I don't really need to have music playing for me to write. It all depends on where I am too. But if I do have music playing, usually i just set my music on shuffle. I don't have a particular genre or anything I have to listen to.
I listen to what fits the mood of what I'm writing but it has to be background noise, I can't have it too loud. I've also found that instrumental stuff is ideal for me because the lyrics can be distracting. I listen to a lot of soundtracks/scoring from movies when I write.
I almost always listen to music while I'm writing, and it usually affects the mood of my story, which is fine by me. Currently I've been listening to Regina Spektor and Deas Vail a lot.
@Camille awesome! I love Regina Spektor, her sound is so unique and creative. I also love your avatar picture.
I really like instrumental rock like The Dirty Three when I write. When I do want lyrics, it's often townes van zandt. master songwriter and I find just listening to him gets my creativity flowing.
I usually listen to music without lyrics. It conveys emotions a lot better, in my opinion. Two steps from hell makes some of the best and inspiring music I've ever heard.
I listen to songs that exemplify the emotional atmosphere of a scene/event. Lately that's The National, Broken Social Scene, My Bloody Valentine, Sigur Ros and other seemingly incompatible bands. Oh, and Metronomy.
I think music is one of the best means by which I am able to relate to my characters, so I always have a lot of songs in my playlist that carry a lot of significance for my writing. For the story I'm working on at present, about a young emerging tennis star, the ones that most connect are stuff I don't usually listen to but fit the MC perfectly, like Leonard Cohen and Simon and Garfunkel. It's actually been an interesting process of discovery, as I personally tend more to the Bloodbaths and Between the Buried and Me's of the music world. And, of course, Opeth.
Sometimes I use music, but sometimes it annoys me. Usually if I'm feeling like it Anything Led Zeppelin does the trick. They have such variety that it isn't hard to find a song to match my mood and the mood of he writing. I listen to Andrea Bocelli from tome to time if I'm feeling more poetic. I find his voice incredibly inspiring. I listen to a little nit of everything, so it's really usually about my mood.
I try not to listen to anything with too many lyrics as they distract my train of thought, things like Bonobo or even Sigur Ros are great. Need something to listen to definitely.
I can't write without music, well I can, but I hardly ever do it. Unless my mind comes up blank while I'm trying to read over my writing to write more to it, and so I need it completely quiet so I can speak out loud. I mostly listen to symphonic metal, rock and the likes of that. Lately since my iPod pisses me off now and I always have the urge to keep changing the song, I've been going onto Pandora.com and making a station of a band that inspires me to write and just listen to that. But some of the bands I love to listen to while writing are: -Within Temptation -Skillet -Evanescence -Fireflight -The Barlow Girls -HIM -Pillar -Thousand Foot Crunch -Taylor Swift -Eyes Set to Kill -Kutless -Leaves' Eyes -Nightwish -Epica -Coheed and Cambria -Cascada -Linkin Park -Plumb -Breaking Benjamin -Pat Benatar -Lacuna Coil -Seether -The Veronicas -Chevelle -Kings of Leon -Flyleaf I'm sorry it turned into such a long list. I'm pretty big on music.
Music and Writing. Does it work for you? G'Day, I've noticed when I ask writers (mostly from my writing classes) that they find it hard to write with music blaring at them. I don’t. Personally I find it the other way round; listening to music helps me get into the groove. When I say music though I don’t mean rock or dance or just what's on the radio I'm actually talking about instrumental music like the stuff you hear in movies, real emotion jerking music that sets up a scene. My iPod is slowly being taken over by the stuff actually, purely because it helps me write. So my question to all you fellow writers is; Do you listen to music? And if so what sort?
I have a writing playlist on my itunes. It generally contains classical music, and film/tv soundtracks. I prefer to listen to music without lyrics, because it doesn't distract me so much.
I listen to rock, when I'm still brainstorming. It gets me in the mood. But not while I'm actually writing, I just can't do that.
Anything that doesn't involve words. I like to make my own moods/emotions to the music so anything instrumental for me.
I prefer to listen to music, but whether or not I can concentrate through lyrics depends on how "into it" I am at the time. In the end, the music creates a sort of silence all its own as my mind tones it out, so it just serves to block out other (more distracting) sounds.
Hey MJ I never under any circumstances have music (or noise of any kind) going on when I'm writing. I write late at night and I'm used to darkness and silence and I work best in those conditions. I will, however, regularly listen to a CD or cherry-pick a few songs from Youtube directly before I start writing, just to create the right upbeat/downbeat mood in my mind, because I generally know in advance what type of atmosphere I'll be trying to convey in my writing. I find that it works.
I love music while writing. I don't use it to set mood and atmosphere, just to focus and calm (I've got three kids and I do my writing in the lounge where they run controlled riot). I've just bought Trance Anthems 2010, but then Biffy Clyro, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Andrea Bocelli, Vittorio all hit the spot too.
