Thread: Inspiring Music

I was writing just now, and listening to music at the same time, and something occurred that happens to me from time to time. I noticed that the scene I was writing was actually perfectly matched to the song that was playing, almost as if it were the soundtrack to a movie or something.

Got me thinking if a lot of writers have similar experiences. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, do you find certain artists or songs are particularly inspiring for your work?

My favorite music to write to, well it depends on what it is I'm writing. Usually I like to listen to Opeth because their music is so versatile and they are so good at painting a dramatic picture through their music. I was just listening to Hessian Peel while writing a fairly tense scene where one of my characters is in a trance state and has entered the spirit world in order to save another character.

Opeth is also good for battle scenes, but Slipknot and Soulfly are also good. For dream sequences I like to listen to Diary of Dreams (fitting, huh). I Type O Negative (especially October Rust) when I'm writing about scenes dealing with supernatural beings, for some reason.

Just curious what other people find inspiring.

I can only listen to soundtracks when writing, and reading for that matter. I noticed that when I listen to songs with lyrics and try to write or read, I end up mixing the lyrics with the words. For my story, generally the Elder Scrolls, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Dead Space, Gears of War, Halo, Kingdom Hearts, and anything Hans Zimmer fit.

Despite my inability, I do look to songs by the bands I like for inspiration. A line in the Demon Hunter song "Feel As Though You Could" gave me the title for chapter eighteen in Ex Tenebris Lux: Via. Thematically, Oh, Sleeper and Becoming the Archetype can be influential on my story. Somewhere in there Red, fits in. I don't know how, but they just do.

led zeppelin does it for me. especially the tune "in my time of dying". but zeppelin just has that off-center, offbeat
quality that sends my mind roaming.

Depends. I listen to stuff like Mogwai, Godspeed or Sigur Ros, or ambient music when I write. Sometimes I go through a period where one album does it for me, and I listen to it over and over. Going through that right now actually -- been listening to Silver Mt. Zion's Born Into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward, and this track in particular:

Mostly intrumentals or songs with gentle vocals. They help my writing significantly. This is my writing playlist . . . .

Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 846; Fantasia and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 561.

Jeremy Soule: Harvest Dawn, King and Country, Peace of Akatosh, Wings of Kynareth, Morrowind Main Theme.

Joe Hisaishi: One Summer's Day.

Tool: Mantra, Eon Blue Apocalypse, Parabol.

Mastodon: Pendelous Skin

Akira Yamaoka: Smile for a Broken Dawn, Never Forgive Me; Never Forget Me, Theme of Laura (Reprise), Promise (Reprise), Null Moon.

Alan Menken: Beauty and the Beast: Prologue

Beethoven: Moonlight Sonata

Castlevania SOTN: Requiem for the Gods

Danny Elfman: Poor Jack, Edward Scissorhands: Main Theme.

David Bowie: Within You

Grant Kirkhope: Sleeping Garden (Viva Pinata)

Hans Zimmer: Anything, but his work on The Ring's OST makes me the most productive.

Hitomi Shimizu: Despair, Desolation, Hoshingoeika (any version), Ritual.

Vangelis: Ask the Mountains, Memories of Green.

Tales of Symphonia: Tethe Alla Castle

Andrew Lloyd Webber: Overture

Jack Wall: Sanctuary

ICO: Queen, Shadow, Heal.

Muse: Ruled by Secrecy, Exogenesis: Part 3, Hoodoo, Hyper Chondriac Music.

Nobuo Uematsu: Game Over (FFX), Song of Prayer, Temple.

Scott Morton: Vulgrim

Stuart Chatwood: Lost in the Crypts, Escape the Dahaka.

Kelly Bailey: Slow Light, Requiem for Ravenholm, Ravenholm (Reprise).

Demon's Souls: Dragon God, Return to Slumber.

Yoko Shimomura: Destati, Dearly Beloved, Treasured Memories, Kari I, II, III, It Began with a Letter, Once Upon a Time, Hollow Bastion, Always On My Mind, Dearly Beloved (Reprise).

Sorry about the size, I can't help myself. I have to get them all out of my system considering how every single tune has played a part in changing my personality and inspiring/enabling me to do things like: join a writing forum, stop eating meat, stand up to people, forgive them, contemplate the universe and the natural world, embrace my emotions instead of hiding them, and a hundred more. Thank you, music

Commence eye rolling.

