Inspiring music.

[Tecdavid]

One of my greatest inspirations for writing is good music. Whatever the genre, many pieces help me form vibrant images in my head, helping me decide what I'd like a place to look like, how I'd like a scene to feel, or perhaps how a character could act.
Does music help anyone else this way? What pieces do you find most inspirational?

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Not through choice but I can only write listening to the same four John Barrowman songs. No idea why beyond it blooming well worked. I don't mind the guy, his voice is OK but I am sick fed up of those songs.

I can throw in some Lee Mead whilst I am writing my detectives for a break, but I'm back to my fantasy.

 

[seaside]

As a musician and composer you'd think I'd have a resounding yes, but for me music is more a distraction than help while working. I hear too much when something is playing and I can't focus. Now I do believe music can help bring out emotions for a given moment, but when it's time to write, I need quiet.

 

[Fedos]

Well, sometimes when I'm writing a pretty intense scene I'll play Tchaikovsky's Symphony #4 Movement 1. Or a heartbreaking scene then Rachmaninoff's Symphony #2 Movement 1. Or Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #2 the first two movements for sad scenes. And I've just ordered the complete Lord of the Rings soundtrack to help to inspire me with my fantasy series in progress.

I pretty much discovered classical music late in high school. And while I don't know how to play any instruments or anything like that, I'm always hoping that musical magic will rub off or help me inspirationally, and most of the time it does help.

 

[Flugel Meister]

I prefer to focus on the emotion of music for the purpose of writing, so I often listen to soundtracks. It can be anything from Tron: Legacy to Transformers, The Dark Knight or Gladiator.

I’ll choose the tracks depending on their tempo and the aspect of the film they represent when writing. So for a particularly dark section of my manuscript I’ll choose the Dark Knight. If it’s more action based I’ll go with Transformers. It gets me in the right frame of mind for each scene and chapter.

 

[MemoryTale]

I've got quite chaotic musical tastes, so I'lllisten to anything from motzart to Abba to heavy metal bands like Nightwish.

That said if you're writing fantasy and want to get into a medieval mindset, I find you can't go wrong with Blackmore's Night.

 

[Dozmonic]

What I'm writing can be heavily influenced by what I'm listening to. Something chilled like Enigma, Enya, Trinity etc is what I usually prefer. But sometimes there's a lot of noise around and I prefer a little more chaos such as the prodigy. I love my brother's singing, so his songs get listened to too, especially this one:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTfLSZEXkYE

 

[Nik]

"... when it's time to write, I need quiet."

I don't like background sounds at all, and the stillness of the small-hours is my most productive time...

 

[Jake Reynolds]

Generally I go for quiet too, but if I'm not in the zone, then I play music to get myself giddy'd up. I have different playlists for my main characters, divided into sub-sections such as love scene, battle scene, and so on. I generally go for songs or pieces of music that have resonance with who the character is, what their motivations are (for example, 'Cash's God's Gonna Cut You Down', for my Messiah character, etc). AC/DC and Queen for battle scenes, or whatever suits the theme, really.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I used to think listening to music was a great help, because it could help define a mood, or condition a work flow.

Now I think it's a distraction, because the words you write must stand up as words in their own right. Anything not in the words is lost.

 

[Ökuþórr]

I always listen to music when writing. Find it hard not to. I'm listening to Amon Amarth: War Of The Gods at the moment. It's perfect for the next paragraph I need to write, just not the one I'm writing now. But I listen to a wide range of things, so there is always something right for what I intend to write.

 

[TheTomG]

Music inspires me, but not while writing, then it would be distracting. Now, when I'm listening to music in the car on the way into work, it gives me ideas for stories, from words, or phrases, or the feel of it all.

 

[hopewrites]

I find music inspiring, exhausting, exhilarating, calming... but when I listen to music I am absorbed in the sounds, the beat, the push and pull of emotions that the artiest created.
I dont try and create while doing so.
But I do the same when experiencing other art forms; books, music, paintings, films...

I like to loose myself in art, because more often then not I find a piece of myself on my way back.
Then that is what I go and write about.

 

[Hex]

I can't pay attention to more than one thing at once, so I don't tend to listen to music while I'm writing (or speaking, or walking...).

I do, though, sometimes hear songs with an idea or feeling that I like so much I want to use it. Then, I'll sometimes write the scene with that song playing to remind myself of the feeling. They tend to be few and far between, though. I only have one of those scenes/ songs in my current wip, and only two or three in the last one.

 

[Peter Graham]

That said if you're writing fantasy and want to get into a medieval mindset, I find you can't go wrong with Blackmore's Night.

Good Lord! Might I suggest that you jettison the sugar-coated Disney-medieval noodling of Sir Richard De Blackmore and his cod-elfin paramour who puts herself about in gossamer gowns of a flowing cut like Ophelia on a bad day and instead invest in pretty much anything by Spiers & Boden. I hope you'll find that instrumental tracks like Sweet Jenny Jones or The Cuckoo's Nest or that songs like Copshawholme Fair or Bold Sir Rylas will scratch the same itch far more effectively.

Hangman, stay your hand,
Stay it for a while
For I think I see my true love a-coming
Over yonder stile*

Regards,

Peter

* Yes, it is. But the Spiers & Boden version is much more wholemeal.

 

[Toby Frost]

i like the music of philip glass.




i like philip glass.





philip glass. The end.

(Actually, I do quite like some of his stuff. But yes, about 90% of what I write is written to music, and wine.)

 

[odangutan]

*knock knock*
'Who's there?'
*knock knock*
'Who's there?'
*knock knock*
'Who's there?'
*knock knock*
'Who's there?'
'Phillip Glass'

 

[Phoenixthewriter]

Fantasy Metal, Power Metal, Goth Metal.... And Celldweller.

Honestly bands like - Sonata Arctica, Nightwish, Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil, Krypteria. All these bands have influenced something I've written in one fashion or another.

Celldweller I like just because it gets me pumped.