Music and writing

[PennLady]

Some of you may know that Rick Springfield (yes, he of "Jessie's Girl" and General Hospital fame) has written a novel. I found this article he posted at Salon.com about his process of writing both books and music, and thought some might find it interesting. I'm not saying he's right or wrong, just putting it out there since it's about writing.

http://www.salon.com/2014/05/13/rick_springfields_guide_to_writing/

FWIW, I haven't finished the article, but it's not that long. I have started his novel, "Magnificent Vibration," and have found it amusing so far. I also enjoyed his memoir, "Late, Late at Night." So I could be slightly biased.

 

[slyc_willie]

It's a very tongue in cheek article,and not really anything I'd call revelatory. Springfield comes across as more than a bit full of himself in a sort of weird, self-deprecating way. He's basically saying "I'm still Mr. Hotstuff (but not really -- wink, wink)." I do find it interesting that he became interested in writing stories before songs, and his comparison between musical and prose writing is, as he put it, "super-eminent."

 

[PennLady]

No, he didn't make profound points, true. I did like the comparison between songs and novels, though.

He was being tongue-in-cheek for a lot of it, certainly. But I also thought it was a different perspective on writing novels. How he let it go for so long and turned to writing songs and then went back.

 

[slyc_willie]

If the article is indicative of Springfield's writing style, I could see him doing well in comic/slipstream writing.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

He likes farm animals, what Democrat doesn't!

 

[Aynmair]

He likes farm animals, what Democrat doesn't!

Republicans don't? Oh, forgot about Romney's dog's ride on the roof of his car...lol

 

[PennLady]

If the article is indicative of Springfield's writing style, I could see him doing well in comic/slipstream writing.

That might describe his novel pretty well, actually, although I'm not too far into it. It's about reaching God via cell phone, and a few other things. Spirituality is a big deal for him.

His memoir wasn't exactly comic, but was written in much the same tone as the article. Going by that, he seems to be a guy who's gone through a lot and knows he's lucky to have come out relatively intact on the other side. I imagine writing the memoirs taught him a few things about writing -- by all accounts, it was him without a ghostwriter -- and so he went back to all that novel-writing he dropped to write songs.

 

[HoneyFortune]

I didn't read the article at all, which makes me exceptionally qualified to comment on the topic in keeping with internet rules.

Actually, I thought this thread might be about listening to music while writing. If PennLady would allow a slight hijack, I would be curious to hear about what style of music you prefer while writing, if any at all. I ask because I just had a conversation with a friend about the sort of music that *unlocks* his mind and right now he prefers songs with a heavy beat, syncopation and major cords, while my preference right now (it changes with my granny panties) is slower, minor chords, melodic music. What about you?

Or I could start another thread, but I am sort of lazy that way.

 

[PennLady]

I didn't read the article at all, which makes me exceptionally qualified to comment on the topic in keeping with internet rules.

Actually, I thought this thread might be about listening to music while writing. If PennLady would allow a slight hijack, I would be curious to hear about what style of music you prefer while writing, if any at all. I ask because I just had a conversation with a friend about the sort of music that *unlocks* his mind and right now he prefers songs with a heavy beat, syncopation and major cords, while my preference right now (it changes with my granny panties) is slower, minor chords, melodic music. What about you?

Or I could start another thread, but I am sort of lazy that way.

Always good to have qualified people on board.

Hmmm. I suppose it depends on many things, including my mood and what kind of story I'm writing. Sometimes I'd actually rather have a movie going, so I can look up an give my eyes a bit of a rest from time to time. When I do listen to music, I generally prefer it to be something sans words, and I have a bunch of stuff for that -- movie soundtracks, some Hawaiian slack-key guitar, some other stuff I'm not sure how to categorize (if you've heard of the group Scorn, I have some of that).

 

[Hypoxia]

Current storywriting background music: Christopher Parkening playing Bach's Goldberg Variations rather quickly on classical guitar. Previous background: Javanese & Sumatran gamelans swirling around. Baroque and abstract trance music does it for me.

 

[HoneyFortune]

Love your thoughts on instrumental music because my friend mentioned above listens to almost exclusively instrumental music when doing anything requiring creativity while I listen to instrumental music while puttering around the house doing nothing creative. Funny birds, we all are.

