I usually write in silence, but sometimes I just listen to music I like. I will usually get in the swing of things and loop the same song for two hours or so, or until I finish the chapter. I always list the song I was listening to for when I go back to edit- I find it helps. I like The Beatles, George Harrison, Bread, Paloma Faith, The Forrest Gump soundtrack, Adele, instrumentals / classical music (I love Méditation from Thaïs), meditation music (all waterfalls and pan pipes, that sort of fun stuff), George, Katie Noonan, most of the stuff I like mainly because I grew up listening to it. Mostly though, it is just silence, or I will play my violin a bit before writing.
I usually have a mix playing on Mixcloud, usually ambient/chillout/downtempo but depending on the scene I might go for something more trance-y, or deep/jazz house, space etc. Mixmaster Morris and Bonobo usually do it well. And I also have an album of water sounds, and the track with crickets going and waves crashing on the beach, is sublime.
Listening to music when I'm writing is just distracting for me. Edit: Looks like the forum is messing up . Could a mod delete the extra ones
I'm a big fan of classical music. Wagner's Ring Cycle has some great moods and motifs which are very inspiring, and Tchaikovsky is also a winner. Besides that, there are also the classic sountracks which are very good for finding certain moods, like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars (or anything by John Williams really), and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Funnily enough my writing playlist is extremely varied. I have anything from emo to EDM to rap to soft metal to Christian [ahem... Skillet... no one else] to instrumental-only to soundtrack to pop to rock to classic rock [have a bit of that... GnR, Queen, Elvis, Bon Jovi, INXS...] to alternative and even some J-pop. My current muse song is Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce, a soft metal band. I had that on repeat for over three hours straight. Anti-You by Blue Stahli is another one that helps me write. A lot. I have 381 tracks in my playlist and two mini-playlists that I'll listen to if I'm trying to write a specific type of scene that I habitually struggle with.
Usually I find pieces that link to my story. As I'm writing fantasy at the moment, I listen to the soundtracks that feature in movies, tv shows and video games. However I've gone against this more recently as I'm listening to a larger variety of music, predominantly indie stuff. Lyrics don't usually influence my writing.
Personally, I do not listen to music while I write; however it does give me inspiration when I'm out and about. It also tends to give me the motivation.
I tend to do a lot of writing on my lunch break and my office is very noisy, so listening to music has become a habit for me while writing. It really depends on what I am writing. When it something gloomy or creepy I usually have The Angelic Processes, The Cure or Joy Division in the ol' ear buds but lately I've been listening to a lot of Mastodon while writing a fantasy story I've been playing around with.
normally i listen to metal while writing, and used an album title for one book name and a song title for another (Order Of The Black and Days Turn From Blue To Grey respectively) i dont know what really influences my choices of exactly what kind of metal i listen to, although i tend to go for something downright aggressive if im writing a war scene (which, so far, in my WIP there has been 2 in the 2 books ive got so far.)
Writing just like life has a pulse. In order for mine to flow, I need to find it, count it, sense it, and let my fingers fly. My music library is massive, but topping my playlists are: Two Steps From Hell, Murray Gold (Composer for Doctor Who), Nightwish, and James Newton Howard.
I listen to music that matches the tone of my writing. Often soundtracks work best, without words to intrude, but I'll add in regular songs. Sometimes they inspire.
I've been experimenting and it looks like I write a lot easier with music.... @jannert I tried to listen pure instrumental music, like you said, and I took your post literally, meaning I went straight to classic music. I've been listening Bach, Strauss and Beethoven for three hours now, and words and ideas seem to pour a little lighter out of me.
It kind of provides a 'movie soundtrack' for me. Something you're not directly aware of, but it alters mood and perception. Interesting discovery I made about 45 years ago, when I was a university student. I discovered that if I had a particularly boring, dry text to read (in history, sociology, literature, political science) I could liven it up by putting classical music on in the background. For some reason, the 'soundtrack' made the writing seem more 'watchable,' as if it was an instructional film! Bizarre. But it worked.
but by the same token of what i listen to, it can also effect how the novel writes as well, so basically, where i could be listening to quite dark music, my main human character has a moment where he feels quite down and lost (which thankfully, fits him as a character with his past, that ive trickled into the novel)
As a man who had been sucked into the evils of video games at a young age, I take the nostalgic and adventurous music of video game soundtracks... most recently the work of Brian Tyler & Sarah Schachner on Assassin's Crreed: Black Flag.
Brian Tyler has done some amazing scores: Children of Dune is among my favourites. Hello. My name is Darkkin and I am a soundtrack junkie...
I just started looking into soundtracks... all I know is that Hans Zimmerman has done a lot of good ones... do you have anymore favorites?
Actually, the composer's name is Hans Zimmer, most well known for his work on the Lion King, the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, the Dark Knight trilogy, King Arthur, the Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, Inception, and Call of Duty, as well as, the newer Sherlock films.
Just more proof of my cluelessness Oh! The Pirates the Caribbean ones were what made me like soundtracks!
The soundtrack to Akira is incredible. I don't much like anime, and the film itself is worth watching but nothing incredible. But the soundtrack is awe inspiring, and I find it conducive to modafinil fueled, angry writing. I will always have music on whilst I write, and I think of it as a vital component. It helps me settle on a mood, on a timbre of sorts. My habit is as follows - spasmodically abuse Spotify for about half an hour until I find something that "fits" my mentality, and then begin to write. Right now A Love Supreme and Ascension by Coltrane is doing it for me, I'm in a jazzy mood. The only exception to this pattern is when I have an idea that is so electric I cannot fit it, instead I descend straight into frenzied writing. This is increasingly rare though.