If you’re like Stephen King, you’re writing with Metallica or Guns-and-Roses cranked up to drown out the world. If you’re like Gary Wassner, you’ve got any number of songs playing on your iPod, but still drowning out the world. If you’re like me, you’ve got a shuffle going that would make people question your sanity.
What does music have to do with writing? For some authors it’s just noise that blocks out the world and allows the creative spirit to fly. For others, it sets the mood and allows you to write a sad scene, or a battle scene with a little more power. Still others need it for inspiration, taking the lyrics and twisting them into a story with a completely different meaning.
So how does an author pick his music?
I find that certain songs will distract me when I write. I’ll stop writing and start singing along. I’ll concentrate too hard on the lyrics being sung. Or I may even feel like getting up dancing (not a pretty sight, I promise you).
For me, the vocals must, must, must blend with the song. So much to the point where they’re more part of the music rather than separate. If I can identify the lyrics of a song while I’m writing, there’s a problem. I’ll be concentrating more on the lyrics and less on my writing.
But everyone is different, aren’t they? What is not distracting to me will very likely distract you. I can listen to Ministry’s Jesus Built My Hotrod and the world is gone where you may listen to it and think “My brain is about to explode!” I get that way when I hear anything that contradicts my personality. Soil, Godsmack, Metallica, and Pantera are all good examples of music that I love to hear and will help me when I’m writing.
On the other hand, Queensryche, Rush, The Police, and David Bowie are all ones that I also love, but the lyrics will draw me out of ‘my’ world and into the song. I’ll lose focus and start to hum along. This is, of course, a problem.
How do I pick my music? It’s a two step process. First off, I have to enjoy the music. Be it Cold Play, Bad Religion, The Ramones, or Soundgarden, I must be able to actually listen to the music. I cannot stand Brittney Spears, Christina Aguilera, or any boy band. These will distract me to no end because I cannot listen to them in the first place. They will draw me out of ‘my’ world quicker than a tap on the shoulder by my wife.
So now that I’ve found a band I can listen to, I pop in the CD (or play the mp3) and start writing. If I drop in Limp Bizkit and Break Stuff starts to play, I get that angry feeling, but I also feel like singing along. The song is distracting with its tempo changes and the lyrics stand out too much beyond the music. This is a bad song for me.
Flip to Rancid’s song Time Bomb. The vocals and chorus blend well with the music for me. There’s no drastic tempo changes and the beat is up and light. This song is perfect for background noise and I enjoy the tune. So I add this one to my writing list of songs to listen to.
Yes, I’ll admit, it takes time to build up a list of writing-friendly songs. It will take hours and hours of writing, stopping, re-starting, and putting together a list of songs. After a couple years of writing I’ve accumulated hundreds of writing songs (from 3-11 to ZZTop) and the list is impressive. But I don’t need to go in quest of music anymore. I can set my playlist on winamp, pop on my headphones, and I’m ready to start writinG.
