What Music Do You Listen to While Writing?

I love to listen to Lord of the Rings soundtracks ...

When I take break then I watch LOR scenes on You Tube.

Yes I'm a geek .

Just now its the Fargo TV series soundtrack.

I find it fascinating how so many people use soundtracks as background music when writing.

I listen to my fave bands/artists, simply because being familiar means I can tune them out - I know that sounds kind of counter-intuitive, but I did it that way for studying too, both school and college.

Because I write about the late teens and early 20s in America, I've found some great old sources of scratchy 1920s jazz and ragtime.

It's miraculous for really putting me in the mood. I think more 20s, and it comes out on paper.

I'm weird in that I can't listen to music when I write! It distracts me or something, and I end up typing the words to the song instead of writing my own! Ha ha it's weird, I know!

Hello! When writing I mostly listen to Japanese songs and I usually listen to openings and endings of anime for action/battle scenes.

AllisonBerry said:

I'm weird in that I can't listen to music when I write! It distracts me or something, and I end up typing the words to the song instead of writing my own! Ha ha it's weird, I know!

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I can't either! I thought I was the only one and wondered if my saying so defeats the purpose of this thread lol. But yes, I need almost absolute silence when writing... even when I hear people talking outside my room I get distracted and it kinda throws me off my mojo

Oddly enough, I tend to find fast paced electronic music or youtube nightcore videos to be pretty good listening when I'm writing essays for university. It's less a case of actually listening to it and more that it just makes good background music that I can mostly ignore.

I'm actually very specific about the music I listen to when I write. I can rarely tolerate lyrics, because I get too distracted and end up doing nothing.

I often have a craving for Brian Eno's Music for Airports, and Yo Yo Ma's Bach Suites. I basically enjoy calm, but engaging (think softly wistful here) ambient music.

Sometimes I even take a walk on the wild side and listen to bluegrass.

For the past few weeks, I've been listening to Brad Paisley's "Wheelhouse" CD. Whereas, I usually, just throw it in, hit play and then log into my writing tasks at hand. And, when all the planets line up correctly, and it all goes so well, I find myself becoming oblivious to the music, while the minutes, words, sentences and paragraphs, clip by at a rapid succession.

Yet still, I'm sure, on a subconscious level, my spinning CD is propelling me forward, with inspiration from cool, cleaver, and thoughtfully written and sang lyrics.

Until, and only until, the final and most outstanding song comes across the airwaves, like a final farewell and a happy ending, all combined in one. Until, the next time, I start from the beginning all over again.

So, heck yeah, music moves me...

And as such, is always my not so silent writing partner.

Goth stuff or old Japanese Visual Rock... that's what I'd like to listen to whilst I write. But for the most part relative silence is necessary. I don't get much of it around here, but I have some earplugs coming in the mail so there's hope.

Seriously I can't even usually ignore boring instrumental stuff when I hear it.

Kameea said:

Hello! When writing I mostly listen to Japanese songs and I usually listen to openings and endings of anime for action/battle scenes.

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This, as well as dance/house sets. It fits well because I like to keep stories flowing at a quick and snappy pace. Usually Todd Edwards' music because it isn't like "rave" speed, but just bouncy enough to keep me typing.

Classical/ Rock

Bach, Beethoven

I need absolute silence.

Depends on the piece, depends on the day. Sometimes post-rock, sometimes classical, rarely anything with words. The right piece of music (on loop, frequently), helps me really get into the flow when the words are stuck.

And sometimes, when the day itself has been too noisy, I need total silence.

a little bit of everything. It depends on the character's personality or the mood of the scene. a lot of punk, rock.

Who knew favorite writing music would be of international concern?

I like instrumental songs, or ones in a foreign language, so I can't start singing along to the lyrics and distract myself. And other times, I'll need silence because what I've written makes no sense and I'll correct it by reading it aloud.

What I can't listen to is the radio. As, the commercials annoy me so much, that I have to get up and throw on a CD.

It depends on what I'm writing. So I have a lot of Pandora One channels dedicated to various moods.

Leedwashere said:

I have a small playlist on Grooveshark that helps keep me in the right frame of mind for my WIP. It's pretty cheesy, including The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (a version featuring Yo-Yo Ma on the cello), Short Change Hero (by the Heavy), Prelude to War (from the reimagined Battlestar Galactica soundtrack), Suicide Mission (from Mass Effect 2), and Facade (From Jeckyll & Hyde) among others.

Anything that doesn't fit the narrow mold of songs which set the mental tone will only distract me, so I listen to these songs endlessly

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This playlist is a win.

I just read in "On Writing" by Stephen King, that he likes to listen to hard-rock stuff, AC/DC, Guns 'n Roses, and Matallica.

Movie soundtracks - there are some really awesome playlists on youtube that I just have on a loop. Also recently I played the whole Interstellar soundtrack - it's amazing.

Honestly, I find it difficult to listen to music *while* I'm writing, but sometimes when I'm not in the mood to get to work, I'll take a few minutes to listen to the type stuff that pumps me up. Usually that means Green Day, The Killers, Fall Out Boy, Panic at the Disco... bands along those lines...

I have to listen to a very specific playlist, otherwise it just distracts me. Very chilled, usually with vocal chops or other weird stuff.

Stuff like:
Pink Medicine - Bearson
Oh Wonder - Shark
Jaymes Young - Northern Lights
Matt Easton - Live Life
Sangam & Cholombian - Shelter Me