The music is the key...

[matrixleap.livejournal.com]

So, for all you writers out there plugging away this month, what type of music do you listen to while writing your novel?

Are you the type that the music is specific to the genre you are writing in, or, do you just put your iPod / whathaveyou on random?


Give a shout out to what you are listening to!


So far, the music has been leaning towards (for me)...

"The 5th Element" soundtrack
"Blade Runner" soundtrack
"2001" soundtrack
And a mix of "VNV Nation", "Velvet Acid Christ", "Depeche Mode", and "NIN"


NaNo user = "Matrixleap" in Portland, Oregon.

Comments

[nscangal.livejournal.com]

I'm not doing NaNo this year due to time constraints from school (19 credit hours plus an honors thesis = no time at all, so instead, I've set a goal of 50k over two months, from November till the end of December), but I'd recommend a band called Forgive Durden if you're in the mood for music that will set a tone of dystopian future. Their song, "I'm a Sucker for Fakes" is the one I plan to set as the sountrack for my betrayal scene, since it really fits with the type of anger that my protagonist will be feeling at the time.

But I'm really flexible as to what I'll listen to, and it all depends on the mood I'm trying to make. Last year, I listened to everything from dance pop to classical, and this year will probably be broader. XD

[highmagemaxwell.livejournal.com]

I don't listen to music exactly, but I usually have a Freelance Astronauts video playing in the background. They're a bunch of guys who play video games and make commentary on them. It helps because whenever I get too angry at my writing, I just listen to them for a minute or two and start laughing XD Very soothing.

[random-acts.livejournal.com]

I find getting annoyed over the music distracts me from getting annoyed over my inability to work out what I want to type next. It's a nice change!

[graycatbird.livejournal.com]

i'd love to see them live!
i was introduced to them in 1993 by a friend of mine.

(now i feel old!) lol

[matrixleap.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about time...

I'm pulling 17 credit hours myself and cramming nearly a 40 hour work week into 3 days. On the graveyard shift! I head into work at 1am on Saturday. I work Sat/Sun/Mon...Monday afternoon I stay up until about midnight to get turned around. I'm back up at 7am to be in class by 9am. Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm in class from 9am to 9pm...friday I'm up around 7am usually, hang out, do homework and go back to bed at 4pm to get some sleep before going back to work.

I try to find time to do homework also...Plus hang out with a few friends here and there, plus do some freelance photography. I'm an adult returning student going back for a second degree bachelors in Graphic Design and Animation.

I know all about the lack of time...it sucks.

=)


~D.

[nscangal.livejournal.com]

Yeah. If it were just two of the three of school, work or extra-curricular committments (Family, martial arts, student clubs, executive position on a student club, volunteering, etc), I'd be fine, but... yeah. I kind of like having friends, and right now if I were to do NaNoWriMo, I'd have to become a hermit for the month. I'm already only hanging out with my friends on Saturday tabletop nights, soooo... yeah. Plus host Saturday tabletop nights and it's kind of hard to avoid socializing when I'm the one hosting the game. XD

But it's okay - hopefully with the extra month, I'll have time to make a more coherent plot and wind up with something that I won't mind actually refining into something vaguely resembling a story worth spending time on. XD

[ticklemecheeky.livejournal.com]

I don't listen to any music at all! >.>;

[knitchick1979.livejournal.com]

I tend to stick to instrumentals when I'm writing, working on homework, or reading books that require concentration (like reading Tolkien or Shakespeare), helps me focus.

That said my instrumental mix is pretty varied. Lots of Torchwood and Doctor Who soundtrack scores, plus scores from Apollo 13, the Incredibles, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Quantum Leap, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Highlander, 2001 A Space Odyssey, X-Men, Sneakers, and more. There's even some classical music (Bolero), classic rock that doesn't have words (Classical Gas), and the occasional piece of bagpipe music. :D

I usually just put the list on shuffle. I have been leaning toward the Apollo 13 tracks a bit more lately, though the Torchwood ones are still the best especially since I'm writing a Torchwood fanfic for my NaNo novel. I really need to load a bit more music on my laptop for when I don't feel like digging out the iPod on top of all the cords for the laptop. Right now it's only got about 50 tracks, all of Doctor Who plus Angel and a smattering of other stuff.

[matrixleap.livejournal.com]

I hear ya!

Table top, eh? I'm a fan of a good session myself. I've been trying to put a group together here in Portland since moving but my schedule hasn't really allowed it.

Which system do you run?

~D.

