it).
I cycle any song that jars me out of a writing “trance” — sometimes that’s from familiarity, but usually it indicates a song that’s too sharp. I have a hard time with saxophones or sharp percussion, for example.
I love all the Brads. No-sleep Tami doesn’t exist though. I need lots and lots of sleep to function.