Writing With Strut Music

by Lindsey Loucks, posted in Music, Writing

Raise your hands if you listen to music while you write. What kind of music? Do any of you draw inspiration from music that you later put into your writing?

I can’t listen to music while I write. If Jesse is snoring, it distracts me. Mostly because it’s so cute, but also because it’s noise. I do draw inspiration from music, though. Scenes form in my head that are completely unrelated to the song’s lyrics, and before I know it, another story idea is brewing.

Speaking of music, do any of you wish you had your own theme song that plays whenever you walk into a room? Or is that just me? Because here’s what I want mine to be: (Warning: talk of dead people and bad words, then the music starts):

Now that’s a song you can strut to! Or draw inspiration from for select characters/scenes. I’m going to go strut around my house while I listen to this song…

12 thoughts on “Writing With Strut Music”

  1. Awesome! Can’t say I’d like my own theme music. I’m pretty sure it would drive me bananas. But you know I’m obsessed with theme music for my stories. I write out a scene and usually find a song to match. I’ll often play it over and over while I’m writing that particular chapter. The lyrics and melodies really inspire me!

  2. Can’t say I’ve ever thought about that theme music question, but pretty sure it’s going to bug me now 🙂

    Music while I write? Sometimes no, sometimes yes. Very mood-driven. Could be anything from Mozart to Enya to Evanescence depending on mood. I’m fickle like that.

  3. I do listen to a lot of music while I write, but not necessarily the theme music I think about for the certain theme, because it annoys me greatly to listen to the same song over and over and over (and I’ve answered your theme music question too 🙂 ) But I do draw a lot of inspiration from songs.

  4. I prefer silence when I write, but listen to music when I go for a walk, then I get inspired by the music.

    I also write made up songs for my characters. I wish I could write the music too. Oh, and I wish I could sing, but my voice is so bad, I was asked to mime in the school choir. LOL.

  5. Haven’t used music as much now that I am in edit mode. While I was pounding out the first draft the music was very linked to the type of scene. During Jerok’s parts in chapter 2 & 3 I listened to a lot of “I Want It All” by Queen. Mirian’s scenes were mostly written with Bach’s piano concertos, and fight scenes were either Dokken’s “Mr. Scary”, Metallica’s “Four Horsemen”, or a couple other Metallica tunes.

    Personal theme? Can’t think of anything that I would claim full time.

    –j–

  6. Evanescence seems to be a really popular group to listen to while writing. I’ll have to check them out more. Metallica would be great for battle scenes. Good idea, J!

    It’s okay if no one else has a theme song but me. You’ll know I have arrived when you hear my song!

  7. I’m always listening to music in the car and singing along…:) And I write to music as well… it kind of helps me blank my mind as it cuts out all out sounds… like my cat snoring…

  9. I definitely listen to music while I write, though it’s not too loud, and generally not too ‘heavy’. I have a special playlist for writing on my iTunes and I’ll pull songs from it if it’s too distracting. When I wrote my first love scene, I found even this playlist too distracting, so I made a new playlist, called “ahem” and whittled down my normal writing playlist even more. I found it pretty much has to be purely instrumental.

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