Music as a writing tool

I personally find music inspiring but I don't know if I need it in conjunction with my own creative outlet. I can listen to a peice of music then see events unfold in my mind and it's an incredible tool. But when it's time to create, it's time to create.

I would much rather be alone with my work (the hobbyist writer that I am).

On a side note, anyone ever do sensory deprivation? Wild wild stuff. I recommend it to anyone who is creative, I have gotten a lot out of it (more out of recreational drugs tho lol)
 
I've watched Sunshine several times, but didn't really appreciate just how moving the music was: Sunshine (Adagio in D Minor) - [Super Extended]
 
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The music I listen to varies from time to time. Sometimes I put on a Pandora station with music from movie soundtracks and Nobuo Uematsu. Other times, I like listening to artists like Lindsey Stirling or Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I do notice that when I want to get myself into certain moods I will gravitate towards specific albums or songs though. I.E., when I want an "epic" soundtrack I might put on some Hans Zimmer, namely the Inception Soundtrack.

Of course, I sometimes write without music at all. I find that I write more emotional scenes (sad or shocking) in silence. I'm sure psychologists would have something to offer on that...
 
Turns out we're not the only people who do this - http://www.robertjacksonbennett.com/blog/soundscapes-city-of-blades

This is also a convenient excuse for me to add some more good stuff.

Inter Arma - Where the Earth Meets the Sky - Wistfulness, Release from Pain, Transcendance (note - rest of Inter Arma ain't like that. More Sludge Metal).

Underworld - And I Will Kiss - Pandemonium & Creation

Tori Amos - Raining Blood - Creepy lurking threat. Can just imagine it playing in the background as the MC takes the final steps towards something absolutely horrifying

O'Carolan's Farewell to Music - Two versions here. The first one is just a harp and is mellow and soothing with a touch of sorrow. The second is led by a violin and is hurt like a knife. The first is the song for someone passing away while intoxicated and not really knowing what they're losing; the second is their family mourning their loss.
 
I have been listening to Norse music this week and it's been so inspiring. I usually listen to music that would put most people to sleep, but I thrive creatively when I listen to soothing melodies.

Thanks to the Norse music I've found, there's now a whole scene in my story that would otherwise probably not exist.
 
Classical music or movie scores definitely work for me - mood setting but not too distracting (I tried pop or rock songs but found myself either singing along or accidentally writing lyrics into my stories).
 
Both when I'm reading or writing, I have to have music playing in the background or via headphones. I get too distracted with the outside world otherwise.

And most of the time my musical preferences are instrumental chiefly. So anything from the likes of Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Mike Oldfield, Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, John Williams (film composer), John Barry, James Horner, Art of Noise, Fragile State, Alucidnation, Tangerine Dream, 808-State.. to name but a few.
 
Links people! Links! This thread is worthless without links.

(Well, okay. Not worthless. But a lot less fun).

Cult of Luna - Leave Me Here - I want to insert a brutal winter journey into my books just so I can write it to this (long, slightly meandering, quite brutal alienation and desolation)

Jesu - Farewell - Alienation and desolation again, but in a more mellow way. This song is watching the world drift away with sorrow; the above is screaming at the world to stop trying to take it with you.

Speaking of movies, I love the soundtrack to Heat. The end music is a fantastic elegy; there is both a sense of cathartic release with comfort and maybe the possibility of moving forwards, but also a definite sense of absolute loss. Then there's the 'chase' scene with Moby's cover of New Dawn Fades. Its got this sense of power and brittleness and, again I guess, alienation. Huh. There's a theme to this one it seems. Something more triumphant then!

Hollenthon - Eclipse (Vita Nova) - Its a great narrative arc from the last futile stand, to that despairing moment of defeat, to questioning it and the triumphant code of new life in the form of guitar solo and Gregorian chanting. Guess this one is more music to think ideas to than to write to unless you write really fast :p
 
I listen to music often, and not just when I write. However it is always instrumental classical music(so Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, etc.)

I don't really base my writing off the mood of the music though. If the mood of the music and the mood of a particular scene in my writing match, it is just a coincidence.
 
HanaBi said:
Both when I'm reading or writing, I have to have music playing in the background or via headphones. I get too distracted with the outside world otherwise.

And most of the time my musical preferences are instrumental chiefly. So anything from the likes of Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Mike Oldfield, Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, John Williams (film composer), John Barry, James Horner, Art of Noise, Fragile State, Alucidnation, Tangerine Dream, 808-State.. to name but a few.
Click to expand...

Some great names there. Glad to meet a fellow TD fan!
 
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