For many, writing is an activity best done in silence or within the white noise of a busy coffee shop or the hectic courtyard of a shopping mall. Other insist emphatically, "I gotta have my tunes, man!" For them, music serves as motivational/inspirational background for a process too often as focused as canine attention span at a city park inhabited by tree-climbing rodents.
But does music really help? And if so, what kind should a writer use?
I'm convinced it does, but to prevent sprained necks turning to the metaphorical squirrels of the music world, care should be used when creating your personal writing playlist.
The following recommendations are based on observations during free-writing journal periods used with high school students. They are by NO MEANS scientific, but the results replicated themselves enough times to deem them useful.
Music to avoid:
1. Rockin'!
If your aim is production, if you want to increase your daily word count, know that the heavier the beat of your music, the lesser is your output. I know. Your soul wants to boogie, but your writing brain? Not so much. The more the brain gets lost in the music, the more you find yourself drumming on the desktop or tapping your foot, the more words will hide in the nooks and crannies of your consciousness never to be found.
If you do either, find something else to put on your playlist. You want the music in the background of your surroundings, not the foreground of the creative process. If you have a strong reaction to a piece—whether positive or negative—find something else.
Seriously, avoid any song you will find yourself singing during your writing. You want to be composing your own words, not singing somebody else’s. This is not to say that songs with lyrics should be avoided at all costs, just that those lyrics should never move to the forefront of your thinking.
Avoid the temptation to only include one genre of music or only one artist. Variety is your writing friend, as is the wonderful shuffle tool. Classical is fine. Gaelic is spiffy. Movie soundtracks are great. All of them bunched together and randomly played keeps the brain fresh and alive.
Music to include:
1. Instrumental
One could argue that writing is instrumental and so should be the music on your playlist. At least a major part of it. As mentioned before, lyrics distract. This distraction can be easily avoided with instrumental music. That does not mean it can only come from a particular genre like classical. Most genres include excellent instrumental artists.
The less you know a song, the less likely the distractions. The more you hear one, the closer your emotional connection and the more likely your fingers are to jump wildly across the keyboard in uncontrolled paroxysms of fancy or joy, anger or fear.
3. Mood Music
If you are writing a scene to create mood, find music that creates just such a mood. For example, the Blue Man Group music that accompanies their stage shows can also be used to create the mood of controlled chaos in a crowd scene you are writing. Loreena McKennitt music can set the mystical mood of fog hanging over a swamp. If your scene is in the spirit world, the ethereal music of Diane Arkenstone can transport your writing there.
4. Transcendent Music
What if you don't know what you are writing? What if you need that spark of inspiration to get you past the irritating brain freeze. Put away your manuscript, play a song you don’t know, and close your eyes. As you listen, watch your mind’s theater. What is the music showing you? Where does if come from? When the song is over, write down what you saw. Let it rest an hour or so, and then come back to it. How can you use this in your story? Or is this the idea for another story?
The Key to the Perfect Playlist
The key to developing the perfect playlist is to avoid the “squirrel factor.” Remember your music is suppose to work for you, not against you. On a separate page you will find a list of artists included on several of my playlists. I develop one for each different type of different of writing I'm doing.
But that's what works for me. You will probably be different. Different is good.
Find what works for you. Find your right music. The Write Music.
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