Authors- what do you listen to when you write?

2544 Views 33 Replies 29 Participants Last post by D.R. Erickson, May 23, 2011

balaspa

Discussion Starter · May 23, 2011

For me, for some reason, with each novel that I write, I seem to find one piece of music I have to listen to before I start writing that particular story. There have also been novels I have written where I just had to have earphones in and write the entire time with music going.

1 - 20 of 34 Posts

Ryne Billings

· #2 · May 23, 2011

I writing epic fantasy, and there are a few songs I always listen to when writing.

For action sequences, I listen to ACDC, mainly Hell's Bells, Back in Black, and Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution. I also mix in some Broken by Seether ft. Amy Lee.

Outside of that, I mainly listen to country and pop.

JRainey

· #3 · May 23, 2011

I love listening to Voltaire (the singer, not the writer) when I'm writing for the These Hellish Happenings series. His dark but funny but slightly twisted music really fits my own writing style and sense of humor and such. I also love listening to The Doors, Queen, Rush... Classic rock in general is awesome.

I almost always have music on when I'm writing, too. I know some people just can't write with music on, but I can't really manage in silence. Weird, I know!

samanthawarren

· #4 · May 23, 2011

I'm one of those silence people.

The music is too much of a distraction most of the time. Quiet works best for me.

MeiLinMiranda

· #5 · May 23, 2011

For some reason, Iron & Wine kicks me in the ass every time. I get a lot of ideas listening to him, and passion comes easily.

thejosh86

· #6 · May 23, 2011

Oh man, I'd have a hard time pointing out anything particular I listen to when I'm writing. In general, I like to keep up with the indie/alternative "scene", so that's usually what I listen to while I'm writing.

PMartelly

· #7 · May 23, 2011

Emotional Scenes (Non-Love)
Lykke Li - Until We Bleed
Anything from the Lord of the Rings soundtrack
Loreena McKennitt - The Mystic's Dream
Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata
Anastasia - Once Upon a December

Descriptive Nature Scenes
Enya - Sail Away and Orinoco Flow

Battle/Action Scenes
AFI - Miss Murder
Does It Offend You, Yeah? - We are Rockstars

Emotional Scenes (Love)
Corrinne Bailey Rae - Just Like A Star
Adele - Lovesong
Robin Thicke - I Need Love

Happy Scenes
Florence and the Machine - Dog Days Are Over

There are others, but those are the ones that come to mind. =]

See less See more

Cristian YoungMiller

· #8 · May 23, 2011

Wow, I can't even imagine listening to music while writing. For me it requires way too much concentration.

JILLIAN DODD

· #9 · May 23, 2011

It depends what type of scene I am writing. If I'm writing about a party type scene, I will listen to that sort of music when I jog. Love scenes, something more romantic. Music gets my brain going. But when I actually do the writing, I usually have silence.

PMartelly

· #10 · May 23, 2011

Cristian YoungMiller said:
Wow, I can't even imagine listening to music while writing. For me it requires way too much concentration.

I agree with you in some ways. I don't listen to music every single time I write. Most often I listen to something when I'm kind of stuck on wording. It helps me to write to the flow of the music. Especially for emotionally charged scenes.

JPM

· #11 · May 23, 2011

Pandora Radio. Music is just noise while I'm writing (not to say it doesn't affect my writing, but it's not there to). It's a bit like blocking out the rest of the world so that I don't get distracted, if that makes any sense.

MeiLinMiranda

· #12 · May 23, 2011

JPM, actually I probably listen to Pandora more than anything. I have several channels I put on for writing, the main one being called Concentration; it's seeded with classical, Brazilian and non-vocal jazz.

Victorine

· #13 · May 23, 2011

I'm another one of the "silence" writers. Sometimes I'll listen to a song to get me in the mood to write, but then when I do write I have to turn it off to concentrate.

Vicki

Casper Parks

· #14 · May 23, 2011

Depends on a lot of things... I've listen to Michael Hedges, Pete Bardens.... And a lot of rock, then... Often, silence... I may start out a writing with background music, then tire of it or it becomes distracting. Then, will write with silence.

MeiLinMiranda

· #15 · May 23, 2011

Casper, I love Michael Hedges. He's one of the seeds on my Concentration channel.

Mel Comley

· #16 · May 23, 2011

I'm another silent writer, even get annoyed when the birds are singing and the cows are mooing in the nearby fields.

Tom Junior

· #17 · May 23, 2011

I put the iPod on shuffle and enjoy what happens. I keep a mix of soul, pop, rock, and 80'-90's indie music. It's surprising how often a randomly chosen song fits the exact mood of what I'm writing.

Rex Jameson

· #18 · May 23, 2011

JPM said:
Pandora Radio. Music is just noise while I'm writing (not to say it doesn't affect my writing, but it's not there to). It's a bit like blocking out the rest of the world so that I don't get distracted, if that makes any sense.

This. Specifically, I tend to listen to a Tycho station. Ambient that tends towards breakbeat at times.

India Drummond

· #19 · May 23, 2011

samanthawarren said:
I'm one of those silence people. The music is too much of a distraction most of the time. Quiet works best for me.

Same here, although I do particularly enjoy it if it's raining outside while I write. No idea why. I like the sound of it.

susie

· #20 · May 23, 2011

I can't listen to any music while I write...I'm way too busy concentrating on seeing and feeling what I have in my head so that I can tell the story.

1 - 20 of 34 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.