1. Kratos

    Kratos New Member

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    Listening to Music for Ideas

    Discussion in 'Entertainment' started by Kratos, Jun 28, 2008.

    I'm not sure how many of you do this, but I feel like I get many ideas from listening to music. When I hear a song, I imagine a Music Video to my story, but in the process, some twist happens that I didn't expect. I use it in my book. So far I've done this and I've got a lot of ideas, most good.

    Does anyone else do this?
     
  2. Marloy

    Marloy New Member

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    Oh gosh do I!

    I wouldn't even be able to tell how much inspiration I get from the music actually. Because it's like poetry which conveys much more than most writing with less words without being so blunt, and sounds beautiful when it has constant rhythm. When you set those beautiful words to something that can be so soothing and inspirational like music - for me - it is almost inevitable, and even those without words are equally (if not more) inspirational.

    I can get it from most music really, especially the more deep jazz, country, rock, and classical instrumentals - especially the violin solos (I die for those :rolleyes:). Sometimes when I'm starved from ideas with a scene, I'll listen to a peice of music and it all comes flooding back to me. Some characters I have are based specifically on music I'd once listened to, and stories I write will sometimes be based almost completely on the inspiration from music.

    I also do the music video thing too. :p I think music is something great when looking for inspiration, I almost rely on it at times. :D
     
  3. Lucy E.

    Lucy E. Active Member

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    Yes, I do this a lot. It sometimes gives me ideas for completely new stories and characters, as well as ideas for the ones I already have. I think music and writing are very closely linked - both are forms of art, and ideas can be taken from each for the other.
     
  4. wildflower

    wildflower New Member

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    I've never tried to create ideas using music - I usually just try to get myself into a certain frame of mind/emotion for the piece that I need to work on
     
  5. tehuti88

    tehuti88 New Member

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    I often imagine the songs I like as "videos" or soundtracks to my stories, but they don't usually inspire ideas for the stories themselves; it's the other way around; what I plan to happen in the story is what I visualize to the music. It's kind of funny though because I'll visualize different scenes from different stories to the same songs, and obviously, if I really were to use them as soundtracks, that couldn't happen. I'd have the same song in like four or five different stories. :D
     
  6. glennmid101

    glennmid101 New Member

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    musical inspiration

    I listen music to relax not inspire, but like to listen to lyrics as they may inspire a thought that leads to a new door of thinking.
     
  7. KP Williams

    KP Williams Active Member

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    My current project was inspired by a music video/trailer. Granted, it has absolutely nothing in common with that video, but I'm grateful for that.

    And as a musician, I often inspire myself. Here I'll be, doing my best to improvise with my guitar, and suddenly an idea will hit me. I don't know. Apparently my creative side is stimulated by music. It's not something I can control, and it can be a little irritating when all I want to do is play, so I guess that's the thorn on this rose.
     
  8. Alex_Hartman

    Alex_Hartman New Member

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    I've never really done this with music, but I'd like to. I'm sort of addicted to music, so if I don't have my iPod with me 24/7, I start to panic (which makes school hard). But I always listen to music when I write. Always. I actually have songs that remind me of one of my stories just becuase I was listening to that music while I was writing. So everytime I hear those few songs, I remember my story. Music does that to me with seasons too. Some music reminds me of the summer, some of the winter, it's really weird.
     
  9. gigantes

    gigantes Banned

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    roses don't have thorns.

    but yea, i like how you think. i wish i had this 'problem' as well. as a mostly observational writer there is not a lot of creativity in my writing in the conventional sense.
     
  10. ManicHedgehog

    ManicHedgehog Member

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    Huh, I didn't know other people did that. I just finished and posted a story to the site based on a music video idea of mine.

    Most of the music I listen to has some pretty bad lyrics, but the music inspires me to conjure up something to go along with it, even if it doesn't always make sense.
     
  11. wildflower

    wildflower New Member

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    yeah, they do. Worked in a garden center; constantly got scratched by them :p
     
  12. Night

    Night New Member

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    Music does a lot for my writing. I get inspiration from it all the time. Usually, music with lyrics gives me an idea, and music without gets the right mood going.
     