 

[PennLady]

Love your thoughts on instrumental music because my friend mentioned above listens to almost exclusively instrumental music when doing anything requiring creativity while I listen to instrumental music while puttering around the house doing nothing creative. Funny birds, we all are.

If the music is something I'm really familiar with, something I've known for years, then I can listen even if it has lyrics because I know it so well I can tune it out.

But it is funny how people like different types of music for background noise.

 

[HoneyFortune]

If the music is something I'm really familiar with, something I've known for years, then I can listen even if it has lyrics because I know it so well I can tune it out.

But it is funny how people like different types of music for background noise.

I am precisely the same. The cadence of familiarity unlocks something in my brain, to bring on focus. It might be a form of mental masturbation, stimulation for stimulation's sake.

I am just going to go out on a limb here and confess I listened to Duran Duran this week to bring on the writing juju. That's totally a secret, though, so I wouldn't go around repeating that if I were you.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Depends on the setting for me.

For my cyberpunk stuff, I usually default back to something straight, dark and moody, like the Deathstars album "Termination Bliss". A bit like Sisters of Mercy crossed with Marilyn Manson. Also, I have several video game soundtracks which get me in that particular mood, for example from the tacticd game "Frozen Synapse". An odd mix of cold electronics and haunting vocal samples.

For my fantasy stuff, it has to be expansive and "wide", if that makes any sense. Anything by Simple Minds is pretty cool, as is the band The Eden House, as a haunting counterpoint when I explore the darker corners of my characters. It's more about the atmosphere of the songs than actual lyrics. I have heard those songs and albums so often, I don't register the lyrics anyway

 

[slyc_willie]

That might describe his novel pretty well, actually, although I'm not too far into it. It's about reaching God via cell phone, and a few other things. Spirituality is a big deal for him.

His memoir wasn't exactly comic, but was written in much the same tone as the article. Going by that, he seems to be a guy who's gone through a lot and knows he's lucky to have come out relatively intact on the other side. I imagine writing the memoirs taught him a few things about writing -- by all accounts, it was him without a ghostwriter -- and so he went back to all that novel-writing he dropped to write songs.

His song lyrics have always been cynical and sarcastic, so it wouldn't surprise me that at least some of that would translate to prose writing. Now that he's grown up from his "Jessie's Girl" days, it looks like he's interjected middle-aged maturity into adolescent wonder.

I pretty much stopped writing while I was in the Army -- didn't have time for it -- and for a while after it was just something I did off and on. But it wasn't until a friend told me about a short story competition that I gave it some serious time. Taking it seriously made me think about my writing, realizing I was for the first time putting something out there for someone else to judge. I imagine Springfield might have thought something similar.

The end result went nowhere, but the detailed critique I got back was helpful, if more than a little ego-deflating. Still, thanks to that I ended up getting three short stories published in a magazine. Several years later, I ended up here. And I'm still learning.

Okay, enough rambling.

 

[slyc_willie]

As far as music while writing . . . .

Like PL, I generally prefer to have the TV on in the other room. If it's silent, I feel like I'm alone in the world. if there's noise, then at least I know I haven't slipped off into the Twilight Zone. Yet.

But if there's a certain feel I need for a story, I'll turn on Spotify. I've got several playlists -- Bon Jovi, White Stripes, Howard Jones, Rob/White Zombie, movie soundtracks (the one for The Book of Eli has a nice melodramatic feel, and the original Conan the Barbarian soundtrack is great for writing high fantasy) -- so I pick whatever would work for the story.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

His song lyrics have always been cynical and sarcastic, so it wouldn't surprise me that at least some of that would translate to prose writing. Now that he's grown up from his "Jessie's Girl" days, it looks like he's interjected middle-aged maturity into adolescent wonder.

I pretty much stopped writing while I was in the Army -- didn't have time for it -- and for a while after it was just something I did off and on. But it wasn't until a friend told me about a short story competition that I gave it some serious time. Taking it seriously made me think about my writing, realizing I was for the first time putting something out there for someone else to judge. I imagine Springfield might have thought something similar.

The end result went nowhere, but the detailed critique I got back was helpful, if more than a little ego-deflating. Still, thanks to that I ended up getting three short stories published in a magazine. Several years later, I ended up here. And I'm still learning.

Okay, enough rambling.

JESSIES GIRL is shit for shit-eating dogs.