Listening to music whilst writing
Whilst reading On Writing, I noted that Stephen King likes listening to music as he does his writing. I will sometimes do the same when on the train, but that’s just to drown out some knob talking too loud on his phone. Does listening to music help you concentrate?
For me, it depends what mood I’m in, and what I’m doing. Sometimes listening to music is inspiring, and puts me in a more creative mood. But I have to align my mood with the right kind of music for that to work, and it rarely happens except by accident. I think one of the small joys in life is when pressing shuffle on your iPod magically produces a string of songs that fit your mood. But I’m normally walking when that happens.
Other times, music has to be wordless, as I can often be distracted by good lyrics (it doesn’t help that my music collection is excellent by the way). Or, at the very least, the words must be so unimportant as to be rendered meaningless, and part of the background. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way (I just said my music collection is excellent). It’s perfectly valid for some dance tracks to simply give a nod to the written word without giving it particular importance. Prodigy is a favourite.
Soundtracks are also good. Currently top of the list are The Dark Knight (contender for most loved film), and, given my recent obsession with Playstation (can’t. Stop. Buying. Games!) the Assassin’s Creed II soundtrack is also a winner.
And what does Stephen King listen to?
I work to loud music – hard-rock stuff like AC/DC, Guns ‘n Roses, and Metallica have always been particular favorites
Stephen King, On Writing
Now you know.
It’s different for everyone of course, and I’d like to know what you listen to when writing. Or is silence the preferred background? Hit the comments, folks!
So wait, you’re saying your music collection is awesome, and yet you mention the prodigy? Doesn’t compute. Where is the Beyonce? The Paula Abdul? The DJ Sammy? Hopefully in the bin where they belong.
I’m in two minds about this. Yes, music inspires me, but it has to click, like you say, doesnt it? Since most of my writing is intense and end of the world-y, I obviously listen to a lot of Muse and Evanescence (See, I have awesome music too) but soundtracks are a good way to go. I remember when I met Michael Marshall (Woo!) and he mentioned that he often listened to the soundtrack for the Rock when he wrote, which i thought rocked at the time, because I did the same (Hero worship, go figure) but I can get distracted by lyrics. Also, I’m not too good at multitasking. I may tend to drift when music is on.
So here’s a counterpoint, do you listen to music when editing? What circumstances are better for listening? Generating raw material or moulding what you have?
@Craig O’Connor
Hey! Don’t diss me dude!
For editing I tend to need complete silence. Also, I prefer to have actual pages in front of me for most of my editing, rather than a screen for some reason.
I guess rather than blotting everything out (as when drafting), I have to really focus on the actual words when I edit, and nothing else. Silence is golden.
Hi Matt,
I *can* listen to music when I write, but then I find I am much slower because I focus too much on the music. I also find it depends on the music style: I can get away with listening to music without lyrics (AIR for example) but if I switch to music with lyrics, my productivity drops a lot as I never get “in the zone”. I never listened to music when I was studying as it was too distracting. So things are not much different now!
Hi Guillaume. You are the same as me, then! When I was studying at uni I used to put Treefingers onby Radiohead. This is the least intrusive track ever – ambient, slow motion guitar strumming (so slow it’s hard to recognise it as such).