Writing Playlists

Music. It expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.

Victor Hugo said that. It's kinda funny that his major works would go on to become these huge famous musicals, and even more so when you consider that the original texts were like 1000 pages long.

I'm the kind of person who needs background noise, no matter what I'm doing. Driving? Radio's on. Lab work? Listening to a podcast. Trying to sleep? Got my white noise machine. So, when I'm writing, it's the same thing - I need something in the background. And that something is music.

When I work on a new manuscript, the first draft is usually accompanied by ambient music, like movie soundtracks or video game music. (Skyrim and The Lord of the Rings are particularly good at this stage.) Once I have a good sense of the tone of the manuscript and the overall feel, I absolutely have to put together a playlist. It's impossible for me to focus without that specific list of songs organized in a very precise manner. I can't say what it is - maybe I just hate silence.

Usually, I have one or two songs in mind that really speak to the manuscript. I start by adding those to a new Spotify playlist, and then I try to branch out to similar songs. I give the playlist ebb and flow - as much as I'd love to fill an entire playlist with total bangers, that's more likely to distract me than inspire me - and see where it takes me. Sometimes it's easy, with the songs popping into my head, and other times it's a half-day project. However long it takes me, I always end up with a playlist that's at least an hour long, filled with music that is this manuscript.

For example, GIRLS BREAK THINGS is a lot of female-fronted heavy metal (since it's a manuscript about badass girls and combat robots, badum-tss), while my new fantasy manuscript is more Love Never Dies meets Billie Eilish. Some of my writer friends absolutely cannot write to music with lyrics, and others have to have that pop ballad. Whatever your jam, writing to a playlist that accompanies your manuscript can be a great way to get inspired. Check out one of my playlists below!


Do you have a writing playlist? What's in it? Drop a link in the comments!