Does anyone else take heavy influence from music in their writing? No genre in particular, just anything that you might like at the time. A lot of the scenes that I write are/were influenced heavily by lots of different types of music. I form the scenario in my head, mostly in time with the music, and then I try and translate that to a page. I could create a playlist for the entirety of my novel that shows what I was listening to when I thought of any given situation :') Does anyone else work this way? If so, what kinds of music influence you most, if any?
I transcribed what a song did to me once @lozzerwrites it came out as a thought stream and to read—well you'd assume the psychotropics had kicked in. Nowadays music plays the part of muse and mood setter. I use it to gee myself up before and through a writing session. When not writing I love discovering a deep lyric in something that I've overlooked a hundred times before—been paying special attention of late to such stuff as lyricists are but latter day poets yes? gee up stuff = waterboys, depeche, U2, evanescence. A special mention to Radiohead < Most'd say it's music to hang yourself to but I find that in the dirge there's such an uplifting theme.
Well I write with music playing, because silence is too quiet. But in some ways you could say that some of my writing is influenced by; 5FDP, Machine Head, and Kreator to name but a few.
Like the OP, I use music as a 'soundtrack.' In that respect, I have scenes influenced by Spacemen 3, Kid A Radiohead, Brian Eno, Lyle Lovett, Tom Waits...
You might say I do. In another life, I was a working musician, so I've got tons of music permanently lodged in my brain. It plays almost non-stop, so it's always there in the background no matter what I'm doing. As a result, I'm sure it influences what I write. I just wish it would stop (Make it stop! Arrggghh!)
I tend to use whatever music I'm currently interested in the start to really inspire scenes, but as I continue writing I find certain genres/styles just fitting. I usually make a playlist for every major project that just matches the tone/mood. That way, even if I take an extended break, I can listen to the playlist and understand what I was going for. I have also used playlists as a character-writing exercise. I find songs that fit the characterization I'm going for and throw them on a playlist. I find that it really helps to capture some of the details of the character's personality that are hard to write down.