Music and writing are two different forms of art, but they both have an impact on our daily lives. Both inspire people and both transcend languages and culture. Whenever I have writer's block, I turn on my favorite band's music and just listen and see where the songs take me. Has your favorite music ever inspired your writing?
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I absolutely love writing with music. It's basically a given! I remember in middle school, my English teacher told us it was good to listen to music while writing because it has to do with inputting creativity at the same time you put out creativity (so listening to music while reading isn't good because you have two inputs and no output, something like that).
When I find myself stuck in a scene, I listen to instrumental or trailer music so that I can picture the progression of what's happening. The more intense the music, the more likely I'll write action or conflict. There was one song by The Wanted that I really loved when I was younger, and by listening to it on loop, I wrote the first 30 pages of one of my stories. It's crazy how much music can inspire what we write!
That is absolutely amazing! I've never heard about the input vs. output of writing and listening to music and now knowing that, a lot of things click in my head. It really is crazy how much music inspires what we write! I once wrote a poem for a class while listening to my favorite band's song and it turned out to be my favorite piece I wrote that semester. Do you listen to different songs depending on what genre of story you're writing, or do you have one song that helps the most?
@Daryan Gomez It's always a really good feeling when we write something that we love! I don't think I have specific songs for different genres. I usually pick songs depending on what I want to focus on, not necessarily the genre. Like, regardless if I'm writing fantasy or mystery, for instance, if I want to write a heart-to-heart scene I'll listen to mellow songs.
@Skylar Nitzel It really is a good feeling! So it's the scene you're working on? That makes sense, you need the space you're writing in to set the mood for what you're writing in.
I find this very interesting because I need it to be completely silent when I write and I don't really associate songs with my characters, despite loving music. For me, music inspired my poetry more than my fiction/prose.
For fiction, I'm more likely to have a Pinterest board than a playlist lol.
Lol I've never thought about using a Pinterest board for writing inspiration before, but that's a great idea! Personally, I think it's easier for me to write poetry with music playing than it is prose, but I always do just for the ambiance. I completely understand why you need the silence though.
I love writing while listening to music. I find some on Spotify or Youtube. I usually try to listen to soundtracks from various animes or tv shows when I'm writing an intense action scene or a soft romantic moment. There was this one song that got me to write a short romance story.
Lately, I've been looking at songs that remind me of characters and adding them to a playlist so I can listen to when I'm writing scenes with the character.
I'm the type of person that has a Spotify list for every occasion, I have one for workouts, for homework, and just a normal every day playlist so usually if I'm writing, I'll have a set playlist or I'll turn on Youtube to use the playlists that are automatically generated for the account. I love the anime and tv show soundtracks too! I always listen to various anime openings because they're so upbeat and make me want to dance to the music (or my version of dancing at least). Your idea of adding songs to a playlist that remind you of certain characters I think is amazing!
@Daryan Gomez Yes! What kind of anime openings do you like listening to? I'm currently jamming to FMAB openings. Thanks, but it actually came from a writing buddy of mine who suggested that I try it.
@Priscilla Yip I love FMAB openings, especially the first one! They're amazing songs! I also love listening to Yuri! On Ice opening and the Blue Exorcist openings!
I wrote every draft of a novel to one band's multiple albums. I had all of them on repeat in one big playlist so the novel and band are intertwined my head. The connection is so strong that even when I hear the band in a store, I think about that novel and who I was when I wrote it.
It is amazing how strong connections between music and a time in our life is! Even though it's not through writing, every time I listen to the band I was listening to during my freshman year of college, it brings me back to that time. Did you ever feel like some aspects of the novel were influenced by the music?
I feel that writing with music is a good way to get words and scene composition to fit just right. It really allows you to draw out the emotions of a character. A good example that I have is when I wrote a short story for a class while listening to a sad song. It really helps!
I agree! Music is a great way to get words and scene composition to fit in such an amazing way and draw out a character's emotions. I always love listening to music while writing because it just helps me connect characters to songs that show a certain emotion.
I always listen to music when I'm writing, whether it's a random playlist in the background or songs that make me feel happy and motivated. I often use it as inspiration in my stories, sometimes I'll reference a song that I think my character would like or to help get a better sense of character personality.
I really like the idea of referencing a song your character would like, I always thought it created depth in characters and it gives readers an insight into the character itself.
Music is such an inspiration to my writing. I wrote a whole novel where each chapter was inspired by a different song. Unfortunately, it will probably never get published because usually a few verses of the songs are incorporated as part of the narration. Readers loved it and I'm still trying to figure out how to make it a publishable piece without losing the emotional connection that those lines help evoke. Or maybe I'm just having a hard time editing the original.
Music is a big part of my writing as well. For a lot of my stories, I either take inspiration from a song to write the plot and character interactions or take inspiration from those to write a song. A "vicious" cycle for a music composition fanatic!