Music for Writers

[Trinique_Fire]

What do you listen to when you write, if you listen to anything at all?

Music, nature sounds cd's, tribal chants?

It used to be that I couldn't write to anything but Nina Simone. Now I find I do better with classical music, Beethoven and Vivaldi in particular.

Perhaps if you're so bold, there could even be some file sharing in this thread.

 

[Remec]

What do you listen to when you write, if you listen to anything at all?

Music, nature sounds cd's, tribal chants?

A grand blending of the assorted musical stylings of Wiggles, Barney, Disney animated singalongs and musicals, and the Teletubbies...on a good day...

Sort of explains the length of time between my finished pieces, eh?

 

[kendo1]

The blues.

 

[ungenderless]

Yay! Always a favorite topic of mine!

Let's see...well, it greatly depends on what kind of scene I'm doing. I find music that compliments the atmosphere that I'm trying to get across.

For example, if I'm going for more playful sex, then Goldfrapp or some generic techno would be on the menu. If I want something more intimate and sensual, I would listen to some ambient or slow trip hop. Industrial for revenge sex.

Let's see...as far as specific songs go, here are a few standard favorites:

"strict machine" - Goldfrapp
"the perfect lie (remix)" - The Engine Room (from the Nip/Tuck soundtrack)
"the pleasure song" - Marrianne Faithful
"rev 22-20" - Puscifer (from the SAW II soundtrack)
"blue orb" - the We Love Katamari soundtrack (don't laugh! Okay, laugh a little.)
"je ferme les yeux" - Najoua Belyzel
"white poem 1" - X Japan
"i parade myself" - Gang Of Four
"cue the pulse to begin" - Burnside Project
Just about anything by Paul Oakenfold


And let's not forget G.I.R.L. Radio!

 

[neonlyte]

Carla Bruni suits at the moment, my story is set in France

 

[FallingToFly]

My current playlist for Impossible Gifts

a kiss is a terrible thing to waste (meat loaf)
if god could talk (ml)
what about love (ml)
cry over me (ml)
alive (ml)
blind as a bat (ml)
left in the dark (ml)
if you ever did believe (stevie nicks)
stand back (sn)
fearless (matt good)
whispering in the dark (mg)
weapon (mg)
fade to blue (.38 special)
i remember you (skid row)
come undone (duran duran)
a man and a woman (u2)
felt like a lifetime (better than ezra)

It's set on a random loop, and turned up as loud as I can stand to sit in front of it. I also have my media player battery set to eletriamation so that when I need to think I can click it open and stare into the swirl of color and sound and let it draw my mind out of hiding.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

What do you listen to when you write, if you listen to anything at all?

Music, nature sounds cd's, tribal chants?

It used to be that I couldn't write to anything but Nina Simone. Now I find I do better with classical music, Beethoven and Vivaldi in particular.

Perhaps if you're so bold, there could even be some file sharing in this thread.

Trinique,

I don't care what everybody else at the AH keep saying, IMHO, anyone who appreciates Nina Simone can't be all bad.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Diamondbarrow]

Lately, I've been listening to a mix of Gary Jules, Evanescence, REM, Pink Floyd, Danny Elfman, Louie Armstrong, the Beattles, Queen, a Sarah McLachlan cover of a Beattles song, some anime music, Barenaked Ladies, Bush, Coldplay, and Staind... An eclectic mix I've labeled "Beautiful" due to the melancholic theme.

 

[FallingToFly]

Trinique,

I don't care what everybody else at the AH keep saying, IMHO, anyone who appreciates Nina Simone can't be all bad.

Rumple Foreskin

Trini doesn't have a bad bone in her. She's a darling. :glare: And anyone who says otherwise, well, I have a big fake dick they can suck.

:stomps off, well aware how childish and petty that sounded:

 

[Boxlicker101]

If I listen to anything at all, it's classical instrumental. I can't concentrate that well if my toes are tapping or I am singing along.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

When I am writing? Nothing. I prefer the silence of my scatterbrained mind.

When I am not writing? I listen to metal. Hard, thrashing, violent, agressive, punch someones face in metal. Bands like Nothingface, Morbid Angel, Sepultura (right now), Slayer, Anthrax, All that Remains, Pantera, the list goes on and on.

 

[FallingToFly]

On the subject of writing and music...

I gave up trying to write for NaNo. I did all I could today to forget about this morning, to let it go, because all I have the right to is sympathy for others, not to feel old pain and regrets, but I do. I put Better Than Ezra's "Felt Like A Lifetime" on a loop and just let it play through, and then I pulled up something I had quit working on a while back. It's part of my Playlists series, started several months ago and left sitting. I sketched in the edges, got about halfway through before I had to stop.

Music drives my writing, hands me the keys to stories I haven't unlocked yet. Don't believe that's possible? I have a whole series devoted to it. The rough draft of the current work in progress:

Title: Felt Like A Lifetime
Genre: Original Fiction, Non Erotic
Rating: PG13
Notes: Based on the song "Felt Like A Lifetime" by Better Than Ezra.
Author's Notes: This story is copyrighted to the author. If you find this story on any site OTHER than Literotica, please send feedback to FallingToFly and let me know.