[nscangal.livejournal.com]

That's hilarious! XD Between them and the people I used to live with in my last two places, I have ample inspiration for obnoxious neighbours.

[ruth-the-sleuth.livejournal.com]

Lots and lots and lots of Tom Waits--thematically, it just fits with what I'm writing about--and the second movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony, over and over and over again.

[nscangal.livejournal.com]

I GM Shadowrun (but I'm pretty new at it so I'm still trying to find the right balance between letting them succeed and throwing curveballs at them), and I alternate weeks with a guy that does BESM (in a setting of ... well, it's kind of hard to explain. Think a feudal city surrounded by land owned by corps that would make the most callous executive of a Shadowrun corp go, "Holy crap, guys. Going overboard much? Jeez..." with some sci-fi and fantasy elements thrown in and you've got something close to it. It's screwed-up, but in a good way).

Next week, I'm planning to try for significantly more hard-assed than I have been lately, and we'll see how it goes. XD

[inkspotsbyisil.livejournal.com]

I listen to classical for the entire month. In my house, in my car ... everywhere. Occasionally, I'll station hop to hear something with lyrics, but for the most part, it's classical. Nothing with lyrics, and something nice to keep on in the background so it's not totally quiet.

[aradiachiba.livejournal.com]

Mostly I listen to music either without lyrics or with lyrics in another language. So I have some soundtracks, some classical, and some opera. It's pretty. :)

[silamai.livejournal.com]

Nothing specific. I don't really find music to be inspirational while writing. It just helps me focus.

But right now I'm playing the crap out of Poe's "Haunted", Rachael Yamagata's "Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart" and Tori Amos's "Boys for Pele".

[ledh.livejournal.com]

Jason Webley today :)

[tinknevertalks.livejournal.com]

... At the moment, happy music. :D

Last year it was episodes of Red Dwarf (randomly the laugh track really helped me... Dunno why).

Rach xxx

[bluemoon02.livejournal.com]

I can't listen to music while I'm writing, because I just end up singing along to the songs and not actually writing anything -- but when I'm at work or out walking or whatever, I'm listening to a lot of Offspring to get me in the mood. I'm modernising Hamlet -- which, when you get down to it, is just one big teen-angst fest! So lots of "Never Gonna Find Me" and "Can't Get My Head Around You". Also some Evanescence, a little bit of Marilyn Manson. Not cheery stuff!

[shiny-rosie.livejournal.com]

I am totally in love with the Torchwood soundtrack, there is so much emotion packed into it, particularly those final few tracks...I love it so much! I've also just gotten the new Doctor Who soundtrack and I must confess that it's distracting me from my nano a little because I can't listen to it and not get sucked into Doctor Who musing...this would be fine if my nano was about the good Doctor, but it isn't so... :) Oh well! Its wonderful so I don't mind. :)

[lmeighmy.livejournal.com]

This year, I'm overdosing on Nuno Bettencourt's Schizophonic, but I also have a soundtrack of music to go along with the story. Some of it's Native American, some of it's rock instrumental, some is rock with a certain theme that goes well with different scenes in the story. There's even a modern Japanese instrumental in there. :-)

But, yeah, Nuno's where I'm at right now. ;-)

[jackwabbit.livejournal.com]

I'm a write in silence type, like ticklemecheeky.

I find music distracting when I write.

NO WORDS!

[with-new-eyes.livejournal.com]

I listen to contemporary movie instrumentals. Usually I pick which movies to listen to according to where I am in the book.

[dieteeniescum.livejournal.com]

I was having good results with The Smashing Pumpkins (Siamese Dream and Pisces Iscariot) earlier. I need to sit down and actually write a playlist for my novel; I was skipping around on my iPod a lot on Friday and lines kept jumping out at me that I want to keep in mind/use/abuse/quote. I figure once I've met my word count for today, then I'll do it; I've only got 720 to go and my two MCs are lost in conversation (and the one narrating is also rambling at me between sentences) so it shouldn't be too difficult.

[jediknightmuse.livejournal.com]

-Star Wars- any of them, really, but mostly original trilogy...actually, I don't even have music from TPM or AotC at the moment on my computer.
-Moulin Rouge
-Phantom of the Opera
-RENT
-Wicked
-Disney/childhood stuff
-Josh Groban
-I was searching for music to download for my NaNo soundtrack and I'm liking The Calling a lot.
-Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian soundtrack
-David Cook

That's pretty much it. I've really struggled to find some good songs that would work for my novel. :|

[stephs-nano.livejournal.com]

I just shuffle my iPod, but a lot of rock music is helping me out.