Plotting Music

I suppose I should apologize for not posting last week, but I was busy, so I’m not really apologizing. The semester is over now (with a new one right around the corner), so hopefully I can get back on track.

“Plotting Music, he thought. I need plotting music.” ~Artemis Fowl II, Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox.

Have you ever been listening to a song and had an amazing story idea—or idea for a scene—pop into your head? It’s not an uncommon occurrence; I see characters in music all the time. Music affects our creativity. Certain songs can just get us really in to our writing, other songs can distract us from it.

For me personally, I can’t write to music that is too slow, nor can it be too fast or involved. Whatever forces itself to the front of my brain gets my attention, and if the music takes too much thought to listen to, I can’t use it while I’m writing. For this reason, I have a playlist entitled “Plotting Music” in my iTunes. What does in there is music that I know for sure I can write while listening to it, but it’s dynamic enough to stimulate my writing. Certain songs, I may play over and over again while writing a scene because it seems to fit so well. The playlist is a nice thing to have because I don’t have to constantly skip the songs that don’t fit my mood.

Sometimes the songs that inspire me most aren’t in my Plotting Music. I hear a song and think of a character because the song exemplifies that character or the way they’re feeling. I see music videos in my head with the character doing different things, and I come to know that character better. I can’t necessarily write with that music but the thought follows me to my writing.

One example of this is (of all things) a Taylor Swift song. I like listening to her music occasionally, but it gets rather repetitive (I mean; we all know how she writes her songs). This song, however, was one of her different ones. “Change” reminds me of two of my main characters in the novel I’m working on now. I imagine the two of them singing it to each other, each trying to bolster the spirits of the other. The song comes to mind whenever one has to support the other—which happens pretty frequently—but I don’t usually write to it. It’s distracting to have Taylor Swift singing at you when you’re trying to be creative.

(Okay…that was probably a little mean. But honestly, most of her songs are pretty much the same. I might like her better if she branched out a little.)

I like writing to music, but often as not, I write in silence. I just don’t think about turning on the music, especially if there is someone else in the room. I can’t say I find much of a difference between the writing with music and the writing without it, so it doesn’t affect the way I write (which is a good thing). But it does help when the words are slow about coming. Find the right song, and the writing can just flow. Writers need inspiration, and the right music can provide that. I am a Writer.