Writing Tunes

Hey hey! Welcome all back to the blog!

Do you ever listen to music while writing? Because I certainly do. I have been using music a lot during writing, all kinds of music for all kinds of different writing. And a lot of times, the music doesn't actually have to match the vibe of the text I am writing, though I also found myself making playlists for specific projects. Music is always an important part of my projects.

I found myself wondering whether this is something only I do, or whether this is something common. And I do believe the latter is true. From what I know about others and the people around me, I have seen that music can have such a boosting vibe to it and to what you are doing. Music while working (especially physically) is such a motivator for people. I mean, just walk into your nearest gym and you'll probably see a lot of people listening to music while working out.

So I think music can absolutely help, if done right. Hence why I wanna go over a few different tips and tricks today of how music can help you in your process. And remember, it might not be for everyone, maybe music always tends to distract you while writing, but who knows, maybe if you just try something else, it might just click for you.

Music And Writing

Music and writing feel so different, but also so alike. They are both powerful mediums for expression, for emotion. And I think that when utilised correctly, they can have a magnificent combined effect on the quality of what you're writing.
One way to think of it, is to compare it to the senses. Just imagine tasting and smelling for example. If you just taste, or just smell something, it can be good, though combined, it tends to create an even better experience. And you might think of this comparison to be only applicable to the consumption of respectively reading and listening to music, though I think this doesn't have to be the case at all.

I have personally pretty much always used music to help me write, which happened in all sorts of environments and contexts. And given the enourmous collection of music generally available, I am certain there is always something—a playlist, album, song, artist—that helps you lock in for whatever it is your working on.

How I Use Music While Writing

I think the best way to demonstrate the different types of moods, settings, and music that can be paired with writing, is to simply share a little from my personal experiences. I believe there are 3 main categories to be distinguished, which are as follows:

1. Shutting yourself out from the world around you (external focus)
2. Focussing on the act of writing itself (internal focus)
3. Emotionally connecting to the story you're writing (emotional focus)

I will go over all of these categories on their own, give a few examples of how I like to use them and what my opinion is of what type of music might fit which category.

1. External Focus

The reason I called this category external focus, is because it is music that doesn't have to align with what you are writing. This category is all about forgetting about the world around you and completely sink into whatever it is you are writing. The other categories might also have this effect, but the reason I separated them into these categories is because I think they have a different intention, a different layer to them.

I find myself using this type of focus a lot. I live in a busy house, there's always noises all around me, people in my house, neighbours, constructions and repairs going on outside, it's rarely quiet.
For me, I like to listen to whatever music it is that I just like to listen to. It's the music that I like, that I know. It allows me to focus on the music I know rather than whatever is going on around me. And while the music could be a bit of a distraction from time to time, everything going on beyond it is often more of a distraction.

Whenever I really need to focus, I tend to pick some upbeat enough music for this focus. I like to listen to instrumental music that doesn't have me end up listening to lyrics instead of writing. For me, the music that ultimately works best is just my favourite songs at the moment, or some tunes that are relatively equal in activity throughout. By this, I mean songs that don't fade into very quiet sections or very loud sections alike. This makes them a perfect source of background music—it is perfectly suited to quietly fade into the background while you focus on your writing.

2. Internal Focus

Onto the category that I also like to call "Creative Focus". It is the category that's all about improving your writing by using music. It's the supportive type of music that comes with it, soothing your environment, stimulating your creative energy, all these (mostly instrumental) tracks that can help you channel everything from within and actually boost your writing.

I personally think of this type of focus as being not at all about the music. It's for the people that like to listen to music, or at least can handle it while writing, but not have it be about the music at all. The music is just there to help, maybe take away from the world around you a little as well, but ultimately it's about the writing, the fact that you can sit down and lock into your story—that's the main idea behind this type of focus.

The sort of music that fits this category is obviously different from person to person, but generally leaning into the ambience direction. I think instrumental would be prefered, but since this type of music is all about channeling your creativity and focus, it's highly personal. Though I know for a fact, whenever you search up "writing music" wherever, there'll be plenty of playlists and albums curated for you.

3. Emotional Focus

Finally, I wanna talk about the emotional focus. Put simply, this is the music you turn on to feel. It's your personal connection to the story you write, to the scene, the characters. If you want your scene to feel a certain way, and you found how a song encapsulated that feeling perfectly already, listening to that music can do significant things when it comes to elevating your writing.

I personally use this method a lot. I like to link music to moments, scenes, and characters all the time. I have made playlists for stories I write, all centered around what matters in these texts—the emotion. As a matter of fact, I have dedicated a whole series of microfiction stories to single songs. Basically, I felt so deeply emotionally invested, interested, or curious towards these songs that I was listening to, that I felt like I needed to 'write them', which is what I did. Ultimately, it's the emotion in the songs that guided me through the writing process of these microfiction stories. They carried the emotion straight from my ears onto the paper, and I think that this is truly amazing.

I have found that the type of music that fits this type of focus is very different, it's all open to interpretation, open to what moves you. It is dependent on the story you write and the vibe of it. It's dependent on how tough or emotionally deep your characters are. It's dependent on the weather of your scene and the happiness of your traveling merchants. All in all, it can really just be everything you want it to be.

Closing Thoughts

Personally, I feel very deeply connected to music. I use it a lot during writing, though I also find that there's value in the silence from time to time. This isn't something I'll explicitly go in detail about right now, but I do feel like it's worth mentioning.
I think that the topic of music during writing is such a personal one. I know plenty of writers that don't wanna listen to any music at all as a means of focus, and I know from myself for example that I love listening to music and that it can actually help me a lot to put the words down that I actually want to convey.

So how about you? Do you like to listen to music while writing? I hope this blog shed some light on the topic and how it can all be interpreted, because after all, this is only just my personal experience and opinion highlighted.
If I end up inspiring you to try or if you would like to share any thoughts regarding the blog or this topic, I am always open to it, so feel free to contact me through my contact page.

As always, stay creative, keep experimenting, and most importantly, stay musical!
Cya next week!