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

[bigbabydarkness.livejournal.com]

yes. awesome. i tend to go classical or non-annoying jazz. sort of depends, obviously, on what is happening in the room, the brain, and the story.
i was just trying to figure out the theme this time. whew.

[thiefjuice.livejournal.com]

Michelle Branch's Hotel Paper is pretty much on infinite loop, for two reasons: 1)It's part of the inspiration for my story and 2)It's really easy to write to. Of course, the CD is less than 50 minutes long so I find myself listening to it like...5-6 times a day.

[perfectinpart.livejournal.com]

I try to listen to mellow music that has no words, or words in a language I don't understand. Usually it's a lot of Sigur Ros and Yiruma. I also have some soundtracks as well (some Disney love songs with no words, the Star Wars [original trilogy] soundtracks).

[ice-elf.livejournal.com]

Various soundtracks including 'The Lord of the Rings', 'Dragonheart', 'Pirates of the Carribbean' and 'Doctor Who'. But there is also some Nightwish, Within Temptation and Muse in there too.

[agdhani.livejournal.com]

Preferably music without lyrics...or lyrics that aren't in English so I'm not tempted to sing along, lol.

Most of my mix is celtic, especially harp music, though I also have several soundtracks in the mix (Gladiator, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven, Alexander, and a lot of the the Cirque du Soliel music)

[random-acts.livejournal.com]

I'm writing a Christmas story set in a department store, so I have all of the Christmas songs in my itunes library going on a loop so that I can sympathise with the workers!

[pullmytrigger.livejournal.com]

I've been putting artists on loop. Last night it was switching between Frank Sinatra and Depeche Mode. Today it's been Coldplay and A Perfect Circle... I guess I'm just listening to whatever I'm in the mood for. Though really, it's just white noise for me to tune out.

[sarahrose.livejournal.com]

I listen to whatever I listen to normally, but I seem to favor country story songs. Country is my favorite in general, but something about it just makes me want to write.

[aka-meerkat.livejournal.com]

I pick something that's either related to my characters or gives me a feel for the story.. for whatever reason. I didn't have time to come up with something last year, the year before that it was all music from the Silent Hill games because one of my POV characters was really into video games.. particularly of the survival horror variety. I don't remember what I listened to for the other POV character.. I think the Ramones Spiderman song was in there, he was a comic book geek. This year I'm listening to Tool and A Perfect Circle. I can't explain why it works, but it does.

[sarahrose.livejournal.com]

Last Christmas I worked at a Sears Portrait... Good golly. I LOVE Christmas music but sheesh!

[honore.livejournal.com]

I want a copy of YOUR NaNo soundtrack! *laughs*

So far, my music has been the obnoxiously loud Mexican party across the alley (a weekly happening), sirens from emergency vehicles as it was *OMG!!!* raining here in SoCal yesterday, and this morning the lovely percussion music of pseudo-La-Z-Boys being shoved off the third floor fire escape. (I live in the back so get all the goodies like this.)

Maybe I should just sit at my window and write about all the strangeness happening day-to-day in my neighborhood!

[matrixleap.livejournal.com]

This is the first year I have participated and I'm doing a sci-fi story, hence the soundtracks. I try not to listen to anything with lyrics as they tend to get in the way, but the industrial thing works well for the setting.


~D.

[matrixleap.livejournal.com]

I'd love to send a copy of what I've been listening to!

Are you writing in the sci-fi genre?


~D.

[noted.livejournal.com]

Mostly really slow music or music that fits the theme I'm writing about. Snow Patrol, Elisa, Aqualung, Grace Potter, City and Colour, Placebo, OneRepublic, Ray Lamontagne, and Missy Higgins. But if I'm writing a particularly angst driven scene, I go for Marilyn Manson, Smashing Pumpkins, and Nine Inch Nails.

[matrixleap.livejournal.com]

I wrote my first novel a couple of years ago (not NaNo) and I was listening to the Gladiator, Interview with a Vampire, Croutching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Pirates of the Cribbean soundtracks ALL THE TIME. Specifically Gladiator and Pirates.

[honore.livejournal.com]

I am, actually. Well, trying to.

[matrixleap.livejournal.com]

I worked at "Prints Plus" for the holiday season when I was 17 I think...I wanted to stab my ears out with a pair of scissors and then hurt the people I worked with for making us listen to that crap ALL DAY LONG!

=)

[syntheticjesso.livejournal.com]

So far there's been a lot of Kaiser Chiefs, a collection of mix CDs from a friend, and Pandora.com. I just made a 45-minute playlist in iTunes of my top 13 most-played songs, I'm gonna write to that in a minute. I also am feeling the need to write to Styx for some reason, I'll probably do that later today.

Usually, I just write to whatever I'm in the mood for. Last year was a lot of my "Fall" music (Athlete, Nickel Creek, Fair, Imogen Heap, The Notwist, the Pale, etc), and the year before was almost all Muse.

[matrixleap.livejournal.com]

It's different, isn't it? I've been centered in fantasy and Childrens fantasy before this attempt. It is...different.

What's the hardest part for you?

[syntheticjesso.livejournal.com]

...why were they shoving recliners off the fire escape?

[matrixleap.livejournal.com]

You have to have the SW trilogy in there...

I AM going to assume you mean the REAL trilogy, not the cgi bloated pre-quels or "Corrections", yes?


~D.

[perfectinpart.livejournal.com]

yes, the real trilogy. :)

[matrixleap.livejournal.com]

50 bonus points to you then! That makes me happy.

=)


~D.

[starsandauras]

Well, there's a lot of HIM going on, since that's part of my November in general playlist. A lot of sad, lost love songs. My Chem, Seether, Savage Garden, Within Temptation... yeah, I have really diverse tastes.

When I'm not playing my usual soundtrack, I have my NaNo playlist over on youtube playing. Link for those interested, but a fair warning that it's pretty diverse as well and there is Japanese pop on it.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=9483840E4708A420

I'm usually adding to it every so often, so it'll probably hit 100 songs by the end of the month.

[shiny-rosie.livejournal.com]

gosh, all kinds of stuff, I tend to create "mood music" play lists for what ever kind of scene I'm working on at the moment, I do have a few pieces that are inspiration for the entire project like PJ Harvey's "Who Will Love Me Now" and Missy Higgins's "Dancing Dirt into The Snow" (I know right...happy times ahead! Oh Angst...how I love thee!) I also have several instrumental pieces that are really specific to a scene, character or moment, these are pieces that if the story was a movie (like it is in my head!) would underscore certain moments such as "Rex's Death" from Desperate Housewives, "The Death of Toshiko" from the Torchwood Soundtrack, and "The Greatest Story Never Told" From the new Doctor Who soundtrack. I've also got stuff from Eastmountiansouth, Hem, Mogwai, Josh Groban, Sinead O'Connor, Trashcan Sinatras, Coldplay and many MANY more...I pretty much can't write without music! Thank god for my ipod! :):):)