Sometimes you just need mood music as you write. Here are a couple of songs I listened to a lot to help me stay in the zone as I worked on my debut novel, Trefury: Mendi's Curse.
The first one is found on OC Remix: Chrono Trigger 'Crying Mountain' by Saiko:
This song was my transition song, or the travel theme song. Appropriate transitions are important to storytelling, and the beat helped remind me to keep them brief and to the point. You want to keep moving with a story, not get bogged down in one place.
The next song is also found on OC Remix: Diddy Kong Racing 'Shiva Nataraja' by Guifrog:
I really went for a heavy mishmash of Asian and Middle-Eastern (with some Western) vibes when designing the country and world a couple of my lead characters come from. It helped listening to upbeat Asian-techno and Indian dance music. Pandora was also a help when I really wanted to get into that mindset.
These are just a couple of the mood music songs on my playlist. I have several more. Many writers prefer this kind of music to write to, rather than songs with words. I limit my non-worded music, trying to especially avoid soundtracks, as these tend to make me think of the movies they come from and the characters in those movies. But there are times when I don't have any specific song that fits the theme, emotion, or situation I'm writing about. Then I queue the non-movie, no-words music.
Question for you:
How important is mood music to your writing process? What do you look for when choosing your mood music?
Previous Behind the Scenes Posts:
Behind the Scenes #3: My Writing Soundtrack for Trefury, Track 1
Forbidden Without Knowing Why
Let's Talk Hair
The first one is found on OC Remix: Chrono Trigger 'Crying Mountain' by Saiko:
This song was my transition song, or the travel theme song. Appropriate transitions are important to storytelling, and the beat helped remind me to keep them brief and to the point. You want to keep moving with a story, not get bogged down in one place.
The next song is also found on OC Remix: Diddy Kong Racing 'Shiva Nataraja' by Guifrog:
I really went for a heavy mishmash of Asian and Middle-Eastern (with some Western) vibes when designing the country and world a couple of my lead characters come from. It helped listening to upbeat Asian-techno and Indian dance music. Pandora was also a help when I really wanted to get into that mindset.
These are just a couple of the mood music songs on my playlist. I have several more. Many writers prefer this kind of music to write to, rather than songs with words. I limit my non-worded music, trying to especially avoid soundtracks, as these tend to make me think of the movies they come from and the characters in those movies. But there are times when I don't have any specific song that fits the theme, emotion, or situation I'm writing about. Then I queue the non-movie, no-words music.
Question for you:
How important is mood music to your writing process? What do you look for when choosing your mood music?
Previous Behind the Scenes Posts:
Behind the Scenes #3: My Writing Soundtrack for Trefury, Track 1
Forbidden Without Knowing Why
Let's Talk Hair
No comments:
Post a Comment