Do you listen to music when you write?

2463 Views 48 Replies 45 Participants Last post by DPfitzsimons, Jan 18, 2013

mestrin

Discussion Starter · Jan 16, 2013

I wrote a quick guest post for author Ben Wallace (Dumb White Husband series) about listening to music while writing.
http://benjaminwallacebooks.com/what-on-earth-was-he-listening-to-when-he-wrote-this/
Do you listen to music? If so, what?

1 - 20 of 49 Posts

William Meikle

· #2 · Jan 16, 2013

Always, and have been doing so since I started.

Nothing too rocky, as I find it disturbs the concentration too much. I listen to a lot of folk and country stuff; Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, Mumford and Sons, Old Crow Medicine Show along with Nick Cave, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello's more mellow albums.

Mathew Reuther

· #3 · Jan 16, 2013

I have to. I have children.

I listen to a lot of soundtracks. Some rock/hiphop/electronic/gothic . . . really, I have broad tastes so I listen to a broad range.

54706

· #4 · Jan 16, 2013

No way. I've tried many times. It distracts me and pulls me out of the story completely. Sometimes I listen to white noise in headphones to really get into my writing groove.

StephenBrennan

· #5 · Jan 16, 2013

I haven't tried listening to country lol, but I find that music and even white noise is kind of distracting.

Morgan Talbot

· #6 · Jan 16, 2013

I listen to music that matches my genre. Right now, my fave is the theme from Sherlock. It has this peculiar rhythm that makes me want to speed up just a little, then just a little more, and never, ever stop. It's perfect for keeping me in my chair. With people posting soundtracks, Youtube has become a great resource for me and my writing.

TexasGirl

· #7 · Jan 16, 2013

Rarely. It's distracting. I need silence.

BUT. If the scene is set to music, I listen to THAT music. I wrote a jazz saxophonist playing in an abandoned subway tunnel so that a girl can find him--played some solo jazz saxophone.

Also, I just did an erotica piece in a bondage exhibition with very specific music. I linked to the music I listened to when I wrote it within the ebook itself so others could also feel the mood I felt when I put the scene together.

Jonathan C. Gillespie

· #8 · Jan 16, 2013

Fairly often...I go for stuff out on the bleeding edge of ambient and electronica. It gels well with spec fiction. My ears open up to SomaFM, Groove radio, etc.

daphne dangerlove

· #9 · Jan 16, 2013

Always. It takes me out of whatever is going on around me and into my writing place.

I use Pandora so I can set up stations for everything. When I am editing, I listen to film scores like Harry Potter, Twilight, Lord of the Rings...perfect editing music! Or a site like RainyMood. Rain just seems to take me away from reality. When I am writing, I usually create a station for the mood of the book. Pandora does a good job of finding new music to add to whatever I start with.

S.L. Baum

· #10 · Jan 16, 2013

Sometimes YES - Sometimes NO

I guess it depends on the mood I am in while I am writing. I think I do it more in the beginning stages. But with 3 children... there is often some form of noise going on around me... unless I find the time to write while they are all at school. Then... just sitting in quiet is a blissful experience

jvin248

· #11 · Jan 16, 2013

.
Almost all the time. Heavy Rock through Dance.
.
It drowns out all the other craziness going on around here so I can focus.
.
.

Elizabeth Ann West

· #12 · Jan 16, 2013

I use playlists and specific songs to "get into" a characters mood and point of view.

I also use playlists as timers when I'm working on things like blog posts, chapters, or other tech work so when the music stops, it's time for me to change activity etc.

JRTomlin

· #13 · Jan 16, 2013

Most of the time. I have a pretty extensive collection of "writing music". It's varied. Everything from Wagner and Beethovan to The Gael.

Soothesayer

· #14 · Jan 16, 2013

Typically I don't, as it breaks concentrations. Once in a blue moon I will however if it is something sci-fi I'm working on, which in that case will be Steve Roach or Michael Stearns. Can't get any more sci-fi than those two.

Bec

· #15 · Jan 16, 2013

Sometimes.

Usually, I would prefer to work in silence. But I live in a one-bedroom apartment with my partner and we're near both a hospital and a fire hall, and in a building with lots of old people so the fire department and ambulance visit us quite a lot and they sure do like their sirens. So it's not exactly quiet most of the time.

If I'm writing late at night, or early on a Sunday morning while my partner's asleep and everything's quiet, then I am in bliss.

Rest of the time, it's headphones on and I plug away.

What I listen to depends on my mood and what I'm writing. I try to get the music to fit the mood of the scene I'm writing. Sometimes I feel like I spend more time picking the right music than actually writing, sigh.

mestrin

Discussion Starter · #16 · Jan 16, 2013

Mathew Reuther said:
I have to. I have children.

So does the music block out the sound of the kids?

mestrin

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jan 16, 2013

daphne dangerlove said:
Always. It takes me out of whatever is going on around me and into my writing place.

I use Pandora so I can set up stations for everything. When I am editing, I listen to film scores like Harry Potter, Twilight, Lord of the Rings...perfect editing music! Or a site like RainyMood. Rain just seems to take me away from reality. When I am writing, I usually create a station for the mood of the book. Pandora does a good job of finding new music to add to whatever I start with.

I used to use Pandora. I still love it because it can find new music and it just goes without being told what to play. But sometimes I find that if I'm writing at a Cafe with slow Internet, Pandora tends to crap out.

I think you make a great point about editing music. I tend to use classical and film scores while editing... there's something about the pace and feel of that music that helps you move through a lot of text without zoning out.

JumpingShip

· #18 · Jan 16, 2013

mestrin said:
I wrote a quick guest post for author Ben Wallace (Dumb White Husband series) about listening to music while writing.
http://benjaminwallacebooks.com/what-on-earth-was-he-listening-to-when-he-wrote-this/
Do you listen to music? If so, what?

Yes. When I first started writing, I lived in a smaller house and when my daughter was born, we turned our office into her bedroom. That left just the living room to write in comfortably, but that's where everyone else was too. Earbuds and a playlist let me block out all the other things going on--for the most part.

We live in a bigger house now, but I still like to be with my family in the den where we hang out and dh watches TV. Most of my first book was written with my dd sitting right beside me on the couch where she would sometimes get to use my dh's laptop to play a game or she'd watch tv cuddled up to me. Now she's 12, has my old laptop, sits in the recliner a few feet from mine and writes fanfiction.

Sometimes she gives me the 'heart' sign since I can't hear her.

I love to listen to Explosions in the Sky, Sea Wolf, Flogging Molly, and random other artists who are my current flavor of the day.

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JezStrider

· #19 · Jan 16, 2013

Always. I listen to Pandora with stations that fit my mood or story. Kind of shuts me off from the rest of the world and helps me focus on writing.

nikkarina

· #20 · Jan 16, 2013

mestrin said:
I wrote a quick guest post for author Ben Wallace (Dumb White Husband series) about listening to music while writing.
http://benjaminwallacebooks.com/what-on-earth-was-he-listening-to-when-he-wrote-this/
Do you listen to music? If so, what?

I love listening to music when I write! It definitley sets the mood. If I am writing a scene with a lot of drama then I will listen to some intense music. Just the same if I get a really good flow going I sometimes have to turn off the music just to think.

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