Vocals interfere with my writing process. For that reason, I don't listen to the radio when I'm writing. I do like the tv on. It's singing, not speech, that messes with how I do what I do. Ambient sounds are cool. I make some of my own ambient musics, plus I have a dozen and a half parakeets in-house to provide their own commentary. Their conversation has already inspired a short story.
Sometimes playing a certain group or style can inform the process. I like progressive rock for that when I'm doing hard sf or cyberpunk. My last short story was done while listening to Dream Theater's latest and Touched By the Crimson King, by Demons and Wizards. (The wiki article, amusingly enough, completely fails to reference the 1969 album In the Court of the Crimson King).
For horror or satire (not mutually exclusive) I like street sounds.
Hey Bruno-that's completely cool. I know of all of those artists. Most are virtuosos. That in and of itself is inspiring. I know all too well that it isn't just time put in that leads to instrumental expertise.

I have to have the music just cranked in my ears when I write. Fast dance music, 80s, slow... it all depends on the scene I'm writing. But yes I get so much inspiration from music. Music is a huge influence in my life. I listen to it all the time, not just while writing.

Right now I could listen to Natalia Kills on repeat all day while I write. There is something about her music that just does something to my insides. It's like an excitment, a good feeling. And I have to be in a good mood to write.

I do like my sappy 80s ballads for writing a soft, romantic scene. Or a sad song, if I'm writing something with deep emotions involved. I've got all of my songs catagorized on my hard drive by slow/fast/dance/rock/80s - so I just do a quick search when I'm looking for a particular kind of song, and bingo... I've got it!

I couldn't imagine writing in the silence. I have to be zoned out with the music pounding in my ears to drift away into my imaginated world. ;0)

Stavros Tou Notou - Oi Efta Nanoi Sto S/s Cyrenia - YouTube

This is honestly the most beautiful thing I have ever heard, and the most profound emotional, spiritual and mental journey in a song I have ever heard. I feel sorry for you my non greek speaking friends, but I can translate if for anyone who is really interested.

Just don't drive while listening to The Rolling Stone's version of Oh Carol...

If I listen to music it's to drown out the family. I will repeat the same song over and over again so that it just becomes background. Otherwise I focus on it and can't focus on what I'm writing.

Lux Aeterna is a favorite.

I need silence to write. Anything else and I get distracted.

If there's music playing, I will focus on the music, locating the different instruments, identifying the chords and the progressions, predicting the crescendos, appreciating the nuances. My thought process gets so complex that I can't write a complete sentence at the same time.

Same thing with reading, too.. if there's music or a television or people talking, I'll be paying attention to those things instead of the words in front of me.

I'd like to be able to read and write while listening to music, but I don't have the ability to do so. My brain is not smart enough to multi-task : )

But sometimes I will hear music that will inspire me to go off and write. Usually it's relaxed, jazzy/bluesy stuff that gets my creative juices flowing.. When I'm chill, I can just go with the flow.


For example:

Originally Posted by Mystery

Stavros Tou Notou - Oi Efta Nanoi Sto S/s Cyrenia - YouTube

This is honestly the most beautiful thing I have ever heard, and the most profound emotional, spiritual and mental journey in a song I have ever heard. I feel sorry for you my non greek speaking friends, but I can translate if for anyone who is really interested.

That really is beautiful. I'd love a translation, if you don't mind.

Generally if I'm writing I can't listen to music, or I won't be able to concentrate. When I'm trying to come up with ideas, though, I tend to listen to music that's either wordless or in a language I can't understand. In that case, I usually listen to Faun, Beats Antique, Cheb I Sabbah, and Kailin Yong, interspersed with some classical music (and the Pirates of the Carribean soundtrack, if I'm feeling swashbuckley).

Also, Omnia's song "Moon" is simply gorgeous. Omnia - Moon - YouTube

Music is probably the one thing that keeps me motivated to write.

The Wandering Midget helped me think of the Wandering Freak. Clutch helps me get surreal, Buckethead helps me get weird and funky.

But there's a limit to what I let inspire me. I listen to Acid Bath, High on Fire, a lot of other metal bands that can get pretty messed up with their lyrics. I can't let that stuff get into the creative process because it ruins the whole style of the work.

I'm not a big fan of music, but I'll tune into Classic FM if it gets too quiet or there's nothing on TV that I can tune out.

For formulating and plotting I might put on a soundtrack or some Pink Floyd, but otherwise I like it quiet and still.

Someone sent me this song a day or so ago. I love it. I love the words.