Theme songs?

[iwatchus]

I often find when I work on a project intensely I will listen to a song or an entire album over and over again. I will forever associate that music with that project. I have been doing this for roughly 50 years, but not for every project.

My current WIP, being much longer than anything else I have written (for here at least) is my first story to have its own theme song. Slow It Down by the Lumineers. It has a haunting sound to it that matches my mental frame of mind a lot of days right now. And the song is about a woman named Angie, the FMC in my WIP.

Do other people do this?

 

[lovecraft68]

These were on a loop while writing a four-chapter section of a series that focused on the sister's descent into addiction and ultimate attempt at suicide.

 

[THBGato]

I create playlists for lots of my stories and put links to them on my author profile. These are usually the songs I was listening to when I wrote the relevant story.

 

[Nynah]

I often find when I work on a project intensely I will listen to a song or an entire album over and over again. I will forever associate that music with that project.

I feel like a lot of writers do this so you are certainly not alone! If you do a search, you'll see that several published authors actually have whole sections of their personal websites with playlists for each work they've written (just like THBGato above)! I think it's a fascinating thing to listen to while you read their stories and is an easy way of making a personal connection to the writer.

Personally when I am writing I don't tend to listen to lyrics so the flow and beat of the song is much more important to my process. That's why most of my writing playlists are predominantly dark synthwave artists like Carpenter Brut, Magnavolt, Lazerpunk and Gunship.

When I'm writing the sexy parts of a story and I need to get into the right headspace, Wanting Moves by Pantyraid usually does the trick.

 

[NotWise]

Not quite the same thing, but Zelda in my most recent was 40-something at the time of the story, and she listened to heavy metal.

I spent a lot of time replaying music from 2000-2005. If I lost track of her way of thinking while I was writing, I'd just go back for more. The more violent and/or depressed, the better. Korn and Nine Inch Nails were both mentioned in the story. Metallica may have made it, too. I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but System of a Down provided the soundtrack for the penultimate (climactic) scene.

My wife hated it.

 

[MelissaBaby]

When I was writing my Mary and Alvin series, I had a little fun imagining it being adapted for an HBO series, and picked out a different song that would play over the closing credits of each episode.

The credits song for the final episode would be this beautiful rendition of Beyond The Sea.

 

[Nynah]

The credits song for the final episode would be this beautiful rendition of Beyond The Sea.

Kina Grannis is so underrated. Her cover of "Can't Help Falling in Love" in Crazy Rich Asians is my favorite rendition of the song.

 

[YDB95]

I still associate Neil Young's Everybody Knows this is Nowhere album with my senior thesis, as I played that a lot while doing my research.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I don't listen to anything when I write. No distractions.