Archive for May 7th, 2008

Put Another Nickel in that Machine

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

Ever been driving down the road and a song comes on the radio that you find yourself singing to?

This happens a lot to me.

Music- for me- is the source of my muse. When I listen to a song, my brain interacts with all these thoughts that I’ve had going on all day long. Pieces of conversations my characters have been having. Emotions conveyed. Scenes that have yet to happen. Music keeps me fresh, gets my mind right, puts me in the spot. And for my current WIP, nothing has ever been hinged on music as much as this.

Recently, I discovered iTunes. I fully believe that iTunes is a work of the devil specificially targeted towards me. I’m always needing new music and what better way to suck my last dollar than to give me one place that has every type of music I could ever want and no name bands just trying to make a living (which are my favorite) than to give me a program on my computer that is at my beck and call? But I can’t complain because the muse has been extremely kind towards me since the discovery of the iTunes store.

I have music that I’ve always wanted in my writing playlist that I could never find. Music that sings to me. Music with imagery so vivid that my mind goes wild with ideas. It inspires me to write more, write faster and write better and with the combination of coming back from the Spring Fling a different writer, it’s just fuel on the fire.

Which brings me to my point. My life revolves around playlists. If I were making a playlist right now (while writing this blog) I’d have Ella, Frank, Rosemary, Dean… All the music I listen to while working. The sounds of the old music soothe me, calm me into a state of euphoria and this allows me to think clearly. If I’m working on my WIP Double Vision, then I have Limp Bizkit, Lacuna Coil, Evanescence, Hurt, Within Temptation… All these songs in my playlist convey my heroine’s inner self. It’s how I find my voice.

 

 

For me, a playlist depicts my mood. A playlist is how I function, much like routines. And a playlist is a routine. It’s something familiar. Something that allows you to move from song to song like a calm river flowing downstream. That’s what’s so great about a playlist, you choose the flow. Like you choose the flow of your writing.Music tells a story when you listen closely. It can be warped in your mind thus fitting the song to any situation. When I listen to a particular song, my mind seems to make up it’s own story and weaves it into this new scene that makes its way into my WIP. I need music in order to write. I need that background on to filter my thoughts. I know how strange that makes me sound but my brain never turns itself off, so in order to think, you’ve got to drown out everything else but that one little nagging voice. Music does this for me. I don’t necessarly listen. I do have playlists with music I love, but you could ask me what I’ve been listening to for the past two hours and I’ll tell you background music. Sometimes it doesn’t even register with me that music is playing. It’s for my characters.I had a point. I always lose my point about halfway through. Point is, no matter if you listen to music or not while writing or reading, do you find yourself honing in on a particular song because it reminds you of your hero/heroine? A book you’ve just read? Smile to yourself when you think, “This suits them perfectly!”Interpretation is a wonderful thing.

So today’s question is, if you listen to music while writing, do you have specific songs you stick with? Do you find yourself switching up playlist as you move into different parts of your plot?  Readers, do you need background noise or complete silence when reading a good book? Every think to yourself when you hear a song come on and you’re reading that it fits so perfectly to the moment?

 

 

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