A Look Inside: Writing to Music
Some writers love writing to music, other’s can’t focus with it and need silence. Some have specific playlists, others can just throw their library on shuffle. Some use instrumental focus music, others can listen to lyrics.
From the beginning, I’ve been a little bit of all of these. Mostly, it depends on what I’m writing. Sometimes I can write to music, other times I get so lost in the flow that I forget to even press play. I thought I’d share a little bit about the music behind the books.
Blue Star Series
It’s no surprise that music is an instrumental (haha get it?) part to the making of these two series. The Soul Series builds songs into the book, having our characters communicate their emotions via music. I continued that theme into the Star Series, even though through this one, the songs aren’t explicitly mentioned but rather go along as a companion. Click those links to see the playlists!
While writing in this world, I can do what many writers cannot do… listen to music with lyrics. I create ‘dump’ playlists of songs that I know fit the story and then set those lists on shuffle. Sometimes while writing a certain scene, I’ll replay a song until the scene is written so I can keep the same emotions/vibe going for the whole time. As I start to finalize the playlists that will coordinate with chapters or scenes, I’ll listen to those songs in order (and, while editing, during their specific chapters) and make sure it all works out how I want it to.
Now, just because I can do lyrics doesn’t mean it’s easy. Some days, music becomes a distraction during this series because I can’t find the right song to fit the mood or I’m just low on focus energy. If lyrics are distracting me more than usual, I’ll throw on the Star Wars soundtracks to keep me focused (my go to instrumental soundtrack). In every instance, however, these songs playing in the background must be just that… background. To do that, the music I listen to has been in my library for some time OR I know the song so well, it doesn’t distract me from the writing process. That means most of the songs on my playlists have been listened to over fifty times… and that number climbs the longer I write this series!
There are also a good 25 or so songs throughout all of the playlists that have been listened to over 100 times, 15 over 200 times, three songs over 300 times, and one song over 800 times! That’s over 42 hours of listening… I think I like the song (PS. it’s Slow Heart by TWIN XL).
Warrior Series
When I started writing this series, I discovered that having lyrics play in the background was not useful for my creativity. The reason? Because it’s high fantasy!
While the Blue Star series is set in the real world, the Warrior series is a fantasy world completely made up. Which means they don’t have the same type of music that we do… and that really made the writing process difficult. I kept getting distracted by the lyrics as if they would pull me out of my fantasy world. After struggling through the first few books trying to find my comfort music, I finally found the perfect soundtrack.
Narnia.
Yeah, I listened to the Narnia soundtracks on repeat while writing the ten installments to the Warrior series. The world I had created fit that type of music perfectly - magical, inspirational, heartwarming, epic, and everything in between. Having a soundtrack to another fantasy world playing while creating my own really got me in the mood to write. It became a routine. Sit down at the desk, start the first song, reread what I had written the day before, and take off into my world. Setting that mood immediately, and associating a single soundtrack to an entire series, sparked my creativity.
Smoke and Shadows Series
Because I was prepared with the high fantasy worldbuilding ideas through the Warrior series, I knew exactly how I would make the Smoke and Shadows series work in my favor. I needed to find another epic fantasy soundtrack to make the writing work.
While starting the series, I didn’t listen to any music. I wanted the book to start to take shape on its own and then tell me what I should be listening to. So, after the first few chapters, I started to get a better feel for the characters and the themes I was going to need to emotionally capture.
Right off the bat, I knew that this series was not going to fit the mold of Narnia. It was supposed to be a little darker, a little more dirty, and a lot more stabby. There were assassins and sneaking around and romance… wait, go back to that first one. Assassins.
It was like a lightbulb went off and I immediately typed the soundtrack into my music search. Thus, Assassin’s Creed 2 became my playlist for the series (the second game was the first one I really got into - watching my brother play is one of my favorite memories). It has the perfect melodies for the scenes I wanted to set in my book. We have epic, we have sad, we have dark, and - above all else - we have stabby assassins.
Does music help you focus or just distract you? How do you use music with your creative process, no matter what you do?
Here are a few of my favorite go-to creative albums when I’m writing, outlining, or just enjoying my stories.
The Bungalow - Mating Ritual
Dive Deep - Andrew Belle
Where the Shadow Ends - BANNERS
Busyhead - Noah Kahan
Last Young Renegade || Wake Up, Sunshine - All Time Low
