Music to your ears
I learned to not play music while writing, especially when I am writing fiction. So should you.
If you use music to inspire you as you write, you are fooling yourself. The tone or mood of the music makes you think you are writing better than you are. The vibes you pick up through your ears enhance TO YOU what you have put on paper. (OK, screen) Your reader will not be listening to the same music and will not feel what you are feeling.
Exception number one: I do use music to inspire me BEFORE I write. It helps create attitudes, tones, or moods that I want to feel as I write. “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader…” said Robert Frost. I want to try to feel what my characters feel, and music can sometimes get me there. Once the mood is within me, I am ready to write the scene…with the music off.
If the music includes lyrics, the words insinuate themselves into your work. You get typos, you lose focus, you write to someone else’s attitude or idea.
Exception number two: I use familiar instrumental music as white noise when needed.
Exception number three: I use familiar music with lyrics in languages I don’t understand as white noise when needed. (I have a thing for Brazilian music.)
Exception number four: I intentionally play happy or seasonal music if I need to overcome a personal blah while writing things like birthday cards or Christmas letters. It’s a chore and the happy music keeps me working.
Instrumental music I listen to: Acoustic Alchemy, Manheim Steamroller, Alan Parsons (He wrote more than you know: the score for Ladyhawke for example.), Rick Braun, Clannad, Gregorian chants, and a lot of ethnic music (Celtic, Norse, African mostly). I found much of the ethnic stuff on those kiosks that used to sit in places like Hallmark cards or ShopKo. (And on a trip to the UK, but I can’t expect you to do that just for a CD.) As a writer with historical interests I find listening to music from the eras I may write in helps me get the mind set right.
Music can inspire you, but don’t let it fool you.
