Everyone has a different preference for their writing routine. Some people need complete silence. Like, noise-cancelling earbuds in a soundproof room kind of silence. Other people enjoy a little background chatter. They thrive in a cozy cafe, or listening to some white noise on their phone. Then, of course, there are the people who like to listen to music while writing.
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I like to think of listening to music during my writing session as a middle ground between the first two options. All the benefits of cutting out the sound around me, but the added plus of not being left alone with just my own thoughts. When I first started listening to music while writing, I made a master playlist for all my novels, full of movie original soundtracks. Think lots of Hans Zimmer. It worked for me then. I was a teen, and I wanted everything I wrote to be “dark” and “gritty”.
But if you want to know where the money’s at, you need to make a personalized playlist for your novel.
I know what you’re thinking. “But Shai, I’m in the aforementioned ‘needs a soundproof closet to write in’ group. How is making a playlist going to benefit me?”
Whether or not you choose to listen to your novel playlist while writing is up to you. The process of creating a novel playlist on its own is one of the most insightful writing exercises you can do for your Work in Progress.
You should make a playlist for the same reason almost any accredited author suggests reading books in your genre before you start writing. Art informs art. So don’t limit yourself to purely literary sources of inspiration! Music can inform the depth and mood in your novel in ways you might not expect.
Here is how I go about creating a new novel playlist:
Add some OSTs
Turn your writing experience into a movie - inside your head! Choosing music from video game or film soundtracks is a great way to set the tone and mood of your world.
Try to think of a movie or video game that has a similar tone or premise to your WIP. When I was writing my TV pilot script for After Oil, I listened to a lot of The Last of Us. Even if you’re not a gamer, I strongly suggest listening to some video game OSTs. They tend to be better for repeated listening because they’re literally designed to be! Game music is intended to loop naturally while also fading into the background a bit, whereas film soundtracks are often written to accent a specific moment in a film. I can’t listen to Hans Zimmer without recalling bits of film dialogue as I’m listening.
If you don’t know any video games personally, try scrolling through Spotify’s “gaming” section and see what resonates with you. A quick Google search for video games in your novel’s genre is sure to get you off to a good start too.
Look for “theme” songs
I got into this practice during my good ol’ forum roleplaying days. For any who might not know, this is where a bunch of people join a thread in a forum to roleplay a story together. The thread creator writes a plot and form for people to submit their characters to participate. Then everyone takes turns submitting posts as their own characters.
A wall of text in a forum can be a little dreary and intimidating, so it was common practice for roleplays to spice up their posts with a “signature” for their character. This usually involved some badly formatted fanart lifted from Deviantart and song lyrics in fancy fonts. You know how we used to all use song lyrics as our offline messages on AIM? Yeah, like that.
As cringe as this might seem, choosing a “theme song” for your main character - or any of your characters - is an incredible insight. Lyricists communicate thoughts and feelings in a much different way than a novelist. A theme song is a great tool to finding your character’s “cornerstone”, or the thing that makes them who they are. For example, for my character Sarah in After Oil, the song “Don’t Want to Die in the Storm” by Anna & Elizabeth was the theme of her cornerstone. Sarah lost her mother at a young age, and watched her family continue to live comfortably despite their impoverished conditions during an international oil crisis. She sees this as a symptom of where she grew up, in the middle of rural America. She doesn’t want to “die in the storm” like her mother or her family. Sarah’s goal in life is to leave home.
Having a theme for each of your characters is a great thing to have in your back pocket while writing your first draft, and it’s something you can always go back to whenever you become unsure of your character’s motivations.
Create a radio
I personally like Spotify for this, but if Pandora is more your cup of tea, that will work as well. I choose Spotify because I specifically like making a radio based off a playlist I’ve created, to get a more personalized experience. But if you only have one song in mind to begin with, a song radio is perfect.
This is great to do especially if you’re at a loss for what songs to add. It’s also just a nice way to find music you might not have thought of.
I had a breakthrough the other day with my current WIP while doing this. My novel playlist for Lake Rats is made up mostly of girl in red and the Gone Home video game soundtrack. I’ve been struggling to find other music that hits the vibe I’m searching for in the same way. So I made playlist radio while I was at work.
That’s when “Sick of Losing Soulmates” by dodie came on. I already know and love this song, so I remembered the lyrics. When the chorus kicked in, I felt the pieces slide into place.
“I’m sick of losing soulmates, so where do we begin? I can finally see you’re as fucked up as me, so how do we win?”
I suddenly had a whole new perspective on my two main characters. My protagonist, Goose, is in love with her best friend Em, but she still hasn’t told her. Throughout the novel, Goose and Em investigate the death of an unknown woman they find in the lake together at their family campground. I had been so focused on Goose’s deteriorating relationship with her divorcing parents and how it affects her throughout the story, I hadn’t really stopped to think… what’s going on with Em? What’s her home life like? I don’t know of a single teenager who has a “perfect” relationship with their family. I realized I hadn’t fleshed out Em nearly as well as I thought. It’s what had been missing in the dynamic between Goose and Em, and now I finally have a handle on what I need to do to really get into the juicy bits of their relationship.
Keep an open mind and ear to new songs - you never know what the lyrics might reveal to you about your novel!
Listen.
As I said earlier, it’s up to you whether you listen to this playlist while you work on writing. Personally I often find songs with lyrics to be too distracting while writing. I just want to sing along the whole time.
If you choose not to listen while you work, make the time to listen in other ways. Play it while you’re at work (if you can). Listen while on your run or walk. Listen on your commute home. Listen while you’re in your garden. Make this a habit and you’re far more likely to have big brainstorm moments.
What songs or artists are you going to add to your playlist? Let me know in the comments below!
