On Wednesday I spent a good hour thoroughly enjoying myself, hunting for soundtracks to write my new team of novels to. I had to pick an oceany-sounding soundtrack for Aqueous (temporary title), an intense, driven soundtrack for Survival, and a post-apocalyptic with a little dragon mixed in for Fire.
I found them all. (Hans Zimmer is a god of music, and Steve Jablonsky's works are imagery in musical form. Well, both of their works are.) Anyway, it inspired a long overdue post about one of my favorite aspects of writing.
Music.
I can't write without it. Music plays a very important role in my life in general. It soothes me, motivates me, inspires me. It can pretty much put me in any mood you can think of. For me, writing and music are one and the same. I don't often have one without the other.
My favorite thing to do as I'm preparing to write a novel is to pick a movie soundtrack for it. All my novels have one. This way, each novel's playlist has the same feel, and later, if I ever want to pick the novel up again, a few notes of that theme song will transport me right back to my world.
It's magical.
I wrote Darkblood to Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard's "Batman Begins" soundtrack. I wrote Xiomara to James Horner's "Avatar" soundtrack. In fact, a few weeks ago I picked up an Avatar birthday card in the grocery store, one of those that play music when you open it. The moment I heard those notes, I went right back to Xiomara's world.
Question time! Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what are your favorite artists? What feel do you usually lean toward? Lyrics or none?
I know I can't have lyrics. And my favorite artists are James Newton Howard, Hans Zimmer, Steve Jablonsky, James Horner, Michael Kamen, Patrick Doyle, Rachel Portman, Alexandre Desplat, Harry Gregson-Williams, etc. Love. Them. All.
Your turn!
Enjoy the rest of the day and weekend!
Best Part of Today: Grooming and chillin' with a pony. Or maybe meeting another bookworm whilst picking a paddock.
Currently Craving: Chocolate. I'm off sugar at the moment, and there's a bag of chocolate taunting me from my desk drawer.
Music Pick: "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby
I'm Reading: "Gulliver's Travles" (ick!)
Currently Craving: Chocolate. I'm off sugar at the moment, and there's a bag of chocolate taunting me from my desk drawer.
Music Pick: "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby
I'm Reading: "Gulliver's Travles" (ick!)
WIP: Fire (1,326 words*)
*I started over. Don't ask.
I'm Constance. The Texan Twin. I love three things: my Twin, writing, and chocola––no, wait. I love more than three. I love...
Hi! I'm Maggie. I love and enjoy so many things, I won't be able to fit them all in one about-me. I'll start with I'm a dancer...
6 epic comments:
I don't listen to music when I write. It either distracts me from writing, or I zone it out when I get into it.
But I haven't downloaded songs specifically for writing, so maybe that's my problem. It would have to be something with a quick and edgy beat. Something adventurous and action-y.
Good luck with your new WIPs!
@Matt REALLY? Wow. It's true that I stop hearing the music sometimes when I enter The Zone... but my subconscious still hears it or something, because I learn every song by heart. *shrug*
You should! You should go hunting for writing music. I use Grooveshark to serach & listen and make playlists. It rocks.
Thank you! =) And thanks for reading.
I seriously couldn't write anything without my music. Music not only shuts up the inner-critic but also actually helps me delve deeper into my novels' characters, plots, worlds, etc. I'm drawn to whatever song that "speaks" to me, and in particular when I can actually HEAR my characters' voices (not actually how they sound like--LOL, that would be freaky--but what they're feeling, what they're thinking of, etc.) Speaking of Grooveshark, I have a bunch of the songs (but not all of them, lol) for my novels up on there. :)
http://lylawrites.blogspot.com/2011/11/brief-hiatus.html
And I just realized I used the word "actually" three times in that comment. This is a sign that I should go back to work. LOL.
@Lyla I so agree! And me too. (Did I say that?) I keep all my writing music up on Grooveshark, so I can access it from any computer. The only problem is that when internet goes down, I can't write. :\ I mean, I CAN. I just have no music. Which sucks!
*clicks link* And thank you for reading!! :)
Coming late to the party, but anyway.
*makes note to ask which titles go to which stories you've told me about*
I LOVE listening to music while I write. Playlists are essential. I've never considered choosing a single movie's soundtrack for it, though! I want to try that now...
And lyrics don't bother me, if they fit what I'm writing or the character that is the focus of the scene. Basically, as long as I have music, I'm happy, and anything flies.
...Okay, maybe not the death metal. That sinks and then some. xD
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