What do you listen to when you write?I can't listen to anything when I'm working. I need only silence and white noise: coffee brewing, a rooster outside, wind, stuff like that. If there are any human sounds like conversation, music, or (God forbid) a television going on anywhere detectable to me in my house I absolutely can not work.
This may be why I become so tyrannical in Stage Four.
I don't mean to suggest that I don't love to listen to music, because I do. In fact, I make up playlists of artists and albums that I enjoy listening to concurrently with my work on a particular project -- but never while I am actually sitting at the keyboard.
I thought about this because of a couple comments from friends to me on Facebook recently... and how I've been listening to a couple old albums by David Bowie quite a bit lately. Ziggy Stardust and Diamond Dogs make a hell of a good playlist for me as I work on the final tweaks on The Marbury Lens because, like this book, the albums evoke such a grim sense of being lost in a future world that offers only passing moments of comfort.
So... how does music play a role in your writing process?
4 comments:
I listen to music while writing first drafts: Rancid, the Thermals, Hollywood Undead, Joan Jett, Ramones, Eminem, so on. It has to be simple, loud, and I have to know the lyrics so that I can blank them out.
Can't listen to music while going over first drafts.
Coffee, cigars and punk rock are my "process."
I can't really do anything without music. My life is soundtracked at least 8 of my waking day.
So, needless to say, I listen to music constantly during writing. Music creates a mood for me and I always choose music that will match the mood I'm trying to capture.
But, I absolutely cannot write if there is a television on anywhere within my hearing.
Brian, did you listen to a particular playlist when you wrote THE HEIGHTS? Just wondering. Such a good book.
Came in a bit late on this, but when I'm working on a story I can't have any music going on in the background. It completely derails my thought processes--often I'd look down and realize I'd been typing random autopilot gibberish.
Now, I do listen to music before I sit down to a big block of writing. Certain songs can put me in the right mindset, can make a particular style come a little more easily if I'm in a dull mood.
Generally, this means any song with energy.
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