Music and Writing

by Lily Dooner
2nd February 2012

When writing do you listen to music to inspire your work? And if so what music do you choose to listen to and why? Or do you find that listening to music distracts you too much while your writing? I've always liked listening to music while I'm writing but what do other users think?

Replies

Hi Lily,

I almost always need music when I'm writing. I find that it actually helps the creative juices to flow, and sometimes I put on music that actually goes to the theme of the scene I'm writing. For example, the very first book I wrote was a love story in a country setting, so I found myself listening to a lot of country love songs. The last story I wrote is of a more steamy variety, so I sometimes listened to songs that I found sexy….it really helped.

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Jessie
Fundytus
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Jessie Fundytus
12/02/2014

Hi Lily,

When I first started writing, I was listening to a lot of rock and metal music because it fired me up. It gave me a fast thinking pace and the story was quickly formed inside my head. I think this can happen with any kind of music, it depends on what kind of music you prefer. However, when I started rewriting my MS, paying attention to detail and trying to get it ready for an agent, I found that music with words distracted me.

I like my music playing loud, so I always wear headsets so I don’t disturb others, but if you sit close to me, I am pretty sure you can hear a faint sound of the music I am listening to. Because of that, when I started rewriting my first MS (Still at it, hopefully I will have it finished by next month and start searching for an agent) I found out that words distracted me. I started whispering the lyrics and got distracted from the MS. I felt that I didn’t pay the necessary attention needed to complete my story.

I started searching for alternative types of music. I came across a type of music that really worked out for me. I don’t know what genre it’s called, but it is music developed for movies, adverts of movies etc.

Ever since, I have finished the fifth draft of my story listening to only that kind of music and I am about to finish my sixth, and hopefully final, (for now) draft, while listening to this kind of music.

The music is put together by companies and not artists as such, or at least the artists behind the music are not projected, but rather the company. The two I listen and enjoy the most so far, are Future World Music and Two Steps From Hell. You can easily find some of their work on the web.

All I know is that I cannot work in complete silence, there must always be music playing loudly in my ears. :)

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Christophoros
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Christophoros Demetriou
22/02/2012

Hi Lily,

When I first started writing, I was listening to a lot of rock and metal music because it fired me up. It gave me a fast thinking pace and the story was quickly formed inside my head. I think this can happen with any kind of music, it depends on what kind of music you prefer. However, when I started rewriting my MS, paying attention to detail and trying to get it ready for an agent, I found that music with words distracted me.

I like my music playing loud, so I always wear headsets so I don’t disturb others, but if you sit close to me, I am pretty sure you can hear a faint sound of the music I am listening to. Because of that, when I started rewriting my first MS (Still at it, hopefully I will have it finished by next month and start searching for an agent) I found out that words distracted me. I started whispering the lyrics and got distracted from the MS. I felt that I didn’t pay the necessary attention needed to complete my story.

I started searching for alternative types of music. I came across a type of music that really worked out for me. I don’t know what genre it’s called, but it is music developed for movies, adverts of movies etc.

Ever since, I have finished the fifth draft of my story listening to only that kind of music and I am about to finish my sixth, and hopefully final, (for now) draft, while listening to this kind of music.

The music is put together by companies and not artists as such, or at least the artists behind the music are not projected, but rather the company. The two I listen and enjoy the most so far, are Future World Music and Two Steps From Hell. You can easily find some of their work on the web.

All I know is that I cannot work in complete silence, there must always be music playing loudly in my ears. :)

Profile picture for user Chrisdem
Christophoros
Demetriou
330 points
Ready to publish
Fiction
Comic
Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Graphic Novels
Middle Grade (Children's)
Young Adult (YA)
Adventure
Speculative Fiction
Short stories
Philosophy and Religion
Christophoros Demetriou
22/02/2012