Music is a must. I have a youtube "writing music" playlist set up just for it. Lots of James Horner (RIP), Hans Zimmer, Requiem for a Dream, and just finding epic music playlists. If I don't have the right music going, it ain't happening.
I have a youtube 'writing' playlist too, admittedly with different music to yours though - it's a lot less cultured lets put it that way
Yeah, there's other stuff I like for other situations, but songs with words make it tougher to write for me. It's harder to tune out and concentrate on what I'm doing. And I'm not sure how "cultured" movie scores are. It's basically classical music dumbed down.
I always have music on in the background while writing. At the moment, 'The Piano Guys' - Beethoven's 5 Secrets I always listen to before I start with as it inspires me. Then it depends what scenes I'm writing. 'The Prodigy' for action/fight sequences, Lord of the Rings soundtrack for fantasy, a lot of classical just to keep me going.
There are songs which very specifically transport the energy/emotions of certain scenes in my story. I always listen to my playlist where these songs are included, among other deeply loved ones. And sometimes, one of these other songs suddenly starts to fit into the story as well, with an attached scene. Gah, one of these other songs just started really clear pictures in my head, which properly means that there is a whole new story in there. No, I will not think about that now, I am deep in my first story. This 'Other' can wait for it's proper time!!
While music never sparks the initial idea of a story that I am to write, it can however provide for an atmosphere that I like. If I'm writing a sad or a romantic story I definitely won't play RATM in the background. RATM: anger, vengeance, frustration, murder, hate BRIAN ENO: childhood, innocence, sci-fi, love, death, night-time, vast meadows PJ HARVEY: cool, badass, living life at its fullest, macho, summer, driving a coupe some of the examples that first came to my mind
I get inspired by songs for characterization, for sure - I've written entire books based on characterization ideas I got from Dropkick Murphys songs (that aimlessly violent young man who has nothing in his life but loyalty to his friends) and "Thirty-eight Years Old" by the Tragically Hip. And I'm working on a series now where the emotional impact of the climax will hopefully be reminiscent of "Do you Hear the People Sing" from Les Mis. But I don't listen to music while I write. If there are words, they distract me from my own words, and if there aren't words I don't get much out of the music.
Listen to many different genres/subgenres when I write. From many types of Metal, Industrial, all the way out to Orchestral, and even into a little Arabian Instrumental (as well as a truck load of other genres in between). Writing sci-fi/war kind of has a need for a pulsing aggressive heart beat, with lulls of milder more temperate tones when not depicting action scenarios. Also explores the insights and philosophical aspects of my three MCs, I have to calm it down with mellower stuff like: Dark Minimal, Hybrid Orchestral, Dark Emotional, and Electronica. And just for fun the Metal Gear Solid soundtrack ( PS1 version), and the first Twisted Metal soundtrack. But primarily a lot of: Machine Head, Five Finger Death Punch, Alien Vampires, Combichrist, and so on.
I like listening to Celtic folk sometimes and general Fantasy midis, a lot of which I found so many years back I don't remember where they came from. There are in fact a few midi songs that now "feel" rather strongly like my writing to me because I listened to them a lot while writing my first book.
I love Turisas and Alestorm, not often you find people who know who they are. Yeah, I hate churned-out-pop-pap, but not all lyrics have to be deep and meaningful though. Arsehole by Snuff is an awesome song for example. That is cool. I love the Pogues seen them a few times. Love Flogging Molly too, saw them live several times when they were still unheard of. Ditto. I'm mostly listening to jazz at the moment for my WiP, but it varies from project to project, prefer stuff that's sits in the background though and doesn't intrude too much.
Lately I've been listening to Massive Attack's "100th Window" a lot while I write. It's nice and dark and gets me in the mood. The artist I listen to most often when writing is Tim Hecker... I listen to him most often while I'm not writing, too.
I listen to pretty much anything without lyrics when I write. Or at least, lyrics in a language other than English. For my fantasy writing, I like to turn to The Baltimore Consort. They have loads of great medieval and thereabouts music. It's vintage too. (lol) My favorite would have to be The Mad Buckgoat, their Irish album. It's great stuff. For general writing purposes, I also like to turn to mixes, (Suicidesheeep on YT is my favorite), com truise, grimes and other etc. electronic music. I know I saw Noir Deco mentioned here earlier, they're also one of my favorites.
As the space I doodle in also has the television in it, I listen to music to drown out the racket. Currently I am listening to music podcasts from http://www.mikehardingfolkshow.com/. I am currently doodling in 1640, and the occasional traditional song helps with the mood.
Been listening to a lot of Disturbed albums this week. They don't have the best Metacritic scores, but they've helped me shift my mind back to general psychology instead of the endless well of drug trivia that's been ruining my writing. The lyrics are relatively articulate as well.
What are you currently writing? I love recommending music and if it helps enhance your writing mood, even better.
I'm trying to write about Asperger's, ADHD, and associated pharamaceuticals without treating the sufferers like lazy malingerers or turning them into inspirational little geniuses who don't really need a diagnosis at all. Unfortunately, I find it very easy to unbalance things with long internal monologues, thanks to intimate familiarity with the aforementioned traits. The medication portion is particularly a problem, being the target of some classic autistic hyperfocus. The music is an attempt to force said hyperfocus into a wider lense.
Hmm. Atmospheric black metal. Most of the music I listen to falls somewhere along the metalcore or industrial metal continuum, but I think I'll look at the rest of that album. Some songs I've found useful: This is a song about a tyrant who enjoys unquestioning, worshipful obedience from his subjects. Matt Heafy said it could be interpreted toward anyone from a dictator to a gym coach. It helps bring me back to the time when I could get mad about something without spending four hours wondering if I'm just too sensitive. Supposed to be about the ritual of a concert, but it works for passion/resolve in general. I can't listen to most of Korn's music (they make Linkin Park look spiritually enlightened), but this song has enough defiance to offset its angst. The lyrics are literally about the night, but they remind me of other transgressive sources of power, like the amphetamines a few of my characters use.
I always listen to some music while writing. It can be a radio... The best variant is quiet and relaxing music, such as blues or jazz. It works perfect, inspiring me to create some texts that get hundreds of likes and shares afterward
The track I recommended was more of a 'dungeon' industrial sound and not so much the atmospheric black-metal they usually play. Just trying to be specific. It seems you're more lyrical with your music. I'm usually more into losing myself to lengthy instrumentals, but here's a track I think you would like.
I also really listen to a lot of music when I'm writing, really depending on the situation what type it is. Generally I listen to a lot of Ludovico Einaudi because it is calming and unobtrusive but with just enough dissonance to keep me on my toes. I've also recently developt the habbit of putting on "The Rock"'s soundtrack (1996, Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage) whenever I want to write some heroic/inspirational speech-y stuff. The only problem I have with it is that I know that the reader won't be listening to it when they read it, so I fear that a lot of the impact it had on me when I wrote it is lost because of the lack of the right soundtrack.
