So I’m a big fan of the Four Seasons and before I made it through even a half-dozen emails, I was singing (loudly). Possibly chair-dancing. And I didn’t have even a teensy germ of an idea for you. But as big girls don’t cry, I figured I’d just have to turn off the music—and that’s when it hit me: writing and music.
I have a friend who always listens to music when writing. She puts on the headphones and jams out, generating two or three thousand words at a sitting. Me? I can’t write ten words with music playing. If it’s music with words, I almost always start singing along (whether I know the words or not). And if I hear something that I recognize but never really paid much attention to back in the day, I still stop and listen. Because I’m amazed at what I’m hearing. I’ll invariably think, “Gee. I had no idea that song was about that.” It’s a no-win, no-write situation.
Maybe, I could listen to an instrumental and accomplish something; honestly, I’m not sure. But I can see how an instrumental could help set a tone while writing.
The friend I mentioned? She listened to "Tubular Bells" from The Exorcist while working on an edgy young adult manuscript. She said it was the perfect music to get her in the right (or wrong, as the case may be) frame of mind for the story. And that makes sense to me. I mean, if everything’s lollipops and butterflies in one’s personal life, it might be difficult to channel angst and destruction on the page. There’s nothing like a good, creepy song to get the creative, murderous vibe flowing.
Conversely, as a writer who primarily writes the funny, I don’t always feel the funny. Sometimes, I need to do something to take me away from my real world so that I can make others laugh. I might watch funny videos and yep, I might even listen to music (I recommend Julie Andrews, by the way).
How about you? I’m curious, especially during this National Novel Writing Month, how many of us writers need music (or any background noise) for the process. I’d love to understand how and why it works because I listened to Jersey Boys while (sort of) writing up this post. And as much as I love you, baby, I just can’t write to music.
~Cathy C. Hall