"You're insane, Ethan." Rob put his hand on my shoulder as we moved quietly through the reception room. Lilies and roses everywhere, filling the space with a sweet, cloying perfume that almost, but not quite, masked the lingering whiff of chemicals. Allie's mother was leaning against her husband, her face bravely rearranging itself into a watery smile for every sympathetic well-wisher.

"It's so sad," a woman was whispering as we threaded our way through the mourners towards the door. "She was so young. She had everything in front of her." Rob and and I exchanged glances. And smiled...

We arrived late to the wake/Stole the urn while they looked away
Then I drove to the beach 'cause I knew you'd want it that way...

The night was alive with a trillion stars and the rush of wind, like wings bearing us through the dark. We didn't talk much, just put the top back and let the road carry our words away unspoken. Kelly and Rachel hung out the back of the car, fingers entwined on the back of the seat, singing along with the radio. The soft air tangled out hair, the crickets serenaded us all the way to the coast. We drove right onto the beach and sat together, four where there were five, awkwardly broken into coupledom when we'd been a group, a circle.

Someone found a bottle of cheap wine, and we passed it around. Rachel tried to unsnarl Rob's long hair, Kelly leaning against her knee, tears rolling steadily down her face. We waited until the stars were fading before we took the small ceramic jar from the trunk and walked down to the water's edge. The tide was rolling in, soaking our jeans and sucking the sand from underneath us. Rob started to take the lid off, and Kelly stopped him.

"We have to go out in the water. Allie wanted to be out in the water, not washed up on the shore." Rob looked at me, I looked at Rachel.

"Race you to the sandbar?"

"You're on."

We splashed through the shimmering waves like children, laughing. atill in our clothes, spraying each other with water that tasted like tears, like summers past and memories as bittersweet as first love. Rob paddled awkwardly, bobbing along with one hand, the urn clutched to his chest until we reached the safety of the sandbar and clambered to our feet. The ocean swirled around our bodies with a sound like muted laughter, cradling and comforting.

And you move like water
I could drown in you
And I fell so deep once
Til you pulled me through...

"Well, we made it," he gasped, trying to catch his breath. The girls nodded and turned to face the sun, leaning against each other.

"Now what?" Rachel poked Kelly in the shoulder. "This was your bright idea." Kelly just shrugged.

"I know," I said. Rob handed me the cool, slick porcelain, andI felt the lightness of it. The lid came loose easily and sank through the clear water without a complaint coming from the gods. Ashes and salt, regrets and sweet, sweet memories. I balanced the jar in my palm, weighed it. And then I threw it, as far as I could, out into the shifting expanse of green-blue water. The light winked off the glaze as it descended. If there was a splash, none of us saw it.

"Think she'd be happy with that?" I asked. Rob nodded. The girls just smiled while they cried.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Pretty varied but just recently - Anna Nalick, Sara Evans & Trisha Yearwood.

 

[ungenderless]

Lately, I've been listening to a mix of Gary Jules, Evanescence, REM, Pink Floyd, Danny Elfman, Louie Armstrong, the Beattles, Queen, a Sarah McLachlan cover of a Beattles song, some anime music, Barenaked Ladies, Bush, Coldplay, and Staind... An eclectic mix I've labeled "Beautiful" due to the melancholic theme.

Hell. Yes. Anyone who listens to Evenanescence, Louis Armstrong AND Anime music officially rocks in my book.

 

[cumallday]

Lately - Gomez, Jeff Buckley, Joe Strummer, Eagles of Death Metal, Miles Davis, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young, the Yeah Yeah Yeah's, Helmet.

 

[Lolaleigh]

Jesse Cook,.... Joss Stone,.... PCD,.... Jonny Lang,.... Long John Baldry,.....Gypsy Kings..... Evanescence. (or however it's spelt.) James Blunt..... that sort of stuff.

 

[Trinique_Fire]

Rumple,

Nina Simone is deliciously wonderful...... And who's saying things about me?

FTF,

You're a darling.

My fourth short story in my NaNo series is being written entirely to classical music. I have this wonderful ADD thing where it's hard for me to listen to lyrical music when I write. I get sidetracked, pretend I'm onstage and start singing with a hairbrush for a mic. I'm like four.

Sometimes, though, I'll listen to Nina Simone BEFORE I write, putting me in the right frame of mind.

I believe you FTF.

 

[Tegan_Rourke]

I listen to music all the time and it's always varied. For writing I have come to enjoy women voices, sometimes upbeat because it keeps me energized and I can keep up momentum and my feet are swaying, my toes are tapping and my hands are running across the keyboard at a mile a minute. Right now is actually one of those times and I'm listening to Other times, mostly for emotional scenes in what I'm writing, I like sweet and sullen stuff - Tori Amos, Mazzy Star, Anna Nalick, etc.

 

[cloudy]

I can't listen to music and write at the same time....I've tried. I find myself singing along, or bouncing in my chair, or whatever, and any writing I had planned to do goes right out the window.

Sometimes ADD sucks.