Anyone listen to music when you write?

ExtremeSleuth

ExtremeSleuth

Veteran
If so, what do you listen to?

It depends on what kind of mood I'm in... sometimes I don't listen to anything, but sometimes it helps me concentrate and focus on writing. It drowns out everything else around me.

Right now, I'm listening to the soundtrack from Slumdog Millionaire.
 
I do it both with and without.

I find that having music on in the background helps me hammer something out quick and dirty. I can create something more than an outline (basic dialog to flesh out the shell) for a full length script with music on in a few hours.

Once that's done, I can take my time to work and re-work it over a period of days/weeks/months. No music at all during those times.
 
filthrich said:
I cant. I need silence.
Click to expand...

Silence is golden. Problem is at my apartment complex, there are loud kids, boomboxes, revving engines, police sirens, etc...

so i usually put on some music of my own to drown out those distractions, and put me into concentration mode.
 
I listen to iTunes radio most of the time (it's always on, no commercials). One of my favs...
under 'Ambient' you'll find a 128k stream for "GotRadio-New Age Nuance". Good stuff & no vocals for the most part. I can't listen to lyrics & write at the same time (or chew gun & walk if I've been drinking too much!).
 
I'm in the process of writing my first script. I tends to write better with some background music on. And it depends what kind of scenes (scary, sad, or fast moving) that I'm writing. But I do agree with SFNative that once my rough draft is done, I need a more quiet environment to tweaked and polish the script.
 
I rarely sit in silence and do anything. CNN is usually on, or SHO or whatever. I have a 320 GB HDD full of MP3s, so when I am in the mood to write I usually cue up Cafe Del Mar (yes, I have been there) and let it roll from Vol 1 thru Vol 14. By the time that playlist is over, something had better be accomplished. Its 5-plus hours long.
 
I like fairly even monotone. SO to start something new, as in get the ball rolling on ideas etc I find a cafe is pretty good for me.
 
I often listen to music when I'm screenwriting; I find that it can help create a mood, so I don't have to (I'm free then to do the writing, because the music is taking care of the mood for me). In that sense I'm not so much listening to the music but using it. Sometimes I can't even remember what I've been listening to, I've been so caught up in the writing, but I don't think it would be quite the same working in silence. Listening to music lifts me, and from there I can jump off from a higher starting point.
 
White noise. I'm a musician and listening to music makes me think about the music instead of writing.

However when I was writing a piece about a jazz musician I had jazz music playing. However when working on a tricky bit I would have to turn the music off.

I also found this to be very useful in drowning out noise and aiding concentration.
 
I actually make up a soundtrack for my writing. I will make a playlist for my ipod with songs that represent the mood of the movie I want to write. It normally is compromised of about 20 or so songs. I don't necessarily listen to it as I'm writing but will plug in before I sit down to write or when I need inspiration.

Be warned though, this method may make people think you are crazy. My other half finds it hilarious, watching me pace up and down listening to my ipod, cause I can't just sit there, I need to be moving. :P
 
Sometimes it helps. I recall trying to write something funny. But the music I was listening to was somber. So, in turn I wrote a somber piece.
 
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