  13. gigantes

    gigantes Banned

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    oh, you can indeed get scratched to smithereens by them. but they're "prickles", not "thorns".

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose
     
  14. Alex_Hartman

    Alex_Hartman New Member

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    Roses have thorns. You backed us up with wikipedia.

    "The species form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp thorns."

    -Wikipedia
     
  15. Shizai Ko

    Shizai Ko New Member

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    Yeah! I get storylines from music all the time, especially instrumentals. Sometimes I cannot get a muse without it.
     
  16. CommieKing

    CommieKing New Member

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    i find music to be quite inspirational in terms of writing. I once wrote a short story that was almost completely inspired by Marilyn Manson's "Mechanical Animals" album, i also started work on what was to be a series of stories inspired by titles of Black Sabbath songs. Another thing about music that inspires me sometimes is when certain songs just seem to set off this image for a scene in your mind, just a moment that would look perfect set to a certain song, one such song that i've always wanted to work in for a scene to be set to is Radiohead's "No Surprises", and surprisingly (excuse the pun) enough i just saw radiohead on friday there and when they played that song it just came flooding back to me about how i would want to use that song.
     
  17. BluePaladin

    BluePaladin New Member

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    I don't get ideas from music, but it does help get the creative juices flowing. I usually feel like writing while listening to music, or after I've been listening to music for a while.

    Music. My Anti-Writer's-Block. :p
     
  18. Alice_Loves_Hatter

    Alice_Loves_Hatter New Member

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    I find that inspiration comes best when I'm listening to music. Definately. some of the things I'm writing... well I actually can't write them now without music on. Certain stories have certain artists attatched to them in my head...
    x.S.x
     
  19. Adelaide

    Adelaide New Member

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    Though I have never produced a full-fledged story inspired by music, Emiliana Torrini's song "Sunny Road" helped me un-stick myself from writer's block a few months ago. I wrote a little stream of consciousness-type story based on the images that came to mind. I transposed the quality of her voice and music to details in the story, like light and textures.
     
  20. gigantes

    gigantes Banned

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    you didn't do your homework. read the complete rundown on thorns and you'll see that they're only a colloquialism for "prickle". after that fact is given, prickles are still referred to as "thorns" but it's with the understanding that such is not the correct term.

    is this a fairly pointless argument? of course it is. but people replied, so i gave myself liberty to reply as well.
     
  21. Alex_Hartman

    Alex_Hartman New Member

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    This is very pointless, I agree. But, by definition, a thorn is a sharp, pointed object. The synonyms are needle, prickle, and spine. So wouldn't you say they are the same thing?
     
  22. gigantes

    gigantes Banned

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    nah, not in the botanical sense.

    thorns are little little branches that have been modified into sharp, protective structures.

    prickles are modified extensions of the skin and underlying bark have been modified into sharp, protective structures. because of this, they do not contain woody material.

    EDIT: btw, spines are yet another sharp plant structure defensive in nature.
     
  23. raconteur

    raconteur New Member

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    I write a lot of my lyrics with the music as a backdrop. Most of my ideas for a lyric get inspired by how the music affects me, so without it I'm not sure if those ideas would've gotten down on paper. Music and writing definitely go hand in hand, I think.
     
  24. Alexa

    Alexa New Member

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    I feel the exact same way. I usually listen to music before I write and sometimes when I write (depending on the scene I'm writing) and am inspired by certain bands. The music without lyrics really gets you in the write moodframe especially when it comes to writing certain scenes.

    I've noticed that the author Stephenie Meyer who writes the 'Twilight' books has said that she gets her writing inspiration from certain bands..It was the first time I heard of any author who had gotten inspired by the music they listen to.
     
  25. penhobby

    penhobby New Member

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    Actually, I have written two full novels, all while listening to my I-Pod. I'm not really sure if I could even write a sentence without my favorite writing music leading me through it. When writing action scenes I frequently rock out to Green Day's American idiot. and I couldn't possibly write a good love story without Blue October. Hmmm, She's My Ride Home. Scuse me people, I gotta go write. ;)
     

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